Men and women alike took part in the play, and the general temper of
the merrymakers was good-natured and innocent.
The dusk fell and the shadows of night were made seductive by the dim
lamps that began to burn from mast-top and prow. On the barge of Senci
only a single and subdued light was swung from a bronze tripod in the
bow, and the fourteen charges of the young sculptor, wearied with the
long day's excitement, were disposed in graceful abandon under its
glow. Senci sat with Ta-meri's head in her lap, and three or four
drowsy little girls were tumbled about her feet. Only Io was wide
awake, and even her sweet face wore a pensive air. Kenkenes had
retired to the stern, where, under the high up-standing end, stood a
long wooden bench. The young sculptor had flung himself on this, and
with the whole of the boat and its freight within range of his vision,
he listened to the riot about him.
Suddenly the sound of cautiously wielded oars attracted his attention.
In the end of the boat was a hawser-hole, painted and shaped like the
eye of Osiris. Kenkenes turned about on his couch and watched through
this aperture.
A barge, judiciously darkened, emerged into the circle of faint
radiance about Senci's boat.
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