He remarked, however,
that Kenkenes was absent during the noon-meal, but when the sundown
repast was served and the young man was in his place, Mentu had
forgotten that he had not been there at midday.
Kenkenes had visited his niche in the Arabian desert. On his way to
the statue he came to the line of rocks where he had hidden himself to
get Athor's likeness, and looked down into the quarry opposite him. He
was astonished to see at the ledge, just below, a great water-cart with
three humped oxen attached. The water-bearers were grouped about it
and a Hebrew youth was drawing off the water in skins and jars. The
children received their burdens from his hands and passed up the wooden
incline to the scaffold. There Kenkenes saw that the incline had been
extended to the level of the platform, and the children were able to
deliver the hides directly into the hands of the laborers. Then it
occurred to Kenkenes that there was not a woman in sight about the
quarries. While he wondered, Rachel emerged from the windings of the
valley into the open space below.
She carried a band of linen and a small box of horn in her hand. When
the young bearers saw her, one of them, who had been rubbing his eye,
came to her.
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