scarabs--

RHEOU. None, then, save the High Priest, may pass till the road be
purified.

PAKH. I have warned the travellers they must go a long way round.

RHEOU. Did you not recognize your son?

PAKH. No, he will be among the last to land, perhaps.

YAOUMA. But look--look! Behold that man--the stranger who comes this way
alone--Pakh! where were they, Pakh--the scarabs?

PAKH. Near to the fig tree.

YAOUMA [_terrified_] He is about to pass them--Oh! He does not
know--[_Relieved_] Ah! at last, they warn him.

RHEOU. He stays.

YAOUMA. Near to the fig tree, said you! But he is going on--He moves--he
comes--He is past them--[_To Mieris_] Come, mistress, come! Oh Ammon!
Ammon!

_Hiding her face she leads Mieris quickly away._

RHEOU. 'Tis to our gates he comes--he is here.

_Satni enters._

SATNI [_bowing before Rheou_] Rheou, I salute you!

RHEOU. What do I behold! Satni--'tis you--

PAKH. My son!

SATNI [_kneeling_] Father!

PAKH. 'Twas you!--you, who came that way, despite the scarabs?

SATNI. It was I.

PAKH. You know then some magic words, I do not doubt; but I--I who saw
them--I must needs go purify myself before the prayer--to-day is the
feast of the Nomination--did you know?

SATNI. I knew--and Yaouma?

PAKH. She is here--in a little you shall see her.

RHEOU. Satni!

SATNI. You called me?

RHEOU. Yes. Did not you see the two scarabs that lay upon your path?

SATNI. I saw them.

RHEOU. And you did not stop?

SATNI. No.

RHEOU. Why?

SATNI. I have learned many things in the countries whence I come.

RHEOU. You are a priest. Was not your duty to go unto the temple, even
before you knelt at your father's feet?

SATNI. Never again shall I enter the temple.

_A long trumpet call is heard far off._

RHEOU. It is the signal for the prayer.

_He mounts the terrace and stretches his arms to the setting
sun. Women play upon the harp and upon drums, and the double
flute. Others clash cymbals and shake the sistrum. Dancers
advance, slowly swaying their bodies. The rest mark the
rhythm by the beating of hands._

_Music._

RHEOU. O Isis! Isis! Isis! Three times do I pronounce thy name.

ALL [_murmuring_] O Isis! Isis! Isis! Three times do I pronounce thy
name.

RHEOU. O Isis! thou who preservest the grain from the destroying winds,
and the bodies of our fathers from the ruinous work of time.

ALL [_murmuring_] O Isis! thou who pres