But the deck of the barge itself presented a scene of very real though almost indescribable beauty. There were many girls, lightly clad, reclining on the cushions arranged about low tables on the deck. The men beside them were also lightly clad in Egyptian costumes, many of them, though some were in conventional evening dress. But the barge itself was a mass of rich hangings and cushions and tapestries and rugs, many of them trailing in the water, while the low tables were massed with dishes and flowers. A small orchestra, in Egyptian costume and equipped with queer Egyptian instruments, was seated in the bow of the barge. The latter had a huge silken lateen sail, and from the cross-arm which upheld this sail big pendent lamps, fashioned like flowers, cast a bright rosy light on the deck below, making it seem like fairyland. Queer barbaric strains from the little orchestra floated to our ears on the perfume-laden air. Even the water of the tank had the big green leaves and huge white blossoms of hundreds of water-lilies floating on its glinting surface. While I was still half-enchanted by the real beauty of the scene, the Chief stepped forward to the edge of the tank. “Hands up and stop where you are!” he shouted, and leveled the two revolvers he held. The queer music in the air died out in a sudden discord. And at the same moment there came the whine and thud of bullets about us and a man beside me shrieked once and fell, writhing. “Scatter!” shouted the Chief over his shoulder to us, for we were bunched together in the doorway and offered a beautiful target. Then, while the girls on the barge shrieked and shrieked, cowering down among the rich hangings, there followed a battle wildly confused and confusing. Some of our men slid along the walls of the banqueting hall with the idea of surrounding the place. Others dashed back into the dark main hall, their guns spitting vicious flames, while they hugged the walls to be out of the light from the luminous pillars. The doorway was cleared in an instant, the Chief and I ducking behind two of the pillars to shelter our backs while we covered the servants. But there were fifteen or so of these brown-skinned attendants, some of them in the corridors and some in the water. And when they realized that they had only a few men to deal with, they suddenly broke and scattered in all directions. The Chief and I sent shot after shot in their wake, bringing two of them down and whipping up the waters of the tank into tiny fountains that set the lily pads to rocking wildly. But the rest of those in the water clambered out into the corridor, ahead of our men who had started to encircle them, dashed through doorways and disappeared. The servants in the corridors had already vanished.