Earth-tillers gave him willingly all explanations concerning changes in the form of land because of inundations, and at the same time they begged that the government might think out some easier way of raising water than by sweeps and buckets. They told too of the attack on the house of Prince Rameses, and said that they knew not who threw the stones. Finally they mentioned the priest who had sent the crowd away so successfully; but who he was they knew not. "There is," said one man, "a priest in our neighborhood who cures sore eyes; there is one who heals wounds and sets broken arms and legs. There are some priests who teach reading and writing; there is one who plays on a double flute, and plays even beautifully. But that one who was in the garden of the heir is not among them, and they know nothing of him. Surely he must be the god Num, or some spirit watching over the prince,--may he live through eternity and always have appetite!" "Maybe it is really some spirit," thought Rameses. In Egypt good or evil spirits always came more easily than rain. The water of the Nile from being ruddy became brownish, and in August, the month of Hator, it reached one half its height. The sluices were opened on the banks of the river, and the water began to fill the canals quickly, and also the gigantic artificial lake, Moeris, in the province Fayum, celebrated for the beauty of its roses. Lower Egypt looked like an arm of the sea thickly dotted with hills on which were houses and gardens. Communication by land ceased altogether, and such a multitude of boats circled around on the water--boats white, yellow, red, dark--that they seemed like leaves in autumn. On the highest points of land people had finished harvesting the peculiar cotton of the country, and for the second time had cut clover and begun to gather in olives and tamarinds. On a certain day, while sailing along over inundated lands, the prince saw an unusual movement. On one of the temporary mounds was heard among the trees the loud cry of a woman. "Surely some one is dead," thought Rameses. From a second mound were sailing away in small boats supplies of wheat and some cattle, while people standing at buildings on the land threatened and abused people in the boats. "Some quarrel among neighbors," said the prince to himself. In remoter places there was quiet, and people instead of working or singing were sitting on the ground in silence. "They must have finished work and are resting." But from a third mound a boat moved away with a number of crying children, while a woman wading in the water to her waist shook her fist and threatened. "They are taking children to school," thought Rameses. These happenings began to interest him. On a fourth mound he heard a fresh cry. He shaded his eyes and saw a man lying on the ground; a negro was beating him. "What is happening there?" asked Rameses of the boatman.