Every eye now is turned upon Reïs Hassan; and Reïs Hassan stands rigid, like a man of stone. The rocks are close ahead--so close that we can see the breakers pouring over them and the swirling eddies between. Our way lies through an opening between the bowlders. Beyond that opening the channel turns off sharply to the left. It is a point at which everything will depend on the shifting of a sail. If done too soon, we miss the mark; if too late, we strike upon the rocks. Suddenly our captain flings up his hand, takes the stairs at a bound, and flies to the prow. The sailors spring to their feet, gathering some round the shoghool, and some round the end of the yard. The Fostât is up beside us. The moment for winning or losing is come. And now, for a couple of breathless seconds, the two dahabeeyahs plunge onward side by side, making for that narrow passage which is only wide enough for one. Then the iron boat, shaving the sand-bank to get a wider berth, shifts her sail first, and shifts it clumsily, breaking or letting go her shoghool. We see the sail flap and the rope fly, and all hands rushing to retrieve it. In that moment Reïs Hassan gives the word. The Philæ bounds forward--takes the channel from under the very bows of the Fostât--changes her sail without a hitch--and dips right away down the deep water, leaving her rival hard and fast among the shallows. The rest of the way is short and open. In less than five minutes we have taken in our sail, paid Reïs Hassan his well-earned guinée, and found a snug corner to moor in. And so ends our memorable race of nearly sixty-eight miles from Edfû to Assûan. CHAPTER X. ASSUAN AND ELEPHANTINE. The green Island of Elephantine, which is about a mile in length, lies opposite Assûan and divides the Nile in two channels. The Libyan and Arabian deserts--smooth amber sand-slopes on the one hand; rugged granite cliffs on the other--come down to the brink on either side. On the Libyan shore a sheik’s tomb, on the Arabian shore a bold fragment of Moorish architecture with ruined arches open to the sky, crown two opposing heights, and keep watch over the gate of the cataract. Just under the Moorish ruin, and separated from the river by a slip of sandy beach, lies Assûan.