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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Morning Star, by H. Rider Haggard
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Morning Star
+
+Author: H. Rider Haggard
+
+Release Date: April 3, 2006 [EBook #2722]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MORNING STAR ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by John Bickers; Dagny; Emma Dudding; David Widger
+
+
+
+
+
+MORNING STAR
+
+by H. Rider Haggard
+
+
+
+
+DEDICATION
+
+My dear Budge,--
+
+Only a friendship extending over many years emboldened me, an amateur,
+to propose to dedicate a Romance of Old Egypt to you, one of the world's
+masters of the language and lore of the great people who in these
+latter days arise from their holy tombs to instruct us in the secrets of
+history and faith.
+
+With doubt I submitted to you this story, asking whether you wished
+to accept pages that could not, I feared, be free from error, and with
+surprise in due course I read, among other kind things, your advice to
+me to "leave it exactly as it is." So I take you at your word, although
+I can scarcely think that in paths so remote and difficult I have not
+sometimes gone astray.
+
+Whatever may be the shortcomings, therefore, that your kindness has
+concealed from me, since this tale was so fortunate as to please and
+interest you, its first critic, I offer it to you as an earnest of my
+respect for your learning and your labours.
+
+Very sincerely yours,
+
+H. Rider Haggard.
+
+Ditchingham.
+
+To Doctor Wallis Budge,
+
+Keeper of Egyptian and Assyrian Antiquities, British Museum.
+
+
+
+
+AUTHOR'S NOTE
+
+It may be thought that even in a story of Old Egypt to represent a "Ka"
+or "Double" as remaining in active occupation of a throne, while the
+owner of the said "Double" goes upon a long journey and achieves sundry
+adventures, is, in fact, to take a liberty with Doubles. Yet I believe
+that this is scarcely the case. The _Ka_ or Double which Wiedermann
+aptly calls the "Personality within the Person" appears, according to
+Egyptian theory, to have had an existence of its own. It did not die
+when the body died, for it was immortal and awaited the resurrection
+of that body, with which, henceforth, it would be reunited and dwell
+eternally. To quote Wiedermann again, "The _Ka_ could live without the
+body, but the body could not live without the _Ka_ . . . . . it was
+material in just the same was as the body itself." Also, it would seem
+that in certain ways it was superior to and more powerful than the body,
+since the Egyptian monarchs are often represented as making offerings to
+their own _Kas_ as though these were gods. Again, in the story of "Setna
+and the Magic Book," translated by Maspero and by Mr. Flinders Petrie
+in his "Egyptian Tales," the _Ka_ plays a very distinct part of its own.
+Thus the husband is buried at Memphis and the wife in Koptos, yet the
+_Ka_ of the wife goes to live in her husband's tomb hundreds of miles
+away, and converses with the prince who comes to steal the magic book.
+
+Although I know no actual precedent for it, in the case of a
+particularly powerful Double, such as was given in this romance to Queen
+Neter-Tua by her spiritual father, Amen, the greatest of the Egyptian
+gods, it seems, therefore, legitimate to suppose that, in order to save
+her from the abomination of a forced marriage with her uncle and her
+father's murderer, the _Ka_ would be allowed to anticipate matters a
+little, and to play the part recorded in these pages.
+
+It must not be understood, however, that the fact of marriage with an
+uncle would have shocked the Egyptian mind, since these people, and
+especially their royal Houses, made a habit of wedding their own
+brothers and sisters, as in this tale Mermes wed his half sister Asti.
+
+I may add that there is authority for the magic waxen image which the
+sorcerer Kaku and his accomplice used to bewitch Pharaoh. In the days of
+Rameses III., over three thousand years ago, a plot was made to murder
+the king in pursuance of which such images were used. "Gods of wax . .
+. . . . for enfeebling the limbs of people," which were "great crimes of
+death, the great abomination of the land." Also a certain "magic roll"
+was brought into play which enabled its user to "employ the magic powers
+of the gods."
+
+Still, the end of these wizards was not encouraging to others, for they
+were found guilty and obliged to take their own lives.
+
+But even if I am held to have stretched the prerogative of the _Ka_,
+or of the waxen image which, by the way, has survived almost to our own
+time, and in West Africa, as a fetish, is still pierced with pins or
+nails, I can urge in excuse that I have tried, so far as a modern may,
+to reproduce something of the atmosphere and colour of Old Egypt, as
+it has appeared to a traveller in that country and a student of its
+records. If Neter-Tua never sat upon its throne, at least another
+daughter of Amen, a mighty queen, Hatshepu, wore the crown of the Upper
+and the Lower Lands, and sent her embassies to search out the mysteries
+of Punt. Of romance also, in high places, there must have been
+abundance, though the short-cut records of the religious texts of the
+priests do not trouble themselves with such matters.
+
+At any rate, so believing, in the hope that it may interest readers
+of to-day, I have ventured to discover and present one such romance,
+whereof the motive, we may be sure, is more ancient, by far, than the
+old Egyptians, namely, the triumph of true love over great difficulties
+and dangers. It is pleasant to dream that the gods are on the side of
+such lovers, and deign for their sakes to work the miracles in which for
+thousands of years mankind has believed, although the scientist tells us
+that they do not happen.
+
+How large a part marvel and magic of the most terrible and exalted kind
+played in the life of Old Egypt and of the nations with which she fought
+and traded, we need go no further than the Book of Exodus to learn.
+Also all her history is full of it, since among the Egyptians it was an
+article of faith that the Divinity, which they worshipped under so many
+names and symbols, made use of such mysterious means to influence or
+direct the affairs of men and bring about the accomplishment of Its
+decrees.
+
+H. R. H.
+
+
+
+
+MORNING STAR
+
+by H. Rider Haggard
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+THE PLOT OF ABI
+
+It was evening in Egypt, thousands of years ago, when the Prince Abi,
+governor of Memphis and of great territories in the Delta, made fast his
+ship of state to a quay beneath the outermost walls of the mighty city
+of Uast or Thebes, which we moderns know as Luxor and Karnac on the
+Nile. Abi, a large man, very dark of skin, for his mother was one of the
+hated Hyksos barbarians who once had usurped the throne of Egypt, sat
+upon the deck of his ship and stared at the setting sun which for a few
+moments seemed to rest, a round ball of fire, upon the bare and rugged
+mountains, that ring round the Tombs of the Kings.
+
+He was angry, as the slave-women, who stood on either side fanning him,
+could see well enough by the scowl on his coarse face and the fire in
+his large black eyes. Presently they felt it also, for one of them,
+staring at the temples and palaces of the wonderful city made glorious
+by the light of the setting sun, that city of which she had heard so
+often, touched his head with the feathers of her fan. Thereon, as though
+glad of an excuse to express his ill-humour, Abi sprang up and boxed her
+ears so heavily that the poor girl fell to the deck.
+
+"Awkward cat," he cried, "do that again and you shall be flogged until
+your robe sticks to your back!"
+
+"Pardon, mighty Lord," she said, beginning to weep, "it was an accident;
+the wind caught my fan."
+
+"So the rod shall catch your skin, if you are not more careful, Merytra.
+Stop that snivelling and go send Kaku the Astrologer here. Go, both, I
+weary of the sight of your ugly faces."
+
+The girl rose, and with her fellow slave ran swiftly to the ladder that
+led to the waist of the ship.
+
+"He called me a cat," Merytra hissed through her white teeth to her
+companion. "Well, if so, Sekhet the cat-headed is my godmother, and she
+is the Lady of Vengeance."
+
+"Yes," answered the other, "and he said that we were both ugly--we, whom
+every lord who comes near the Court admires so much! Oh! I wish a holy
+crocodile would eat him, black pig!"
+
+"Then why don't they buy us? Abi would sell his daughters, much more his
+fan-bearers--at a price."
+
+"Because they hope to get us for nothing, my dear, and what is more,
+if I can manage it one of them shall, for I am tired of this life. Have
+your fling while you can, I say. Who knows at which corner Osiris, Lord
+of Death, is waiting."
+
+"Hush!" whispered Merytra, "there is that knave of an astrologer, and he
+looks cross, too."
+
+Then, hand in hand, they went to this lean and learned man and humbly
+bowed themselves before him.
+
+"Master of the Stars," said Merytra, "we have a message for you. No, do
+not look at my cheek, please, the marks are not magical, only those of
+the divine fingers of the glorious hand of the most exalted Prince Abi,
+son of the Pharaoh happily ruling in Osiris, etc., etc., etc., of the
+right, royal blood of Egypt--that is on one side, and on the other of
+a divine lady whom Khem the Spirit, or Ptah the Creator, thought fit to
+dip in a vat of black dye."
+
+"Hem!" said Kaku glancing nervously over his shoulder. Then, seeing that
+there was no one near, he added, "you had better be careful what you
+say, my dear. The royal Abi does not like to hear the colour of his late
+mother defined so closely. But why did he slap your face?"
+
+She told him.
+
+"Well," he answered, "if I had been in his place I would rather have
+kissed it, for it is pretty, decidedly pretty," and this learned man
+forgot himself so far as to wink at Merytra.
+
+"There, Sister," said the girl, "I always told you that rough shells
+have sweet nuts inside of them. Thank you for your compliment, Master of
+learning. Will you tell us our fortune for nothing?"
+
+"Yes, yes," he answered; "at least the fee I want will cost you nothing.
+Now stop this nonsense," he added, anxiously, "I gather that _he_ is
+cross."
+
+"I never saw him crosser, Kaku. I am glad it is you who reads the stars,
+not I. Listen!"
+
+As he spoke an angry roar reached them from the high deck above.
+
+"Where is that accursed astrologer?" said the roar.
+
+"There, what did I tell you? Oh! never mind the rest of the papers, go
+at once. Your robe is full of rolls as it is."
+
+"Yes," answered Kaku as he ran to the ladder, "but the question is, how
+will he like what is in the rolls?"
+
+"The gods be with you!" cried one of the girls after him, "you will need
+them all."
+
+"And if you get back alive, don't forget your promise about the
+fortunes," said the other.
+
+A minute later this searcher of the heavens, a tall, hook-nosed man, was
+prostrating himself before Abi in his pavilion on the upper deck, so low
+that his Syrian-shaped cap fell from his bald head.
+
+"Why were you so long in coming?" asked Abi.
+
+"Because your slaves could not find me, royal Son of the Sun. I was at
+work in my cabin."
+
+"Indeed, I thought I heard them giggling with you down there. What did
+you call me? Royal Son of the Sun? That is Pharaoh's name! Have the
+stars shown you----?" and he looked at him eagerly.
+
+"No, Prince, not exactly that. I did not think it needful to search them
+on a matter which seems established, more or less."
+
+"More or less," answered Abi gloomily. "What do you mean by your 'more
+or less'? Here am I at the turning-point of my fortunes, not knowing
+whether I am to be Pharaoh of the Upper and Lower Lands, or only the
+petty lord of a city and a few provinces in the Delta, and you satisfy
+my hunger for the truth with an empty dish of 'more or less.' Man, what
+do you mean?"
+
+"If your Majesty will be pleased to tell his servant exactly what you
+desire to know, perhaps I may be able to answer the question," replied
+Kaku humbly.
+
+"Majesty! Well, I desire to know by what warrant you call me 'Majesty,'
+who am only Prince of Memphis. Did the stars give it to you? Have you
+obeyed me and asked them of the future?"
+
+"Certainly, certainly. How could I disobey? I observed them all last
+night, and have been working out the results till this moment; indeed,
+they are not yet finished. Question and I will answer."
+
+"You will answer, yes, but what will you answer? Not the truth, I fancy,
+because you are a coward, though if anyone can read the truth, it is
+you. Man," he added fiercely, "if you dare to lie to me I will cut your
+head off and take it to Pharaoh as a traitor's; and your body shall
+lie, not in that fine tomb which you have made, but in the belly of a
+crocodile whence there is no resurrection. Do you understand? Then
+let us come to the point. Look, the sun sets there behind the Tombs of
+Kings, where the departed Pharaohs of Egypt take their rest till the Day
+of Awakening. It is a bad omen for me, I know, who wished to reach this
+city in the morning when Ra was in the House of Life, the East, and not
+in the House of Death, the West; but that accursed wind sent by Typhon,
+held me back and I could not. Well, let us begin at the end which must
+come after all. Tell me, you reader of the heavens, shall I sleep at
+last in that valley?"
+
+"I think so, Prince; at least, so says your planet. Look, yonder, it
+springs to life above you," and he pointed to an orb that appeared at
+the topmost edge of the red glow of the sunset.
+
+"You are keeping something back from me," said Abi, searching Kaku's
+face with his fierce eyes. "Shall I sleep in the tomb of Pharaoh, in my
+own everlasting house that I shall have made ready to receive me?"
+
+"Son of Ra, I cannot say," answered the astrologer. "Divine One, I will
+be frank with you. Though you be wrath, yet will I tell you the truth
+as you command me. An evil influence is at work in your House of Life.
+Another star crosses and re-crosses your path, and though for a long
+time you seem to swallow it up, yet at the last it eclipses you--it and
+one that goes with it."
+
+"What star?" asked Abi hoarsely, "Pharaoh's?"
+
+"Nay, Prince, the star of Amen."
+
+"Amen! What Amen?"
+
+"Amen the god, Prince, the mighty father of the gods."
+
+"Amen the god," repeated Abi in an awed voice. "How can a man fight
+against a god?"
+
+"Say rather against two gods, for with the star of Amen goes the star of
+Hathor, Queen of Love. Not for many periods of thousands of years have
+they been together, but now they draw near to each other, and so will
+remain for all your life. Look," and Kaku pointed to the Eastern horizon
+where a faint rosy glow still lingered reflected from the western sky.
+
+As they watched this glow melted, and there in the pure heavens, lying
+just where it met the distant land, seeming to rest upon the land,
+indeed, appeared a bright and beautiful star, and so close to it that,
+to the eye, they almost touched, a twin star. For a few minutes only
+were they seen; then they vanished beneath the line of the horizon.
+
+"The morning star of Amen, and with it the star of Hathor," said the
+astrologer.
+
+"Well, Fool, what of it?" exclaimed Abi. "They are far enough from
+my star; moreover, it is they that sink, not I, who ride higher every
+moment."
+
+"Aye, Prince, but in a year to come they will certainly eclipse that
+star of yours. Prince, Amen and Hathor are against you. Look, I will
+show you their journeyings on this scroll and you shall see where they
+eat you up yonder, yes, yonder over the Valley of dead Kings, though
+twenty years and more must go by ere then, and take this for your
+comfort, during those years you shine alone," and he began to unfold a
+papyrus roll.
+
+Abi snatched it from him, crumpled it up and threw it in his face.
+
+"You cheat!" he said. "Do you think to frighten me with this nonsense
+about stars? Here is my star," and he drew the short sword at his side
+and shook it over the head of the trembling Kaku. "This sharp bronze
+is the star I follow, and be careful lest it should eclipse _you_, you
+father of lies."
+
+"I have told the truth as I see it," answered the poor astrologer with
+some dignity, "but if you wish, O Prince, that in the future I should
+indeed prophesy pleasant things to you, why, it can be done easily
+enough. Moreover, it seems to me that this horoscope of yours is not so
+evil, seeing that it gives to you over twenty years of life and power,
+more by far than most men can expect--at your age. If after that come
+troubles and the end, what of it?"
+
+"That is so," replied Abi mollified. "It was my ill-temper, everything
+has gone cross to-day. Well, a gold cup, my own, shall pay the price of
+it. Bear me no ill-will, I pray you, learned scribe, and above all tell
+me no falsehood as the message of the stars you serve. It is the truth
+I seek, the truth. If only she may be seen, and clasped, I care not how
+ill-favoured is her face."
+
+Rejoicing at the turn which things had taken, and especially at the
+promise of the priceless cup which he had long coveted, Kaku bowed
+obsequiously. He picked up his crumpled roll and was about to retire
+when through the gloom of the falling night, some men mounted upon asses
+were seen riding over the mud flats that border the Nile at this spot,
+towards that bank where the ship was moored.
+
+"The captain of my guard," said Abi, who saw the starlight gleam upon
+a bronze helmet, "who brings me Pharaoh's answer. Nay, go not, bide and
+hear it, Kaku, and give us your counsel on it, your true counsel."
+
+So the astrologer stood aside and waited, till presently the captain
+appeared saluting.
+
+"What says Pharaoh, my brother?" asked the Prince.
+
+"Lord, he says that he will receive you, though as he did not send for
+you, he thinks that you can scarcely come upon any necessary errand,
+as he has heard long ago of your victory over the desert-dwelling
+barbarians, and does not want the offering of the salted heads of their
+officers which you bring to him."
+
+"Good," said Abi contemptuously. "The divine Pharaoh was ever a woman in
+such matters, as in others. Let him be thankful that he has generals who
+know how to make war and to cut off the heads of his enemies in defence
+of the kingdom. We will wait upon him to-morrow."
+
+"Lord," added the captain, "that is not all Pharaoh's message. He says
+that it has been reported to him that you are accompanied by a guard of
+three hundred soldiers. These soldiers he refuses to allow within the
+gates. He directs that you shall appear before his Majesty attended by
+five persons only."
+
+"Indeed," answered Abi with a scornful laugh. "Does Pharaoh fear, then,
+lest I should capture him and his armies and the great city with three
+hundred soldiers?"
+
+"No, Prince," answered the captain bluntly; "but I think he fears lest
+you should kill him and declare yourself Pharaoh as next in blood."
+
+"Ah!" said Abi, "as next of blood. Then I suppose that there are still
+no children at the Court?"
+
+"None, O Prince. I saw Ahura, the royal wife, the Lady of the Two Lands,
+that fairest of women, and other lesser wives and beautiful slave girls
+without number, but never a one of them had an infant on her breast or
+at her knee. Pharaoh remains childless."
+
+"Ah!" said Abi again. Then he walked forward out of the pavilion whereof
+the curtains were drawn back, and stood a while upon the prow of the
+vessel.
+
+By now night had fallen, and the great moon, rising from the earth as it
+were, poured her flood of silver light over the desert, the mountains,
+the limitless city of Thebes, and the wide rippling bosom of the Nile.
+The pylons and obelisks, glittering with copper and with gold, towered
+to the tender sky. In the window places of palaces and of ten thousand
+homes lamps shone like stars. From gardens, streets and the courts of
+temples floated the faint sound of singing and of music, while on the
+great embattled walls the watchmen called the hour from post to post.
+
+It was a wondrous scene, and the heart of Abi swelled as he gazed upon
+it. What wealth lay yonder, and what power. There was the glorious house
+of his brother, Pharaoh, the god in human form who for all his godship
+had never a child to follow after him when he ascended to Osiris, as he
+who was sickly probably must do before so very long.
+
+Yes, but before then a miracle might happen; in this way or in that a
+successor to the throne might be found and acknowledged, for were not
+Pharaoh and his House beloved by all the priests of Amen, and by the
+people, and was not he, Abi, feared and disliked because he was fierce,
+and the hated savage blood flowed in his veins? Oh! what evil god had
+put it in his father's heart to give him a princess of the Hyksos for a
+mother, the Hyksos, whom the Egyptians loathed, when he had the fairest
+women of the world from whom to choose? Well, it was done and could
+not be undone, though because of it he might lose his heritage of the
+greatest throne in all the earth. Also was it not to this fierce Hyksos
+blood that he owed his strength and vigour?
+
+Why should he wait? Why should he not set his fortune on a cast? He had
+three hundred soldiers with him, picked men and brave, children of the
+sea and the desert, sworn to his House and interests. It was a time of
+festival, those gates were ill-guarded. Why should he not force them
+at the dead of night, make his way to the palace, cause Pharaoh to be
+gathered to his fathers, and at the dawn discover himself seated upon
+Pharaoh's throne? At the thought of it Abi's heart leapt in his breast,
+his wide nostrils spread themselves, and he erected his strong head as
+though already he felt upon it the weight of the double crown. Then he
+turned and walked back to the pavilion.
+
+"I am minded to strike a blow," he said. "Say now, my officer, would you
+and the soldiers follow me into the heart of yonder city to-night to win
+a throne--or a grave? If it were the first, you should be the general
+of all my army, and you, astrologer, should become vizier, yes, after
+Pharaoh you two should be the greatest men in all the land."
+
+They looked at him and gasped.
+
+"A venturesome deed, Prince," said the captain at length; "yet with such
+a prize to win I think that I would dare it, though for the soldiers
+I cannot speak. First they must be told what is on foot, and out of so
+many, how know we that the heart of one or more would not fail? A word
+from a traitor and before this time to-morrow the embalmers, or the
+jackals, would be busy."
+
+Abi heard and looked from him to his companion.
+
+"Prince," said Kaku, "put such thoughts from you. Bury them deep. Let
+them rise no more. In the heavens I read something of this business,
+but then I did not understand, but now I see the black depths of hell
+opening beneath our feet. Yes, hell would be our home if we dared to
+lift hand against the divine person of the Pharaoh. I say that the gods
+themselves would fight against us. Let it be, Prince, let it be, and you
+shall have many years of rule, who, if you strike now, will win nothing
+but a crown of shame, a nameless grave, and the everlasting torment of
+the damned."
+
+As he spoke Abi considered the man's face and saw that all craft had
+left it. This was no charlatan that spoke to him, but one in earnest who
+believed what he said.
+
+"So be it," he answered. "I accept your judgment, and will wait upon my
+fortune. Moreover, you are both right, the thing is too dangerous,
+and evil often falls on the heads of those who shoot arrows at a god,
+especially if they have not enough arrows. Let Pharaoh live on while I
+make ready. Perhaps to-morrow I may work upon him to name me his heir."
+
+The astrologer sighed in relief, nor did the captain seem disappointed.
+
+"My head feels firmer on my shoulders than it did just now," he said:
+"and doubtless there are times when wisdom is better than valour.
+Sleep well, Prince; Pharaoh will receive you to-morrow two hours after
+sunrise. Have we your leave to retire?"
+
+"If I were wise," said Abi, fingering the hilt of his sword as he spoke,
+"you would both of you retire for ever who know all the secret of my
+heart, and with a whisper could bring doom upon me."
+
+Now the pair looked at each other with frightened eyes, and, like his
+master, the captain began to play with his sword.
+
+"Life is sweet to all men, Prince," he said significantly, "and we have
+never given you cause to doubt us."
+
+"No," answered Abi, "had it been otherwise I should have struck first
+and spoken afterwards. Only you must swear by the oath which may not be
+broken that in life or death no word of this shall pass your lips."
+
+So they swore, both of them, by the holy name of Osiris, the judge and
+the redeemer.
+
+"Captain," said Abi, "you have served me well. Your pay is doubled, and
+I confirm the promise that I made to you--should I ever rule yonder you
+shall be my general."
+
+While the soldier bowed his thanks, the prince said to Kaku,
+
+"Master of the stars, my gold cup is yours. Is there aught else of mine
+that you desire?"
+
+"That slave," answered the learned man, "Merytra, whose ears you boxed
+just now----"
+
+"How do you know that I boxed her ears?" asked Abi quickly. "Did the
+stars tell you that also? Well, I am tired of the sly hussy--take her.
+Soon I think she will box yours."
+
+But when Kaku sought Merytra to tell her the glad tidings that she was
+his, he could not find her.
+
+Merytra had disappeared.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+THE PROMISE OF THE GOD
+
+It was morning at Thebes, and the great city glowed in the rays of
+the new-risen sun. In a royal barge sat Abi the prince, splendidly
+apparelled, and with him Kaku, his astrologer, his captain of the guard
+and three other of his officers, while in a second barge followed slaves
+who escorted two chiefs and some fair women captured in war, also the
+chests of salted heads and hands, offerings to Pharaoh.
+
+The white-robed rowers bent to their oars, and the swift boat shot
+forward up the Nile through a double line of ships of war, all of them
+crowded with soldiers. Abi looked at these ships which Pharaoh had
+gathered there to meet him, and thought to himself that Kaku had given
+wise counsel when he prayed him to attempt no rash deed, for against
+such surprises clearly Pharaoh was well prepared. He thought it again
+when on reaching the quay of cut stones he saw foot and horse-men
+marshalled there in companies and squadrons, and on the walls above
+hundreds of other men, all armed, for now he saw what would have
+happened to him, if with his little desperate band he had tried to
+pierce that iron ring of watching soldiers.
+
+At the steps generals met him in their mail and priests in their full
+robes, bowing and doing him honour. Thus royally escorted, Abi passed
+through the open gates and the pylons of the splendid temple dedicated
+to the Trinity of Thebes, "the House of Amen in the Southern Apt,"
+where gay banners fluttered from the pointed masts, up the long street
+bordered with tall houses set in their gardens, till he came to the
+palace wall. Here more guards rolled back the brazen gates which in
+his folly of a few hours gone he had thought that he could force, and
+through the avenues of blooming trees he was led to the great pillared
+hall of audience.
+
+After the brightness without, that hall seemed almost dark, only a ray
+of sunshine flowing from an unshuttered space in the clerestory above,
+fell full on the end of it, and revealed the crowned Pharaoh and his
+queen seated in state upon their thrones of ivory and gold. Gathered
+round and about him also were scribes and councillors and captains, and
+beyond these other queens in their carved chairs and attended, each of
+them, by beautiful women of the household in their gala dress. Moreover,
+behind the thrones, and at intervals between the columns, stood the
+famous Nubian guard of two hundred men, the servants of the body of
+Pharaoh as they were called, each of them chosen for faithfulness and
+courage.
+
+The centre of all this magnificence was Pharaoh, on him the sunlight
+beat, to him every eye was turned, and where his glance fell there heads
+bowed and knees were bent. A small thin man of about forty years of age
+with a puckered, kindly and anxious face, and a brow that seemed to
+sink beneath the weight of the double crown that, save for its royal
+snake-crest of hollow gold, was after all but of linen, a man with
+thin, nervous hands which played amongst the embroideries of his golden
+robe--such was Pharaoh, the mightiest monarch in the world, the ruler
+whom millions that had never seen him worshipped as a god.
+
+Abi, the burly framed, thick-lipped, dark-skinned, round-eyed Abi, born
+of the same father, stared at him with wonderment, for years had passed
+since last they met, and in the palace when they were children a gulf
+had been set between the offspring of a royal mother and the child of a
+Hyksos concubine taken into the Household for reasons of state. In his
+vigour, and the might of his manhood, he stared at this weakling, the
+son of a brother and a sister, and the grandson of a brother and a
+sister. Yet there was something in that gentle eye, an essence of
+inherited royalty, before which his rude nature bowed. The body might be
+contemptible, but within it dwelt the proud spirit of the descendant of
+a hundred kings.
+
+Abi advanced to the steps of the throne and knelt there, till after a
+little pause Pharaoh stretched out the sceptre in his hand for him to
+kiss. Then he spoke in his light, quick voice.
+
+"Welcome, Prince and my brother," he said. "We quarrelled long ago,
+did we not, and many years have passed since we met, but Time heals all
+wounds and--welcome, son of my father. I need not ask if you are well,"
+and he glanced enviously at the great-framed man who knelt before him.
+
+"Hail to your divine Majesty!" answered Abi in his deep voice. "Health
+and strength be with you, Holder of the Scourge of Osiris, Wearer of the
+Feathers of Amen, Mortal crowned with the glory of Ra."
+
+"I thank you, Prince," answered Pharaoh gently, "and that health and
+strength I need, who fear that I shall only find them when I have
+yielded up the Scourge of Osiris whereof you speak to him who lent it
+me. But enough of myself. Let us to business, afterwards we will talk
+of such matters together. Why have you left your government at Memphis
+without leave asked, to visit me here in my City of the Gates?"
+
+"Be not wrath with me," answered Abi humbly. "A while ago, in obedience
+to your divine command, I attacked the barbarians who threatened your
+dominions in the desert. Like Menthu, god of war, I fell upon them.
+I took them by surprise, I smote them, thousands of them bit the dust
+before me. Two of their kings I captured with their women--they wait
+without, to be slain by your Majesty. I bring with me the heads of
+a hundred of their captains and the hands of five hundred of their
+soldiers, in earnest of the truth of my word. Let them be spread out
+before you. I report to your divine Majesty that those barbarians are no
+more, that for a generation, at least, I have made the land safe to your
+uttermost dominions in the north. Suffer that the heads and the hands be
+brought in and counted out before your Majesty, that the smell of them
+may rise like incense to your divine nostrils."
+
+"No, no," said Pharaoh, "my officers shall count them without, for I
+love not such sights of death, and I take your word for the number. What
+payment do you ask for this service, my brother, for with great gifts
+would I reward you, who have done so well for me and Egypt?"
+
+Before he answered Abi looked at the beautiful queen, Ahura, who sat at
+Pharaoh's side, and at the other royal consorts and women.
+
+"Your Majesty," he said, "I see here many wives and ladies, but royal
+children I do not see. Grant--for doubtless they are in their own
+chambers--grant, O Pharaoh, that they may be led hither that my eyes may
+feed upon their loveliness, and that I may tell of them, each of them,
+to their cousins who await me at Memphis."
+
+At these words a flush as of shame spread itself over the lovely face of
+Ahura, the royal wife, the Lady of the Two Lands; while the women turned
+their heads away whispering to each other bitterly, for the insult hurt
+them. Only Pharaoh set his pale face and answered with dignity.
+
+"Prince Abi, to affront those whom the gods have smitten, be they kings
+or peasants, is an unworthy deed which the gods will not forget. You
+know well that I have no children. Why then do you ask me to show you
+their loveliness?"
