"Then there is [Greek: agtinea], that you must relate to [Greek: agti]
and [Greek: naos], _she who holds herself before the_ [Greek: naos],
the [Greek: naos] of the temple, _she who is opposite the sanctuary,_
therefore priestess. An interpretation which would enchant Girard and
Renan.

"Next we have [Greek: agtine], from [Greek: agti] and [Greek: neos],
new, which can mean two things: either _she who is the contrary of
young_, which is to say old; or _she who is the enemy of novelty_ or
_the enemy of youth_.

"There is still another sense of [Greek: gati], _in exchange for,_
which is capable of complicating all the others I have mentioned;
likewise there are four meanings for the verb [Greek: neo], which
means in turn _to go, to flow, to thread_ or _weave, to heap_. There
is more still.... And notice, please, that I have not at my
disposition on the otherwise commodious hump of this mehari, either
the great dictionary of Estienne or the lexicons of Passow, of Pape,
or of Liddel-Scott. This is only to show you, my dear friend, that
epigraphy is but a relative science, always dependent on the discovery
of a new text which contradicts the previous findings, when it is not
merely at the mercy of the humors of the epigraphists and their pet
conceptions of the universe.

"That was rather my view of it," I said, "But I must admit my
astonishment to find that, with such a sceptical opinion of the goal,
you still do not hesitate to take risks which may be quite
considerable."

Morhange smiled wanly.

"I do not interpret, my friend; I collect. From what I will take back
to him, Dom Granger has the ability to draw conclusions which are
beyond my slight knowledge. I was amusing myself a little. Pardon me."

Just then the girth of one of the baggage camels, evidently not well
fastened, came loose. Part of the load slipped and fell to the ground.

Eg-Anteouen descended instantly from his beast and helped Bou-Djema
repair the damage.

When they had finished, I made my mehari walk beside Bou-Djema's.

"It will be better to resaddle the camels at the next stop. They will
have to climb the mountain."

The guide looked at me with amazement. Up to that time I had thought
it unnecessary to acquaint him with our new projects. But I supposed
Eg-Anteouen would have told him.

"Lieutenant, the road across the white plain to Shikh-Salah is not
mountainous," said the Chaamba.

"We are not keeping to the road across the white plai