Mr. Ingram took off his hat in acknowledgment both of the announcement
and of the fact.

"And to us it is not given--not given as yet--to share in the great
deeds of the present. The envy of your sex has driven us from the
paths which lead to honour. But the deeds of the past are as much ours
as yours."

"Oh, quite as much."

"'Tis to your country that we look for enfranchisement from this
thraldom. Yes, Mr. Ingram, the women of America have that strength of
mind which has been wanting to those of Europe. In the United States
woman will at last learn to exercise her proper mission."

Mr. Ingram expressed a sincere wish that such might be the case; and
then wondering at the ingenuity with which Miss Dawkins had travelled
round from Cheops and his Pyramid to the rights of women in America, he
contrived to fall back, under the pretence of asking after the ailments
of Mrs. Damer.

And now at last they were on the sand, in the absolute desert, making
their way up to the very foot of the most northern of the two Pyramids.
They were by this time surrounded by a crowd of Arab guides, or Arabs
professing to be guides, who had already ascertained that Mr. Damer was
the chief of the party, and were accordingly driving him almost to
madness by the offers of their services, and their assurance that he
could not possibly see the outside or the inside of either structure,
or even remain alive upon the ground, unless he at once accepted their
offers made at their own prices.