RAMID.

"Meet at the Sphinx!" Yes; these were the words that the lady from
Philadelphia had sent in answer to the several telegrams that had
reached her from each member of the Peterkin family. She had received
these messages while staying in a remote country town, but she could
communicate with the cable line by means of the telegraph office at a
railway station. The intelligent operator, seeing the same date affixed
at the close of each message, "took in," as she afterward expressed it,
that it was the date of the day on which the message was sent; and as
this was always prefixed to every despatch, she did not add it to the
several messages. She afterward expressed herself as sorry for the
mistake, and declared it should not occur another time.

Elizabeth Eliza was the first at the appointed spot, as her route had
been somewhat shorter than the one her mother had taken. A wild joy had
seized her when she landed in Egypt, and saw the frequent and happy use
of the donkey as a beast of travel. She had never ventured to ride at
home, and had always shuddered at the daring of the women who rode at
the circuses, and closed her eyes at their performances. But as soon as
she saw the little Egyptian donkeys, a mania for riding possessed her.
She was so tall that she could scarcely, under any circumstances, fall
from them, while she could mount them with as much ease as she could the
arm of the sofa at home, and most of the animals seemed as harmless. It
is true, the donkey-boys gave her the wrong word to use when she might
wish to check the pace of her donkey, and mischievously taught her to
avoid the soothing phrase of _beschwesch_, giving her instead one
that should goad the beast she rode to its highest speed; but Elizabeth
Eliza was so delighted with the quick pace that she was continually
urging her donkey onward, to the surprise and delight of each fresh
attendant donkey-boy. He would run at a swift pace after her, stopping
sometimes to pick up a loose slipper, if it were shuffled off from his
foot in his quick run, but always bringing up even in the end.

Elizabeth Eliza's party had made a quick journey by the route from
Brindisi, and proceeding directly to Cairo, had stopped at a small
French hotel not very far from Mrs. Peterkin and her party. Every
morning at an early hour Elizabeth Eliza made her visit to the Sphinx,
arriving there always the first one of her own party, and spending the
rest of the day in explor