+
+"I had heard rumours, O Pharaoh," answered the Prince, "no more. Indeed,
+I did not believe them, for where there are so many wives I was certain
+that there would be some mothers. Therefore I asked to be sure before
+I proffered a petition which now I will make to you not for my own sake
+but for Egypt's and yours, O Pharaoh. Have I your leave to speak here in
+public?"
+
+"Speak on," said Pharaoh sternly. "Let aught that is for the welfare of
+Egypt be heard by Egypt."
+
+"Your Majesty has told me," replied Abi bowing, "that the gods, being
+wrath, have denied you children. Not so much as one girl of your blood
+have they given to you to fill your throne after you when in due season
+it pleases you to depart to Osiris. Were it otherwise, were there even
+but a single woman-child of your divine race, I would say nothing, I
+would be silent as the grave. But so it is, and though your queens be
+fair and many, so it would seem that it must remain, since the ears of
+the gods having been deaf to your pleadings for so long, although you
+have built them glorious temples and made them offerings without count,
+will scarcely now be opened. Even Amen your father, Amen, whose name you
+bear, will perform no miracle for you, O Pharaoh, who are so great that
+he has decreed that you shall shine alone like the full moon at night,
+not sharing your glory with a single star."
+
+Now Ahura the Queen, who all this while had been listening intently,
+spoke for the first time in a quick angry voice, saying,
+
+"How know you that, Prince of Memphis? Sometimes the gods relent and
+that which they have withheld for a space, they give. My lord lives, and
+I live, and a child of his may yet fill the throne of Egypt."
+
+"It may be so, O Queen," said Abi bowing, "and for my part I pray that
+it will be so, for who am I that I should know the purpose of the kings
+of heaven? If but one girl be born of you and Pharaoh, then I take
+back my words and give to you that title which for many years has been
+written falsely upon your thrones and monuments, the title of Royal
+Mother."
+
+Now Ahura would have answered again, for this sneering taunt stung her
+to the quick. But Pharaoh laid his hand upon her knee and said,
+
+"Continue, Prince and brother. We have heard from you that which we
+already know too well--that I am childless. Tell us what we do not know,
+the desire of your heart which lies hid beneath all these words."
+
+"Pharaoh, it is this--I am of your holy blood, sprung of the same divine
+father----"
+
+"But of a mother who was not divine," broke in Ahura; "of a mother taken
+from a race that has brought many a curse upon Khem, as any mirror will
+show you, Prince of Memphis."
+
+"Pharaoh," went on Abi without heeding her, "you grow weak; heaven
+desires you, the earth melts beneath you. In the north and in the south
+many dangers threaten Egypt. Should you die suddenly without an heir,
+barbarians will flow in from the north and from the south, and the great
+ones of the land will struggle for your place. Pharaoh, I am a warrior;
+I am built strong; my children are many; my house is built upon a rock;
+the army trusts me; the millions of the people love me. Take me then to
+rule with you and in the hearing of all the earth name me and my sons
+as your successors, so that our royal race may continue for generation
+after generation. So shall you end your days in peace and hope. I have
+spoken."
+
+Now, as the meaning of this bold request sank into their hearts, all the
+court there gathered gasped and whispered, while the Queen Ahura in her
+anger crushed the lotus flower which she held in her hand and cast it to
+the floor. Only Pharaoh sat still and silent, his head bent and his eyes
+shut as though in prayer. For a minute or more he sat thus, and when he
+lifted his pale, pure face, there was a smile upon it.
+
+"Abi, my brother," he said in his gentle voice, "listen to me. There are
+those who filled this throne before me, who on hearing such words would
+have pointed to you with their sceptres, whereon, Abi, those lips of
+yours would have grown still for ever, and you and your name and the
+names of all your House would have been blotted out by death. But, Abi,
+you were ever bold, and I forgive you for laying open the thoughts of
+your heart to me. Still, Abi, you have not told us all of them. You have
+not told us, for instance," he went on slowly, and in the midst of an
+intense silence, "that but last night you debated whether it would not
+be possible with that guard of yours to break into my palace and put me
+to the sword and name yourself Pharaoh--by right of blood, Abi; yes, by
+right of blood--my blood shed by you, my brother."
+
+As these words left the royal lips a tumult arose in the hall, the women
+and the great officers sprang up, the captains stepped forward drawing
+their swords to avenge so horrible a sacrilege. But Pharaoh waved his
+sceptre, and they were still, only Abi cried in a great voice.
+
+"Who has dared to whisper a lie so monstrous?" And he glared first at
+Kaku and then at the captain of his guard who stood behind him, and
+choked in wrath, or fear, or both.
+
+"Suspect not your officers, Prince," went on the Pharaoh, still smiling,
+"for on my royal word they are innocent. Yet, Abi, a pavilion set upon
+the deck of a ship is no good place to plot the death of kings. Pharaoh
+has many spies, also, at times, the gods, to whom as you say he is so
+near, whisper tidings to him in his sleep. Suspect not your officers,
+Abi, although I think that to yonder Master of the Stars who stands
+behind you, I should be grateful, since, had you attempted to execute
+this madness, but for him I might have been forced to kill you, Abi,
+as one kills a snake that creeps beneath his mat. Astrologer, you shall
+have a gift from me, for you are a wise man. It may take the place,
+perhaps, of one that you have lost; was it not a certain woman slave
+whom your master gave to you last night--after he had punished her for
+no fault?"
+
+Kaku prostrated himself before the glory of Pharaoh, understanding at
+last that it was the lost girl Merytra who had overheard and betrayed
+them. But heeding him no more, his Majesty went on.
+
+"Abi, Prince and brother, I forgive you a deed that you purposed but
+did not attempt. May the gods and the spirits of our fathers forgive
+you also, if they will. Now as to your demand. You are my only living
+brother, and therefore I will weigh it. Perchance, if I should die
+without issue, although you are not all royal, although there flows in
+your veins a blood that Egypt hates; although you could plot the murder
+of your lord and king, it may be well that when I am gone you should
+fill my place, for you are brave and of the ancient race on one side,
+if base-born on the other. But I am not yet dead, and children may still
+come to me. Abi, will you be a prisoner until Osiris calls me, or will
+you swear an oath?"
+
+"I will swear an oath," answered the Prince hoarsely, for he knew his
+shame and danger.
+
+"Then kneel here, and by the dreadful Name swear that you will lift no
+hand and plot no plot against me. Swear that if a child, male or female,
+should be given to me, you will serve such a child truly as your lord
+and lawful Pharaoh. In the presence of all this company, swear, knowing
+that if you break the oath in letter or in spirit, then all the gods of
+Egypt shall pour their curse upon your head in life, and in death shall
+give you over to the everlasting torments of the damned."
+
+So, having little choice, Abi swore by the Name and kissed the sceptre
+in token of his oath.
+
+
+
+It was night. Dark and solemn was the innermost shrine of the vast
+temple, the "House of Amen in the Northern Apt," which we call Karnak,
+the very holy of holies where, fashioned of stone, and with the
+feathered crown upon his head, stood the statue of Amen-ra, father of
+the gods. Here, where none but the high-priest and the royalties of
+Egypt might enter, Pharaoh and his wife Ahura, wrapped in brown cloaks
+like common folk, knelt at the feet of the god and prayed. With tears
+and supplications did they pray that a child might be given to them.
+
+There in the sacred place, lit only by a single lamp which burned from
+age to age, they told the story of their grief, whilst high above them
+the cold, calm countenance of the god seemed to stare through the gloom,
+as for a thousand years, in joy or sorrow, it had stared at those that
+went before them. They told of the mocking words of Abi who had demanded
+to see their children, the children that were not; they told of their
+terror of the people who demanded that an heir should be declared; they
+told of the doom that threatened their ancient house, which from Pharaoh
+to Pharaoh, all of one blood, for generations had worshipped in this
+place. They promised gifts and offerings, stately temples and wide
+lands, if only their desire might be fulfilled.
+
+"Let me no more be made a mock among men," cried the beautiful queen,
+beating her forehead upon the stone feet of the god. "Let me bear a
+child to fill the seat of my lord the King, and then if thou wilt, take
+my life in payment."
+
+But the god made no answer, and wearied out at length they rose and
+departed. At the door of the sanctuary they found the high-priest
+awaiting them, a wizened, aged man.
+
+"The god gave no sign, O High-priest," said Pharaoh sadly; "no voice
+spoke to us."
+
+The old priest looked at the weeping queen, and a light of pity crept
+into his eyes.
+
+"To me, watching without," he said, "a voice seemed to speak, though
+what it said I may not reveal. Go to your palace now, O Pharaoh, and O
+Queen Ahura, and take your rest side by side. I think that in your sleep
+a sign will come to you, for Amen is pitiful, and loves his children
+who love him. According to that sign so speak to the Prince Abi, speak
+without fear or doubt, since for good or ill it shall be fulfilled."
+
+Then like shadows, hand in hand, this royal pair glided down the vast,
+pillared halls till at the pylon gates, which were opened for them, they
+found their litters, and were borne along the great avenue of ram-headed
+sphinxes back to a secret door in the palace wall.
+
+
+
+It was past midnight. Deep darkness and heavy silence lay upon Thebes,
+broken only by dogs howling at the stars and the occasional challenge
+of soldiers on the walls. Side by side in their golden bed the wearied
+Pharaoh and his queen slept heavily. Presently Ahura woke. She started
+up in the bed; she stared at the darkness about her with frightened
+eyes; she stretched out her hand and clasping Pharaoh by the arm,
+whispered in a thrilling voice,
+
+"Awake, awake! I have that which I must tell you."
+
+Pharaoh roused himself, for there was something in Ahura's voice which
+swept away the veils of sleep.
+
+"What has chanced, Ahura?" he asked.
+
+"O Pharaoh, I have dreamed a dream, if indeed it were but a dream. It
+seemed to me that the darkness opened, and that standing in the darkness
+I saw a Glory which had neither shape nor form. Yet a voice spoke from
+the Glory, a low, sweet voice: 'Queen Ahura, my daughter,' it said, 'I
+am that Spirit to whom thou and thy husband did pray this night in
+the sanctuary of my temple. It seemed to both of you that your prayers
+remained unheard, yet it was not so, as my priest knew well. Queen
+Ahura, thou and Pharaoh thy husband have put your trust in me these many
+years, and not in vain. A daughter shall be given to thee and Pharaoh,
+and my Spirit shall be in that child. She shall be beautiful and
+glorious as no woman was before her, for I clothe her with health and
+power and wisdom. She shall rule over the Northern and the Southern
+Lands; yea, for many years the double crown shall rest upon her brow,
+and no king that went before her, and no king that follows after her,
+shall be more great in Egypt. Troubles and dangers shall threaten her,
+but the Spirit that I give to her shall protect her in them all, and she
+shall tread her enemy beneath her feet. A royal lover shall come to her
+also, and she shall rejoice in his love and from it shall spring many
+kings and princes. Neter-Tua, Morning Star, shall be her name, and
+high-priestess of Amen--no less--shall be her office, for she is my
+child whom I have taken from heaven and sent down to earth; the child
+that I have given to Pharaoh and to thee, and I love her and appoint the
+good goddesses to be her companions, and command Osiris to receive her
+at the last.
+
+"'Behold, in token of these things I lay my symbol on thy breast, and on
+her breast also shall that symbol be. When I lift it from thee and thou
+dost open thy eyes, then awaken Pharaoh at thy side and let these my
+words be written in a roll, so that none of them are forgotten.'
+
+"Then, O Pharaoh," went on Ahura, "from the Glory there came forth a
+hand, and in the hand was the Symbol of Life shining as though with
+fire, and the hand laid it upon my breast and it burned me as though
+with fire, and I awoke and lo! darkness was all about me, nothing but
+darkness, and at my side I heard you sleeping."
+
+Now when Pharaoh had listened to this dream, he kissed the queen and
+blessed her because of its good omen, and clapped his hands to summon
+the women of honour who slept without. They ran in bearing lights, and
+by the lights he saw that beneath the throat of the Queen upon her fair
+skin, appeared a red mark, and the shape of it was the shape of the Sign
+of Life; yes, there was the loop, and beneath the loop the cross.
+
+Then Pharaoh commanded that the chief of his scribes should come to him
+with papyrus and writing tools, and that the high-priest of Amen
+should be brought swiftly from the temple. So the scribe came to the
+bed-chamber of the King, and in the presence of the high-priest all
+the words of Amen were written down, not one of them was omitted, and
+Pharaoh and the Queen signed the roll, and the high-priest witnessed
+it and, copies having been made, bore it away to hide it in the secret
+treasury of Amen. But the mark of the Cross of Life remained upon the
+breast of the Queen Ahura till the day that she died.
+
+
+
+Now in the morning Pharaoh summoned his Court and commanded that the
+Prince Abi should be brought before him. So the Prince came and Pharaoh
+addressed him kindly.
+
+"Son of my father," he said, "I have considered your request that I
+should take you to rule with me on the throne of Egypt, and name you and
+your sons to be Pharaohs after me, and it is refused. Know that it has
+been revealed to me and to the royal wife, Ahura, by the greatest of the
+gods, that a daughter shall be born to us in due season, who shall be
+called Morning Star of Amen, and that she and her seed shall be Pharaohs
+after me. Therefore rejoice with us and return to your government,
+Prince Abi, and be happy in our love, and in the goods and greatness
+that the gods have given you."
+
+Now Abi shook with anger, for he thought that all this tale was a trick
+and a snare. But knowing that his peril was great there in the hand of
+Pharaoh, he answered only that when this Morning Star arose, his
+star should do it reverence, though as the words passed his lips he
+remembered the prophecy of his astrologer Kaku, that the Morning Star of
+Amen should blot out that star of his.
+
+"You think that I speak falsely, Prince Abi, yes, that I stain my lips
+with lies," said Pharaoh with indignation. "Well, I forgive you this
+also. Go hence and await the issue and know by this sign that truth is
+in my heart. When the Princess Neter-Tua is born, upon her breast shall
+be seen the symbol of the Sign of Life. Depart now, lest I grow angry.
+The gifts I have promised shall follow you to Memphis."
+
+So Abi returned to the white-walled city of Memphis and sat there
+sullenly, putting it about that a plot was on foot to deprive him of
+his heritage. But Kaku shook his head, saying in secret that the Star,
+Neter-Tua, would arise, for so it was decreed by Amen, father of the
+gods.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+RAMES, THE PRINCESS, AND THE CROCODILE
+
+At the appointed time to Ahura, the royal wife, was born a child, a
+girl with a fresh and lovely face and waving hair and eyes that from the
+first were blue like the summer sky at even. Also on her breast was a
+mole of the length of a finger nail, which mole was shaped like the holy
+Sign of Life.
+
+Now Pharaoh and his house and the priests in every temple, and indeed
+all Egypt went mad with joy, though there were many who in secret
+mourned over the sex of the infant, whispering that a man and not a
+woman should wear the Double Crown. But in public they said nothing,
+since the story of this child had gone abroad and folk declared that it
+was sent by the gods, and divine, and that the goddesses, Isis, Nepthys,
+and Hathor, with Khemu, the Maker of Mankind, were seen in the birth
+chamber, glowing like gold.
+
+Also Pharaoh issued a decree that wherever the name of the Queen Ahura
+was graven in all the land, to it should be added the title "By the
+will of Amen, Mother of his Morning Star," and that a new hall should be
+built in the temple of Amen in the Northern Apt, and all about it carved
+the story of the coming of Prince Abi and of the vision of the Queen.
+
+But Ahura never lived to see this glorious place, since from the hour of
+her daughter's birth she began to sink. On the fourteenth day, the day
+of purification, she bade the nurse bring the beautiful babe, and gazed
+at it long and blessed it, and spoke with the Ka or Double of the child,
+which she said she saw lying on her arm beside it, bidding that Ka
+protect it well through the dangers of life and death until the hour of
+resurrection. Then she said that she heard Amen calling to her to pay
+the price which she had promised for the gift of the divine child, the
+price of her own life, and smiled upon Pharaoh her husband, and died
+happily with a radiant face.
+
+Now joy was turned to mourning, and during all the days of embalming
+Egypt wept for Ahura until, at length, the time came when her body was
+rowed across the Nile to the splendid tomb which she had made ready in
+the Valley of the Queens, causing masons and artists to labour at it
+without cease. For Ahura knew from the day of her vision that she was
+doomed to die, and remembered that the tombs of the dead remain as the
+live hands leave them, since few waste gold and toil upon the eternal
+house of one who is dead.
+
+So Ahura was buried with great pomp and all her jewels, and Pharaoh, who
+mourned her truly, made splendid offerings in the chapel of her tomb,
+and having laid in the mouth of it the funeral boat in which she was
+borne across the Nile, he built it up for ever, and poured sand over the
+rock, so that none should find its place until the Day of Awakening.
+
+Meanwhile, the infant grew and flourished, and when it was six months
+old, was taken to the college of the priestesses of Amen, there to be
+reared and taught.
+
+
+
+Now on the day of the birth of the Princess Neter-Tua, there happened
+another birth with which our story has to do. The captain of the
+guard of the temple of Amen was one Mermes, who had married his own
+half-sister, Asti, the enchantress. As was well known, this Mermes was
+by right and true descent the last of that house of Pharaohs which had
+filled the throne of Egypt until their line was cast down generations
+before by the dynasty that now ruled the land, whereof the reigning
+Pharaoh and his daughter Neter-Tua alone remained. A long while past, in
+the early days of his reign, his council has whispered in Pharaoh's ear
+that he should kill Mermes and his sister, lest a day should come when
+they rebelled against him, proclaiming that they did so by right of
+blood. But Pharaoh, who was gentle and hated murder, instead of slaying
+Mermes sent for him and told him all.
+
+Then Mermes, a noble-looking man as became the stock from which he
+sprang, prostrated himself and said,
+
+"O Pharaoh, why should you kill me? It has pleased the gods to debase
+my House and to set up yours. Have I ever lifted up my heel against you
+because my forefathers were kings, or plotted with the discontent to
+overthrow you! See, I am satisfied with my station, which is that of a
+noble and a soldier in your army. Therefore let me and my half-sister,
+the wise lady Asti whom I purpose to marry, dwell on in peace as your
+true and humble servants. Dip not your hands in our innocent blood,
+O Pharaoh, lest the gods send a curse upon you and your House and our
+ghosts come back from the grave to haunt you."
+
+When Pharaoh heard these words, his heart was moved in him, and he
+stretched out his sceptre for Mermes to kiss, thereby granting to him
+life and protection.
+
+"Mermes," he said, "you are an honourable man, and my equal in blood if
+not in place. For their own purposes the gods raise up one and cast down
+another that at last their ends may be fulfilled. I believe that you
+will work no harm against me and mine, and, therefore, I will work no
+harm against you and your sister Asti, Mistress of Magic. Rather shall
+you be my friend and counsellor."
+
+Then Pharaoh offered high rank and office to him, but Mermes would not
+take them, answering that if he did, envy would be stirred up against
+him, and in this way or that bring him to his death, since tall trees
+are the first to fall. So in the end Pharaoh made Mermes Captain of the
+Guard of Amen, and gave him land and houses enough to enable him to
+live as a noble of good estate, but no more. Also he became a friend of
+Pharaoh and one of his inner Council, to whose voice he always listened,
+for Mermes was a true-hearted man.
+
+Afterwards Mermes married Asti, but like Pharaoh for a long while he
+remained childless, since he took no other wives. On the day of the
+birth of the Princess Tua, the Morning Star of Amen, however, Asti bore
+a son, a royal-looking child of great strength and beauty and very fair
+in colour, as tradition said that the kings of his race had been before
+him, but with black and shining eyes.
+
+"See," said the midwife, "here is a head shaped to wear a crown."
+
+Whereon Asti, his mother, forgetting her caution in her joy, or perhaps
+inspired by the gods, for from her childhood she was a prophetess,
+answered,
+
+"Yes, and I think that this head and a crown will come close together,"
+and she kissed him and named him Rames after her royal forefather, the
+founder of their line.
+
+As it chanced a spy overheard this saying and reported it to the
+Council, and the Council urged Pharaoh to cause the boy to be put away,
+as they had urged in the case of his father, Mermes, because of the
+words of omen that Asti had spoken, and because she had given her son a
+royal name, naming him after the majesty of Ra, as though he were indeed
+the child of a king. But Pharaoh would not, asking with his soft smile
+whether they wished him to baptise his daughter in the blood of another
+infant who drew his first breath upon the same day, and adding:
+
+"Ra sheds his glory upon all, and this high-born boy may live to be a
+friend in need to her whom Amen has given to Egypt. Let things befall as
+the gods decree. Who am I that I should make myself a god and destroy a
+life that they have fashioned?"
+
+So the boy Rames lived and throve, and Mermes and Asti, when they came
+to hear of these things, thanked Pharaoh and blessed him.
+
+Now the house of Mermes, as Captain of the Guard, was within the wall of
+the great temple of Amen, near to the palace of the priestesses of Amen
+where the Princess Neter-Tua was nurtured. Thus it came about that when
+the Queen Ahura died, the lady Asti was named as nurse to the Princess,
+since Pharaoh said that she should drink no milk save that of one in
+whose veins ran royal blood. So Asti was Tua's foster mother, and
+night by night she slept in her arms together with her own son, Rames.
+Afterwards, too, when they were weaned the babes were taught to walk and
+speak together, and later, as children, they became playmates.
+
+Thus from the first these two loved each other, as brother and sister
+love when they are twins. But although the boy was bold and brave, this
+little princess always had the mastery of him, not because she was a
+princess and heir to the throne of Egypt--for all the high titles
+they gave her fell idly on her ears, nor did she think anything of
+the bowings of courtiers and of priests--but from some strength within
+herself. She it was that set the games they played, and when she talked
+he was obliged to listen, for although she was so sound and healthy,
+this Tua differed from other children.
+
+Thus she had what she called her "silent hours" when she would suffer no
+one to come near her, not her ladies or her foster-mother, Asti herself,
+nor even Rames. Then, followed by the women at a distance, she would
+wander among the great columns of the temple and study the sculptures
+on the walls; and, since all places were open to her, Pharaoh's child,
+enter the sanctuaries, and stare at the gods that sat in them fashioned
+in granite and in alabaster. This she would do even in the solemn
+moonlight when mortals were afraid to approach these sacred shrines, and
+come thence unconcerned and smiling.
+
+"What do you see there, O Morning Star?" asked little Rames of her once.
+"They are dull things, those stone gods that have never moved since the
+beginning of the world; also they frighten me, especially when Ra is
+set."
+
+"They are not dull, and they do not frighten me," answered Tua; "they
+talk to me, and although I cannot understand all they say, I am happy
+with them."
+
+"Talk!" he said contemptuously, "how can stones talk?"
+
+"I do not know. I think it is their spirits that talk, telling me
+stories which happened before I was born and that shall happen after
+I am dead, yes, and after _they_ seem to be dead. Now be silent--I say
+that they talk to me--it is enough."
+
+"For me it would be more than enough," said the boy, "but then I am not
+called Child of Amen, who only worship Menthu, God of War."
+
+
+
+When Rames was seven years of age, every morning he was taken to school
+in the temple, where the priests taught him to write with pens of reed
+upon tablets of wood, and told him more about the gods of Egypt than he
+ever wanted to hear again. During these hours, except when she was being
+instructed by the great ladies of the Court, or by high-priestesses,
+Tua was left solitary, since by the command of Pharaoh no other children
+were allowed to play with her, perhaps because there were none in the
+temple of her age whose birth was noble.
+
+Once when he came back from his school in the evening Rames asked her
+if she had not been lonely without him. She answered, No, as she had
+another companion.
+
+"Who is it?" he asked jealously. "Show me and I will fight him."
+
+"No one that you can see, Rames," she replied. "Only my own Ka."
+
+"Your Ka! I have heard of Kas, but I never saw one. What is it like?"
+
+"Just like me, except that it throws no shadow, and only comes when I
+am quite by myself, and then, although I hear it often, I see it rarely,
+for it is mixed up with the light."
+
+"I don't believe in Kas," exclaimed Rames scornfully, "you make them up
+out of your head."
+
+A little while after this talk something happened that caused Rames to
+change his mind about Kas, or at any rate the Ka of Tua. In a hidden
+court of the temple was a deep pool of water with cemented sides, where,
+it was said, lived a sacred crocodile, an enormous beast that had
+dwelt there for hundreds of years. Rames and Tua having heard of this
+crocodile, often talked of it and longed to see it, but could not for
+there was a high wall round the tank, and in it a door of copper that
+was kept locked, except when once in every eight days the priests took
+in food to the crocodile--living goats and sheep, and sometimes a calf,
+none of which ever came back again.
+
+Now one day Rames watching them return, saw the priest, who was called
+Guardian of the Door, put his hand behind him to thrust the key with
+which he had just locked the door, into his wallet, and missing the
+mouth of the wallet, let it fall upon the sand, then go upon his way
+knowing nothing of what he had done.
+
+When he had gone in a great hurry, for he was a fat old priest and the
+dinner hour was at hand, Rames pounced upon the key and hid it in his
+robe. Then he sought out the princess and said,
+
+"Morning Star, this evening, when I come back from school and am allowed
+to play with you, we can look at the wonderful beast in the tank, for
+look, I have the key which that fat priest will not search for till
+seven days are gone by, before which I can take it to him, saying that I
+found it in the sand, or perhaps put it back into his wallet."
+
+When she heard this Tua's eyes shone, since above all things she desired
+to see this holy monster. But in the evening when the boy came running
+to her eagerly--for he had thought of nothing but the crocodile all
+day, and had bought a pigeon from a school-fellow with which to feed the
+brute--he found Tua in a different mood.
+
+"I don't think that we will go to see the holy crocodile, Rames," she
+said, looking at him thoughtfully.
+
+"Why not?" he asked amazed. "There is no one about, and I have put fat
+upon the key so that it will make no noise."
+
+"Because my Ka has been with me, Rames, and told me that it is a bad act
+and if we do trouble will come to us."
+
+"Oh! may the fiend Set take your Ka," replied the lad in a rage. "Show
+it to me and I will talk with it."
+
+"I cannot, Rames, for it is _me_. Moreover, if Set took it, he would
+take me also, and you are wicked to wish such a thing."
+
+Now the boy began to cry with vexation, sobbing out that she was not to
+be trusted, and that he had paid away his bronze knife, which Pharaoh
+had given him when last he visited the temple, for a pigeon to tempt the
+beast to the top of the water, so that they might see it, although the
+knife was worth many pigeons, and Pharaoh would be angry if he heard
+that he had parted with it.
+
+"Why should we take the life of a poor pigeon to please ourselves?"
+asked Tua, softening a little at the sight of his grief.
+
+"It's taken already," he answered. "It fluttered so that I had to sit on
+it to hide it from the priest, and when he had gone it was dead. Look,"
+and he opened the linen bag he held, and showed her the dove cold and
+stiff.
+
+"As you did not mean to kill it, that makes a difference," said Tua
+judicially. "Well, perhaps my Ka did not mean that we should not have
+one peep, and it is a pity to waste the poor pigeon, which then will
+have died for nothing."
+
+Rames agreed that it would be the greatest of pities, so the two
+children slipped away through the trees of the garden into the shadow of
+the wall, along which they crept till they came to the bronze door. Then
+guiltily enough Rames put the great key into the lock, and with the help
+of a piece of wood which he had also made ready, that he set in the ring
+of the key to act as a lever, the two of them turning together shot back
+the heavy bolts.
+
+Taking out the key lest it should betray them, they opened the door
+a little and squeezed themselves through into the forbidden place. No
+sooner had they done so than almost they wished themselves back again,
+for there was something about the spot that frightened them, to say
+nothing of the horrible smell which made Tua feel ill. It was a great
+tank, with a little artificial island in its centre, full of slimy water
+that looked almost black because of the shadow of the high walls, and
+round it ran a narrow stone path. At one spot in this path, however,
+where grew some dank-looking trees and bushes, was a slope, also of
+stone, and on the slope with its prow resting in the water a little
+boat, and in the boat, oars. But of the crocodile there was nothing to
+be seen.
+
+"It is asleep somewhere," whispered Tua, "let us go away, I do not like
+this stench."
+
+"Stench," answered Rames. "I smell nothing except the lilies on the
+water. Let us wake it up, it would be silly to go now. Surely you are
+not afraid, O Star."
+
+"Oh, no! I am not afraid," answered Tua proudly. "Only wake it up
+quickly, please."
+
+What Rames did not add was that it would be impossible to retreat as the
+door had closed behind them, and there was no keyhole on its inner side.
+
+So they walked round the tank, but wherever it might lurk, the sleeping
+crocodile refused to wake.
+
+"Let us get into the boat and look for it," suggested Rames. "Perhaps it
+is hiding on the island."
+
+So he led her to the stone slope, where to her horror Tua saw the
+remains of the crocodile's last meal, a sight that caused her to forget
+her doubts and jump into the boat very quickly. Then Rames gave it a
+push and sprang in after her, so that they found themselves floating
+on the water. Now, standing in the bow, the boy took an oar and paddled
+round the island, but still there were no signs of the crocodile.
+
+"I don't believe it is here at all," he said, recovering his courage.
+
+"You might try the pigeon," suggested Tua, who, now that there was less
+smell, felt her curiosity returning.
+
+This was a good thought upon which Rames acted at once. Taking the dead
+bird from the bag he spread out its wings to make it look as though
+it were alive, and threw it into the water, exclaiming, "Arise, O Holy
+Crocodile!"
+
+Then with fearful suddenness, whence they knew not, that crocodile
+arose. An awful scaly head appeared with dull eyes and countless
+flashing fangs, and behind the head cubit upon cubit of monstrous form.
