ut huts. We are ignorant even of
reading and writing. A pile of rushes for our beds and a rough table
and stools constitute our furniture; but, perhaps, after all one is
not really happier for all the things you have. You may have more
enjoyments, but you have greater cares. I suppose every man loves his
own country best, but I do not think that we can love ours as much as
you do. In the first place, we have been settled there but a few
generations, large numbers of our people constantly moving west,
either by themselves or joining with one of the peoples who push past
us from the far East; beside, wherever we went we should take our
country with us, build houses like those we left behind, live by the
chase or fishing in one place as another, while the Egyptians could
nowhere find a country like Egypt. I suppose it is the people more
than the country, the familiar language, and the familiar faces and
ways. I grant freely that the Egyptians are a far greater people than
we, more powerful, more learned, the masters of many arts, the owners
of many comforts and luxuries, and yet one longs sometimes for one's
free life among the Rebu."

"One thing is, Amuba, you were a prince there and you are not here.
Had you been but a common man, born to labor, to toil, or to fight at
the bidding of your king, you might perhaps find that the life even of
an Egyptian peasant is easier and more pleasant than yours was."

"That may be," Amuba said thoughtfully, "and yet I think that the very
poorest among us was far freer and more independent than the richest
of your Egyptian peasants. He did not grovel on the ground when the
king passed along. It was open to him if he was braver than his
fellows to rise in rank. He could fish, or hunt, or till the ground,
or fashion arms as he chose; his life was not tied down by usage or
custom. He was a man, a poor one, perhaps--a half-savage one, if you
will--but he was a man, while your Egyptian peasants, free as they may
be in name, are the very slaves of law and custom. But I see that the
meal is ready, and I have a grand appetite."

"So have I, Amuba. It is almost worth while walking a long way for the
sake of the appetite one gets at the end."

The meal was an excellent one. One of the slaves who had been brought
was an adept at cooking, and fish, birds, and venison were alike
excellent, and for once the vegetables that formed so large a portion
of the ordinary Egyptian repast were neglected.