pe.

In the immediate foreground was the Sphinx. Rick's first impression was
that it was disappointingly small, as the great pyramids behind it were
truly enormous. He could see all three Giza pyramids now.

Then he realized that his impressions had been gained entirely from
pictures--and to an extent, the pictures had been false. The Sphinx,
always shown in the foreground of pictures or taken from a low angle,
loomed large in the camera lenses, with the pyramids looking relatively
small in the distant background.

Human vision set the image straight, abruptly. The Sphinx was small, but
only in comparison to the pyramids. Actually, it was a monument of
heroic proportions.

"Please stop," Rick called, and Hassan did, with skidding wheels. The
boys got out and stood gazing, in mixed awe and delight. This was the
Egypt of antiquity, Rick thought. These were the monuments of a
civilization already ancient when the Old Testament was new, monuments
engineered with astounding precision when Rick's Anglo-Saxon forebears
were still building crude shelters of mud and reeds.

Scotty's nudge aroused Rick from his reverie, and he turned for a
close-up of his first live camel, not counting circuses or zoos. The
camel was such a vision of homely awkwardness that Rick had to laugh.

The cameleer led the beast to where a party of tourists, obviously
American, waited. The boys watched as the animal came to a halt. The
driver bowed to the party. Then, taking a thin stick, he tapped the
camel on bony knees that were wrapped in worn burlap. Instantly the
camel let out a heartrending groan. Its ungainly legs folded like a
poorly designed beach chair, and moaning in pure anguish, it knelt.

A lady tourist, giggling self-consciously, climbed up on the
blanket-covered saddle. The camel let out a louder groan, one filled
with such phony pain and despair that the boys burst out laughing. A tap
of the driver's stick and the camel lurched to its feet, hind legs first
like a cow. The lady tourist squealed mightily, the camel wailed in
protest, the other tourists cheered, and the boys doubled with laughter.

Rick asked, still chuckling, "Hassan, do camels always complain like
that?"

"Is true. They nasty and plenty noisy. They hate work. Driver makes them
carry tourists and they holler plenty."

The camel quieted down to a low-voiced grumble. He was letting the world
know that the arrangement was not pleasing and that he didn't intend to