+The fangs closed upon the pigeon and everything vanished.
+
+"That was the Holy Crocodile," said Rames abstractedly as he stared at
+the boiling waters, "which has lived here during the reigns of eight
+Pharaohs, and perhaps longer. Now we have seen it."
+
+"Yes," answered Tua, "and I never want to see it again. Get me away
+quick, or I will tell your father."
+
+Thus adjured the boy, nothing loth, seized his oar, when suddenly
+the ancient crocodile, having swallowed the dove, thrust up its snout
+immediately beneath them and began to follow the boat. Now Tua screamed
+aloud and said something about her Ka.
+
+"Tell it to keep off the crocodile," shouted Rames as he worked the oar
+furiously. "Nothing can hurt a Ka."
+
+But the crocodile would not be kept off. On the contrary, it thrust its
+grey snout and one of its claws over the stern of the boat in such a
+fashion that Rames could no longer work the oar, dragging it almost
+under water, and snapped with its horrible jaws.
+
+"Oh! it is coming in; we are going to be eaten," cried Tua.
+
+At that moment the boat touched the landing-place and swung round, so
+that its bow, where Tua was, struck the head of the crocodile, which
+seemed to infuriate the beast. At least, it hurled itself upon the boat,
+causing the fore part to heel over, fill with water, and begin to sink.
+Then the little lad, Rames, showed the courage that was in him. Shouting
+to Tua:
+
+"Get on shore, get on shore!" he plunged past her and smote the huge
+reptile upon the head with the blade of his oar. It opened its hideous
+mouth, and he thrust the oar into it and held on.
+
+"Leave go," cried Tua, as she scrambled to land.
+
+But Rames would not leave go, for in his brave little heart he thought
+that if he did the crocodile would follow Tua and eat her. So he clung
+to the handle till it was wrenched from him. Indeed he did more, for
+seeing that the crocodile had bitten the wooden blade in two and,
+having dropped it, was still advancing towards the slope where it was
+accustomed to be fed, he leapt into the water and struck it in the eye
+with his little fist. Feeling the pain of the blow the monster snapped
+at him, and catching him by the hand began to sink back into deep water,
+dragging the lad after it.
+
+Rames said nothing, but Tua, who already was at the head of the stage,
+looked round and saw the agony on his face.
+
+"Help me, Amen!" she cried, and flying back, grasped Rames by his left
+arm just as he was falling over, then set her heels in a crack of
+the rock and held on. For one moment she was dragged forward till she
+thought that she must fall upon her face and be drowned or eaten with
+Rames, but the next something yielded, and she and the boy tumbled in a
+heap upon the stones. They rose and staggered together to the terrace.
+As they went Tua saw that Rames was looking at his right hand curiously;
+also that it was covered with blood, and that the little finger was torn
+off it. Then she remembered nothing further, except a sound of shouts
+and of heavy hammering at the copper door.
+
+When she recovered it was to find herself in the house of Mermes with
+the lady Asti bending over her and weeping.
+
+"Why do you weep, Nurse?" she asked, "seeing that I am safe?"
+
+"I weep for my son, Princess," she answered between her sobs.
+
+"Is he dead of his wounds, then, Asti?"
+
+"No, O Morning Star, he lies sick in his chamber. But soon Pharaoh will
+kill him because he led her who will be Queen of Egypt into great danger
+of her life."
+
+"Not so," said Tua, springing up, "for he saved my life."
+
+As she spoke the door opened and in came Pharaoh himself, who had been
+summoned hastily from the palace. His face was white and he shook with
+fear, for it had been reported to him that his only child was drowned.
+When he saw that she lived and was not even hurt, he could not contain
+his joy, but casting his arms about her, sank to his knees giving thanks
+to the gods and the guardian spirits. She kissed him, and studying his
+face with her wise eyes, asked why he was so much afraid.
+
+"Because I thought you had been killed, my daughter."
+
+"Why did you think that, O my father, seeing that the great god, Amen,
+before I was born promised to protect me always, though it is true that
+had it not been for Rames----"
+
+Now at the mention of this name Pharaoh was filled with rage.
+
+"Speak not of that wicked lad," he exclaimed, "now or ever more, for he
+shall be scourged till he dies!"
+
+"My father," answered Tua, springing up, "forget those words, for if
+Rames dies I will die also. It is I who am to blame, not he, for my
+Ka warned me not to look upon the beast, but to Rames no Ka spoke.
+Moreover, when that evil god would have eaten me it was Rames who fought
+with it and offered himself to its jaws in my place. Listen, my father,
+while I tell you all the story."
+
+So Pharaoh listened, and when it was done he sent for Rames. Presently
+the boy was carried in, for he had lost so much blood that he could not
+walk, and was placed upon a stool before him.
+
+"Slay me now, O Pharaoh," he said in a weak voice, "for I have sinned.
+Moreover, I shall die happy since my spirit gave me strength to beat off
+the evil beast from the Princess whom I led into trouble."
+
+"Truly you have done wickedly," said Pharaoh, shaking his head at him,
+"and, therefore, perhaps, you will lose your hand and even your life.
+Yet, child, you have a royal heart, who first saved your playmate and
+then, even in my presence, take all the blame upon yourself. Therefore
+I forgive you, son of Mermes; moreover, I see that I was wise not to
+listen to those who counselled that you should be put away at birth,"
+and bending over the boy, Pharaoh kissed him on the brow.
+
+Also he gave orders that the greatest physicians in the land should
+attend upon him and purge the poison of the crocodile's teeth from
+his body, and when he recovered--which save for the loss of the little
+finger of his right hand, he did completely--he sent him a sword with
+a handle of gold fashioned to the shape of a crocodile, in place of the
+knife which he had paid away for the pigeon, bidding him use it bravely
+all his life in defence of her who would be his queen. Further, although
+he was still so young, he gave to him the high title of Count in earnest
+of his love and favour, and with it a name that meant Defender of the
+Royal Lady.
+
+After he had gone Asti the prophetess looked at the sword which Pharaoh
+had given to her son.
+
+"I see royal blood on it," she said, and handed it back to Rames.
+
+
+
+But Rames and Tua were no more allowed to play together alone, for
+always after this the Princess was accompanied by women of honour and an
+armed guard. Also, within a year or two the boy was placed in charge
+of a general to be brought up as a soldier, a trade that he liked well
+enough, so that from this time forward he and Neter-Tua met but seldom.
+Still there was a bond between them which could not be broken by
+absence, for already they loved each other, and every night and morning
+when Tua made her petitions to Amen, after praying for Pharaoh her
+father, and for the spirit of her royal mother, Ahura, she prayed for
+Rames, and that they might meet soon. For the months when her eyes did
+not fall upon his face were wearisome to Tua.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+THE SUMMONING OF AMEN
+
+The years went by and the Princess Neter-Tua, who was called Morning
+Star of Amen, came at length to womanhood, and went through the
+ceremonies of Purification. In all Egypt there was no maiden so wise and
+spirited or so lovely. Tall and slender was her shape, blue as the sea
+were her eyes, rosy like the dawn were her cheeks, and when she did not
+wear it in a net of gold, her black and curling hair fell almost to her
+waist. Also she was very learned, for priests and priestesses taught her
+all things that she ought to know, together with the arts of playing
+on the harp and of singing and dancing, while her own excellent Spirit,
+that Ka which Amen had given her, instructed her in a deeper wisdom
+which she gathered unconsciously in sleep and waking dreams, as the
+slumbering earth gathers dew at night.
+
+Moreover, her father, the wise old Pharaoh, opened to her the craft of
+statesmanship, by help of which she might govern men and overthrow her
+enemies. Indeed, he did more, for when her education was finished, he
+joined her with him in the government of Egypt, saying:
+
+"I who always lacked bodily strength, grow aged and feeble. This mighty
+crown is too heavy for me to bear alone. Daughter, you must share its
+weight."
+
+So the young Neter-Tua became a queen, and great was the ceremony of her
+coronation. The high priests and priestesses, clothed in the robes
+and symbols of their gods and goddesses, addressed speeches to her and
+blessed her in their names, giving her every good gift and promising to
+her eternal life. Princes and nobles made her offerings; foreign chiefs
+and kings bowed before her by their ambassadors. The Counts and headmen
+of the Two Lands swore allegiance to her, and, finally, in the presence
+of all the Court, Pharaoh himself set the double crown upon her brow
+and gave her her throne-names of "Glorious in Ra and Hathor Strong in
+Beauty."
+
+So for a while Tua sat splendid on her golden seat while the people
+adored her, but in that triumphant hour her eyes searched for one face
+only, that of the tall and gallant captain, Rames, her foster-brother,
+and for a moment rested there content. Yes, their eyes met, those of
+the new-crowned Empress on her throne and of the youthful noble in the
+throng below. Short was the greeting, for next instant she looked away,
+yet more full of meaning than whole days of speech.
+
+"The Queen does not forget what the child remembered, the goddess is
+still a woman," it seemed to say. And so sweet was that message that
+Rames staggered from the Court like one stricken by the sun.
+
+
+
+Night came at last, and having dismissed her secretaries, scribes and
+tire-women the weary girl, now clad in simple white, sat in her chamber
+alone. She thought of all the splendours through which she had passed;
+she thought of the glories of her imperial state, of the power that she
+wielded, and of the proud future which stretched before her feet.
+But most of all she thought of the face of the young Count Rames, the
+playmate of her childhood, the man she loved, and wondered, ah! how she
+wondered, if with all her power she could ever draw him to her side.
+If not, of what use was this rule over millions, this dominion of her
+world? They called her a goddess, and in truth, at times, she believed
+that she was half-divine, but if so, why did her heart ache like that of
+any common maid?
+
+Moreover, was she really set above the misfortunes of her race? Could
+a throne, however bright with gold, lift her above the sorrows of human
+kind? She desired to learn the truth, the very truth. Her mind was
+urgent, it drove her on to search out things to come, to stand face to
+face with them, even if they were evil. Well, she believed she had the
+strength, although, as yet, she had never called it to her aid.
+
+Also this thing could not be done alone. Tua thought a while, then going
+to the door of her chamber she bade a woman who waited without summon to
+her the Lady Asti, priestess of Amen, Interpreter of Heaven. Presently
+Asti came, for now, as always, she was in attendance upon the
+new-crowned queen, a tall and noble-looking woman with fine-cut features
+and black hair, that although she was fifty years of age, still showed
+no trace of grey.
+
+"I was in the Sanctuary when your Majesty summoned me," she said,
+pointing to the sacred robe she wore. "Let your Majesty pardon me,
+therefore, if I have been long in coming," and she bowed low before her.
+
+But the Queen lifted her up and kissed her, saying,
+
+"I am weary of those high titles whereof I have heard more than enough
+to-day. Call me Tua, O my mother, for so you have ever been to me, from
+whose breast I drew the milk of life."
+
+"What ails you, my child?" asked Asti. "Was the crown too heavy for this
+young head of yours?" she added, stretching out her delicate hand and
+stroking the black and curling hair.
+
+"Aye, Mother, the weight of it seemed to crush me with its gems and
+gold. I am weary and yet I cannot sleep. Tell me, why did Pharaoh summon
+that Council after the feast? Mermes was one of them, so you must know.
+And why was not I, who henceforth rule with Pharaoh, present with him?"
+
+"Would you learn?" said Asti with a little smile. "Well, as Queen
+you have the right. It was because they discussed the matter of your
+marriage."
+
+For a moment a light shone upon Tua's face. Then she asked anxiously:
+
+"My marriage, and with whom?"
+
+"Oh! many names were mentioned, Child, since she who rules Egypt does
+not lack for suitors."
+
+"Tell me them quick, Asti."
+
+So she told them, there were seven in all, the Prince of Kesh, the sons
+of foreign kings, great nobles, and a general of the army who claimed
+descent from a former Pharaoh.
+
+As each name fell from Asti's lips Tua waved her hand, saying scornful
+words, such as "I know him not," "Too old," "Fat and hideous," "A
+foreign dog who spits upon our gods," and so forth, adding at last:
+
+"Go on."
+
+"That is all, Lady, no other name was mentioned, and the Council
+adjourned to consider these."
+
+"No other name?"
+
+"Do you then miss one, perchance, Tua?"
+
+She made no answer, only her lips seemed to shape themselves to a
+certain sound that they did not utter. The two women looked each other
+in the eyes, then Asti shook her head.
+
+"It may not be," she whispered, "for many reasons, and amongst them that
+by the solemn decree of long ago whereof I have told you, our blood is
+barred for ever from the throne. None would dare to break it, not even
+the Pharaoh himself. You would bring my son to his death, Tua, which
+such another look as you gave him in yonder hall would surely do."
+
+"No," she answered slowly, "I would not bring him to his death, but to
+life and honour and--love, and one day _I_ shall be Pharaoh. Only, Asti,
+if you betray me to him I swear that I will bring you to your death,
+although you are so dear."
+
+"I shall not betray you," answered the priestess, smiling again. "In
+truth, most Beautiful, I do not think there is any need, even if I
+would. Say now, why did a certain captain turn faint and leave the hall
+to-day when your eyes chanced to fall on him?"
+
+"The heat," suggested Tua, colouring.
+
+"Yes, it was hot, but he is stronger than most men and had borne it
+long--like others. Still there are fires----"
+
+"Because he was afraid of my majesty," broke in Tua hurriedly. "You know
+I looked very royal there, Mother."
+
+"Yes, doubtless fear moved him--or some other passion. Yet, Beloved,
+put that thought from your heart as I do. When you are Pharaoh you will
+learn that a monarch is a slave to the people and to the law. Breathe
+but his name in love, and never will you see him more till you meet
+before Osiris."
+
+Tua hid her eyes in her hands for a moment, then she glanced up and
+there was another look upon her face, a strange, new look.
+
+"When I am Pharaoh," she answered, "there are certain matters in which
+I will be my own law, and if the people do not like it, they may find
+another Pharaoh."
+
+Asti started at her words, and a light of joy shone in her deep eyes.
+
+"Truly your heart is high," she said; "but, oh! if you love me--and
+another--bury that thought, bury it deep, or he will never live to see
+you placed alone upon the golden seat. Know, Lady, that already from
+hour to hour I fear for him--lest he should drink a poisoned cup,
+lest at night he should chance to stumble against a spear, lest an
+arrow--shot in sport--should fall against his throat and none know
+whence it came."
+
+Tua clenched her hands.
+
+"If so, there should be such vengeance as Egypt has not heard of since
+Mena ruled."
+
+"Of what use is vengeance, Child, when the heart is empty and the tomb
+is sealed?"
+
+Again Tua thought. Then she said:
+
+"There are other gods besides Osiris. Now what do men call me, Mother?
+Nay, not my royal names."
+
+"They call you Morning Star of Amen; they call you Daughter of Amen."
+
+"Is that story true, Asti the Magician?"
+
+"Aye, at least your mother dreamed the dream, for she told it to me and
+I have read its record, who am a priestess of Amen."
+
+"Then this high god should love me, should he not? He should hear my
+prayers and give me power--he should protect those who are dear to me.
+Mother, they say that you, the Mistress of secret things, can open the
+ears of the gods and cause their mouths to speak. Mother, I command you
+as your Queen, call up my father Amen before me, so that I may talk with
+him, for I have words to which he must listen."
+
+"Are you not afraid?" asked Asti, looking at her curiously. "He is the
+greatest of all the gods, and to summon him lightly is a sacrilege."
+
+"Should a daughter fear her father?" answered Tua.
+
+"When the divine Queen your mother and Pharaoh knelt before him in his
+shrine, praying that a child might be given to them, Amen did not deign
+to appear to them, save afterwards in a dream. Will you dare more than
+they? Lie down and dream, O Star of the Morning."
+
+"Nay, I trust no dreams which change like summer clouds and pass as
+soon," answered the girl boldly. "If the god is my father, in the spirit
+or the flesh, I know not which, let him appear before me face to face.
+I ask his wisdom for myself and his favour for another. Call him, if you
+have the power, Asti. Call him even if he slay me. Better that I should
+die than----"
+
+"Hush!" said Asti, laying her hand upon her lips, "speak not that name.
+Well, I have some skill, and for your sake--and another's--I will try,
+but not here. Perchance he may listen, perchance not, or, perchance, if
+he comes you and I must pay the price. Put on your robes, now, O Queen,
+and over them this veil, and follow me--if you dare."
+
+
+
+Along narrow passages they crept and down many a secret-stair, till at
+length they came to a door at the foot of a long slope of rock.
+This door Asti unlocked and thrust open, then when they had entered,
+re-locked it behind them.
+
+"What is this place?" whispered Tua.
+
+"The burial crypt of the high priestesses of Amen, where it is said that
+the god watches. None have entered it for hard on thirty years. See here
+in the dust run the footsteps of those who bore the last priestess to
+her rest."
+
+She held up her lamp, and by the light of it Tua saw that they were in a
+great cave painted with figures of the gods which had on either side of
+it recesses. In each of these was set a coffin with a gilded face, and
+behind it an alabaster statue of her who lay therein, and in front of
+it a table of offerings. At the head of the crypt stood a small altar of
+black stone, for the rest the place was empty.
+
+Asti led Tua to a step in front of the altar and bidding her kneel,
+departed with the lamp which she hid away in some side chapel, so that
+now the darkness was intense. Presently, through the utter silence, Tua
+heard her creep back towards her, for although she walked so softly the
+dust seemed to cry beneath her feet, and her every footstep echoed round
+the vaulted walls. Moreover, a glow came from her, the glow of her life
+in that place of death. She passed Tua and knelt by the altar and the
+echo of her movements died away. Only it seemed to Tua that from each of
+the tombs to the right and to the left rose the Ka of her who was buried
+there, and drew near to watch and listen. She could not see them, she
+could not hear them, yet she knew that they were there and was able to
+count their number--thirty and two in all--while within herself rose
+a picture of them, each differing from the other, but all white,
+expectant, solemn.
+
+Now Tua heard Asti murmuring secret invocations that she did not
+understand. In that place and silence they sounded weird and dreadful,
+and as she hearkened to them, for the first time fear crept over her.
+Kneeling there upon her knees she bent her head almost to the dust
+and put up prayers to Amen that he might be pleased to hear her and to
+satisfy the longings of her heart. She prayed and prayed till she grew
+faint and weary, while always Asti uttered her invocations. But no
+answer came, no deity appeared, no voice spoke. At length Asti rose, and
+coming to her, whispered in her ear:
+
+"Let us depart ere the watching spirits, whose rest we have broken, grow
+wrath with us. The god has shut his ears."
+
+So Tua rose, clinging to Asti, for now, she knew not why, her fear grew
+and deepened. For a moment she stood upon her feet, then sank to her
+knees again, for there at the far end of the great tomb, near to the
+door by which they had entered, appeared a glow upon the darkness.
+Slowly it took form, the form of a woman clad in the royal robes of
+Egypt, and bearing in its hand a sceptre. The figure of light advanced
+towards them, so that presently they saw its face. Tua did not know the
+face, though it seemed to her to be like her own, but Asti knew it, and
+at the sight sank to the ground.
+
+Now the figure stood in front of them, a thing of light framed in the
+thick darkness, and now in a sweet, low voice it spoke.
+
+"Hail! Queen of Egypt," it said. "Hail! Neter-Tua, Daughter of Amen. Art
+thou afraid to look on the spirit of her who bore thee, thou that didst
+dare to summon the Father of the gods to do thy bidding?"
+
+"I am afraid," answered Tua, shaking in all her limbs.
+
+"And thou, Asti the Magician, art thou afraid also, who but now wast
+bold enough to cry to Amen-Ra--'Come from thy high heaven and make
+answer'?"
+
+"It is even so, O Queen Ahura," murmured Asti.
+
+"Woman," went on the voice, "thy sin is great, and great is the sin of
+this royal one at thy side. Had Amen hearkened, how would the two of you
+have stood before his glory, who at the sight of this shape of mine that
+once was mortal like yourselves, crouch choking to the earth? I tell
+you both that had the god arisen, as in your wickedness ye willed,
+there where ye knelt, there ye would have died. But he who knows all is
+merciful, and in his place has sent me his messenger that ye may live to
+look upon to-morrow's sun."
+
+"Let Amen pardon us!" gasped Tua, "it was my sin, O Mother, for I
+commanded Asti and she obeyed me. On me be the blame, not on her, for I
+am torn with doubts and fears, for myself and for another. I would know
+the future."
+
+"Why, O Queen Neter-Tua, why wouldst thou know the future? If hell yawns
+beneath thy feet, why wouldst thou peep through its golden doors before
+the time? The future is hid from mortals because, could they pierce its
+veil, it would crush them with its terrors. If all the woes of life and
+death lay open the gaze, who would dare to live and who--oh! who could
+dare to die?"
+
+"Then woes await me, O thou who wast my mother?"
+
+"How can it be otherwise? Light and darkness make the day, joy and
+sorrow make the life. Thou art human, be content."
+
+"Divine also, O Ahura, if all tales be true."
+
+"Then pay for thy divinity in tears and be satisfied. Content is the
+guerdon of the beast, but gods are wafted upwards on the wings of pain.
+How can that gold be pure which has not known the fire?"
+
+"Thou tellest me nothing," wailed Tua, "and it is not for myself I ask.
+I am fair, I am Amen's daughter, and splendid is my heritage. Yet, O
+Dweller in Osiris, thou who once didst fill the place I hold to-day, I
+tell thee that I would pay away this pomp, could I but be sure that I
+shall not live loveless, that I shall not be given as a chattel to one
+whom I hate, that one--whom I do not hate--will live to call me--wife.
+Great dangers threaten him--and me, Amen is mighty; he is the potter
+that moulds the clay of men; if I be his child, if his spirit is
+breathed into me, oh! let him help me now."
+
+"Let thine own faith help thee. Are not the words of Amen, which he
+spake concerning thee, written down? Study them and ask no more. Love
+is an arrow that does not miss its mark; it is the immortal fire from on
+high which winds and waters cannot quench. Therefore love on. Thou shalt
+not love in vain. Queen and Daughter, fare thee well awhile."
+
+"Nay, nay, one word, Immortal. I thank thee, thou Messenger of the
+gods, but when these troubles come upon me--and another, when the sea
+of dangers closes o'er our heads, when shame is near and I am lonely, as
+well may chance, then to whom shall I turn for succour?"
+
+"Then thou hast one within thee who is strong to aid. It was given to
+thee at thy birth, O Star of Amen, and Asti can call it forth. Come
+hither, thou Asti, and swiftly, for I must be gone, and first I would
+speak with thee."
+
+Asti crept forward, and the glowing shape in the royal robe bent over
+her so that the light of it shone upon her face. It bent over her and
+seemed to whisper in her ear. Then it held out its hands towards Tua as
+though in blessing, and instantly was not.
+
+
+
+Once more the two women stood in Tua's chamber. Pale and shaken they
+looked into each other's eyes.
+
+"You have had your will, Queen," said Asti; "for if Amen did not come,
+he sent a messenger, and a royal one."
+
+"Interpret me this vision," answered Tua, "for to me, at any rate, that
+Spirit said little."
+
+"Nay, it said much. It said that love fails not of its reward, and what
+more went you out to seek?"
+
+"Then I am glad," exclaimed Tua joyfully.
+
+"Be not too glad, Queen, for to-night we have sinned, both of us, who
+dared to summon Amen from his throne, and sin also fails not of its
+reward. Blood is the price of that oracle."
+
+"Whose blood, Asti? Ours?"
+
+"Nay, worse, that of those who are dear to us. Troubles arise in Egypt,
+Queen."
+
+"You will not leave me when they break, Asti?"
+
+"I may not if I would. The Fates have bound us together till the end,
+and that I think is far away. I am yours as once you were mine when you
+lay upon my breast, but bid me no more to summon Amen from his throne."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+HOW RAMES FOUGHT THE PRINCE OF KESH
+
+Now for a whole moon there were great festivals in Thebes, and in all of
+these Neter-Tua, "Glorious in Ra, Hathor Strong in Beauty, Morning
+Star of Amen," must take her part as new-crowned Queen of Egypt. Feast
+followed feast, and at each of them one of the suitors of her hand was
+the guest of honour.
+
+Then after it was done, Pharaoh her father and his councillors would
+wait upon her and ask if this man was pleasing to her. Being wise, Tua
+would give no direct answer, only of most of them she was rid in this
+way.
+
+She demanded that the writing of the dream of her mother, Ahura, should
+be brought and read before her, and when it had been read she pointed
+out that Amen promised to her a royal lover, and that these chiefs and
+generals were not royal, therefore it was not of them that Amen spoke,
+nor did she dare to turn her eyes on one whom the god had forbidden to
+her.
+
+Of others who declared that they were kings, but who, being unable to
+leave their countries, were represented by ambassadors, she said that
+not having seen them she could say nothing. When they appeared at the
+Court of Egypt, she would consider them.
+
+So at length only one suitor was left, the man whom she knew well
+Pharaoh and his councillors desired that she should take as husband.
+This was Amathel, the Prince of Kesh, whose father, an aged king, ruled
+at Napata, a great city far to the south, situated in a land that was
+called an island because the river Nile embraced it in its two arms.
+It was said that after Egypt this country was the richest in the whole
+world, for there gold was so plentiful that men thought it of less value
+than copper and iron; also there were mines in which beautiful stones
+were found, and the soil grew corn in abundance.
+
+Moreover, once in the far past, a race of Pharaohs sprung from this city
+of Napata, had sat on the throne of Egypt, until at length the people of
+Egypt, headed by the priests, had risen and overthrown them because
+they were foreigners and had introduced Nubian customs into the land.
+Therefore it was decreed by an unalterable law that none of their race
+should ever again wear the Double Crown. Of the descendants of these
+Pharaohs, Rames, Tua's playmate, was the last lawful child.
+
+But although the Egyptians had cast them down, at heart they always
+grieved over the rich territory of Napata, which was lost to them, for
+when those Pharaohs fell Kesh declared itself independent and set up
+another dynasty to rule over it, of which dynasty Amathel Prince of Kesh
+was the heir.
+
+Therefore they hoped that it might come back to them by marriage between
+Amathel and the young Queen Neter-Tua. Ever since she was born the great
+lords and councillors of Egypt, yes, and Pharaoh himself, seeing that he
+had no son to whom he might marry her after the fashion of the country,
+had been working to this end. It was by secret treaty that the Prince
+Amathel was present at the crowning of the Queen, of whose hand he had
+been assured on the sole condition that he came to dwell with her at
+Thebes. It is true that there were other suitors, but these, as all of
+them knew well, were but pawns in a game played to amuse the people.
+
+The king destined to take the great queen captive was Amathel and no
+other. Tua knew it, for had not Asti told her, and was it not because of
+her fear of this man and her love for Rames that she had dared to commit
+the sacrilege of attempting to summon Amen from the skies? Still, as
+yet, the Pharaoh had not spoken to her of Amathel, nor had she met him.
+It was said that he had been present at her crowning in disguise, for
+this proud prince gave out that were she ten times Queen of Egypt,
+he would not pledge himself to wed as his royal wife, one who was
+displeasing to him, and that therefore he must see her before he pressed
+his suit.
+
+Now that he had seen her in her loveliness and glory, he announced that
+he was well satisfied, which was but half the truth, for, in fact, she
+had set all his southern blood on fire, and there was nothing that he
+desired more than to call her wife.
+
+On the night which had been appointed for Amathel to meet his destined
+bride, a feast had been prepared richer by far than any that went
+before. Tua, feigning ignorance, on entering the great unroofed hall lit
+with hundreds of torches down all its length, and seeing the multitudes
+at the tables, asked of the Pharaoh, her father, who was the guest that
+he would welcome with such magnificence which seemed worthy of a god
+rather than of a man.
+
+"My daughter," answered the old monarch nervously, "it is none other
+than the Prince of Kesh, who in his own country they worship as divine,
+as we are worshipped here in Egypt, and who, in truth, is, or will be,
+one of the greatest of kings."
+
+"Kesh!" she answered, "I thought that we claimed sovereignty over that
+land."
+
+"Once it was ours, Daughter," said her father with a sigh, "or rather
+the kings of Kesh were also kings of Egypt, but their dynasty fell
+before my great-great-grandfather was called to the throne, and now but
+three of their blood are left, Mermes, Captain of the Guard of Amen;
+Asti, the Seer and Priestess, his wife, your foster-mother and waiting
+lady, and the young Count Rames, a soldier in our army, who was your
+playmate, and as you may remember saved you from the sacred crocodile."
+
+"Yes, I remember," said Tua. "But then why is not Mermes King of Kesh?"
+
+"Because the people of the city of Napata raised up another house to
+rule over them, of whom Amathel is the heir."
+
+"A usurping heir, surely, my father, if there be anything in blood."
+
+"Say not that, Tua," replied Pharaoh sharply, "for then Mermes should be
+Pharaoh in our place also."
+
+Tua made no reply, only as they took their seats in the golden chairs at
+the head of the hall, she asked carelessly:
+
+"Is this Prince of Kesh also a suitor for my hand, O Pharaoh?"
+
+"What else should he be, my daughter? Did you not know it? Be gracious
+to him now, since it is decreed that you shall take him as a husband.
+Hush! answer not. He comes."
+
+As he spoke a sound of wild music arose, and at the far end of the great
+hall appeared a band of players gorgeously attired, who blew horns made
+from small tusks of the elephant, clashed brazen cymbals and beat gilded
+drums. These advanced a little way up the hall and stood there playing,
+while after them marched a bodyguard of twenty gigantic Nubian soldiers
+who carried broad-bladed spears with shields of hippopotamus hide
+curiously worked, and were clothed in tunics and caps of leopard-skin.
