SJOUT IN HARVEST-TIME. 51 7 CHAPTER XL.

THE RETURN TO CAIRO CONCLUSION.

.Siout In Harvest-time — A kind Englishwoman — A Slight Experience of Hasheesh— The Calm— Rapid Progress down the Nile — The Last Day of the Voyage— Arrival at Cairo — Tourists preparing for the Desert— Parting with Achmet — Conclusion.

We reached Siout on the morning of the twenty-eighth of March, twelve days after leaving Assouan. I had seen the town, during the Spring of an Egyptian November, glittering over seas of lusty clover and young wheat, and thought it never could look so lovely again ; but as I rode up the long dyke, overlooking the golden waves of harvest, and breathing the balm wafted from lemon groves spangled all over with their milky bloom, I knew not which picture to place in my mind's gallery. I remained half a day ia the place, partly for old acquaintance sake, and partly to enjoy the bath, the cleanest and most luxurious in Egypt. I sought for some relief to my eyes, and as they continued to pain me considerably, I went on board an English boat which had arrived before me, in the hope of finding some medicine adapted to my case. The travellers were a most innocent-faced Englishman and his wife — a beautiful, home-like little creature, with as kind a heart as