midnight
she replied , as though startled from sleep , `` They are no mere mortals ! '' Diodoros shuddered ; he fancied that the procession was floating above the earth ; that , if they had been indeed men of flesh and blood , their steps would have been more distinctly audible on the pavement . Some of them appeared to him to be taller than common mortals , and their chant was certainly that of another world than this where he dwelt . Perhaps these were daimons , the souls of departed Egyptians , who , after a midnight visit to those they had left behind them , were returning to the rock tombs , of which there were many in the stony hills to which this street led . They were walking toward these tombs , and not toward the gate ; and Diodoros whispered his suspicion to his companion , clasping his hand on an amulet in the semblance of an eye , which his Egyptian nurse had fastened round his neck long ago with an Anubic thread , to protect him against the evil-eye and magic spells . But Melissa was listening with such devout attention to the chant that she did not hear him . The fatigue which had reached such a painful climax had , during this peaceful rest , given way to a blissful unconsciousness of self .