+
+Next appeared the Prince of Kesh himself, a short, stout,
+broad-shouldered young man, thick-featured, heavy-faced, and having
+large, rolling eyes. He was clad in festal garments, and hung about with
+heavy chains of gold fastened with clasps of glittering stones,
+while from his crisp, black hair rose a tall plume of nodding ostrich
+feathers. Fan bearers walked beside him, and the train of his long cloak
+was borne by two black and hideous dwarfs, full-grown men but no taller
+than a child of eight.
+
+With one swift glance, while he was yet far away, Tua studied the man
+from head to foot, and hated him as she had never hated anyone before.
+Then she looked over his head, as from her raised seat upon the dais she
+was able to do, and saw that behind him came a second guard of picked
+Egyptian soldiers, and that in command of them, simply clad in his
+scaled armour of bronze, and wearing upon his thigh the golden-handled
+sword that Pharaoh had given him, was none other than the young Count
+Rames, her playmate and foster-brother, the man whom her heart loved. At
+the sight of his tall and noble form and fine-cut face rising above the
+coarse, squat figure of the Ethiopian prince, Tua blushed rosy red, but
+Pharaoh noting it, only thought, as others did, that it was because now
+for the first time her eyes fell upon him who would be her husband.
+
+Why, Tua wondered, was Rames chosen to attend upon the Prince Amathel?
+At once the answer rose in her mind. Doubtless it had been done to
+gratify the pride of Amathel, not by Pharaoh, who would know nothing
+of such matters, but by some bribed councillor, or steward of the
+household. Rames was of more ancient blood than Amathel, and by right
+should be the King of Kesh, as he should also be Pharaoh of Egypt;
+therefore, to humble him he was set to wait upon Amathel.
+
+Moreover, it was guessed that the young Queen looked kindly upon this
+Count Rames with whom she had been nursed, and who, like herself, was
+beautiful to behold. Therefore, to abase him in her eyes he had been
+commanded to appear walking in the train of Amathel and given charge
+over his sacred person at the feast.
+
+In a moment Tua understood it all, and made a vow before her father
+Amen that soon or late those who had planned this outrage should pay its
+price, nor did she forget that promise in the after days.
+
+Now the Prince had mounted the dais and was bowing low to Pharaoh and to
+her, and they must rise and bow in answer. Then Pharaoh welcomed him to
+Egypt in few, well-chosen words, giving him all his titles and speaking
+meaningly of the ancient ties which had linked their kingdoms, ties
+which, he prayed, might yet draw them close again.
+
+He ceased and looked at Tua who, as Queen, had also a speech to deliver
+that had been given to her in writing. Although she remembered this well
+enough, for the roll lay beside her, never a word would she read, but
+turned round and bade one of her waiting-ladies bring her a fan.
+
+So after a pause that seemed somewhat long Amathel delivered his answer
+that was learned by rote, for it replied to "gentle words from the lips
+of the divine Queen that made his heart to flower like the desert after
+rain," not one of which had she spoken. Thereon Tua, looking over
+the top of her fan, saw Rames smile grimly, while unable to restrain
+themselves, some of the great personages at the feast broke out
+laughing, and bowed down their heads to hide their merriment.
+
+With an angry scowl the Prince turned and commanded that the gifts
+should be brought. Now slaves advanced bearing cups of worked gold,
+elephants and other beasts fashioned in gold, and golden vases full of
+incense, which he presented to Pharaoh on behalf of his father, the King
+of Kesh and himself, saying boastfully that in his country such things
+were common, and that he would have brought more of them had it not been
+for their weight.
+
+When Pharaoh had thanked him, answering gently that Egypt too was not
+poor, as he hoped that he would find upon the morrow, the Prince, on
+his own behalf alone, offered to the Queen other presents, among
+them pectorals and necklaces without price fashioned of amethysts and
+sapphires. Also, because she was known to be the first of musicians and
+the sweetest-voiced lady in the land--for these were the greatest of the
+gifts that Tua had from Amen--he gave to her a wonderfully worked harp
+of ivory with golden strings, the frame of the harp being fashioned to
+the shape of a woman, and two black female slaves laden with ornaments,
+who were said to be the best singers in the Southern Land.
+
+Now Pharaoh whispered to Tua to put on one of the necklaces, but she
+would not, saying that the colour of the stones did not match her white
+robe and the blue lotus flowers which she wore. Instead, she thanked
+Amathel coldly but courteously, and without looking at his gifts, told
+the royal Nurse, Asti, who stood behind her, to bear them away and to
+place them at a distance, as the perfumes that had been poured over
+them, oppressed her. Only, as though by an afterthought, she bade them
+leave the ivory harp.
+
+Thus inauspiciously enough the feast began. At it Amathel drank much of
+the sweet wine of Asi or Cyprus, commanding Rames, who stood behind him,
+to fill his cup again and again, though whether he did this because he
+was nearest to him, or to lower him to the rank of a butler, Tua did not
+know. At least, having no choice, Rames obeyed, though cup-filling was
+no fitting task for a Count of Egypt and an officer of Pharaoh's guard.
+
+When the waiting women, clad in net worked with spangles of gold,
+had borne away the meats, conjurers appeared who did wonderful feats,
+amongst other things causing a likeness of Queen Neter-Tua wearing her
+royal robes and having a star upon her brow, to arise out of a vase.
+
+Then, as they had arranged, they strove to do the same for the Prince
+Amathel, but Asti who had more magic than all of them, watching behind
+Tua's chair, put out her strength and threw a spell upon them.
+
+Behold! instead of the form of the Prince, which these conjurers
+summoned loudly and by name, there appeared out of the vase a monkey
+wearing a crown and feathers that yet resembled him somewhat, which
+black and hideous ape stood there for a while seeming to gibber at them,
+then fell down and vanished away.
+
+Now some of the audience laughed and some were silent, but Pharaoh, not
+knowing whether this were a plot or an evil omen from the gods, frowned
+and looked anxiously at his guest. As it chanced, however, the Prince,
+fired with wine, was so engaged in staring at the loveliness of Tua,
+that he took no note of the thing, while the Queen looked upwards and
+seemed to see nothing. As for the conjurers, they fled from the hall,
+fearing for their lives, and wondering what strong spirit had entered
+into the vase and spoilt the trick which they had prepared.
+
+As they went singers and dancing women hurriedly took their place, till
+Tua, wearying of the stare of Amathel, waved her hand and said that she
+wished to hear those two Nubian slaves whose voices were said to be so
+wonderful. So they were brought forward with their harps, and having
+prostrated themselves, began to play and sing very sweetly, Nubian songs
+melancholy and wild, whereof few could understand the meaning. So well
+did they sing, indeed, that when they had done, Neter-Tua said:
+
+"You have pleased me much, and in payment I give you a royal gift. I
+give you your freedom, and appoint that henceforth you shall sing before
+the Court, if you think fit to stay here, not as slaves but for hire."
+
+Then the two women prostrated themselves again before her Majesty and
+blessed her, for they knew that they could earn wealth by their gift,
+and the rich courtiers taking the Queen's cue, flung rings and ornaments
+to them, so that in a minute they got more gold than ever they had
+dreamed of, who were but kidnapped slaves. But Prince Amathel grew angry
+and said:
+
+"Some might have been pleased to keep the priceless gift of the best
+singers in the world."
+
+"Do you say that these sweet-voiced women are the best singers in the
+world, O Prince?" asked Tua, speaking to him for the first time. "Now
+if you will be pleased to listen, you provoke me to make trial of my own
+small skill that I may learn how far I fall short of 'the best singers
+in the world.'"
+
+Then she lifted up the ivory harp with the strings of gold and swept
+her fingers over it, trying its notes and adjusting them with the agate
+screws, looking at Amathel all the while with a challenge in her lovely
+eyes.
+
+"Nay, nay, my daughter," said Pharaoh, "it is scarcely fitting that a
+queen of Egypt should sing before all this noble company."
+
+"Why not, my father?" she asked. "To-night we all do honour to the heir
+of his Majesty of Kesh. Pharaoh receives him, Pharaoh's daughter accepts
+his gifts, the highest in the land surround him," then she paused and
+added slowly, "one of blood more ancient than his own waits on him as
+cup-bearer, one whose race built up the throne his father fills," and
+she pointed to Rames, who stood near by holding the vase of wine. "Why,
+then, should not Egypt's queen seek to please our royal guest as best
+she may--since she has no other gift to give him?"
+
+Then in the dead silence which followed this bold speech, whereof none
+could mistake the meaning, Neter-Tua, Morning Star of Amen, rose from
+her seat. Pressing the ivory harp against her young breast, she
+bent over it, her head crowned with the crown of Upper Egypt whereon
+glistened the royal _uræus_, a snake about to strike, and swept the
+well-tuned strings.
+
+Such magic was in her touch that instantly all else was forgotten, even
+the Pharaoh leaned back in his golden chair to listen. Softly she struck
+at first, then by slow degrees ever louder till the music of the harp
+rang through the pillared hall. Now, at length, she lifted up her
+heavenly voice and began to sing in a strain so wild and sweet that it
+seemed to pierce to the watching stars.
+
+It was a sad and ancient love-tale that she sang, which told how a
+priestess of Hathor of high degree loved and was beloved by a simple
+scribe whom she might not wed. It told how the scribe, maddened by his
+passion, crept at night into the very sanctuary of the temple hoping to
+find her there, and for his sacrilege was slain by the angry goddess.
+It told how the beautiful priestess, coming alone to make prayer in the
+sanctuary for strength to resist her love, stumbled over the lover's
+corpse and, knowing it, died of grief. It told how Hathor, goddess
+of love, melted by the piteous sight, breathed back life into their
+nostrils, and since they might not remain upon earth, wafted them to the
+Under-world, where they awoke and embraced and dwell on for ever and for
+aye, triumphant and rejoicing.
+
+All had heard this old, old story, but none had ever heard it so
+divinely sung. As Tua's pure and lovely voice floated over them the
+listeners seemed to see that lover, daring all in his desire, creep into
+the solemn sanctuary of the temple. They saw Hathor appear in her wrath
+and smite him cold in death. They saw the beauteous priestess with her
+lamp, and heard her wail her life away upon her darling's corpse; saw,
+too, the dead borne by spirits over the borders of the world.
+
+Then came that last burst of music thrilling and divine, and its rich,
+passionate notes seemed to open the heavens to their sight. There in the
+deep sky they perceived the awakening of the lovers and their embrace
+of perfect joy, and when a glory hid them, heard the victorious chant of
+the priestess of love sighing itself away, faint and ever fainter, till
+at length its last distant echoes died in the utter silence of the place
+of souls.
+
+Tua ceased her music. Resting her still quivering harp upon the board,
+she sank back in her chair of state, outworn, trembling, while in her
+pale face the blue eyes shone like stars. There was stillness in
+the hall; the spell of that magical voice lay on the listeners; none
+applauded, it seemed even that none dared to move, for men remembered
+that this wonderful young Queen was said to be daughter of Amen, Master
+of the world, and thought that it had been given to them to hearken, not
+to a royal maiden, but to a goddess of the skies.
+
+Quiet they sat as though sleep had smitten them, only every man of their
+number stared at the sweet pale face and at those radiant eyes. Drunk
+with passion and with wine, Amathel, Prince of Kesh, leaned his heavy
+head upon his hand and stared like the rest. But those eyes did not stay
+on him. Had he been a stone they could not have noted him less; they
+passed over him seeking something beyond.
+
+Slowly he turned to see what it might be at which the Morning Star of
+Amen gazed, and perceived that the young captain who waited on him, he
+who was said to be of a race more ancient and purer than his own, he
+whose house had reigned in the Southern Land when his ancestors were but
+traffickers in gold, was also gazing at this royal singer. Yes, he bent
+forward to gaze as though a spell drew him, a spell, or the eyes of
+the Queen, and there was that upon his face which even a drunken Nubian
+could not fail to understand.
+
+In the hands of Rames was the tall, golden vase of wine, and as Amathel
+thrust back his chair its topmost ivory bar struck the foot of the
+vase and tilted it, so that the red wine poured in a torrent over the
+Prince's head and gorgeous robes, staining him from his crest of plumes
+to his feet as though with blood. Up sprang the Prince of Kesh roaring
+with fury.
+
+"Dog-descended slave!" he shouted. "Hog-headed brother of swine, is it
+thus that you wait upon my Royalty?" and with the cup in his hand he
+smote Rames on the face, then drew the sword at his side to kill him.
+
+But Rames also wore a sword, that sword hafted with the golden crocodile
+which Pharaoh had given him long ago--that sword which Asti the
+foresighted had seen red with royal blood. With a wild, low cry he
+snatched it from its sheath, and to avoid the blow that Amathel struck
+at him before he could guard himself, sprang backwards from the dais
+to the open space in the hall that had been left clear for the dancers.
+After him leapt Amathel calling him "Coward," and next instant the
+pillars echoed, not with Tua's music but with the stern ringing of
+bronze upon bronze.
+
+Now in their fear and amaze men looked up to Pharaoh, waiting his word,
+but Pharaoh, overcome by the horror of the scene, appeared to have
+swooned; at least, he lay back in his chair with his eyes shut like one
+asleep. Then they looked to the Queen, but Tua made no sign, only with
+parted lips and heaving breast watched, watched and waited for the end.
+
+As for Rames he forgot everything save that he, a soldier and a noble
+of royal race, had been struck across the mouth by a black Nubian who
+called himself a prince. His blood boiled up in him, and through a
+red haze as it were, he saw Tua's glorious eyes beckoning him on to a
+victory. He saw and sprang as springs the lion of the desert, sprang
+straight at the throat of Amathel. The blow went high, an ostrich plume
+floated to the ground--no more, and Amathel was a sturdy fighter and had
+the strength of madness. Moreover, his was the longer weapon; it fell
+upon the scales of armour of Rames and beat him back, it fell again
+on his shoulder and struck him to his knee. It fell a third time,
+and glancing from the mail wounded him in the thigh so that the blood
+flowed. Now a soldier of Pharaoh's guard shouted to encourage his
+captain, and the Nubians shouted back, crying to their prince to slit
+the hog's throat.
+
+Then Rames seemed to awake. He leapt from his knees, he smote and the
+blow went home, though the iron which the Nubian wore beneath his robe
+stayed it. He smote again more fiercely, and now it was the blood
+of Amathel that flowed. Then bending almost to the ground before the
+answering stroke, he leapt and thrust with all the strength of young
+limbs trained to war. He thrust and behold! between the broad shoulders
+of Amathel pierced from breast to back, appeared the point of the
+Egyptian's sword. For a moment the prince stood still, then he fell
+backwards heavily and lay dead.
+
+Now, with a shout of rage the giants of the Nubian guard rushed at Rames
+to avenge their master's death, so that he must fly backwards before
+their spears, backwards into the ranks of the Pharaoh's guard. In a
+flash the Nubians were on them also and, how none could tell, a fearful
+fray began, for these soldiers hated each other, as their fathers had
+done before them, and there were none who could come between them,
+since at this feast no man bore weapons save the guards. Fierce was the
+battle, but the Nubians lacked a captain while Rames led veterans of
+Thebes picked for their valour.
+
+The giants began to give. Here and there they fell till at length but
+three of them were left upon their feet, who threw down their arms and
+cried for mercy. Then it was for the first time that Rames understood
+what he had done. With bent head, his red sword in his hand, he climbed
+the dais and knelt before the throne of Pharaoh, saying:
+
+"I have avenged my honour and the honour of Egypt. Slay me, O Pharaoh!"
+
+But Pharaoh made no answer for his swoon still held him.
+
+Then Rames turned to Tua and said:
+
+"Pharaoh sleeps, but in your hand is the sceptre. Slay me, O Queen!"
+
+Now Tua, who all this while had watched like one frozen into stone,
+seemed to thaw to life again. Her danger was past. She could never be
+forced to wed that coarse, black-souled Nubian, for Rames had killed
+him. Yonder he lay dead in all his finery with his hideous giants about
+him like fallen trees, and oh! in her rebellious human heart she blessed
+Rames for the deed.
+
+But as she, who was trained in statecraft, knew well enough, if he had
+escaped the sword of Prince Amathel, it was but to fall into a peril
+from which there seemed to be no escape. This dead prince was the heir
+of a great king, of a king so great that for a century Egypt had dared
+to make no war upon his country, for it was far away, well-fortified and
+hard to come at across deserts and through savage tribes. Moreover, the
+man had been slain at a feast in Pharaoh's Court, and by an officer of
+Pharaoh's guard, which afterwards had killed his escort under the eyes
+of Egypt's monarchs, the hand of one of whom he sought in marriage. Such
+a deed must mean a bitter war for Egypt, and to those who struck the
+blow--death, as Rames himself knew well.
+
+Tua looked at him kneeling before her, and her heart ached. Fiercely,
+despairingly she thought, throwing her soul afar to seek out wisdom and
+a way of escape for Rames. Presently in the blackness of her mind there
+arose a plan and, as ever was her fashion, she acted swiftly. Lifting
+her head she commanded that the doors should be locked and guarded so
+that none might go in or out, and that those physicians who were amongst
+the company should attend to the wounded, and to Pharaoh, who was
+ill. Then she called the High Council of the Kingdom, all of whom were
+gathered there about her, and spoke in a cold, calm voice, while the
+company flocked round to listen.
+
+"Lords and people," she said, "the gods for their own purposes have
+suffered a fearful thing to come to pass. Egypt's guest and his guard
+have been slain before Egypt's kings, yes, at their feast and in their
+very presence, and it will be said far and wide that this has been done
+by treachery. Yet you know well, as I do, that it was no treachery,
+but a mischance. The divine prince who is dead, as all of you saw,
+grew drunken after the fashion of his people, and in his drunkenness he
+struck a high-born man, a Count of Egypt and an officer of Pharaoh, who
+to do him greater honour was set to wait upon him, calling him by vile
+names, and drew his sword upon him to kill him. Am I right? Did you see
+and hear these things?"
+
+"Aye," answered the Council and the audience.
+
+"Then," went on Tua, "this officer, forgetting all save his outraged
+honour, dared to fight for his life even against the Prince of Kesh, and
+being the better man, slew him. Afterwards the servants of the Prince of
+Kesh attacked him and Pharaoh's guard, and were conquered and the most
+of them killed, since none here had arms wherewith to part them. Have I
+spoken truth?"
+
+"Yea, O Queen," they answered again by their spokesman. "Rames and the
+royal guard have little blame in the matter," and from the rest of them
+rose a murmur of assent.
+
+"Now," went on Tua with gathering confidence, for she felt that all saw
+with her eyes, "to add to our woes Pharaoh, my father, has been smitten
+by the gods. He sleeps; he cannot speak; I know not whether he will live
+or die, and therefore it would seem that I, the duly-crowned Queen of
+Egypt, must act for him as was provided in such a case, since the matter
+is very urgent and may not be delayed. Is it your will," she added,
+addressing the Council, "that I should so act as the gods may show me
+how to do?"
+
+"It is right and fitting," answered the Vizier, the King's companion, on
+behalf of all of them.
+
+"Then, priests, lords and people," continued the Queen, "what course
+shall we take in this sore strait? Speaking with the voice of all of
+you and on your behalf, I can command that the Count Rames and all those
+other chosen men whom Pharaoh loves, who fought with him, shall be slain
+forthwith. This, indeed," she added slowly, "I should wish to do, since
+although Rames had suffered intolerable insult such as no high-born man
+can be asked to bear even from a prince, and he and all of them were
+but fighting to save their lives and to show the Nubians that we are not
+cowards here in Egypt, without doubt they have conquered and slain the
+heir of Kesh and his black giants who were our guests, and for this deed
+their lives are forfeit."
+
+She paused watching, while although here and there a voice answered
+"Yes" or "They must die," from the rest arose a murmur of dissent. For
+in their hearts the company were on the side of Rames and Pharaoh's
+guards. Moreover, they were proud of the young captain's skill and
+courage, and glad that the Nubians, whom they hated with an ancient
+hate, had been defeated by the lesser men of Egypt, some of whom were
+their friends or relatives.
+
+Now, while they argued among themselves Tua rose from her chair and
+went to look at Pharaoh, whom the physicians were attending, chafing his
+hands and pouring water on his brow. Presently she returned with tears
+standing in her beautiful eyes, for she loved her father, and said in a
+heavy voice:
+
+"Alas! Pharaoh is very ill. Set the evil has smitten him, and it is
+hard, my people, that he perchance may be taken from us and we must
+bear such woe, because of the ill behaviour of a royal foreigner, for I
+cannot forget that it was he who caused this tumult."
+
+The audience agreed that it was very hard, and looked angrily at the
+surviving Nubians, but Tua, conquering herself, continued:
+
+"We must bear the blows that the fates rain on us, nor suffer our
+private grief to dull the sword of justice. Now, as I have said, even
+though we love them as our brothers or our husbands, yet the Count Rames
+and his brave comrades should perish by a death of shame, such a death
+as little befits the flower of Pharaoh's guard."
+
+Again she paused, then went on in the midst of an intense silence, for
+even the physicians ceased from their work to hearken to her decree, as
+supreme judge of Egypt.
+
+"And yet, and yet, my people, even as I was about to pass sentence upon
+them, uttering the doom that may not be recalled, some guardian spirit
+of our land sent a thought into my heart, on which I think it right
+to take your judgment. If we destroy these men, as I desire to destroy
+them, will they not say in the Southern Country and in all the nations
+around, that first they had been told to murder the Prince of Kesh and
+his escort, and then were themselves executed to cover up our crime?
+Will it not be believed that there is blood upon the hands of Pharaoh
+and of Egypt, the blood of a royal guest who, it is well known, was
+welcomed here with love and joy, that he might--oh! forgive me, I am but
+a maiden, I cannot say it. Nay, pity me not and answer not till I have
+set out all the case as best I may, which I fear me is but ill. It is
+certain that this will be said--aye, and believed, and we of Egypt all
+called traitors, and that these men, who after all, however evil has
+been their deed, are brave and upright, will be written in all the books
+of all the lands as common murderers, and go down to Osiris with that
+ill name branded on their brows. Yes, and their shame will cling to the
+pure hands of Pharaoh and his councillors."
+
+Now at this picture the people murmured, and some of the noble women
+there began to weep outright.
+
+"But," proceeded Tua with her pleading voice, "how if we were to take
+another course? How if we commanded this Count Rames and his companions
+to journey, with an escort such as befits the Majesty of Pharaoh, to the
+far city of Napata, and there to lay before the great king of that land
+by writings and the mouths of witnesses, all the sad story of the death
+of his only son? How if we sent letters to this Majesty of Kesh, saying,
+'Thou hast heard our tale, thou knowest all our woe. Now judge. If thou
+art noble-hearted and it pleases thee to acquit these men, acquit them
+and we will praise thee. But if thou art wroth and stern and it pleases
+thee to condemn these men, condemn them, and send them back to us for
+punishment, that punishment which thou dost decree.' Is that plan good,
+my people? Can his Majesty of Kesh complain if he is made judge in his
+own cause? Can the kings and captains of other lands then declare that
+in Egypt we work murder on our guests? Tell me, who have so little
+wisdom, if this plan is good, as I dare to say to you, it seems to me."
+
+Now with one voice the Council and all the guests, and especially the
+guards themselves who were on their trial, save Rames, who still knelt
+in silence before the Queen, cried out that it was very good. Yes; they
+clapped their hands and shouted, vowing to each other that this young
+Queen of theirs was the Spirit of Wisdom come to earth, and that her
+excellent person was filled with the soul of a god.
+
+But she frowned at their praises and, holding up her sceptre, sternly
+commanded silence.
+
+"Such is your decree, O my Council," she cried, "and the decree of all
+you here present, who are the noblest of my people, and I, as I am bound
+by my oath of crowning, proclaim and ratify it, I, Neter-Tua, who am
+named Star and Daughter of Amen, who am named Glorious in Ra, who am
+named Hathor, Strong in Beauty, who am crowned Queen of the Upper and
+the Lower Land. I proclaim--write it down, O Scribes, and let it
+be registered this night that the decree may stand while the world
+endures--that two thousand of the choicest troops of Egypt shall sail up
+Nile, forthwith, for Kesh, and that in command of them, so that all
+may know his crime, shall go the young Count Rames, and with him those
+others who also did the deed of blood."
+
+Now at this announcement, which sounded more like promotion than
+disgrace, some started and Rames looked up, quivering in all his limbs.
+
+"I proclaim," went on Tua quickly, "that when they are come to Napata
+they shall kneel before its king and submit themselves to the judgment
+of his Majesty, and having been judged, shall return and report to us
+the judgment of his Majesty, that it may be carried out as his Majesty
+of Kesh shall appoint. Let the troops and the ships be made ready this
+very night, and meanwhile, save when he appears before us to take his
+orders as general, in token of our wrath, we banish the Count Rames from
+our Court and Presence, and place his companions under guard."
+
+So spoke Tua, and the royal decree having been written down swiftly and
+read aloud, she sealed and signed with her sign-manual as Queen, that it
+might not be changed or altered, and commanded that copies of it should
+be sent to all the Governors of the Nomes of Egypt, and a duplicate
+prepared and despatched with this royal embassy, for so she named it, to
+be delivered to the King of Kesh with the letters of condolence, and the
+presents of ceremony, and the body of Amathel, the Prince of Kesh, now
+divine in Osiris.
+
+Then, at length, the doors were thrown open and the company dispersed,
+Rames and the guard being led away by the Council and placed in safe
+keeping. Also Pharaoh, still senseless but breathing quietly, was
+carried to his bed, and the dead were taken to the embalmers, whilst
+Tua, so weary that she could scarcely walk, departed to her chambers
+leaning on the shoulder of the royal Nurse, Asti, the mother of Rames.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+THE OATH OF RAMES AND OF TUA
+
+Still robed Tua lay upon a couch, for she would not seek her bed, while
+Asti stood near to her, a dark commanding figure.
+
+"Your Majesty has done strange things to-night," said Asti in her quiet
+voice.
+
+Tua turned her head and looked at her, then answered:
+
+"Very strange, Nurse. You see, the gods and that troublesome son of
+yours and Pharaoh's sudden sickness threw the strings of Fate into
+my hand, and--I pulled them. I always had a fancy for the pulling of
+strings, but the chance never came my way before."
+
+"It seems to me that for a beginner your Majesty pulled somewhat hard,"
+said Asti drily.
+
+"Yes, Nurse, so hard that I think I have pulled your son off the
+scaffold into a place of some honour, if he knows how to stay there,
+though it was the Council and the lords and the ladies, who thought that
+_they_ pulled. You see one must commence as one means to go on."
+
+"Your Majesty is very clever; you will make a great Queen--if you do not
+overpull yourself."
+
+"Not half so clever as you were, Asti, when you made that monkey come
+out of the vase," answered Tua, laughing somewhat hysterically. "Oh! do
+not look innocent, I know it was your magic, for I could feel it passing
+over my head. How did you do it, Asti?"
+
+"If your Majesty will tell me how you made the lords of Egypt consent to
+the sending of an armed expedition to Napata under the command of a lad,
+a mere captain who had just killed its heir-apparent before their eyes,
+which decree, if I know anything of Rames, will mean a war between Kesh
+and Egypt, I will tell you how I made the monkey come out of the vase."
+
+"Then I shall never learn, Nurse, for I can't because I don't know. It
+came into my mind, as music comes into my throat, that is all. Rames
+should have been beheaded at once, shouldn't he, for not letting that
+black boar tusk him? Do you think he poured the wine over Amathel's head
+on purpose?" and again she laughed.
+
+"Yes, I suppose that he should have been killed, as he would have been
+if your Majesty had not chanced to be so fond----"
+
+"Talking of wine," broke in Tua, "give me a cup of it. The divine Prince
+of Kesh who was to have been my husband--did you understand, Asti, that
+they really meant to make that black barbarian my husband?--I say that
+the divine Prince, who now sups with Osiris, drank so much that I could
+not touch a drop, and I am tired and thirsty, and have still some things
+to do to-night."
+
+Asti went to a table where stood a flagon of wine wreathed in vine
+leaves, and by it cups of glass, and filling one of them brought it to
+Tua.
+
+"Here's to the memory of the divine prince, and may he have left the
+table of Osiris before I come there. And here's to the hand that sent
+him thither," said Tua recklessly. Then she drained the wine, every drop
+of it, and threw the cup to the marble floor where it shattered into
+bits.
+
+"What god has entered into your Majesty to-night?" asked Asti quietly.
+
+"One that knows his own mind, I think," replied Tua. "There, I feel
+strong again, I go to visit Pharaoh. Come with me, Asti."
+
+When Tua arrived at the bedside of Pharaoh she found that the worst of
+the danger was over. Fearing for his life the physicians had bled him,
+and now the fit had passed away and his eyes were open, although he was
+unable to speak and did not know her or anyone. She asked whether he
+would live or die, and was told that he would live, or so his doctors
+believed, but that for a long while he must lie quite quiet, seeing as
+few people as possible, and above all being troubled with no business,
+since, if he were wearied or excited, the fit would certainly return
+and kill him. So, rejoicing at this news which was better than she had
+expected, Tua kissed her father and left him.
+
+"Now will your Majesty go to bed?" asked Asti when she had returned to
+her own apartments.
+
+"By no means," answered Tua, "I wear Pharaoh's shoes and have much
+business left to do to-night. Summon Mermes, your husband."
+
+So Mermes came and stood before her. He was still what he had been
+in the old days when Tua played as an infant in his house, stern,
+noble-looking and of few words, but now his hair had grown white and his
+face was drawn with grief, both for the sake of Rames, whose hot blood
+had brought him into so much danger, and because Pharaoh, who was his
+friend, lay between life and death.
