nearly midnight
Remains of vast buried cities are occasionally exposed by the shifting , searching storm winds of the desert , and many a modern Arab has cooked his frugal breakfast by splinters picked up from the bones of his ancestors . It was night when we got to the Pyramids , and we concluded to camp with an Arab and his family at the base of the great Cheops until next morning , and then before sunrise scale its steep steps and lofty crest . A few silver coins insured us a warm greeting from the `` Arab family , '' who seemed to vie with each other in preparing a hot supper and clean couches . They sang their desert songs until nearly midnight , the daughter Cleo playing on the harp with dextrous fingers , and throwing a soft soprano voice upon the air , like the tones of an angel , echoing over a bank of wild flowers . Standing on the pinnacle of the Pyramid William again struck one of his theatrical attitudes , and with outstretched hands exclaimed : _ Immortal Sol ! Image of Omnipotence ! To thee lift I my soul in pure devotion ; Out of desert wilds , in golden splendor , Rise and flash thy crimson face , eternal -- Across the wastes of shifting , century sands ; Again is mirrored in my sighing soul The lofty temples and bastioned walls Of Memphis , Balback , Nineveh , Babylon -- Gone from the earth like vapor from old Nile , When thy noonday beams lick up its waters !