HANOU. So that she who dies, sacrificed to the Nile, saves the lives of a whole people. That is a better thing, Nagaou, than to make one man's happiness.

_A pause._

YAOUMA [_to herself_] Perhaps.

HANOU. And on the appointed day one is borne from the house of the G.o.d to the Nile, surrounded by all the dwellers in the town.... The Pharaoh--health and strength be unto him!...

DELETHI. You do not know, Hanou, you tell us what you do not know.

HANOU. But it is so, is it not, Zaya? Zaya knows about the ceremony, because last year it was her sister who was chosen.

MOUENE. Tell us, Zaya.

NAHASI. Yes, tell us the manner of it.

ZAYA. On the fifth day of the month of Paophi....

MOUENE. To-day--that is to-day?

NAHASI. Yes. What will happen.... The prayer of Isis.... But afterwards?

Before?

_They gather round Zaya._

ZAYA. Before the sun has ended his day's journey, the people, summoned to the terraces by a call from the Temple, will intone the great hymn to Isis, which is sung but once a year. Within the house of the G.o.d the a.s.sembled priests will await the sign that shall reveal the virgin to be offered to the Nile to obtain its yearly flood. The name of the chosen will be cried from the doorway on high, caught up by those who hear it first, cried out to others, who in turn will cry it running towards the house that Ammon has favored with his choice. Then shall the happy victim of the year stand forth alone, amid her kinsfolk bowed before her, and to her ears shall rise the shoutings of the mult.i.tude.

ALL. Oh!

DELETHI. And after a month of purification she will be borne to the house of the G.o.d!

ZAYA. And on the day of Prodigies....

NAHASI. Oh, the day of Prodigies!

ZAYA. She will be the foremost nearer to the Sanctuary than all the rest. She will pray with the praying crowd, she will behold the lowering of the stone that hides the face of Isis....

DELETHI. She will behold Isis--face to face....

ALL. Oh!

ZAYA. She will beg the G.o.ddess graciously to incline her head, in sign that, yet another year, Egypt shall be protected. And when the fervor of the crowd's united prayer is great enough, the head of the G.o.ddess of Stone will bow. That will be the first prodigy.

DELETHI. The head of the G.o.ddess of Stone will bow--that will be the first prodigy.

ZAYA. And in the crowd there will be blind who shall see, and deaf who shall hear, and dumb who shall speak.

DELETHI. Perhaps Mieris, our good mistress, will be cured of her blindness at last.

HANOU. And when she who is chosen goes forth from the house of the G.o.d.... Tell us, Zaya, tell us the manner of her going forth.

ZAYA. Three days before the appointed day, in the town and throughout the land, they will begin the preparations for the festival. When the moment comes, the crowd will surge before the temple, guarded by Lybian soldiers. And she, she, the elect, the saviour, will come forth, ringed by the high priests of Ammon in purple and in gold, and aloft on a chariot where perfumes burn, deafened by sound of trumpet and cries of joy, she will behold the people stretch unnumbered arms to her....

ALL. Oh!

DELETHI. And she will be borne to the Nile....

ZAYA. And she will be borne to the Nile. She will board the barge of Ammon....

DELETHI. And the barge will glide from the bank....

ZAYA. And the barge will glide from the bank where all the crowd will bow their faces to the dust. [_She stops, greatly moved_] And when the barge returns she will be gone.

ALL [_in low tones_] And when the barge returns she will be gone.

ZAYA. And after two days the waters of the Nile will rise.

ALL. The waters of the Nile will rise....

DELETHI. And as far as the waters flow they will speak her name, who made the sacrifice, with blessings and with tears.

HANOU. If it were I!...

ALL [_save Yaouma_] If it were I!...

_Yaouma rises to a sitting posture._

ZAYA. If it were you, Yaouma?

YAOUMA. Perhaps I should refuse.

ALL. Oh!

MOUENE [_mischievously_] I know why! I know why!

DELETHI. We know why.

ZAYA. Tell us....

YAOUMA. Tell them....

DELETHI. 'Tis the same reason that has held you there this many a day.

YAOUMA. Yes.

MOUENE. She watches for the coming of the galley with twenty oars, bearing the travellers from the North. There is a young priest among them, the potter's son.

DELETHI. A young priest, the potter's son, who went away two years ago.

YAOUMA. He is my betrothed.