Divide this latter with him, and he
shall be content to share more of the first with thee. But thou hast
condemned him without trial, Io. Spare thy heart the hurt and wait."
The young face cleared and with a little sigh she settled back in the
chair and said no more.
It was noon when the royal flotilla was sighted. There were nineteen
barges approaching in the form of two crescents like a parenthesis, the
horns up and down the Nile, and in the center of the inclosed space was
Meneptah's float. Here was only the royal family, the king, queen,
Ta-user, and the two princes, who took the place of fan-bearers in
attendance on their father. The vessel was manned by two reliefs of
twelve oarsmen from Theban nobility.
If magnificence came to conduct Meneptah, it met splendor as its
charge. The pastoral solitude of the Middle country was routed for the
moment by an assemblage of the brilliance and power of all Egypt.
With a shout that made the remote hills reply again and again, the
convoy divided, a half retreating to either side of the Nile and the
home-coming fleet entered the hollow. The nomarch's boat detached
itself from its following and took up a position in the center, beside
the royal barge.
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