Throughout great lengths of shore-line the tuneless stridulation of frogs, the guttural cries of water-birds and the general movement in the sedge indicated a serene content among small life. But sometimes he would find silence on one bank for a goodly stretch where there was neither marsh-chorus nor cadences of insects. The hush would be profound and an affrighted air of suspense was apparent. And there at the river-brink the author of this breathless dismay, some lithe flesh-eater, would stride, shadow-like, through the high reeds to drink. Now and then the woman-like scream of the wildcat, or the harsh staccato laugh of the hyena would startle the marshes into silence. Sometimes retiring shapes would halt and gaze with emberous eyes at the boat moving in midstream. Kenkenes admitted with a grim smile that the great powers of the world and the wild were against him. But Rachel's face came to him as comfort--the memory of it when it was tender and yielding--and with a lover's buoyancy he forgot his sorrows in remembering that she loved him. He dropped the anchor and, lying down in the bottom of his boat, dreamed happily into the dawn. During the day he landed for supplies at a miserable town of pottery-makers, leaving his boat at the crazy wharves. When he returned the bari was gone. A negro, the only one near the river who was awake, told him that a dhow, laden with clay, in making a landing had struck the bari, staved in its side, upset it and sent it adrift. The mischance did not trouble Kenkenes. After some effort he aroused a crew of oarsmen, procured a boat, and continued at once to Thebes. [1] Khu-aten--Tel-el-Amarna. CHAPTER XXII THE FAN-BEARER'S QUEST At sunset on the day after the festivities at the Lady Senci's, Hotep deserted his palace duties and came to the house of Mentu. He had in mind to try again to persuade his friend from his folly, for the scribe was certain that Kenkenes was once more returning to his sacrilege and the Israelite. The old housekeeper informed him that the young master was not at home, though he was expected even now. Hotep waited in the house of his aunt, neighbor to the murket, and about the middle of the first watch asked again for Kenkenes. Nay, the young master had not returned. But would not the noble Hotep enter and await him? The scribe, however, returned to the palace, and put off his visit until the next day. The following noon a page brought him a message from his aunt, the Lady Senci. It was short and distressed. "Kenkenes has not returned, Hotep, and since he is known to have gone upon the Nile, we fear that disaster has overtaken him. Come and help the unhappy murket. His household is so dismayed that it is useless. Come, and come quickly."