leon out to the battle of
the Pyramids a century ago. I could not deny his statement as I had
not been among those present, but I reduced the settlement to a
compromise by threatening to spring on him the Hessian troops that De
Cosson Bey retained for such occasions. Then we drove up to the house
as genially as if we had been long parted relatives, and I supposed we
held the secrets of the passage of arms between ourselves. But I was
mistaken, for I noticed at dinner that my hosts smiled knowingly at
each other as if they had some amusing thought in common. When I could
stand this no longer I asked what they were laughing at.

"Why, at your stopping so near the house for the usual stormy, cab-fare
settlement. Wise visitors always settle out on the Pyramid Road, so
they may regain their composure before alighting. We threw up the
windows and heard every word of the picturesque, verbal duel, and we
came to the conclusion when the flag fell that the oriental had had his
hands full throughout the entire entertainment."

[Illustration: ANOTHER PART OF KARNAK; ONLY ONE MAN ON THE JOB, BUT HE
IS QUITE EQUAL TO ALL ITS REQUIREMENTS AND EMERGENCIES]

I left next day by train for Alexandria, and I remember it was
thirty-five years ago that I started from that city for Port Said,
whence I took a steamer for India, passing through the Suez Canal, then
not long opened. Time flies, but the canal is still there, at the old
stand, doing a steady business with all the nations of the earth that
go down to the sea in great ships as daily customers. F. J. Haskin has
written an interesting and graphic description of this great work,
recently published in the New York _Globe_, in which he says:

"On the great breakwater at Port Said stands the bronze statue of
Ferdinand de Lesseps, his right hand extended in a gesture of
invitation to the mariners of all nations to take their ships through
the great canal which was the fruit of his genius and diplomacy. Not
one word is there to indicate that his fortune and good name lie buried
in the failure of another canal, half way round the world.

"The romance of the Suez Canal is suggested by everything the visitor
sees at Port Said, the 'turnstile of the nations.' But the tragedy of
the canal, the terrible cost of life, the shameful waste of money, the
enslavement of the Egyptians in governmental and financial bondage, the
wreck of French hopes and aspirations--not one hint of all tha