"But it is possible to grow attached to them," replied the priest smiling.
The pharaoh thanked each of his guides, and concluded,
"I should be glad o show you some favor; ask for one."
The priests listened with indifference, and their chief answered,
"Pardon me, holiness, but what could we wish for? Our figs and dates are as sweet as those in thy garden, our water is as good as that from thy well. If wealth attracted us have we not more of it than all the kings put together?"
"I cannot win these men by anything," thought the pharaoh, "but I will give them a decision of the assembly, and a decision of Amon."
CHAPTER LVII
WHEN he left Fayum the pharaoh and his retinue advanced southward a number of days up the Nile, surrounded by a throng of boats, greeted by shouts, and covered with flowers.
On both banks of the river, on a background of green fields, extended an unbroken series of huts of the people, groves of fig trees, groups of palms. Every hour appeared the white houses of some village, or a larger place with colored buildings, and the immense pylons of temples.
On the west the wall of the Libyan hills was outlined not very distinctly; but on the east the Arabian line approached ever nearer to the river. It was possible to see clearly the steep, jagged cliffs, dark, yellow or rose colored, recalling by their forms the ruins of fortresses or of temples built by giants.