+
+Tua looked at him and loved him more than ever, for now that he was
+troubled some new likeness to Rames appeared upon his face which she had
+never seen before.
+
+"Take heart, noble Mermes," she said gently, "they say that Pharaoh
+stays with us yet a while."
+
+"I thank Amen," he answered, "for had he died, his blood would have been
+upon the hands of my House."
+
+"Not so, Mermes; it would have been upon the hands of the gods. You
+spring from a royal line; say, what would you have thought of your son
+if after being struck by that fat Nubian, he had cowered at his feet and
+prayed for his life like any slave?"
+
+Mermes flushed and smiled a little, then said:
+
+"The question is rather---What would you have thought, O Queen?"
+
+"I?" answered Tua. "Well, as a queen I should have praised him much,
+since then Egypt would have been spared great trouble, but as a woman
+and a friend I should never have spoken to him again. Honour is more
+than life, Mermes."
+
+"Certainly honour is more than life," replied Mermes, staring at the
+ceiling, perhaps to hide the look upon his face, "and for a little while
+Rames seems to be in the way of it. But those who are set high have far
+to fall, O Queen, and--forgive me--he is my only child. Now when Pharaoh
+recovers----"
+
+"Rames will be far away," broke in Tua. "Go, bring him here at once, and
+with him the Vizier and the chief scribe of the Council. Take this ring,
+it will open all doors," and she drew the signet from her finger and
+handed it to him.
+
+"At this hour, your Majesty?" said Mermes in a doubtful voice.
+
+"Have I not spoken," she answered impatiently. "When the welfare of
+Egypt is at stake I do not sleep."
+
+So Mermes bowed and went, and while he was gone Tua caused Asti to
+smooth her hair and change her robe and ornaments for others which,
+although she did not say so, she thought became her better. Then she
+sat her down in a chair of state in her chamber of audience, and waited,
+while Asti stood beside her asking no questions, but wondering.
+
+At length the doors were opened, and through them appeared Mermes and
+the Vizier and the chief of the scribes, both of them trying to hide
+their yawns, for they had been summoned from their beds who were not
+wont to do state business at such hours. After them limped Rames, for
+his wound had grown stiff, who looked bewildered, but otherwise just as
+he had left the feast.
+
+Now, without waiting for the greetings of ceremony, Tua began to
+question the Vizier as to what steps had been taken in furtherance of
+her decrees, and when he assured her that the business was on foot, went
+into its every detail with him, as to the ships and the officers and the
+provisioning of the men, and so forth. Next she set herself to dictate
+despatches to the captains and barons who held the fortresses on the
+Upper Nile, communicating to them Pharaoh's orders on this matter, and
+the commission of Rames, whereby he, whose hands had done the ill, was
+put in command of the great embassy that went to make amends.
+
+These being finished, she sent away the scribe to spend the rest of the
+night in writing them in duplicate, bidding him bring them to her in the
+early morning to be sealed. Next addressing Rames, she commanded him to
+start on the morrow with those troops which were ready to Takensit
+above the first Cataract of the Nile, which was the frontier fortress of
+Egypt, and there wait until the remainder of the soldiers joined them,
+bearing with them her presents to the King of Kesh, and the embalmed
+body of the Prince Amathel.
+
+Rames bowed and said that her orders should be obeyed, and the audience
+being finished, still bowing and supported by Mermes, began to walk
+backwards towards the door, his eyes fixed upon the face of Tua, who sat
+with bent head, clasping the arms of her chair like one in difficulty
+and doubt. When he had gone a few steps she seemed to come to some
+determination, for with an effort she raised herself and said:
+
+"Return, Count Rames, I have a message to give you for the King of Kesh
+who, unhappy man, has lost his son and heir, and it is one that no other
+ears must hear. Leave me a while with this captain, O Mermes and Asti,
+and see that none listen to our talk. Presently I will summon you to
+conduct him away."
+
+They hesitated, for this thing seemed strange, then noting the look she
+gave them, departed through the doors behind the royal seat.
+
+Now Rames and the Queen were left alone in that great, lighted chamber.
+With bent head and folded arms he stood before her while she looked at
+him intently, yet seemed to find no words to say. At length she spoke in
+a sweet, low voice.
+
+"It is many years since we were playmates in the courts of the temple
+yonder, and since then we have never been alone together, have we,
+Rames?"
+
+"No, Great Lady," answered Rames, "for you were born to be a queen, and
+I am but a humble soldier who cannot hope to consort with queens."
+
+"Who cannot hope! Would you wish to then if you could?"
+
+"O Queen," answered Rames, biting his lips, "why does it please you to
+make a mock of me?"
+
+"It does not please me to do any such thing, for by my father Amen,
+Rames, I wish that we were children once more, for those were happy
+days before they separated us and set you to soldiering and me to
+statecraft."
+
+"You have learnt your part well, Star of the Morning," said Rames,
+glancing at her quickly.
+
+"Not better than you, playmate Rames, if I may judge from your
+sword-play this night. So it seems that we both of us are in the way of
+becoming masters of our trades."
+
+"What am I to say to your Majesty? You have saved my life when it was
+forfeit----"
+
+"As once you saved mine when it was forfeit, and at greater risk. Look
+at your hand, it will remind you. It was but tit for tat. And, friend
+Rames, this day I came near to being eaten by a worse crocodile than
+that which dwells in the pool yonder."
+
+"I guessed as much, Queen, and the thought made me mad. Had it not been
+for that I should only have thrown him down. Now that crocodile will eat
+no more maidens."
+
+"No," answered Tua, rubbing her chin, "he has gone to be eaten by Set,
+Devourer of Souls, has he not? But I think there may be trouble between
+Egypt and Kesh, and what Pharaoh will say when he recovers I am sure I
+do not know. May the gods protect me from his wrath."
+
+"Tell me, if it pleases your Majesty, what is my fate? I have been
+named General of this expedition over the heads of many, I who am but
+a captain and a young man and an evil-doer. Am I to be killed on the
+journey, or am I to be executed by the King of Kesh?"
+
+"If any kill you on the journey, Rames, they shall render me an account,
+be it the gods themselves, and as for the vengeance of the King of
+Kesh--well, you will have two thousand picked men with you and the means
+to gather more as you go. Listen now, for this is not in the decree or
+in the letters," she added, bending towards him and whispering. "Egypt
+has spies in Kesh, and, being industrious, I have read their reports.
+The people there hate the upstart race that rules them, and the king,
+who alone is left now that Amathel is dead, is old and half-witted, for
+all that family drink too much. So if the worst comes to the worst, do
+you think that you need be killed, you," she added meaningly, "who, if
+the House of Amathel were not, would by descent be King of Kesh, as, if
+I and my House were not, you might be Pharaoh of Egypt?"
+
+Rames studied the floor for a little, then looked up and asked:
+
+"What shall I do?"
+
+"It seems that is for you to find out," replied Tua, in her turn
+studying the ceiling. "Were I in your place, I think that, if driven to
+it, _I_ should know what to do. One thing, however, I should _not_ do.
+Whatever may be the judgment of the divine King of Kesh upon you, and
+that can easily be guessed, I should not return to Egypt with my escort,
+until I was quite sure of my welcome. No, I think that I should stop in
+Napata, which I am told is a rich and pleasant city, and try to put its
+affairs in order, trusting that Egypt, to which it once belonged, would
+in the end forgive me for so doing."
+
+"I understand," said Rames, "that whatever happens, I alone am to
+blame."
+
+"Good, and of course there are no witnesses to this talk of ours. Have
+you also been taking lessons in statecraft in your spare hours, Rames,
+much as I have tried to learn something of the art of war?"
+
+Rames made no answer, only these two strange conspirators looked at each
+other and smiled.
+
+"Your Majesty is weary. I must leave your Majesty," he said presently.
+
+"You must be wearier than I am, Rames, with that wound, which I think
+has not been dressed, although it is true that we have both fought
+to-night. Rames, you are going on a far journey. I wonder if we shall
+ever meet again."
+
+"I do not know," he answered with a groan, "but for my sake it is better
+that we should not. O Morning Star, why did you save me this night, who
+would have been glad to die? Did not that Ka of yours tell you that I
+should have been glad to die, or my mother, who is a magician?"
+
+"I have seen nothing of my Ka, Rames, since we played together in the
+temple--ah! those were happy days, were they not? And your mother is a
+discreet lady who does not talk to me about you, except to warn me not
+to show you any favour, lest others should be jealous and murder you.
+Shall you then be sorry if we do not meet again? Scarcely, I suppose,
+since you seem so anxious to die and be rid of me and all things that we
+know."
+
+Now Rames pressed his hand upon his heart as though to still its
+beating, and looked round him in despair. For, indeed, that heart of his
+felt as though it must burst.
+
+"Tua," he gasped desperately, "can you for a minute forget that you are
+Queen of the Upper and the Lower Land, who perhaps will soon be Pharaoh,
+the mightiest monarch in the world, and remember only that you are a
+woman, and as a woman hear a secret and keep it close?"
+
+"We have been talking secrets, Rames, as we used to do, you remember,
+long ago, and you will not tell mine which deal with the State. Why,
+then, should I tell yours? But be short, it grows late, or rather early,
+and as you know, we shall not meet again."
+
+"Good," he answered. "Queen Neter-Tua, I, your subject, dare to love
+you."
+
+"What of that, Rames? I have millions of subjects who all profess to
+love me."
+
+He waved his hand angrily, and went on:
+
+"I dare to love you as a man loves a woman, not as a subject loves a
+queen."
+
+"Ah!" she answered in a new and broken voice, "that is different, is it
+not? Well, all women love to be loved, though some are queens and some
+are peasants, so why should I be angry? Rames, now, as in past days, I
+thank you for your love."
+
+"It is not enough," he said. "What is the use of giving love? Love
+should be lent. Love is an usurer that asks high interest. Nay, not the
+interest only, but the capital and the interest to boot. Oh, Star! what
+happens to the man who is so mad as to love the Queen of Egypt?"
+
+Tua considered this problem as though it were a riddle to which she was
+seeking an answer.
+
+"Who knows?" she replied at length in a low voice. "Perhaps it costs
+him his life, or perhaps--perhaps he marries her and becomes Pharaoh of
+Egypt. Much might depend on whether the queen chanced to care about such
+a man."
+
+Now Rames shook like a reed in the evening wind, and he looked at her
+with glowing eyes.
+
+"Tua," he whispered, "can it be possible--do you mean that I am welcome
+to you, or are you but drawing me to shame and ruin?"
+
+She made no answer to him in words, only with a certain grave
+deliberation, laid down the little ivory sceptre that she held, and
+suffering her troubled eyes to rest upon his eyes, bent forward and
+stretched out her arms towards him.
+
+"Yes, Rames," she murmured into his ear a minute later, "I am drawing
+you to whatever may be found upon this breast of mine, love, or majesty,
+or shame, or ruin, or the death of one or both of us, or all of them
+together. Are you content to take the chances of this high game, Rames?"
+
+"Ask it not, Tua. You know, you know!"
+
+She kissed him on the lips, and all her heart and all her youth were in
+that kiss. Then, gently enough, she pushed him from her, saying:
+
+"Stand there, I would speak with you, and as I have said, the time is
+short. Hearken to me, Rames, you are right; I know, as I have always
+known, and as you would have known also had you been less foolish than
+you are. You love me and I love you, for so it was decreed where souls
+are made, and so it has been from the beginning and so it shall be to
+the end. You, a gentleman of Egypt, love the Queen of Egypt, and she is
+yours and no other man's. Such is the decree of him who caused us to
+be born upon the same day, and to be nursed upon the same kind breast.
+Well, after all, why not? If love brings death upon us, as well may
+chance, at least the love will remain which is worth it all, and beyond
+death there is something."
+
+"Only this, Tua, I seek the woman not a throne, and alas! through me you
+may be torn from your high place."
+
+"The throne goes with the woman, Rames, they cannot be separated. But,
+say, something comes over me; if that happened, if I were an outcast, a
+wanderer, with nothing save this shape and soul of mine, and it were you
+that sat upon a throne, would you still love me, Rames?"
+
+"Why ask such questions?" he replied indignantly. "Moreover, your talk
+is childish. What throne can I ever sit on?"
+
+A change fell upon her at his words. She ceased to be the melting,
+passionate woman, and became once more the strong, far-seeing queen.
+
+"Rames," she said, "you understand why, although it tears my heart, I am
+sending you so far away and into so many dangers, do you not? It is to
+save your life, for after what has chanced to-night in this fashion or
+in that here you would certainly die, as, had it not been for that plan
+of mine you must have died two hours ago. There are many who hate
+you, Rames, and Pharaoh may recover, as I pray the gods he will, and
+over-ride my will, for you have slain his guest who was brought here to
+marry me."
+
+"I understand all of these things, Queen."
+
+"Then awake, Rames, look to the future and understand that also, if, as
+I think, you have the wit. I am sending you with a strong escort, am
+I not? Well, that King of Kesh is old and feeble, and you have a claim
+upon his crown. Take it, man, and set it on your head, and as King of
+Kesh ask the hand of Egypt's Queen in marriage. Then who would say you
+nay--not Egypt's Queen, I think, or the people of Egypt who hunger for
+the rich Southern Land which they have lost."
+
+So she spoke, and as these high words passed her lips she looked so
+splendid and so royal that, dazzled by the greatness of her majesty.
+Rames bowed himself before her as before the presence of a god. Then,
+aware that she was trying him in the balance of her judgment, he
+straightened himself and spoke to her as prince speaks to prince.
+
+"Star of Amen," he said, "it is true that though here we are but your
+humble subjects, the blood of my father and of myself is as high as
+yours, and perhaps more ancient, and it is true that now yonder Amathel
+is dead, after my father, in virtue of those who went before us I have
+more right than any other to the inheritance of Kesh. Queen, I hear your
+words, I will take it if I can, not for its own sake, but to win you,
+and if I fail you will know that I died doing my best. Queen, we part
+and this is a far journey. Perhaps we may never meet again; at the best
+we must be separated for long. Queen, you have honoured me with your
+love, and therefore I ask a promise of you, not as a woman only, but
+as Queen. I ask that however strait may be the circumstances, whatever
+reasons of State may push you on, while I live you will take no other
+man to husband--no, not even if he offers you half the world in dower."
+
+"I give it," she answered. "If you should learn that I am wed to any man
+upon the earth then spit upon my name as a woman, and as Queen cast me
+off and overthrow me if you can. Deal with me, Rames, as in such a case
+I will deal with you. Only be sure of your tidings ere you believe them.
+Now there is nothing more to say. Farewell to you, Rames, till we meet
+again beneath or beyond the sun. Our royal pact is made. Come, seal it
+and begone."
+
+She rose and stretched out her sceptre to him, which he kissed as her
+faithful subject. Next, with a swift movement, she lifted the golden
+_uræus_ circlet from her brow and for a moment set it on his head,
+crowning him her king, and while it rested there she, the Queen of
+Egypt, bent the knee before him and did him homage. Then she cast down
+crown and sceptre, and as woman fell upon her lover's breast while
+the bright rays of morning, flowing suddenly through the eastern
+window-place of that splendid hall, struck upon them both, clothing them
+in a robe of glory and of flame.
+
+Soon, very soon, it was done and Tua, seated there in light, watched
+Rames depart into the outer shadow, wondering when and how she would
+see him come again. For her heart was heavy within her, and even in this
+hour of triumphant love she greatly feared the future and its gifts.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+TUA COMES TO MEMPHIS
+
+So that day Rames departed for Takensit with what ships and men could be
+got together in such haste. There, at the frontier post, he waited till
+the rest of the soldiers should join him, bringing with them the hastily
+embalmed body of Prince Amathel whom he had slain, and the royal
+gifts to the King of Kesh. Then, without a moment's delay, he sailed
+southwards with his little army on the long journey, fearing lest if he
+tarried, orders might come to him to return to Thebes. Also he desired
+to reach Napata before the heavy news of the death of the King's son,
+and without warning of the approach of Egypt's embassy.
+
+With Tua he had no more speech, although as his galley was rowed under
+the walls of the palace, at a window of the royal apartments he saw
+a white draped figure that watched them go by. It was standing in the
+shadow so that he could not recognise the face, but his heart told him
+that this was none other than the Queen herself, who appeared there to
+bid him farewell.
+
+So Rames rose from the chair in which he was seated on account of the
+hurt to his leg and saluted with his sword, and ordered the crew to
+do likewise by lifting up their oars. Then the slender figure bowed in
+answer, and he went on to fulfil his destiny, leaving Neter-Tua, Morning
+Star of Amen, to fulfil hers.
+
+Before he sailed, however, Mermes his father and Asti his mother visited
+him in a place apart.
+
+"You were born under a strange star, my son," said Mermes, "and I know
+not whither it will lead you, who pray that it may not be a meteor which
+blazes suddenly in the heavens and disappears to return no more. All
+the people talk of the favour the Queen has shown you who, instead of
+ordering you to be executed for the deed you did which robbed her of a
+royal husband, has set you in command of an army, you, a mere youth,
+and received you in secret audience, an honour granted to very few. Fate
+that has passed me by gives the dice to your young hand, but how the
+cast will fall I know not, nor shall I live to see, or so I believe."
+
+"Speak no such evil-omened words, my father," answered Rames tenderly,
+for these two loved each other. "To me it seems more likely that it is
+I who shall not live, for this is a strange and desperate venture upon
+which I go, to tell to a great king the news of the death of his only
+son at my own hand. Mother, you are versed in the books of wisdom and
+can see that which is hidden to our eyes. Have you no word of comfort
+for us?"
+
+"My son," answered Asti, "I have searched the future, but with all my
+skill it will open little of its secrets to my sight. Yet I have learned
+something. Great fortunes lie before you, and I believe that you and I
+shall meet again. But to your beloved father bid farewell."
+
+At these words Rames turned his head aside to hide his tears, but Mermes
+bade him not to grieve, saying:
+
+"Great is the mystery of our fates, my son. Some there be who tell us
+that we are but bubbles born of the stream to be swallowed up by the
+stream, clouds born of the sky to be swallowed up by the sky, the
+offspring of chance like the beasts and the birds, gnats that dance for
+an hour in the sunlight and are gone. But I believe it not, who hold
+that the gods clothe us with this robe of flesh for their own purpose,
+and that the spirit within us has been from the beginning and eternally
+will be. Therefore I love not life and fear not death, knowing that
+these are but doors leading to the immortal house that is prepared for
+us. The royal blood you have came to you from your mother and myself,
+but that our lots should have been humble, while yours, mayhap, will be
+splendid, does not move me to envy who perchance have been that you may
+be. You go forth to fulfil your fortunes which I believe are great, I
+bide here to fulfil mine which lead me to the tomb. I shall never see
+you in your power, if power comes to you, nor will your triumphant
+footsteps stir my sleep.
+
+"Yet, Rames, remember that though you tread on cloth of gold and the
+bowed necks of your enemies, though love be your companion and diadems
+your crown, though flatteries float about you like incense in a shrine
+till, at length, you deem yourself a god, those footsteps of yours still
+lead to that same dark tomb and through it on to Judgment. Be great if
+you can, but be good as well as great. Take no man's life because
+you have the strength and hate him; wrong no woman because she is
+defenceless or can be bought. Remember that the beggar child playing in
+the sand may have a destiny more high than yours when all the earthly
+count is reckoned. Remember that you share the air you breathe with
+the cattle and the worm. Go your road rejoicing in your beauty and your
+youth and the good gifts that are given you, but know, Rames, that at
+the end of it I, who wait in the shadow of Osiris, I your father, shall
+ask an account thereof, and that beyond me stand the gods of Justice to
+test the web that you have woven. Now, Rames, my son, my blessing and
+the blessing of him who shaped us be with you, and farewell."
+
+Then Mermes kissed him on the brow and, turning, left the room, nor did
+they ever meet again.
+
+But Asti stayed awhile, and coming to him presently, looked Rames in the
+eyes, and said:
+
+"Mourn not. Separations are no new thing, death is no new thing; all
+these sorrows have been on the earth for millions of years, and for
+millions of years yet shall be. Live out your life, rejoicing if the
+days be good, content if they be but ill, regretting nothing save your
+sins, fearing nothing, expecting nothing, since all things are appointed
+and cannot be changed."
+
+"I hear," he answered humbly, "and I will not forget. Whether I succeed
+or fail you shall not be ashamed for me."
+
+Now his mother turned to go also, but paused and said:
+
+"I have a gift for you, Rames, from one whose name may not be spoken."
+
+"Give it to me," he said eagerly, "I feared that it was all but a
+dream."
+
+"Oh!" replied Asti scanning his face, "so there was a dream, was
+there? Did it fall upon you last night when the daughter of Amen, my
+foster-child, instructed you in secret?"
+
+"The gift," said Rames, stretching out his hand.
+
+Then, smiling in her quiet fashion, his mother drew from the bosom
+of her robe some object that was wrapped in linen and, touching her
+forehead with the royal seal that fastened it, gave it to Rames. With
+trembling fingers he broke the seal and there within the linen lay a
+ring which for some years, as Rames knew, Tua had worn upon the first
+finger of her right hand. It was massive and of plain gold, and upon the
+bezel of it was cut the symbol of the sun, on either side of which knelt
+a man and a woman crowned with the double crown of Egypt, and holding
+in their right hands the looped Sign of Life which they stretched up
+towards the glory of the sun.
+
+"Do you know who wore that ring in long past days?" asked Asti of Rames
+who pressed it to his lips.
+
+He shook his head who remembered only that Tua had worn it.
+
+"It was your forefather and mine, Rames, the last of the royal rulers of
+our line, who reigned over Egypt and also over the Land of Kesh. A
+while ago the embalmers re-clothed his divine body in the tomb, and the
+Princess, who was present there with your father and myself, drew this
+ring off his dead hand and offered it to Mermes, who would not take it,
+seeing that it is a royal signet. So she wore it herself, and now for
+her own reasons she sends it to you, perhaps to give you authority in
+Kesh where that mighty seal is known."
+
+"I thank the Queen," he murmured. "I shall wear it always."
+
+"Then let it be on your breast till you have passed the frontier, lest
+some should ask questions that you find it hard to answer. My son," she
+went on quickly, "you dare to love this queen of ours."
+
+"In truth I do, Mother. Did not you, who know everything, know that?
+Also it is your fault who brought us up together."
+
+"Nay, my son, the fault of the gods who have so decreed. But--does she
+love you?"
+
+"You are always with her, Mother, ask her yourself, if you need to ask.
+At least, she has sent me her own ring. Oh! Mother, Mother, guard her
+night and day, for if harm comes to her, then I die. Mother, queens
+cannot give themselves where they will as other women can; it is policy
+that thrusts their husbands on them. Keep her unwed, Mother. Though it
+should cost her her throne, still I say let her not be cast into the
+arms of one she hates. Protect her in her trial, if such should come;
+and if strength fails and the gods desert her, then hide her in the web
+of the magic that you have, and preserve her undefiled, for so shall I
+bless your name for ever."
+
+"You fly at a rare bird, Rames, and there are many stronger hawks about
+besides that one you slew; yes, royal eagles who may strike down the
+pair of you. Yet I will do my best, who have long foreseen this hour,
+and who pray that before my eyes shut in death, they may yet behold you
+seated on the throne of your forefathers, crowned with power and with
+such love and beauty as have never yet been given to man. Now hide that
+ring upon your heart and your secret in it, as I shall, lest you should
+return no more to Egypt. Moreover, follow your royal Star and no other.
+Whatever counsel she may have given you, follow it also, stirring not to
+right or left, for I say that in that maiden breast of hers there dwells
+the wisdom of the gods."
+
+Then holding up her hands over his head as though in blessing, Asti,
+too, turned and left him.
+
+
+
+So Rames went and was no more seen, and by degrees the talk as to the
+matter of his victory over the Prince of Kesh, and as to his appointment
+by the whim of the maiden Queen to command the splendid embassy of
+atonement which she had despatched to the old King, the dead man's
+father, died away for lack of anything to feed on.
+
+Tua kept her counsel well, nor was aught known of that midnight
+interview with the young Count her general. Moreover, Napata was far
+away, so far that starting at the season when it did, the embassy could
+scarce return till two years had gone by, if ever it did return. Also
+few believed that whoever came back, Rames would be one of them, since
+it was said openly that so soon as he was beyond the frontiers of
+Egypt, the soldiers had orders to kill him and take on his body as a
+peace-offering.
+
+Indeed, all praised the wit and wisdom of the Queen, who by this politic
+device, had rid herself of a troublesome business with as little scandal
+as possible, and avoided staining her own hands in the blood of a
+foster-brother. Had she ordered his death forthwith, they said, it would
+have been supposed also that she had put him away because he was of a
+royal race, one who, in the future, might prove a rival, or at least
+cause some rebellion.
+
+Meanwhile greater questions filled the mouths of men. Would Pharaoh die
+and leave Neter-Tua, the young and lovely, to hold his throne, and if
+so, what would happen? It was a thousand years since a woman had reigned
+in Egypt, and none had reigned who were not wed. Therefore it seemed
+necessary that a husband should be found for her as soon as might be.
+
+But Pharaoh did not die. On the contrary, though very slowly, he
+recovered and was stronger than he had been for years, for the fit that
+struck him down seemed to have cleared his blood. For some three months
+he lay helpless as a child, amusing himself as a child does with little
+things, and talking of children whom he had known in his youth, or when
+some of these chanced to visit him as old men, asking them to play with
+him with tops or balls.
+
+Then one day came a change, and rising from his bed he commanded the
+presence of his Councillors, and when they came, inquired of them what
+had happened, and why he could remember nothing since the feast.
+
+They put him off with soft words, and soon he grew weary and dismissed
+them. But after they had gone and he had eaten he sent for Mermes, the
+Captain of the Guard of Amen and his friend, and questioned him.
+
+"The last thing I remember," he said, "was seeing the drunken Prince of
+Kesh fighting with your son, that handsome, fiery-eyed Count Rames whom
+some fool, or enemy, had set to wait upon him at table. It was a dog's
+trick, Mermes, for after all your blood is purer and more ancient than
+that of the present kings of Kesh. Well, the horror of the sight of my
+royal guest, the suitor for my daughter's hand, fighting with an officer
+of my own guard at my own board, struck me as a butcher strikes an ox,
+and after it all was blackness. What chanced, Mermes?"
+
+"This, Pharaoh: My son killed Amathel in fair fight, then those black
+Nubian giants in their fury attacked your guard, but led by Rames the
+Egyptians, though they were the lesser men, overcame them and slew most
+of them. I am an old soldier, but never have I seen a finer fray----"
+
+"A finer fray! A finer fray," gasped Pharaoh. "Why this will mean a
+war between Kesh and Egypt. And then? Did the Council order Rames to be
+executed, as you must admit he deserved, although you are his father?"
+
+"Not so, O Pharaoh; moreover, I admit nothing, though had he played a
+coward's part before all the lords of Egypt, gladly would I have slain
+him with my own hand."
+
+"Ah!" said Pharaoh, "there speaks the soldier and the parent. Well, I
+understand. He was affronted, was he not, by that bedizened black man?
+Were I in your place I should say as much. But--what happened?"
+
+"Your Majesty having become unconscious," explained Mermes, "her Majesty
+the Queen Neter-Tua, Glorious in Ra, took command of affairs according
+to her Oath of Crowning. She has sent an embassy of atonement of two
+thousand picked soldiers to the King of Kesh, bearing with them the
+embalmed body of the divine Amathel and many royal gifts."
+
+"That is good enough in its way," said Pharaoh. "But why two thousand
+men, whereof the cost will be very great, when a score would have
+sufficed? It is an army, not an embassy, and when my royal brother of
+Kesh sees it advancing, bearing with it the ill-omened gift of his only
+son's body, he may take alarm."
+
+Mermes respectfully agreed that he might do so.
+
+"What general is in command of this embassy, as it pleases you to call
+it?"
+
+"The Count Rames, my son, is in command, your Majesty."
+
+Now weak as he was still, Pharaoh nearly leapt from his chair:
+
+"Rames! That young cut-throat who killed the Prince! Rames who is the
+last of the old rightful dynasty of Kesh! Rames, a mere captain, in
+command of two thousand of my veterans! Oh, I must still be mad! Who
+gave him the command?"
+
+"The Queen Neter-Tua, Star of Amen, she gave him the command, O Pharaoh.
+Immediately after the fray in the hall she uttered her decree and caused
+it to be recorded in the usual fashion."
+
+"Send for the Queen," said Pharaoh with a groan.
+
+So Tua was summoned, and presently swept in gloriously arrayed, and on
+seeing her father sitting up and well, ran to him and embraced him and
+for a long time refused to listen to his talk of matters of State. At
+length, however, he made her sit by him still holding his hand, and
+asked her why in the name of Amen she had sent that handsome young
+firebrand, Rames, in command of the expedition to Kesh. Then she
+answered very sweetly that she would tell him. And tell him she did, at
+such length that before she had finished, Pharaoh, whose strength as yet
+was small, had fallen into a doze.
+
+"Now, you understand," she said as he woke up with a start. "The
+responsibility was thrust upon me, and I had to act as I thought best.
+To have slain this young Rames would have been impossible, for all
+hearts were with him."
+
+"But surely, Daughter, you might have got him out of the way."
+
+"My father, that is what I have done. I have sent him to Napata, which
+is very much out of the way--many months' journey, I am told."
