ee, praising thy
ability, and thy strong manly spirit. It is as if some charm obliged her
to think of thee."

The pioneer began to walk so fast that his small companion once more had
to ask him to moderate his steps.

They gained the shore in silence, where Paaker's boat was waiting, which
also conveyed his chariot. He lay down in the little cabin, called the
dwarf to him, and said:

"I am Katuti's nearest relative; we are now reconciled; why does she not
turn to me in her difficulty?"

"Because she is proud, and thy blood flows in her veins. Sooner would she
die with her child--she said so--than ask thee, against whom she sinned,
for an "alms."

"She did think of me then?"

"At once; nor did she doubt thy generosity. She esteems thee highly--I
repeat it; and if an arrow from a Cheta's bow or a visitation of the Gods
attained Mena, she would joyfully place her child in thine arms, and
Nefert believe me has not forgotten her playfellow. The day before
yesterday, when she came home from the Necropolis, and before the letter
had come from the camp, she was full of thee--

["To be full (meh) of any one" is used in the Egyptian language for
"to be in love with any one."]

nay called to thee in her dreams; I know it from Kandake, her black
maid." The pioneer looked down and said:

"How extraordinary! and the same night I had a vision in which your
mistress appeared to me; the insolent priest in the temple of Hathor
should have interpreted it to me."

"And he refused? the fool! but other folks understand dreams, and I am
not the worst of them--Ask thy servant. Ninety-nine times out of a
hundred my interpretations come true. How was the vision?"

"I stood by the Nile," said Paaker, casting down his eyes and drawing
lines with his whip through the wool of the cabin rug. "The water was
still, and I saw Nefert standing on the farther bank, and beckoning to
me. I called to her, and she stepped on the water, which bore her up as
if it were this carpet. She went over the water dry-foot as if it were
the stony wilderness. A wonderful sight! She came nearer to me, and
nearer, and already I had tried to take her hand, when she ducked under
like a swan. I went into the water to seize her, and when she came up
again I clasped her in my arms; but then the strangest thing
happened--she flowed away, she dissolved like the snow on the Syrian
hills, when you take it in your hand, and yet it was not the same, for
her hair t