on raised platforms and the shouts of applause which rose on all sides to
hail Horapollo--who was here, there, everywhere on his white ass as brisk
as a lad--or to greet some leading official.

And now and again loud cries of anguish were heard, or the closely-packed
throng parted with exclamations of horror. A citizen had had a
sunstroke, or had been seized by the plague. Then the fugitives dragged
others away with them; screaming mothers trying to save their little ones
from the crush on one hand and the contagion on the other, oversetting
one dealer's truck, smashing the eggs and cakes of another. A whole
party were pushed into a deep but half-dried up water-course; the
guardians of the peace flourished their staves, yelling and making their
victims yell in their efforts to restore order--but all this hardly
affected the vast body of spectators, and suddenly peace reigned, the
confusion subsided, the shrieks were silenced. Those who were doomed
might fall or die, be crushed or plague-stricken. Trumpet calls and
singing were heard approaching from the town: the procession, the Bridal
procession was coming! Not a man but would have perished rather than be
deprived of seeing a single act of this stupendous drama.

Those Arabs--what fools they were! Besides the Vekeel only three of
their magnates were present, and those men whom no one knew. Even the
Kadi was nowhere to be seen; and he must have forbidden the Moslem women
to come, for not a single veiled beauty of the harem was visible. Not
one Egyptian woman would have failed to appear if the plague had not kept
so many imprisoned in their houses. Such a thing would never be seen
again; this day's doings would be a tale to tell to future great-
grandchildren!

The music and singing came nearer and nearer; and it did not indeed sound