DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4393#0253
KOROSRO TO ABOU SIMBEL. 235
with what they had seen from the river the rest of the
party then went soberly to bed; but the painter and the writer
had no patience to wait till morning. Almost before the
mooring-rope could be made fast they had jumped ashore
and began climbing the bank.
They went and stood at the feet of the colossi, and on
the threshold of that vast portal beyond which was dark-
ness. The great statues towered above their heads. The
river glittered like steel in the far distance. There was a
keen silence in the air ; and toward the east the Southern
Cross was rising. To the strangers who stood talking-
there with bated breath, the time, the place, even the
sound of their own voices, seemed unreal. They felt as if
the whole scene must fade with the moonlight, and vanish
before morning.
with what they had seen from the river the rest of the
party then went soberly to bed; but the painter and the writer
had no patience to wait till morning. Almost before the
mooring-rope could be made fast they had jumped ashore
and began climbing the bank.
They went and stood at the feet of the colossi, and on
the threshold of that vast portal beyond which was dark-
ness. The great statues towered above their heads. The
river glittered like steel in the far distance. There was a
keen silence in the air ; and toward the east the Southern
Cross was rising. To the strangers who stood talking-
there with bated breath, the time, the place, even the
sound of their own voices, seemed unreal. They felt as if
the whole scene must fade with the moonlight, and vanish
before morning.