+
+"But what will happen, Tua? Either the King of Kesh will kill him and
+my two thousand soldiers, or perhaps he will kill the King of Kesh as he
+killed his son, and seize the throne which his own forefathers held for
+generations. Have you thought of that?"
+
+"Yes, my father, I thought of it, and if this last should happen through
+no fault of ours, would Egypt weep, think you?"
+
+Now Pharaoh stared at Tua, and Tua looked back at Pharaoh and smiled.
+
+"I perceive, Daughter," he said slowly, "that in you are the makings of
+a great queen, for within the silken scabbard of a woman's folly I see
+the statesman's sword of bronze. Only run not too fast lest you should
+fall upon that sword and it should pierce you."
+
+Now Tua, who had heard such words before from Asti, smiled again but
+made no answer.
+
+"You need a husband to hold you back," went on Pharaoh; "some great man
+whom you can love and respect."
+
+"Find me such a man, my father, and I will wed him gladly," answered Tua
+in a sweet voice. "Only," she added, "I know not where he may be sought
+now that the divine Amathel is dead at the hand of the Count Rames, our
+general and ambassador to Kesh."
+
+So when he grew stronger Pharaoh renewed his search for a husband meet
+to marry the Queen of Egypt. Now, as before, suitors were not lacking,
+indeed, his ambassadors and councillors sent in their names by twos and
+threes, but always when they were submitted to her, Tua found something
+against everyone of them, till at last it was said that she must be
+destined for a god since no mere mortal would serve her turn. But when
+this was reported to her, Tua only answered with a smile that she was
+destined to that royal lover of whom Amen had spoken to her mother in a
+dream; not to a god, but to the Chosen of the god, and that when she saw
+him, she felt sure she would know him at once and love him much.
+
+After some months had gone by Pharaoh, quite weary of this play, asked
+the advice of his Council. They suggested to him that he should journey
+through the great cities of Egypt, both because the change might
+completely re-establish his divine health, and in the hope that on her
+travels the Queen Neter-Tua would meet someone of royal blood with whom
+she could fall in love. For by now it was evident to all of them that
+unless she did fall in love, she would not marry.
+
+So that very night Pharaoh asked his daughter if she would undertake
+such a journey.
+
+She answered that nothing would please her better, as she wearied of
+Thebes, and desired to see the other great cities of the land, to make
+herself known to those who dwell in them, and in each to be proclaimed
+as its future ruler. Also she wished to look upon the ocean whereof she
+had heard that it was so big that all the waters of the Nile flowing
+into it day and night made no difference to its volume.
+
+Thus then began that pilgrimage which afterwards Tua recorded in the
+history of her reign on the walls of the wonderful temples that she
+built. Her own wish was that they should sail south to the frontiers of
+Egypt, since there she hoped that she might hear some tidings of Rames
+and his expedition, whereof latterly no certain word had come. This
+project, however, was over-ruled because in the south there were
+no great towns, also the inhabitants of the bordering desert were
+turbulent, and might choose that moment to attack.
+
+So in the end they went down and not up the Nile, tarrying for a while
+at every great city, and especially at Atbu, the holy place where the
+head of Osiris is buried, and tens of thousands of the great men of
+Egypt have their tombs. Here Tua was crowned afresh in the very shrine
+of Osiris amidst the rejoicings of the people.
+
+Then they sailed away to On, the City of the Sun, and thence to make
+offerings at the Great Pyramids which were built by some of the early
+kings who had ruled Egypt, to serve them as their tombs.
+
+Neter-Tua entered the Pyramids to look upon the bodies of these Pharaohs
+who had been dead for thousands of years, and whose deeds were all
+forgotten, though her father would not accompany her there because the
+ways were so steep that he did not dare to tread them. Afterwards, with
+Asti and a small guard of the Arab chiefs of the desert, she mounted a
+dromedary and rode round them in the moonlight, hoping that she would
+meet the ghosts of those kings, and that they would talk with her as the
+ghost of her mother had done. But she saw no ghosts, nor would Asti try
+to summon them from their sleep, although Tua prayed her to do so.
+
+"Leave them alone," said Asti, as they paused in the shadow of the
+greatest of the pyramids and stared at its shining face engraved from
+base to summit with many a mystic writing.
+
+"Leave them alone lest they should be angry as Amen was, and tell your
+Majesty things which you do not wish to hear. Contemplate their mighty
+works, such as no monarch can build to-day, and suffer them to rest
+therein undisturbed by weaker folk."
+
+"Do you call these mighty works?" asked Tua contemptuously, for she was
+angry because Asti would not try to raise the dead. "What are they after
+all, but so many stones put together by the labour of men to satisfy
+their own vanity? And of those who built them what story remains? There
+is none at all save some vain legends. Now if _I_ live I will rear a
+greater monument, for history shall tell of me till time be dead."
+
+"Perhaps, Neter-Tua, if you live and the gods will it, though for
+my part I think that these old stones will survive the story of most
+deeds."
+
+
+
+On the morrow of this visit to the Pyramids Pharaoh and the Queen his
+daughter made their state entry into the great white-walled city of
+Memphis, where they were royally received by Pharaoh's brother, the
+Prince Abi, who was still the ruler of all this town and district. As
+it chanced these two had not met since Abi, many years before, came to
+Thebes, asking a share in the government of Egypt and to be nominated as
+successor to the throne.
+
+Like every other lord and prince, he had been invited to be present at
+the great ceremony of the Crowning of Neter-Tua, but at the last moment
+sent his excuses, saying that he was ill, which seemed to be true. At
+any rate, the spies reported that he was confined to his bed, though
+whether sickness or his own will took him thither at this moment, there
+was nothing to show. At the time Pharaoh and his Council wondered a
+little that he had made no proposal for the marriage of one of his sons,
+of whom he had four, to their royal cousin, Neter-Tua, but decided that
+he had not done so because he was sure that it would not be accepted.
+For the rest, during all this period Abi had kept quiet in his own
+Government, which he ruled well and strongly, remitting his taxes to
+Thebes at the proper time with a ceremonial letter of homage, and even
+increasing the amount of them.
+
+So it came about that Pharaoh, who by nature was kindly and
+unsuspicious, had long ago put away all mistrust of his brother, whose
+ambitions, he was sure, had come to an end with the birth of an heiress
+to the throne.
+
+Yet, when escorted only by five hundred of his guard, for this was
+a peaceful visit, Pharaoh rode into the mighty city and saw how
+impregnable were its walls and how strong its gates; saw also that the
+streets were lined with thousands of well-armed troops, doubts which he
+dismissed as unworthy, did creep into his heart. But if he said nothing
+of them, Tua, who rode in the chariot with him, was not so silent.
+
+"My father," she said in a low voice while the crowds shouted their
+welcome, for they were alone in the chariot, the horses of which were
+led, "this uncle of mine keeps a great state in Memphis."
+
+"Yes, Daughter, why should he not? He is its governor."
+
+"A stranger who did not know the truth might think he was its king,
+my father, and to be plain, if I were Pharaoh, and had chosen to enter
+here, it would have been with a larger force."
+
+"We can go away when we like, Tua," said Pharaoh uneasily.
+
+"You mean, my father, that we can go away when it pleases the Prince
+your brother to open those great bronze gates that I heard clash behind
+us--then and not before."
+
+At this moment their talk came to an end, for the chariot was stayed
+at the steps of the great hall where Abi waited to receive his royal
+guests. He stood at the head of the steps, a huge, coarse, vigorous man
+of about sixty years of age, on whose fat, swarthy face there was
+still, oddly enough, some resemblance to the delicate, refined-featured
+Pharaoh.
+
+Tua summed him up in a single glance, and instantly hated him even more
+than she had hated Amathel, Prince of Kesh. Also she who had not feared
+the empty-headed, drunken Amathel, was penetrated with a strange terror
+of this man whom she felt to be strong and intelligent, and whose
+great, greedy eyes rested on her beauty as though they could not tear
+themselves away.
+
+Now they were ascending the steps, and now Prince Abi was welcoming them
+to his "humble house," giving them their throne names, and saying
+how rejoiced he was to see them, his sovereigns, within the walls of
+Memphis, while all the time he stared at Tua.
+
+Pharaoh, who was tired, made no reply, but the young Queen, staring back
+at him, answered:
+
+"We thank you for your greeting, but then, my uncle Abi, why did you
+not meet us outside the gates of Memphis where we expected to find
+its governor waiting to deliver up the keys of Pharaoh's city to the
+officers of Pharaoh?"
+
+Now Abi, who had thought to see some shrinking child clothed in the
+emblems of a queen, looked astonished at this tall and royal maiden who
+had so sharp a tongue, and found no words to answer her. So she swept
+past him and commanded to be shown where she should lodge in Memphis.
+
+They led her to its greatest palace that had been prepared for Pharaoh
+and herself, a place surrounded by palm groves in the midst of the city,
+but having studied it with her quick eyes, she said that it did not
+please her. So search was made elsewhere, and in the end she chose
+another smaller palace that once had been a temple of Sekhet, the
+tiger-headed goddess of vengeance and of chastity, whereof the pylon
+towers fronted on the Nile which at its flood washed against them.
+Indeed, they were now part of the wall of Memphis, for the great unused
+gateway between them had been built up with huge blocks of stone.
+
+Surrounding this palace and outside its courts, lay the old gardens of
+the temple where the priests of Sekhet used to wander, enclosed within a
+lofty limestone wall. Here, saying that the air from the river would be
+more healthy for him, Tua persuaded Pharaoh to establish himself and his
+Court, and to encamp the guards under the command of his friend Mermes,
+in the outer colonnades and gardens.
+
+When it was pointed out to the Queen that, owing to the lack of
+dwelling-rooms, none which were fitting were left for her to occupy, she
+replied that this mattered nothing, since in the old pylon tower were
+two small chambers hollowed in the thickness of its walls, which were
+very pleasing to her, because of the prospect of the Nile and the wide
+flat lands and the distant Pyramids commanded from the lofty roof
+and window-places. So these chambers, in which none had dwelt for
+generations, were hastily cleaned out and furnished, and in them Tua and
+Asti her foster-mother, took up their abode.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+THE MAGIC IMAGE
+
+That night Pharaoh and Tua rested in privacy with those members of the
+Court whom they had brought with them, but on the morrow began a round
+of festivals such as history scarcely told of in Egypt. Indeed, the
+feast with which it opened was more splendid than any Tua had seen at
+Thebes even at the time of her crowning, or on that day of blood and
+happiness when Amathel and his Nubian guards were slain and she and
+Rames declared their love. At this feast Pharaoh and the young Queen sat
+in chairs of gold, while the Prince Abi was placed on her right hand,
+and not on that of Pharaoh as he should have been as host and subject.
+
+"I am too much honoured," said Tua, looking at him sideways. "Why do you
+not sit by Pharaoh, my uncle?"
+
+"Who am I that I should take the seat of honour when my sovereigns come
+to visit me?" answered Abi, bowing his great head. "Let it be reserved
+for the high-priest of Osiris, that Holy One whom, after Ptah, we
+worship here above all other deities, for he is clothed with the majesty
+of the god of death."
+
+"Of death," said Tua. "Is that why you put him by my father?"
+
+"Indeed not," replied Abi, spreading out his hands, "though if a choice
+must be made, I would rather that he sat near one who is old and must
+soon be called the 'ever-living,' than at the side of the loveliest
+queen that Egypt has ever seen, to whom it is said that Amen himself has
+sworn a long life," and again he bowed.
+
+"You mean that you think Pharaoh will soon die. Nay, deny it not,
+Prince Abi, I can read your thoughts, and they are ill-omened," said Tua
+sharply and, turning her head away, began to watch those about her.
+
+Soon she noticed that behind Abi amongst his other officers stood a
+tall, grizzled man clad in the robes and cap of an astrologer, who
+appeared to be studying everything, and especially Pharaoh and herself,
+for whenever she looked round it was to find his quick, black eyes fixed
+upon her.
+
+"Who is that man?" she whispered presently to Asti, who waited on her.
+
+"The famous astrologer, Kaku, Queen. I have seen him before when he
+visited Thebes with the Prince before your birth. I will tell you of him
+afterwards. Watch him well."
+
+So Tua watched and discovered several things, among them that Kaku
+observed everything that she and Pharaoh did, what they ate, to whom
+they spoke, and any words which fell from their lips, such as those that
+she had uttered about the god Osiris. All of these he noted down from
+time to time on his waxen tablets, doubtless that he might make use of
+them afterwards in his interpretation of the omens of the future.
+
+Now, among the ladies of the Court who fanned Pharaoh and waited on him
+was that dancing girl of Abi's who many years before had betrayed him at
+Thebes, Merytra, Lady of the Footstool, now a woman of middle age, but
+still beautiful, of whom, although Tua disliked her, Pharaoh was fond
+because she was clever and witty of speech and amused him. For this
+reason, in spite of her history, he had advanced her to wealth and
+honour, and kept her about his person as a companion of his lighter
+hours. Something in this woman's manner attracted Tua's attention, for
+continually she looked at the astrologer, Kaku, who suddenly awoke to
+her presence and smiled as though he recognised an old friend. Then,
+when it was the turn of another to take her place behind Pharaoh,
+Merytra drew alongside of Kaku, and under shelter of her broad fan,
+spoke to him quickly, as though she were making some arrangement with
+him, and he nodded in assent, after which they separated again.
+
+The feast wore on its weary course till, at length, the doors opened and
+slaves appeared bearing the mummy of a dead man, which they set upon its
+feet in the centre of the hall, whereon a toast-master cried:
+
+"Drink and be merry, all ye great ones of the earth, who know not how
+soon ye shall come to this last lowly state."
+
+Now this bringing in of the mummy was a very ancient rite, but one that
+had fallen into general disuse, so that as it chanced Tua, who had never
+seen it practised before, looked on it with curiosity not unmingled with
+disgust.
+
+"Why is a dead king dragged from his sepulchre back into the world of
+life, my Uncle?" she asked, pointing to the royal emblems with which the
+corpse was clothed.
+
+"It is no king, your Majesty," answered Abi, "but only the bones of some
+humble person, or perhaps a block of wood that wears the _uræus_ and
+carries the sceptre in honour of Pharaoh, our chief guest."
+
+Now Tua frowned, and Pharaoh, who had overheard the talk, said, smiling
+sadly:
+
+"A somewhat poor compliment, my brother, to one who, like myself, is
+old and sickly and not far from his eternal habitation. Yet why should I
+grumble at it who need no such reminder of that which awaits me and all
+of us?" and he leaned back in his chair and sighed, while Tua looked at
+him anxiously.
+
+Then Abi ordered the mummy to be removed, declaring, with many
+apologies, that it had been brought there only because such was the
+ancient custom of Memphis, which, unlike Thebes, did not change its
+fashions. He added that this same body or figure, for he knew not which
+it was, having never troubled to inquire, had been looked upon by at
+least thirty Pharaohs, all as dead as it to-day, since it was the
+same that was used at the royal feasts before, long ago, the seat of
+government was moved to Thebes.
+
+"If so," broke in Tua, who was angry, "it is time that it should be
+buried, if flesh and bone, or burned if wood. But Pharaoh is wearied.
+Have we your leave to depart, my Uncle?"
+
+Without answering, Abi rose, as she thought to dismiss the company. But
+it was not so, for he raised a great, golden cup of wine and said:
+
+"Before we part, my guests, let Memphis drink a welcome to the mighty
+Lord of the Two Lands who, for the first time in his long and glorious
+reign, honours it with his presence here to-day. As he said to me but
+now, my royal brother is weak and aged with sickness, nor can we hope
+that once his visit is ended, he will return again to the White-walled
+City. But as it chances the gods have given him a boon which they denied
+for long, the lovely daughter who shares his throne, and who, as we
+believe and pray, will reign after him when it pleases him to ascend
+into the kingdom of Osiris. Yet, my friends, it is evil that the safe
+and lawful government of Egypt should hang on one frail life. Therefore
+this is the toast to which I drink--that the Queen Neter-Tua, Morning
+Star of Amen, Hathor Strong in Beauty, who has rejected so many suitors,
+may before she departs from among us, find one to her liking, some
+husband of royal blood, skilled in the art of rule, whose strength and
+knowledge may serve to support her woman's weakness and inexperience in
+that sad hour when she finds herself alone."
+
+Now the audience, who well understood the inner meaning and objects of
+this speech, rose and cheered furiously, as they had been schooled to
+do, emptying their cups to Pharaoh and to Tua and shouting:
+
+"We know the man. Take him, glorious Queen, take him, Daughter of Amen,
+and reign for ever."
+
+"What do they mean?" muttered Pharaoh, "I do not understand. Thank them,
+my daughter, my voice is weak, and let us begone."
+
+So Tua rose when at length there was silence and, looking round her
+with flashing eyes, said in her clear voice that reached the furthest
+recesses of the hall:
+
+"The Pharaoh, my father, and I, the Queen of the Upper and the Lower
+Lands, return thanks to you, our people of this city, for your loyal
+greetings. But as for the words that the Prince Abi has spoken, we
+understand them not. My prayer is that the Pharaoh may still reign in
+glory for many years, but if he departs and I remain, learn, O people,
+that you have naught to fear from the weakness and inexperience of your
+Queen. Learn also that she seeks no husband, nor when she seeks will she
+ever find one within the walls of Memphis. Rest you well, O people and
+you, my Uncle Abi, as now with your good leave we will do also."
+
+Then, turning, she took her father by the hand and went without more
+words, leaving Abi staring at his guests while his guests stared back at
+him.
+
+When Tua had reached the pylon tower, where she lodged, and her ladies
+had unrobed her and gone, she called Asti to her from the adjoining
+chamber and said:
+
+"You are wise, my nurse, tell me, what did Abi mean?"
+
+"If your Majesty cannot guess, then you are duller than I thought,"
+answered Asti in her quick, dry fashion, adding; "however, I will try to
+translate. The Prince Abi, your noble uncle, means that he has trapped
+you here, and that you shall not leave these walls save as his wife."
+
+Now fury took hold of Tua.
+
+"How dare he speak such words?" she gasped, springing to her feet. "I,
+the wife of that old river-hog, my father's brother who might be my
+grandfather, that hideous, ancient lump of wickedness who boasts that he
+has a hundred sons and daughters; I, the Queen of Egypt, whose birth was
+decreed by Amen, I--how dare you?" and she ceased, choking in her wrath.
+
+"The question is--how he dares, Queen. Still, that is his plot which
+he will carry through if he is able. I suspected it from the first,
+and that is why I always opposed this visit to Memphis, but you will
+remember that you bade me be silent, saying that you had determined to
+see the most ancient city in Egypt."
+
+"You should not have been silent. You should have said what was in your
+mind, even if I ordered you from my presence. Neither Abi nor any of his
+sons proposed for my hand when the others did, therefore _I_ suspected
+nothing----"
+
+"After the fashion of women who have already given their hearts, Queen,
+and forget that they have other things to give--a kingdom, for instance.
+The snake does not roar like the lion, yet it is more to be feared."
+
+"Once I am out of this place it is the snake that shall have cause
+to fear, Asti, for I will break its back and throw it writhing to the
+kites. Nurse, we must leave Memphis."
+
+"That is not easy, Queen, since some ceremony is planned for each of the
+next eight days. If Pharaoh were to go away without attending them, he
+would anger all the people of the North which he has not visited since
+he was crowned."
+
+"Then let them be angered; Pharaoh can do as he wills."
+
+"Yes, Queen, at least, that is the saying. But do you think that Pharaoh
+wishes to bring about a civil war and risk his crown and yours? Listen:
+Abi is very strong, and under his command he has a greater army than
+Pharaoh can muster in these times of peace, for in addition to his
+trained troops, all the thousands of the Bedouin tribes of the desert
+look on him as lord, and at his word will fall on the wealth of Egypt
+like famished vultures on a fatted ox. Moreover, here you have but a
+guard of five hundred men, whereas Abi's regiments, summoned to do you
+honour, and his ships of war block the river and the southern road. How
+then will you leave Memphis without his good leave; how will you even
+send messengers to summon aid which could not reach you under fifty
+days?"
+
+Now when she saw the greatness of the danger, Tua grew quite calm and
+answered:
+
+"You have done wrong, Asti; if you foresaw all these things of which I
+never thought, you should have warned Pharaoh and his Council."
+
+"Queen, I did warn them, and Mermes warned them also, but they would not
+listen, saying that they were but the idle dreams of one who strives to
+peep into the future and sees false pictures there. More, Pharaoh sent
+for me himself, and whilst thanking me and Mermes my husband, told me
+that he had inquired into the matter and found no cause to distrust Abi
+or those under his command. Moreover, he forbade me to speak to your
+Majesty about it, lest, being but young and a woman, you might be
+frightened and your pleasure spoilt."
+
+"Who was his counsellor?" asked Tua.
+
+"A strange one, I think, Queen. You know his waiting-woman, Merytra, she
+of whom he is so fond, and who stood behind him with a fan this night."
+
+"Aye, I know her," replied Tua, with emphasis. "She was ever whispering
+with that tall astrologer at the feast. But does Pharaoh take counsel
+with waiting-ladies of his private household?"
+
+"With this waiting-lady, it seems, Queen. Perhaps you have not heard all
+her story, in the year before your birth Merytra came up the Nile with
+Abi. She was then quite young and very pretty; one of Abi's women. It
+seems that the Prince struck her for some fault, and being clever she
+determined to be revenged upon him. Soon she got her chance, for she
+heard Abi disclose to the astrologer Kaku, that same man whom you saw
+to-night talking with her, a plan that he had made to murder Pharaoh and
+declare himself king, from which Kaku dissuaded him. Having this secret
+and being bold, she fled at once from the ship of Abi, and that night
+told Pharaoh everything. But he forgave Abi, and sent him home again
+with honour who should have slain him for his treason. Only Merytra
+remained in the Court, and from that time forward Pharaoh, who trusted
+her and was caught by her wit and beauty, made it a habit to send for
+her when he wished to have news of Memphis where she was born, because
+she seemed always to know even the most secret things that were passing
+in that city. Moreover, often her information proved true."
+
+"That is not to be wondered at, Nurse, seeing that doubtless it came
+from this Kaku, Abi's astrologer and magician."
+
+"No, Queen, it is not to be wondered at, especially as she paid back
+secret for secret. Well, I believe that after I had warned Pharaoh of
+what I knew, never mind how, he sent for Merytra, who laughed the tale
+to scorn, and told him that Abi his brother had long ago abandoned all
+ambitions, being well content with his great place and power which one
+of his sons would inherit after him. She told him also that the troops
+were but assembled to do the greater honour to your Majesties who had no
+more loyal or loving subject than the Prince Abi, whom for her part she
+hated with good cause, as she loved Pharaoh and his House--with good
+cause. If there were any danger, she asked would she dare to put herself
+within the reach of Abi, the man that she had once betrayed because her
+heart was pure and true, and she was faithful to her king. So Pharaoh
+believed her, and I obeyed the orders of Pharaoh, knowing that if I
+did not do so he would grow angry and perhaps separate me from you, my
+beloved Queen and fosterling, which, now that Rames has gone, would, I
+think, have meant my death. Yet I fear that I have erred."
+
+"Yes, I fear also that you have erred, Asti, but everything is forgiven
+to those who err through love," answered Tua kindly and kissing her.
+"Oh, my father, Pharaoh! What god fashioned you so weak that an evil
+spirit in a woman's shape can play the rudder to your policy! Leave me
+now, Asti, for I must sleep and call on Amen to aid his daughter. The
+snare is strong and cunning, but, perchance, in my dreams he will show
+me how it may be broke."
+
+
+
+That night when the feast was ended Merytra, Pharaoh's favoured
+waiting-maid, did not return with the rest of the royal retinue to
+the temple where he lodged. As they went from the hall in state she
+whispered a few words into the ear of the chief Butler of the Household
+who, knowing that she had the royal pass to come in and out as she
+would, answered that the gate should be opened to her, and let her go.
+
+So covering her head with a dark cloak Merytra slipped behind a certain
+statue in the ante-hall and waited till presently a tall figure, also
+wrapped in a dark cloak, appeared and beckoned to her. She followed it
+down sundry passages and up a narrow stair that seemed almost endless,
+until, at length, the figure unlocked a massive door, and when they had
+passed it, locked it again behind them.
+
+Now Merytra found herself in a very richly furnished room lit by
+hanging-lamps, that evidently was the abode of one who watched the
+stars and practised magic, for all about were strange-looking brazen
+instruments and rolls of papyrus covered with mysterious signs, and
+suspended above the table a splendid divining ball of crystal. Merytra
+sank into a chair, throwing off her dark cloak.
+
+"Of a truth, friend Kaku," she said, so soon as she had got her breath,
+"you dwell very near the gods."
+
+"Yes, dear Merytra," he answered with a dry chuckle, "I keep a kind of
+half-way house to heaven. Perched here in my solitude I see and make
+note of what goes on above," and he pointed to the skies, "and retail
+the information, or as much of it as I think fit, to the groundlings
+below."
+
+"At a price, I suppose, Kaku."
+
+"Most certainly at a price, and I may add, a good price. No one thinks
+much of the physician who charges low fees. Well, you have managed to
+get here, and after all these years I am glad to see you again, looking
+almost as young and pretty as ever. Tell me your secret of eternal
+youth, dear Merytra."
+
+Merytra, who was vain, smiled at this artful flattery, although, in
+truth, it was well deserved, for at an age when many Egyptians are old,
+she remained fresh and fair.
+
+"An excellent conscience," she answered, "a good appetite and the
+virtuous, quiet life, which is the lot of the ladies of Pharaoh's
+Court--there you have the secret, Kaku. I fear that you keep too late
+hours, and that is why you grow white and withered like a mummy--not but
+that you look handsome enough in those long robes of yours," she added
+to gild the pill.
+
+"It is my labours," he replied, making a wry face, for he too was vain.
+"My labours for the good of others, also indigestion and the draughts
+in this accursed tower where I sit staring at the stars, which give me
+rheumatism. I have got both of them now, and must take some medicine,"
+and filling two goblets from a flask, he handed her one of them, saying,
+"drink it, you don't get wine like that in Thebes."
+
+"It is very good," said Merytra when she had drunk, "but heavy. If I
+took much of that I think I should have 'rheumatism,' too. Now tell me,
+old friend, am I safe, in this place? No, not from Pharaoh, he trusts
+me and lets me go where I will upon his business--but from his royal
+brother. He used to have a long memory, and from the look of him I do
+not think that his temper has improved. You may remember a certain slap
+in the face and how I paid him back for it."
+
+"He never knew it was you, Merytra. Being a mass of self-conceit, he
+thought that you ran away because he had banished you from his royal
+presence and presented you--to me."
+
+"Oh, he thought that, did he! What a vain fool!"
+
+"It was a very dirty trick you played me, Merytra," went on Kaku with
+indignation, for the rich wine coursing through his blood revived the
+sting of his loss. "You know how fond I always was of you, and indeed am
+still," he added, gazing at her admiringly.
+
+"I felt that I was not worthy of so learned and distinguished a man,"
+she replied, looking at him with her dark eyes. "I should only have
+hampered your life, dear Kaku, so I went into the household of that poor
+creature, Pharaoh, instead--Pharaoh's Nunnery we call it. But you will
+not explain the facts to Abi, will you?"
+
+"No, I think not, Merytra, if we continue to get on as well as we do
+at present. But now you are rested, so let us come to business, for
+otherwise you will have to stop here all night and Pharaoh would be
+angry."
+
+"Oh, to Set with Pharaoh! Though it is true that he is a good paymaster,
+and knows the value of a clever woman. Now, what is this business?"
+
+The old astrologer's face grew hard and cunning. Going to the door he
+made sure that it was locked and drew a curtain over it. Then he took a
+stool and sat himself down in front of Merytra, in such a position that
+the light fell on her face while his own remained in shadow.
+
+"A big business, Merytra, and by the gods I do not know that I should
+trust you with it. You tricked me once, you have tricked Pharaoh for
+years; how do I know that you will not play the same game once more
+and earn me an order to cut my own throat, and so lose life and soul
+together?"
+
+"If you think that, Kaku, perhaps you will unlock the door and give me
+an escort home, for we are only wasting time."
+
+"I don't know what to think, for you are as cunning as you are
+beautiful. Listen, woman," he continued in a savage whisper, and
+clasping her by the wrist. "If you are false, I tell you that you shall
+die horribly, for if the knife and poison fail, I am no charlatan, I
+have arts. I can make you turn loathsome to the sight and waste away, I
+can haunt you at nights so that you may never sleep a wink, save in
+full sunshine, and I will do it all and more. If I die, Merytra, we go
+together. Now will you swear to be true, will you swear it by the oath
+of oaths?"
+
+The spy looked about her. She knew Kaku's power which was famous
+throughout Egypt, and that it was said to be of the most evil sort, and
+she feared him.
+
+"It seems that this is a dangerous affair," she replied uneasily, "and I
+think that I can guess your aim. Now if I help you, Kaku, what am _I_ to
+get?"
+
+"Me," he answered.
+
+"I am flattered, but what else?"
+
+"After Pharaoh the greatest place and the most power in Egypt, as the
+wife of Pharaoh's Vizier."
+
+"The wife? Doubtless from what I have heard of you, Kaku, there would be
+other wives to share these honours."
+
+"No other wife--upon the oath, none, Merytra."
+
+She thought a moment, looking at the wizened but powerful-faced old
+magician, then answered:
+
+"I will take the oath and keep my share of it. See that you keep yours,
+Kaku, or it will be the worse for you, for women have their own evil
+power."
+
+"I know it, Merytra, and from the beginning the wise have held that the
+spirit dwells, not in the heart or brain or liver, but in the female
+tongue. Now stand up."
