(OK, apologies in advance for dicking around with historical fact...I've mangled time-dates to fit this adventure...)
...Incon & Tusky were stuck on the wrong side of the Nile.
Just then ET came trotting up to them. "Where's Jayhawk?" he asked.
"He flew over us and headed toward the Temple," Incon replied. "But - how are *we* going to get there? Those guys are going to need some pachadermian back-up!"
Tusky, despite his anger at the Queen's abduction, allowed himself a small grin of pride.
ET looked around, and spotted a figure on a hill by the bank, not far away. "D'you think he's a ferryman? Or maybe he knows somebody with a boat."
Incon looked to where he was pointing at the robed and bearded man holding a long staff. "Well, it's worth a shot. Hop on."
"How?" ET looked at her incredulously (never having mounted an elephant before...as it were...).
Tusky obligingly raised his foreleg and Incon told him how to use it as a step. With her pillion securely on Tusky's back, they ambled toward the strange man.
"Erm - excuse us," Incon smiled politely at the stranger, "but - are you by any chance a boatman or a ferryman? You see, it's imperative that we find some way across this river..."
The majestic man looked at them with piercing eyes. Then he turned back and stared at the river.
"Maybe he didn't understand you," ET suggested.
Before Incon could reply, the bearded man raised both his arms and pointed his staff. The river began to boil and churn directly in front of him. Gradually, a depression formed in the water until it seemed to be pulled away at 2 sides...to form a damp pathway on the riverbed. The path was flanked by 2 walls of water. Incon and ET gasped audibly. Tusky raised his trunk in surprise.
The bearded man looked at them and nodded in the direction of the river.
"Go! Go!! Before he changes his mind!" ET urged.
"OK...On, Tusky!" Incon urged her faithful pet down the riverbank and into the miraculous pathway. Tusky went but whimpered slightly, mindful of the 2 walls of water on either side. He could see fish swimming in the water. He hoped this miracle-worker didn't change his mind while they were halfway across.
Incon turned around and called to the man. "THANK YOU!" she shouted back at him as they reached the opposite bank. "We can't thank you enough - er, Mr....Mr...."
"Moses," the man replied.
As soon as they were safe on the other side, Moses lowered his arms. The river fell back in on itself, obliterating the path they'd just crossed and gradually returning to its peaceful gentle tide.
"Who *was* that guy?!" Incon gasped as Tusky started trotting towards the Temple.
"I dunno," ET sighed, "but I have a feeling his talents would go perfectly with freeing thousands upon thousands of Egyptian slaves."
"D'you think?" Incon asked, mulling over the idea.
"Hey, I'm no expert," ET told her, "but it strikes me that anyone who can part a huge body of water could...I dunno...bring down Manna from Heaven!"
"Yeah, you're right," Incon agreed. "A guy like that could do *anything*..."
"Hey, look," ET interrupted her thoughts. "Isn't that the temple just ahead?"
"OK, crunch-time, folks," Incon looked at the approaching Temple worriedly. "Tusky...Tusky! No trunk-bashing until I say so! OK?"
Tusky glared at the familiar Temple and started walking faster...