+
+She obeyed, and from some hidden place in the wall Kaku produced a book,
+or rather a roll of magical writings, that was encased in iron, the
+metal of the evil god, Typhon.
+
+"There is no other such book as this," he said, "for it was written by
+the greatest of wizards who lived before Mena, when the god-kings ruled
+in Egypt, and I, myself, took it from among his bones, a terrible task
+for his Ka rose up in the grave and threatened me. He who can read in
+that book, as I can, has much strength, and let him beware who breaks an
+oath taken on that book. Now press it to your heart, Merytra, and swear
+after me."
+
+Then he repeated a very terrible oath, for should it be violated it
+consigned the swearer to shame, sickness and misfortune in this world,
+and to everlasting torments in the next at the claws and fangs
+of beast-headed demons who dwell in the darkness beyond the sun,
+appointing, by name, those beings who should work the torments, and
+summoning them as witnesses to the bond.
+
+Merytra listened, then said,
+
+"You have left out your part of the oath, Friend, namely, that you
+promise that I shall be the only wife of Pharaoh's Vizier and hold equal
+power with him."
+
+"I forgot," said Kaku, and added the words.
+
+Then they both swore, touching their brows with the book, and as she
+looked up again, Merytra saw a strange, flame-like light pulse in
+the crystal globe that hung above her head, which became presently
+infiltrated with crimson flowing through it as blood might flow from a
+wound, till it glowed dull red, out of which redness a great eye watched
+her. Then the eye vanished and the blood vanished, and in place of them
+Queen Neter-Tua sat in glory on her throne, while the nations worshipped
+her, and by her side sat a man in royal robes whose face was hidden in a
+cloud.
+
+"What do you see?" asked Kaku, following her gaze to the crystal.
+
+She told him, and he pondered a while, then answered doubtfully:
+
+"I think it is a good omen; the royal consort sits beside her. Only why
+was his face hidden?"
+
+"I am sure I do not know," answered Merytra. "I think that strong, red
+wine of yours was doctored and has got into my head. But, come, we have
+sworn this oath, which I dare say will work in more ways than we guess,
+for such accursed swords have two edges to them. Now out with the plot,
+and throw a cloth over that crystal for I want to see no more pictures."
+
+"It seems a pity since you have such a gift of vision," replied Kaku in
+the same dubious voice. Yet he obeyed, tying up the shining ball in a
+piece of mummy wrapping which he used in his spells.
+
+"Now," he said, "I will be brief. My fat master, Abi, means to be
+Pharaoh of Egypt, and it seems that the best way to do so is by climbing
+into his niece's throne, where most men would like to sit."
+
+"You mean by marrying her, Kaku."
+
+"Of course. What else? He who marries the Queen, rules in right of the
+Queen."
+
+"Indeed. Do you know anything of Neter-Tua?"
+
+"As much as any other man knows; but what do you mean?"
+
+"I mean that I shall be sorry for the husband who marries her against
+her will, however beautiful and high-placed she may be. I tell you that
+woman is a flame. She has more strength in her than all the magicians
+in Egypt, yourself among them. They say she is a daughter of Amen, and I
+believe it. I believe that the god dwells in her, and woe be to him whom
+she may chance to hate, if he comes to her as a husband."
+
+"That is Abi's business, is it not? Our business, Merytra, is to get him
+there. Now we may take it this will not be with her consent."
+
+"Certainly not, Kaku," she answered. "The gossip goes that she is in
+love with young Count Rames, who fought and killed the Prince of Kesh
+before her eyes, and now has gone to make amends to the king his father
+at the head of an army."
+
+"That may be true, Merytra. Why not? He is her foster-brother and of
+royal blood, bold, too, and handsome, they say. Well, queens have no
+business to be in love. That is the privilege of humbler folk like you
+and me, Merytra. Say, is she suspicious--about Prince Abi, I mean?"
+
+"I do not know, but Asti, her nurse and favourite lady, the wife of
+Mermes and mother of Rames, is suspicious enough. She is a greater
+magician than you are, Kaku, and if she could have had her way Pharaoh
+would never have set foot in Memphis. But I got your letter and
+over-persuaded him, the poor fool. You see he thinks me faithful to
+his House, and that is why I am allowed to be here to-night, to collect
+information."
+
+"Ah! Well, what Asti knows the Queen will know, and she is stronger than
+Pharaoh, and notwithstanding all Abi's ships and soldiers, may break
+away from Memphis and make war upon him. So it comes to this--Pharaoh
+must stay here, for his daughter will not desert him."
+
+"How will you make him stay here, Kaku? Not by----" and she glanced
+towards the shrouded crystal.
+
+"Nay, no blood if it can be helped. He must not even seem to be a
+prisoner, it is too dangerous. But there are other ways."
+
+"What ways? Poison?"
+
+"Too dangerous again. Now, if he fell sick, and he has been sick before,
+and could not stir, it would give us time to bring about the marriage,
+would it not? Oh! I know that he is well at present--for him, but look
+here, Merytra, I have something to show you."
+
+Then going to a chest Kaku took from it a plain box of cedar wood which
+was shaped like a mummy case, and, lifting off its lid, revealed within
+it a waxen figure of the length of a hand. This figure was beautifully
+fashioned to the living likeness of Pharaoh, and crowned with the double
+crown of Egypt.
+
+"What is it?" asked Merytra, shrinking back. "An _ushapti_ to be placed
+in his tomb?"
+
+"No, woman, a magic Ka fashioned with many a spell out of yonder ancient
+roll, that can bring _him_ to the tomb if it be rightly used, as you
+shall use it."
+
+"I!" she exclaimed, starting. "How?"
+
+"Thus: You, as one of Pharaoh's favourite ladies, have charge of the
+chamber where he sleeps. Now you must make shift to enter there alone
+and lay this figure in his bed, that the breath of Pharaoh may enter
+into it. Then take it from the bed and say these words, 'Figure, figure,
+I command thee by the power within thee and in the name of the Lord
+if Ill, that as thy limbs waste, so shall the limbs of him in whose
+likeness thou art fashioned waste also.' Having spoken thus, hold the
+legs of the image over the flame of a lamp until it be half melted, and
+convey the rest of it away to your own sleeping-place and hide it there.
+So it shall come about that during that night the nerves and muscles
+in the legs of Pharaoh will wither and grow useless to him, and he be
+paralysed and unable to stir. Afterwards, if it be needful, I will tell
+you more."
+
+Now, bold though she was, Merytra grew afraid.
+
+"I cannot do it," she said, "it is black sorcery against one who is
+a god, and will bring my soul to hell. Find some other instrument, or
+place the waxen imp in the bed of Pharaoh yourself, Kaku."
+
+The face of the magician grew fierce and cruel.
+
+"Come with me, Merytra," he said, and taking her by the wrist he led her
+to the open window-place whence he observed the stars.
+
+So giddy was the height at the top of this lofty tower that the houses
+beneath looked small and far away, and the sky quite near.
+
+"Behold Memphis and the Nile, and the wide lands of Egypt gleaming in
+the moonlight, and the Pyramids of the ancient kings. You wish to rule
+over all these, like myself--do you not, Merytra?--and if you obey me
+you shall do so."
+
+"And if I do not obey?"
+
+"Then I will throw my spell upon you, and your senses shall leave you
+and you shall fall headlong to that white line, which is a street, and
+before to-morrow morning the dogs will have picked your broken bones,
+so that none can know you, for you have heard too much to go hence alive
+unless it be to do my bidding. Oh, no! Think not to say 'I will' and
+afterwards deceive me, for that image which you take with you is my
+servant, and will keep watch on you and make report to me and to the
+god, its master. Now choose."
+
+"I will obey," said Merytra faintly, and as she spoke she thought that
+she heard a laugh in the air outside the window.
+
+"Good. Now hide the box beneath your cloak and drop it not, for if so
+that which is within will call aloud after you, and they will kill you
+for a sorceress. Unless my word come to you, lay the figure in Pharaoh's
+bed to-morrow evening, and at the hour of moonrise hold its limbs in
+the flame in your own chamber, and hide it away, and afterwards bring it
+back to me that I may enchant it afresh, if there be any need. Now come,
+and I will guard you to the gates of the old temple of Sekhet, where
+Pharaoh dwells."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+THE DOOM OF PHARAOH
+
+On the morrow when the lady Asti came to dress the Queen for that
+day's ceremony, she asked her if Amen had given her the wisdom that she
+sought.
+
+"Not so," answered the young Queen, "all he gave me was very bad dreams,
+and in every one of them was mixed up that waiting woman of my father,
+Merytra, of whom you spoke to me. If I believed in omens I should say
+that she was about to bring some evil upon our House."
+
+"It may well be so, Queen," answered Asti, "and in that case I think
+that she is at the work. At any rate, watching from the little window
+of my room, by the light of the moon I saw her return across the temple
+court at midnight. Moreover, it seemed to me that she was carrying
+something beneath her robe."
+
+"Whence did she return?"
+
+"From the city, I suppose. She has Pharaoh's pass, and can go in and
+out when she will. I have caused Mermes to question the officer of the
+guard, and he says that she came to the gate accompanied by a tall man
+wrapped in a dark cloak, who spoke with her earnestly, and left her.
+From this description I think it must have been the astrologer, Kaku,
+with whom she was talking at the feast."
+
+"That is bad news, Nurse. What else have you to tell?"
+
+"Only this, Queen. The gates are guarded more closely even than we
+thought. I tried to send out a man to Thebes this morning with a message
+on my own account--never mind what it was--and the sentries turned him
+back."
+
+"By the gods!" exclaimed Tua, "before I have reigned a year every gate
+in Memphis shall be melted down for cooking vessels, and I will set
+their captains to work in the desert mines. Nay, such threats are
+foolishness, I'll not threaten, I'll strike when the time comes, but
+that is not yet. Can I speak with the Pharaoh?"
+
+"No, Queen. He is up already giving audience to the nobles of Memphis,
+and trying cases from the Lower Land with his Counsellors; until it is
+time to start for this ceremony of the laying of the foundation-stone of
+the temple, whither you accompany him in state. Also it is as well--by
+to-night we may learn more. Come, let me set the crown upon your head
+that these dogs of Memphis may know their mistress."
+
+
+
+The ceremony proved very wearisome. First there was the long chariot
+ride through the crowded, shouting streets, Pharaoh and Abi going in the
+first chariot, and Tua, attended by Abi's eldest daughter, a round-eyed
+lady much older than herself, in the second. Next came the office of
+the priests of Amen, over which Neter-Tua as daughter of Amen and
+high-priestess, must preside, to dedicate the temple to the glory of the
+god. Then the foundation deposit of little vases of offerings and models
+of workmen's tools, and a ring drawn from Pharaoh's hand engraved with
+his royal name, were blessed and set by the masons in hollows prepared
+for them, and the two great corner-stones let down, hiding them for
+ever, and declared respectively by Pharaoh and by Neter-Tua, Morning
+Star of Amen, Joint Sovereign of Egypt, to be well and truly laid.
+
+Afterwards architects, those who "drew the line," exhibited plans of the
+temple, and received gifts from Pharaoh, and when these things were done
+came the mid-day feast and speeches.
+
+At length all was over, and the great procession returned by another
+route to the temple of Sekhet, where Pharaoh lodged, a very tedious
+journey in the hot sun, since it involved a circuit of the endless walls
+of Memphis, with stoppages before all the temples of the gods, at each
+of which Pharaoh must make offerings. Nor, weary as he was, might he
+rest, for in the outer court of the old shrine thrones had been set up
+and seated on them he and Tua must hear petitions till sunset and give
+judgment, or postpone them for further consideration.
+
+At last there came to an end, but, as Pharaoh, tired out, rose from his
+throne, Abi, his brother, who all this time had not left them, said that
+he also had a private petition to prefer. So they went into an inner
+court that had been a sanctuary, and sat down again, there being present
+besides the scribes only Pharaoh, the Queen, some councillors, Mermes,
+captain of the guard, and certain women of the royal household,
+among them Asti, the Queen's nurse, and Merytra, Pharaoh's favourite
+attendant. With Abi were his astrologer, Kaku, his two eldest sons, and
+a few of the great officers of his government, also the high-priests of
+the temples of Memphis, and three powerful chiefs of the Desert tribes.
+
+"What is your prayer, my brother?" asked Pharaoh, as soon as the doors
+were closed.
+
+"A great one, your Majesties," answered the Prince, prostrating himself,
+"which for the good of Egypt, and for your own good, and for my good,
+who reverence you as a loyal subject, I pray that you will be pleased to
+grant." Then he drew himself up and said slowly, "I am here to ask the
+hand of the glorious Queen Neter-Tua, daughter of Amen, in marriage."
+
+Now Pharaoh stared at him, while Tua, who knew well what was coming,
+turned her head aside, and asked a councillor who stood near, if in the
+history of the land any Queen of Egypt had ever married her uncle.
+
+The councillor who was noted for his historical studies, answered that
+at the moment he could recall no such case.
+
+"Then," said Tua coolly, and still addressing him, "it seems that it
+would be scarcely wise to create a precedent which other poor young
+women of the royal race might be called upon to follow."
+
+Pharaoh caught something of the words, though Abi did not for they were
+spoken in a low voice, and bethought him of a way out of his difficulty.
+
+"The Queen Neter-Tua sits at my side, and is co-regent with me of this
+kingdom, her mind is my mind, and what she approves it is probable I
+shall approve. Prefer your request to her," he said.
+
+So Abi turned to the Queen, and laying his hands upon his heart, bowed,
+ogled, and began:
+
+"A burning love of your most excellent Majesty moves me----"
+
+"I pray you, my Uncle," interrupted Tua, "correct your words, which
+should begin 'A burning love of your most excellent Majesty's throne and
+power move me,' and so on."
+
+Now Abi frowned while everyone else smiled, not excepting Pharaoh and
+the astrologer, Kaku. Again he began his speech, but so confusedly that
+presently Tua stopped him for the second time, saying:
+
+"I am not deaf, most noble prince, my Uncle. I heard the words you used
+to Pharaoh, and even understood their import. In fact, I have already
+consulted our councillor here, a learned master of the law, as to the
+legality of such an alliance as you propose, and he gives his judgment
+against it."
+
+Now Abi glared at the Councillor, a humble, dusty old man who spent all
+his life among rolls and chronicles.
+
+"May it please your Majesty," this lawyer exclaimed in a thin agitated
+voice, "I only said there was no record of such a marriage that I can
+remember, though once I think a queen adopted a nephew, who afterwards
+became Pharaoh."
+
+"It is the same thing, Friend," replied Tua sweetly, "for that of which
+there is no record in the long history of Egypt must of necessity be
+illegal. Still, if my uncle here wishes to adopt me, I thank him, though
+his lawful heirs may not, and the matter is one that can be considered."
+
+Now, guessing that he was being played with, Abi grew angry.
+
+"I have put a plain question to your Majesty," he said, "and perhaps I
+am worthy of a plain answer. As all men know, O Queen, it is time that
+you should be wed, and I offer myself as your husband. It is true that I
+am somewhat older than you are----"
+
+"In what year was the Prince Abi born, the same as yourself, did you
+say?" asked Tua in an audible aside of the aged and learned Councillor,
+who thereon vanished behind the throne, and was seen no more.
+
+"But," went on Abi, taking no notice of this interruption, "on the other
+hand I have much to offer. I rule here, your Majesties, who am also of
+the royal blood, and there is some disaffection in the North, especially
+among the great Bedouin tribes of the Desert who watch the frontier of
+the Kingdom. Now if this alliance comes about, and in days to be I sit
+upon the double throne as King-Consort of Egypt, they will be loyal, and
+north and south will be united more closely than they ever were before.
+Whereas if it does not come about----" Here Kaku, pretending to brush a
+fly from his face, caught his hand in Abi's robe, a signal at which his
+master paused.
+
+"Go on, my Uncle, I pray you," said Tua. "If it does not come about,
+what then?"
+
+"Then, Queen, there may be trouble. Nay, leave me alone, Magician, I
+will speak the truth, chance what may. Pharaoh, you have reigned for
+many years; yes, forty times has the Nile overflowed its banks since we
+laid our divine father in the tomb. Now, during all those years but one
+child has been born to you, and that after I came to Thebes to pray you
+to name me as your heir. Know, Pharaoh, that there are many who find
+this strange, and wonder whether this beautiful queen, who is called
+Daughter of Amen, and resembles you so little in body or in mind, sits
+rightfully on the throne of Egypt. If I marry her these questionings
+will cease. If I do not marry her the whisperings of men may grow to a
+wind that will blow the crown from off her head."
+
+Now a grasp of fear and wonder rose from all who heard this bold and
+treasonable speech, and Tua, reddening to the eyes, bent forward as
+though to answer. But before ever a word had passed her lips Pharaoh
+sprang from his seat transformed with rage. All his patient gentleness
+was gone, and he looked so fierce and royal that everyone present there,
+even Abi himself, quailed before him.
+
+"Is it for this that I have borne with you for so long, my brother?" he
+cried, rending at his robes. "Is it for this that I spared you years ago
+in Thebes, when your life was forfeit for your treachery? Is it for
+this that I have suffered you to rise to great honour, and to rule here
+almost as a king in my city of Memphis? Was it not enough that I should
+sit quiet, while you, an old man, the son of our father's barbarian
+slave, the loose-living despot, dare to ask for the pure hand of Egypt's
+Queen in marriage, you, her uncle, who might well be her grandfather
+also? Must I also hear your foul mouth beslime her royal birth, and
+the honour of her divine mother, and spit sneers at Amen, Father of the
+gods? Well, Amen shall deal with you when you come to the doors of his
+Eternal House, but here on earth I am his son and servant. Mermes, call
+my guards, and arrest this man and hold him safe. At Thebes, whither we
+depart to-morrow, he shall be judged according to our law."
+
+Now Mermes blew a shrill call on the silver whistle that hung about his
+neck, and, springing forward, seized the Prince by the arm. Abi drew his
+sword to cut him down, and at the sight of the blade, all who were
+with him rushed to the door to escape, sweeping before them certain of
+Pharaoh's ladies, among them the waiting-woman, Merytra. But before ever
+they could pass it, the guards who had heard the signal of Mermes, ran
+in with lifted spears, driving them back again. Leaping upon Abi, they
+tore the sword from his hand, and threw him to the ground, huddling the
+rest together like frightened sheep.
+
+"Bind this traitor and keep him safe, for to-morrow he accompanies us to
+Thebes," said Pharaoh.
+
+"What of his sons, and those with him, your Majesty?" asked the officer
+of the guard.
+
+"Let them go," answered Pharaoh wearily, "for they have not sinned
+against us. Let them go, and take warning from their master's fate."
+
+Now, as it chanced in the confusion, Merytra had been pushed against
+Kaku.
+
+"Hearken," whispered the astrologer into the woman's ear. "Do as I bid
+you last night, and all will yet be well. Do it or die. Do you hear me?"
+
+"I hear, and I will obey," answered Merytra in the same low voice.
+
+Then they were separated, for the guards took Kaku by the arm and thrust
+him out of the temple together with the sons of Abi.
+
+An hour later Mermes and Asti stood before Pharaoh, and prayed him that
+he would depart from Memphis that very night, saying that such was the
+counsel also of the Queen and of his officers. But Pharaoh was tired
+out, and would not listen.
+
+"To-morrow, when I have slept, will be time enough," he answered.
+"Moreover, shall I fly from my own city like a thief when naught is
+ready for our journey? Why do you press me to such a coward's act?" he
+added peevishly.
+
+"For this reason, your Majesty," answered Mermes. "We are sure there is
+a plot to keep you here. This afternoon you could not have gone, had you
+tried, but to-night, Abi, being a prisoner, his people are dismayed, and
+having no leader will open the gates. By to-morrow one may be found, and
+they will be double-barred and guarded."
+
+"What!" asked the King scornfully, "do you mean that I am a prisoner
+also, and here in Egypt, which I rule? Nay, good friends, at Pharaoh's
+word those gates will open. Or if they do not, I will pull down Memphis
+stone by stone, and drive out its people to share their caves with
+jackals. Do they think because I am kind and gentle, that I cannot lift
+the sword if there be need? Have they forgotten how I smote those rebels
+in my youth, and gave their cities to the flames, and set my yoke on
+Syria, that aided them. We march to-morrow, and not before. I have
+spoken."
+
+Now Mermes bowed and turned to go, since when those words had passed
+Pharaoh's lips it was not lawful to answer them. Yet Asti dared to do
+so.
+
+"O Pharaoh," she said, "be not wrath with your servant. Pharaoh, as you
+know, I have skill in divination, the spirits of the dead whisper at
+times in my ears of things that are to be. It seemed to me just now when
+having left the presence of the Queen, my foster-child, I stood a while
+alone in the darkness, that the divine Majesty of the great lady, the
+royal wife, Ahura, who was my friend and mistress, stood beside me and
+said:
+
+"'Go, Asti, to Pharaoh, and say to Pharaoh that great danger threatens
+him and our royal daughter. Say to him--Fly from Memphis, lest there he
+should be prepared for burial, and the Star of Amen hidden by a cloud of
+shame. Bid him beware of one about his throne, and of that evil magician
+with whom she made a pact last night.'"
+
+Now Pharaoh looked at Asti and said:
+
+"O dreamer of dreams, interpret your own dream. Who is she about my
+throne of whom I should beware, and who is the magician with whom she
+made a pact?"
+
+"The divine Queen did not tell me, Pharaoh," answered Asti stubbornly,
+"but my own skill tells me. She is Merytra, your favourite, and the
+magician is Kaku, whom she visited last night."
+
+"What!" exclaimed Pharaoh, laughing. "That long-legged old astrologer
+with the painted cap who ran so fast when his master was taken? Why! he
+is nothing but a spy who has been in my pay for years; a charlatan who
+pretends to knowledge that he may win the secrets of his Prince. And
+Merytra, too, Merytra, who in bygone times warned me of this Abi's
+foolish plot. Asti, you are high-born and wise, one whom I love, and
+honour much, as does the Queen, my daughter, but you can still be
+jealous, as I have noted long. Asti, be not deceived, it was jealousy of
+Merytra that whispered in your ears, not the spirit of the divine
+Ahura. Now go and take your terrors with you, for this dark conspirator,
+Merytra, waits in my chamber to unrobe me, and talk me to sleep with her
+pleasant jests and gossip."
+
+"Pharaoh has spoken, I go," said Asti in her quiet voice. "May Pharaoh's
+rest be sweet, and his awaking happy."
+
+
+
+That night Tua could not sleep. Whenever she shut her eyes visions rose
+before her mind, terrifying, fantastic visions in all of which the
+fat and hideous Abi played a part. Thus she saw again the scene at her
+father's fatal feast to the Priest of Kesh, when Asti by her magic had
+caused the likeness of a monkey to come from the juggler's vase. Only
+now it was Abi who emerged from the vase, a terrible Abi, with a red
+sword in his hand, and Pharaoh's crown upon his head. He leapt from the
+mouth of the vase, he devoured her with his greedy eyes, with stealthy
+steps he came to seize her, and she could not stir an inch, something
+held her fast upon her throne.
+
+She could bear it no more--she opened her eyes, stared at the darkness,
+and out of the darkness came voices, telling of death and war. She
+thrust her fingers into her ears, and tried to fix her thoughts on
+Rames, that bright-eyed, light-footed lover of hers, whom she so longed
+to see again, without whom she was so lonely and undefended.
+
+"Where was Rames?" she wondered. "What fate had overtaken him? Something in
+her seemed to answer--Death. Oh! if Rames were dead, what should she do?
+Of what use was it to be Queen of Egypt, the first woman in the world,
+if Rames were dead?"
+
+Loneliness, insufferable loneliness seemed to get a hold of her. She
+slipped from her bed, and through the doorway of her little pylon
+chamber. Now she was upon the narrow stair, and in face of her was that
+other chamber where Asti slept. Someone was talking with her! Perhaps
+Mermes was with his wife, and if so she could not enter. No, it was
+Asti's voice, and, listening, she could hear her murmuring prayers or
+invocations in solemn tones. She pushed open the door and entered. A
+little lamp burned in the room, and by its feeble light she saw the
+white-robed Asti, whose long hair fell about her, standing with upturned
+eyes and arms outstretched to Heaven. Suddenly Asti saw her also, though
+but dimly for she stood in the dense shadow, and knew her not.
+
+"Advance, O thou Ghost, and declare thyself, for never was thy help more
+needed," she said.
+
+"It is no ghost, but I," said Tua. "What dealings are these that you
+have with ghosts at this deadest hour of the night, Asti? Do not enough
+terrors encompass us that you must needs call on your familiar spirits
+to add to them?"
+
+"I call on the spirits to save us from them, Queen, for, like you, I
+think that we are set in the midst of perils. This night is full of
+sorcery; I scent it in the air, and strive to match spell with spell.
+But why do you not sleep?"
+
+"I cannot, Asti, I cannot. Fear has got hold of me. Oh! I would that we
+had never come to this hateful Memphis, or set eyes upon its ill-omened
+lord, that foul brute who seeks to make a wife of me."
+
+"Be not afraid, Lady," said Asti, throwing her arms about Tua's slight
+and quivering form. "To-morrow morning we march; I have it from Pharaoh,
+and already the guard make preparations, while as for the accursed Abi,
+he is in prison."
+
+"There is no prison that will hold him, Asti, save the grave. Oh! why
+did not my Father command him to be slain, as I would have done? Then,
+at least, we should be free of him, and he could never marry me."
+
+"Because it was otherwise decreed, O Neter-Tua, and Pharaoh must fulfil
+his fate and ours, for though he is so gentle, none can turn him."
+
+As she spoke the words, somewhere, far beneath them, arose a cry, a
+voice of one in dread or woe, and with it the sound of feet upon the
+stairs.
+
+"What passes?" said Asti, leaping to the door.
+
+"Pharaoh is dead or dying," answered the terrified voice without. "Let
+her Majesty come to Pharaoh."
+
+They threw on their garments, they ran down the narrow stair and across
+the halls till they came to the chamber of Pharaoh. There upon his
+bed he lay and about him were the physicians of his Court. He was
+speechless, but his eyes were open, and he knew his daughter, for,
+raising his hand feebly, he beckoned to her, and pointed at his feet.
+
+"What is it, man?" she asked of the head physician, who, by way of
+answer, lifted the linen on the bed, and showed her Pharaoh's legs and
+feet, white and withered as though with fire.
+
+"What sickness is this?" asked Tua again.
+
+"We know not, O Queen," answered the physician, "for in all our lives
+we have never seen its like. The flesh is suddenly wasted, and the limbs
+are paralysed."
+
+"But I know," broke in Asti. "This is not sickness, it is sorcery.
+Pharaoh has been smitten by some foul spell of the Prince Abi, or of his
+wizards. Say, who was with him last?"
+
+"It seems that the Lady of the Footstool, Merytra, sang him to sleep, as
+was her custom," answered the physician, "and left him about two hours
+ago, so say the guard. When I came in to see how his Majesty rested but
+now, I found him thus."
+
+Now Tua lifted up her head and spoke, saying:
+
+"My divine Father is helpless, and therefore again I rule alone in
+Egypt. Hear me and obey. Let the Prince Abi be brought from his
+prison to the inner hall, for I would question him at once. Let the
+waiting-woman, Merytra, be brought also under guard with drawn swords."
+
+The officer of the watch bowed and departed to do the bidding of her
+Majesty, while others went to light the hall.
+
+Soon he returned to an outer chamber whither Tua had withdrawn herself
+while the physicians examined Pharaoh.
+
+"O Queen," he said, with a frightened face, "be not wrath, but
+the Prince Abi has gone. He has escaped out of his prison, and the
+waiting-woman, Merytra, is gone also."
+
+"How came this about?" asked Tua in a cold voice.
+
+"O Queen, the small gate was open, for people passed in and out of it
+continually, making preparation for to-morrow's march, it seems that
+about an hour ago the lady Merytra came to the gate and showed Pharaoh's
+signet to the officer, saying that she was on Pharaoh's business. With
+her went a fat man dressed in the robe of a master of camels that in the
+darkness the officer thought was a certain Arab of the Desert who has
+been to and fro about the camels. It is believed that this man was
+none other than the Prince Abi, dressed in the Arab's robe, and that he
+escaped from his cell by some secret passage which was known to him,
+a passage of the old priests. The Arab, whose robes he wore, cannot be
+found, but perhaps he is asleep in some corner."
+
+"Bar the gates," said Tua, "and let none pass in or out. Asti, take men
+with you, and go search the room where Merytra slept. Perchance she has
+returned again."
+
+So Asti went, and a while after re-appeared carrying something enveloped
+in a cloth.
+
+"Merytra has gone, O Queen," she said in an ominous voice, "leaving this
+behind hidden beneath her bed," and she placed the object on a table.
+
+"What is it? The mummy of a child?" asked Tua, shrinking back.
+
+"Nay, Queen, the image of a man."
+
+Then throwing aside the cloth Asti revealed the waxen figure shaped to
+the exact likeness of Pharaoh, or rather what remained of it, for the
+legs were molten and twisted, and in them could be seen the bones of
+ivory and the sinews of thin wire, about which they had been moulded.
+Also beneath the chin where the tongue would be, sharp thorns had
+been thrust up to the root of the mouth. The thing was life-like and
+horrible, and as it was, so was the dumb and stricken Pharaoh on his
+bed.
+
+Neter-Tua hid her eyes for a while, and leaned against the wall, then
+she drew herself up and said:
+
+"Call the physicians and the members of the Council, and those who can
+be spared of the officers of the guard, that everyone of them may see
+and bear witness to the hideous crime which has been worked against
+Pharaoh by his brother, the Prince Abi, and the wizard Kaku, and their
+accomplice, the woman Merytra."
+
+So they were called, and came, and when they saw the dreadful thing
+lying in its waxen whiteness before them, they wailed and cursed those
+who had wrought this abominable sorcery.
+
+"Curse them not," said Neter-Tua, "who are already accursed, and given
+over to the Devourer of Souls when their time shall come. Make a record
+of this deed, O Scribes, and do it swiftly."
+
+So the scribes wrote the matter down, and the Queen and others who were
+present signed the writings as witnesses. Then Neter-Tua commanded that
+they should take the image and destroy it before it worked more evil,
+and a priest of Osiris who was present seized it and departed.
+
+But Neter-Tua went to Pharaoh's room and knelt by his bed, watching him,
+for he seemed to be asleep. Presently he awoke, and looked round him
+wildly, moving his lips. For a while he could not speak, then of a
+sudden his voice burst from him in a hoarse, unnatural cry.
+
+"They have bewitched me! I burn, I burn!" he screamed, rolling himself
+to and fro upon the bed. "Avenge me, my daughter, and fear nothing, for
+the gods are about you. I see their awful eyes. Oh! I burn, I burn!"
+
+Then his head fell back, and the peace of death descended on his
+tortured brow.
+
+Tua kissed his dead brow, and knelt at his side in prayer. After a
+little while she rose and said:
+
+"It has pleased Pharaoh, the just and perfect, to depart to his
+everlasting habitation in Osiris. Make it known that this god is dead,
+and that I rule alone in Egypt. Send hither the priest of Osiris, that
+he may repeat the Ritual of Departing, and you, physicians, do your
+office."
+
+So the priest came, but at the door Asti caught him by the hand and
+asked:
+
+"How did you destroy the image of wax?"
+
+"I burned it upon the altar in the old sanctuary of this temple," he
+answered.
+
+"O, Fool!" said Asti, "you should have buried it. Know that with the
+enchanted thing you have burned away the life of Pharaoh also."
+
+Then that priest fell swooning to the ground, and another had to be
+summoned to utter the Ritual of Departing.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+THE COMING OF THE KA
+
+Now it was morning, and while the physicians embalmed the body of
+Pharaoh as best they could, Tua consulted with her officers. Long and
+earnest was that council, for all of them felt that their danger was
+very great. Abi had escaped, and if he were re-taken, none knew better
+than he that his death and that of all his House would be the reward of
+his crimes and sorceries which could only be covered up in one way--by
+marriage with the Queen of Egypt. Moreover, he had thousands of soldiers
+in the city and around it, all of them sworn to his service, whereas the
+royal guard was but five companies, each of a hundred men, trapped in a
+snare of streets and stone.
+
+One of them suggested that they should break a way through the wall of
+the temple, and escape to the royal barges that lay moored on the Nile
+beneath them, and this plan was approved. But when they went to set
+about the work it was seen that these barges had been seized and were
+already sailing away up the river. So but two alternatives remained--to
+bide within the fortifications of the old temple, and send out
+messengers for help, or to march through the city boldly, break down the
+gates if these were shut against them, seize boats, and sail up the Nile
+for some loyal town, or if that could not be done, to take their chance
+in the open lands.
+
+Now some favoured one scheme, and some the other, so that at last the
+decision was left with her Majesty. She thought awhile, then said:
+
+"Here I will not stay, to be starved out as we must ere ever an army
+could be gathered to rescue us, and be given into the power of that vile
+and wicked man, the murderer of the good god, my father. Better that
+I should die fighting in the streets, for then at least I shall pass
+undefiled to join him in his eternal habitation beyond the sun. We march
+at midnight."
+
+So they bowed beneath her word, and made ready while the women of his
+household raised a death-wail for Pharaoh, and criers standing on the
+high towers proclaimed the accession of Neter-Tua, Morning-Star of Amen,
+Glorious in Ra, Hathor, Strong in Beauty, as sole Lord and Sovereign of
+the North and South, and of Egypt's subject lands. Again and again they
+proclaimed it, and of the multitudes who listened some cheered, but the
+most remained silent, fearing the vengeance of their Prince, whom the
+heralds summoned to do homage, but who made no sign.
+
+Night came at last. At a signal the gates were opened, and through them,
+borne upon the shoulders of his Councillors, preceded by a small body
+of guards, and followed by his women and household, went the remains of
+Pharaoh, in a coffin roughly fashioned from the sycamore timbers of the
+temple. With solemn step and slow, they went as though they feared no
+harm, the priests and singers chanting some ancient, funeral hymn. Next
+followed the baggage bearers, and after these the royal bodyguard in the
+midst of whom the Queen, clad in mail, as a man, rode in a chariot, and
+with her the waiting-lady, Asti, wife of Mermes.
+
+At first all went well, for the great square in front of the temple was
+empty. The procession of the body of Pharaoh passed it, and vanished
+down the street that led to the main gate, a mile away. Now the guard
+formed into line to enter this street also, when suddenly, barring the
+mouth of it, appeared great companies of men who had been hidden in
+other streets.
+
+A voice cried "Halt!" and while the guards re-shaped themselves into a
+square about the person of the Queen, an embassy of officers, among whom
+were recognised the four lawful sons of Abi, advanced and demanded in
+the Prince's name that her Majesty should be given over to them,
+saying that she would be treated with all honour, and that those who
+accompanied her might go free.
+
+"Answer that the Queen of Egypt does not yield herself into the hands of
+rebels, and of murderers; then fall on them, and slay them all," cried
+Neter-Tua when Mermes, her captain, had given her this message.
+
+So he went forward and returned the answer, and next moment a flight of
+arrows from the Queen's guard laid low the four sons of Abi, and most of
+those who were with them.
+
+Then the fight began, one of the fiercest that had been known in Egypt
+for many a generation. The royal regiment, it is true, was but small,
+but they were picked men, and mad with despair and rage. Moreover, Tua
+the Queen played no woman's part that night, for when these charged,
+striving to cut a path through the opposing hosts, she charged with
+them, and by the moonlight was seen standing like an angry goddess in
+her chariot, and loosing arrows from her bow. Also no hurt came to her
+or those with her, or even to the horses that drew her. It was as though
+she were protected by some unseen strength, that caught the sword cuts
+and turned aside the points of spears.
+
+Yet it availed not, for the men of Abi were a multitude, and the royal
+guard but very few. Slowly, an ever-lessening band, they were pressed
+back, first to the walls of the old temple of Sekhet, and then within
+its outer court. Now all who were left of them, not fifty men under the
+command of Mermes, strove to hold the gate. Desperately they fought, and
+one by one went down to death beneath the rain of spears.
+
+Tua had dismounted from her chariot, and leaning on her bow, for all her
+arrows were spent, watched the fray with Asti at her side. With a yell
+the troops of Abi rushed through the gate, killing as they came. Now,
+surrounded by all who remained to her, not a dozen men, they were driven
+back through the inner courts, through the halls, to the pylon stairs.
+
+Here the last stand was made. Step by step they held the stairs, till
+at length there were left upon their feet only Tua, Asti and Mermes, her
+husband, who was sorely wounded in many places. At the little landing
+between the rooms of the Queen and Asti while the assailants paused a
+moment, the Captain Mermes, mad with grief and pain, turned and kissed
+his wife. Next he bowed before the Queen, saying:
+
+"What a man may do, I have done to save your Majesty. Now I go to make
+report to Pharaoh, leaving you in charge of Amen, who shall protect you,
+and to Rames, my son, the heritage of vengeance. Farewell, O Daughter of
+Amen, till I see your star rise in the darkness of the Under-World, and
+to you, beloved wife, farewell."
+
+Then, uttering the war-cry of his fathers, those Pharaohs who once had
+ruled in Egypt, the tall and noble Mermes grasped his sword in both his
+hands, and rushed upon the advancing foe, slaying and slaying until he
+himself was slain.
+
+"Come with me, O Wife of a royal hero," said Tua to Asti, who had
+covered her eyes with her hand, and was leaning against the wall.
+
+"Widow, not wife, Queen. Did you not see his spirit pass?"
+
+Then Tua led her up more steps to the top of the pylon tower, where Asti
+sank down moaning in her misery. Tua walked to the outermost edge of the
+tower and stood there waiting the end. It was the moment of dawn. On
+the eastern horizon the red rim of the sun arose out of the desert in
+a clear sky. There upon that lofty pinnacle, clad in shining mail, and
+wearing a helm shaped like the crown of Lower Egypt, Tua stood in its
+glorious rays that turned her to a figure of fire set above a world of
+shadow. The thousands of the people watching from the streets below, and
+from boats upon the Nile, saw her, and raised a shout of wonder and of
+adoration.
+
+"The Daughter of Amen-Ra!" they cried. "Behold her clad in the glory of
+the god!"
+
+Soldiers crept up the stairs to the pylon roof and saw her also, while,
+now that the fray was ended, with them came the Prince Abi.
+
+"Seize her," he panted, for the stairs were steep and robbed him of his
+breath.
+
+But the soldiers looked and shrank back before the Majesty of Egypt,
+wrapped in her robe of light.
+
+"We fear," they answered, "the ghost of Pharaoh stands before her."
+
+Then Neter-Tua spoke, saying:
+
+"Abi, once a Prince of Egypt and Hereditary Lord of Memphis, but now an
+outcast murderer, black with the blood of your King, and of many a loyal
+man, hear me, the anointed Queen of Egypt, hear me, O man upon whom I
+decree the judgment of the first and second death. Come but one step
+near to my Majesty, and before your eyes, and the eyes of all the
+multitude who watch, I hurl myself from this hideous place into the
+waters of the Nile. Yet ere I go to join dead Pharaoh, and side by side
+with him to lay our plaint against you before the eternal gods, listen
+to our curse upon you. From this day forward a snake shall prey upon
+your vitals, gnawing upwards to your heart. The spirits of Pharaoh and
+of all his servants whom you have slain shall haunt your sleep; never
+shall you know one more hour of happy rest. Through life henceforth you
+shall fly from a shadow, and if you climb a throne, it shall be such
+a one as that on which I stand encircled with the perilous depths of
+darkness. Thence you shall fall at last, dying by a death of shame, and
+the evil gods shall seize upon you, O Traitor, and drag you to the maw
+of the Eater-up of Souls, and therein you shall vanish for ever for
+aye, you and all your House, and all those who cling to you. Thus saith
+Neter-Tua, speaking with the voice of Amen who created her, her father
+and the god of gods."
+
+Now when the soldiers heard these dreadful words, one by one they turned
+and crept down the stairs, till at last there were left upon the pylon
+roof only the Queen, Asti crouching at her feet, and the monstrous Abi,
+her uncle.
+
+He looked at her, and thrice he tried to speak but failed, for the words
+choked in his throat. A fourth time he tried, and they came hoarsely:
+
+"Take off your curse, O mighty Queen," he said, "and I will let you go.
+I am old, to-night all my lawful sons are dead; take off your curse,
+leave me in my Government, and though I desire you more than the throne
+of Egypt, O Beautiful, still I will let you go."
+
+"Nay," answered the Queen, "I cannot if I would. It is not I who spoke,
+but a Spirit in my mouth. Do your worst, O son of Set. The curse remains
+upon you."
+
+Now Abi shook in the fury of his fear, and answered:
+
+"So be it, Star of Amen, having nothing more to dread I will do my
+worst. Pharaoh my enemy is dead, and you, his daughter, shall be my wife
+of your own free will, or since no man will lay a finger upon you, here
+in this tower you shall starve. Death is not yet; I shall have my day,
+it is sworn to me. Reign with me if you will, or starve without me if
+you will--I tell you, Daughter of Amen, that I shall have my day."
+
+"And I tell you, Son of Set, that after the day comes the long terror of
+that night which knows no morrow."
+
+Then finding no answer, he too turned and went.
+
+When he was gone Neter-Tua stood a while looking down upon the thousands
+of people gathered in the great square where the battle had been fought,
+who stared up at her in a deadly silence. Then she descended from the
+coping-stone, and, taking Asti by the arm, led her from the roof to the
+little chamber where she had slept.
+
+
+
+Six days had gone by, and Queen Neter-Tua starved in the pylon tower.
+Till now the water had held out for there was a good supply of it
+in jars, but at last it was done, while, as for food, they had eaten
+nothing except a store of honey which Asti took at night from the bees
+that hived among the topmost pylon stones. That day the honey was done
+also, and if had not been, without water to wash it down they could have
+swallowed no more of the sickly stuff. Indeed, although in after years
+in memory of its help, Neter-Tua chose the bee as her royal symbol,
+never again could she bring herself to eat of the fruit of its labours.
+
+"Come, Nurse," said Tua, "let us go to the roof, and watch the setting
+of Ra, perhaps for the last time, since I think that we follow him
+through the Western Gates."
+
+So they went, supporting each other up the steps, for they grew weak.
+From this lofty place they saw that save on the Nile side of it which
+was patrolled by the warships of Abi, all the temple was surrounded by a
+double ring of soldiers, while beyond the soldiers, on the square where
+the great fight had been, were gathered thousands of the people who
+knew that the starving Queen was wont to appear thus upon the pylon at
+sunset.
+
+At the sight of her, clad in the mail which she still wore, a murmur
+rose from them like the murmur of the sea, followed by a deep silence
+since they dared not declare the pity which moved them all. In the midst
+of this silence, whilst the sun sank behind the Pyramids of the ancient
+kings, Neter-Tua lifted up her glorious voice and sang the evening hymn
+to Amen-Ra. As the last notes died away in the still air, again the
+murmur rose while the darkness gathered about the pylon, hiding her from
+the gaze of men.
+
+Hand in hand as they had come, the two deserted women descended the
+stair to their sleeping-place.
+
+"They dare not help us, Asti," said Tua, "let us lie down and die."
+
+"Nay, Queen," answered Asti, "let us turn to one that giveth help to
+the helpless. Do you remember the words spoken by the shining spirit of
+Ahura the Divine?"
+
+"I remember them, Asti."
+
+"Queen, I have waited long, since the spell she whispered to me may be
+used once only, but now I am sure that the moment is at hand when that
+which dwells within you must be called forth to save you."
+
+"Then call it forth, Asti," answered Tua wearily, "if you have the
+power. If not, oh! let us die. But say, whom would you summon? The glory
+of Amen or the ghost of Pharaoh, or Ahura, my mother, or one of the
+guardian gods?"
+
+"None of these," answered Asti, "for I have been bidden otherwise. Lie
+you down and sleep, my fosterling, for I have much to do in the hours of
+darkness. When you awake you shall learn all."
+
+"Aye," said Tua, "when I awake, if ever I do awake. Is it in your mind
+to kill me in my sleep, Asti? Is that your command? Well, if so, I shall
+not blame you, for then I will break this long fast of mine with Pharaoh
+and the divine mother, Ahura, who bore me, and together in the pleasant
+Fields of Peace we will wait for Rames, my lover and your son. Being a
+queen, they will give my burial in my father's tomb, and that is all I
+crave of them, and of this weary world. Sing me to rest, Nurse, as you
+were wont to do when I was little, and, if it be your will, tarry not
+long behind me."
+
+So she laid herself down upon the bed, and, taking her hand that had
+grown so thin, the tall and noble Asti bent over her in the darkness,
+and began to sing a gentle chant or lullaby.
+
+Tua's eyes closed, her breath came slow and deep. Then Asti the magician
+ceased her song and, gathering up her secret strength, put out her
+prayers, prayer after prayer, till at length all her soul was pure, and
+she dared to utter the awful spell that Ahura had whispered in her ear.
+At the muttered, holy words wild voices cried through the night, the
+solid pylon rocked, and in the city the crystal globe into which Kaku
+and Merytra gazed was suddenly shattered between them, and, white with
+terror at he knew not what, Abi sprang from his couch.
+
+Then Asti also sank into sleep or swoon, and all was silent in that
+chamber, silent as the grave.
+
+
+
+Neter-Tua awoke. Through the pylon window-place crept the first
+grey light of dawn. Her eyes searching the gloom fell first upon the
+dark-robed figure of Asti sleeping in a chair, her head resting upon
+her hand. Then a brightness drew them to the foot of her bed, and there,
+clothed in a faint, white light, that seemed as though it were drawn
+from the stars and the moon, wearing the Double Crown, and arrayed in
+all the royal robes of Egypt, she saw--_herself_.
+
+Now Tua knew that she dreamed, and for a long while lay still, for it
+pleased her, starved and wretched as she was, a prisoner in the hands of
+her foes, a netted bird, to let her fancy dwell upon this splendid image
+of what she had been before an evil fate, speaking with the voice of
+Merytra, Lady of the Footstool, had beguiled dead Pharaoh to Memphis. If
+things had gone well with her, she should be as that image was to-day,
+that image which wore her crown and robes of state, yes, and her very
+jewels. Such were the changes of fortune even in the lives of princes
+whose throne seemed to be set upon a rock, princes whom the god of gods
+had fathered. Never before in her young life had the thing come so home
+to her, for until now, even through the hunger and the fear, her pride
+had borne her up. But in this chilly hour that precedes the dawn, the
+hour when, as they say, men are wont to die, it was otherwise with her.
+Her end was near--she knew it and understood that between the mightiest
+monarch in the world and the humblest peasant maid at the last there is
+no difference, save perchance a difference of the soul within.
+
+Here she lay, a shadow, who must choose between a miserable end by
+thirst and hunger, or a loathsome marriage. And what availed it that she
+was called Morning-Star of Amen, she the only child of Pharaoh and of
+his royal wife, and that when she was dead they would grant her a state
+funeral, and inscribe her name among the lists of kings, while Abi, the
+foul usurper, sat upon her throne. Here on the bed lay what she was,
+there at the foot of it stood what she should be if the gods had not
+deserted her.
+
+Her poor heart was filled with bitterness like a cup with vinegar,
+bitterness flowed through her in the place of blood. It seemed hard
+to die so young, she whom men named a god; to die robbed of her crown,
+robbed of her vengeance, and taking with her her deep, unfruitful love.
+Would she and Rames meet beyond the grave, she wondered? Would they wed
+and bear children there, who should rule as Pharaohs in the Under-world?
+Would Osiris redeem her mortal flesh, and Amen the Father, receive her;
+or would she rush down into everlasting blackness where sleep is all in
+all?
+
+Oh! for one hour of strength and freedom, one short hour while at the
+head of her armies she rolled down upon rebellious Memphis in her might,
+and trod its high walls flat, and gave its palaces to the flames,
+and cast its accursed prince to the jaws of crocodiles. Her sunk eyes
+flashed at the thought of it, and her wasted bosom heaved, and lo! the
+eyes of that royal queen of her dreams flashed also as though in answer,
+and on its breast the jewels rose as though pride or anger lifted them.
+
+Then this marvel came to pass, for the beautiful face--could her own
+ever have been so beautiful?--the imperial face, bent forward a little,
+and from the red lips came a soft voice, her own rich voice, that said:
+
+"Speak your will, Queen, and it shall be done. I, who stand here, am
+your servant to command, O Morning-Star, O Amen's royal child."
+
+Tua sat up in her bed and laughed at the vision.
+
+"My will!" she said. "O Dream, why do you mock me? Let me think. What is
+my will? Well, Dream, it is that of the beggar at the gate--I desire a
+drink of water, and a crust of bread."
+
+"They are there," answered the figure, pointing with the crystal sceptre
+in her hand to the table beside the couch.
+
+Idly enough Tua looked, and so it was! On the table stood pure water
+in a silver cup, and by it cakes of bread upon a golden platter. She
+stretched out her hand, for surely this fantasy was pleasant, and took
+that ghost of a silver cup, her own cup that Pharaoh had given her as a
+child, and brought it to her lips and drank, and lo! water pure and
+cold flowed down her throat, until at length even her raging thirst was
+satisfied. Then she stretched out her hand again, and took the loaves
+of bread, and ate them hungrily till all were gone, and as she swallowed
+the last of them, exclaimed in bitter shame:
+
+"Oh! what a selfish wretch am I who have drunk and eaten all, leaving
+nothing for my foster-mother, Asti, who lies asleep, and dies of want as
+I did."
+
+"Fear not," answered the Dream. "Look, there are more for Asti." And it
+was true, for the silver cup brimmed once more with cold water, and on
+the golden platter were other cakes.
+
+Now the Dream spoke again:
+
+"Surely," it said, "there were other wishes in your heart, O
+Morning-Star, than that for human sustenance?"
+
+"Aye, O Dream, I wished for vengeance upon Abi, the traitor, Abi
+the murderer of my father, who would bring me to the last shame of
+womanhood. I wished for vengeance upon Abi, and all who cling to him."
+
+The bright figure bowed, stretching out its jewelled hands, and
+answered:
+
+"I am your servant to obey. It shall be worked, O Queen, such vengeance
+as you cannot dream of, vengeance poured drop by drop like poison in his
+veins, the torment of disappointed love, the torment of horrible fear,
+the torment of power given and snatched away, the torment of a death
+of shame, and the everlasting torment of the Eater-up of Souls--this
+vengeance shall be worked upon Abi and all who cling to him. Was there
+not another wish in your heart, O Morning-Star, O Queen divine?"
+
+"Aye," answered Tua, "but I may not speak it all even to myself in
+sleep."
+
+"It shall be given to you, O Morning-Star. You shall find your love
+though far away beyond the horizon, and he shall return with you, and
+you twain shall rule in the Upper and the Lower Land, and in all the
+lands beyond with glory such as has not been known in Egypt."
+
+Now, at length, Tua seemed to awake. She rubbed her eyes and looked.
+There was the sleeping Asti; there on the table beside her were the
+water and the bread; there at the foot of the couch, glimmering in the
+low lights of dawn, was the glorious figure of herself draped in the
+splendid robes.
+
+"Who, and what are you?" she cried. "Are you a god or a spirit, or are
+you but a mocking vision caught in the web of my madness?"
+
+"I am none of these things, O Morning-Star, I am yourself. I am that Ka
+whom our father Amen gave to you at birth to dwell with you and protect
+you. Do you not remember me when as a child we played together?"
+
+"I remember," answered Tua. "You warned me of the danger of the sacred
+crocodile in the Temple tank, but since then I have never seen you. What
+gives you the strength to appear in the flesh before me, O Double?"
+
+"The magic of Asti with which she has been endowed from on high to save
+you, Neter-Tua, that gives me strength. Know that although you cannot
+always see me, I am your eternal companion. Through life I go with
+you, and when you die I watch in your tomb, perfect, incorruptible,
+preserving your wisdom, your loveliness, and all that is yours, until
+the day of resurrection. I have power, I have the secret knowledge which
+dwells in you, although you cannot grasp it; I remember the Past, the
+infinite, infinite Past that you forget, I foresee the Future, the
+endless, endless Future that is hidden from you, to which the life you
+know is but as a single leaf upon the tree, but as one grain of sand in
+the billions of the Desert. I look upon the faces of the gods, and hear
+their whisperings; Fate gives me his book to read; I sleep secure in the
+presence of the Eternal who sent me forth, and to whom at last I return
+again, my journey ended, my work fulfilled, bearing you in my holy arms.
+O Morning-Star, the spells of Asti have clothed me in this magic flesh,
+the might of Amen has set me on my feet. I am here, your servant, to
+obey."
+
+Now, amazed, bewildered, Tua called out:
+
+"Awake, Nurse, awake, for I am mad. It seems to me that a messenger from
+on high, robed in my own flesh, stands before me and speaks with me."
+
+Asti opened her eyes, and, perceiving the beautiful figure, rose and did
+obeisance to it, but said no word.
+
+"Be seated," said the Ka, "and hear me, time is short. I awoke at the
+summons, I came forth, I am present, I endure until the spell is taken
+off me, and I return whence I came. O Interpreter, speak the will of her
+of whom I am, that I may do it in my own fashion. There is food--eat and
+drink, then speak."
+
+So Asti ate and drank as Tua had done, and when she had finished and
+was satisfied, behold! the cup and the platter vanished away. Next in a
+slow, quiet voice she spoke, saying:
+
+"O Shadow of this royal Star, by my spells incorporate, this is our
+case: Here we starve in misery, and without the gate Abi waits the end.
+If the Queen lives, he will take her who hates him to be his wife; if
+she dies he will seize her throne. Our wisdom is finished. What must we
+do to save this Star that it may shine serene until its appointed hour
+of setting?"
+
+"Is that all you seek?" asked the Double, when she had finished.
+
+"Nay," broke in Tua hurriedly, "I would not shine alone, I seek another
+Star to share my sky with me."
+
+"Have you faith and will you obey?" asked the Double again. "For without
+faith I can do nothing."
+
+Now Asti looked at Tua who bowed her head in assent to an unspoken
+question, then she answered:
+
+"We have faith, we will obey."
+
+"So be it," said the Shadow. "Presently Abi will come to ask whether the
+Queen consents to be his wife, or whether she will bide here until she
+dies. I who wear the fashion of the Queen will go forth and be his wife,
+oh! such a wife as man never had before," and as she spoke the words an
+awful look swept across her face, and her deep eyes flamed. "Ill goes it
+with the mortal man who weds a wraith that hates him and is commanded to
+work his woe," she added.
+
+Now Asti and Tua understood and smiled, then the Queen said:
+
+"So you will sit in my seat, O Shadow, and as your lord, Abi will sit on
+Pharaoh's throne and find it hard. But what of Egypt and my people?"
+
+"Fear not for Egypt and your people, O Morning Star. With these it shall
+go well enough until you come back to claim them."
+
+"And what of my companion and myself?" asked Tua.
+
+The Double raised her sceptre, and pointed to the open window-space
+between them, beneath which, hundreds of feet beneath, ran the milky
+waters of the river.
+
+"You shall trust yourselves to the bosom of Father Nile," she answered
+solemnly.
+
+Now the Queen and Asti stared at each other.
+
+"That means," said Tua, "that we must trust ourselves to Osiris, for
+none can fall so far and live."
+
+"Think you so, O Star? Where, then, is that faith you promised, without
+which I can do nothing? Nay, I tell no more. Do my bidding, or let me
+go, and deal with Abi as it pleases you. Choose now, he draws near," and
+as she spoke the words they heard the bronze gates of the temple clash
+upon their hinges.
+
+Tua shivered at the sound, then sprang from the couch, and drew herself
+to her full height, exclaiming:
+
+"For my part I have chosen. Never shall it be said that Pharaoh's
+daughter was a coward. Better the breast of Osiris than the arms of
+Abi, or slow death in a dungeon. In Amen and in thee, O Double, I put my
+trust."
+
+The Shadow looked from her to Asti, who answered briefly:
+
+"Where my Lady goes there I follow, knowing that Mermes always waits.
+What shall we do?"
+
+The Ka motioned to them to stand together in the narrow winding-place,
+and this they did, their arms about each other. Next she lifted her
+sceptre and spoke some word.
+
+Then fire flashed before their eyes, a rush of wind beat upon their
+brows, and they knew no more.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+THE DREAM OF ABI
+
+On the night of the drawing-forth of the Ka of Neter-Tua, Kaku the
+wizard, and Merytra the spy, she who had been Lady of the Footstool to
+Pharaoh, sat together in that high chamber where Merytra had vowed her
+vow, and received the magic image.
+
+"Why do you look so disturbed?" asked the astrologer of his accomplice
+who glanced continually over her shoulder, and seemed very ill at ease.
+"All has gone well. If Set himself had fashioned that image, it could
+not have done its work more thoroughly."
+
+"Thoroughly, indeed," broke in Merytra in an angry voice. "You have
+tricked me, Wizard, I promised to help you to lame Pharaoh, not to
+murder him!"
+
+"Hush! Beloved," said Kaku nervously, "murder is an ugly word, and
+murderers come to ugly ends--sometimes. Is it your fault if an accursed
+fool of a priest chose to burn the mannikin upon an altar, and thus
+bring this god to his lamented end?"
+
+"No," answered Merytra, "not mine, or the priest's, but yours, and that
+hog, Abi's; and Set's the master of both of you. But I shall get the
+blame of it, for the Queen and Asti know the truth, and soon or late it
+will come out, and they will burn me as a sorceress, sending me to the
+Underworld with the blood of Pharaoh upon my hands. Pharaoh who never
+did me aught but good. And then, what will happen to me?"
+
+Evidently Kaku did not know, for he rose and stood opposite to her,
+scratching his lean chin and smiling in a sickly, indeterminate fashion
+that enraged Merytra.
+
+"Cease grinning at me like an ape of the rocks," she said, "and tell me,
+what is to be the end of this evil business?"
+
+"Why trouble about ends, Fair One?" he asked. "They are always a long
+way off; indeed, the best philosophers hold that there is no such thing
+as an end. You know the sacred symbol of a snake with its tail in its
+mouth that surrounds the whole world, but begins where it ends, and ends
+where it begins. It may be seen in any tomb----"
+
+"Cease your talk of snakes and tombs," burst in Merytra. "The thought of
+them makes me shudder."
+
+"By all means, Beloved. I have always held that we Egyptians dwell too
+much on tombs, and--whatever it may be that lies beyond them, which
+after all remains a matter of doubt--fortunately. So let us turn from
+tombs and corpses to palaces and life. As I said just now, although we
+grieve over the accident of Pharaoh's death, and that of all his guard
+--and I may add, of Abi's four legitimate sons, things have gone
+well for us. To-day I have received from the Prince, in writing, my
+appointment as Vizier, and first King's companion, to come into force
+when he mounts the throne as he must do, and to-day you have received
+from me, with all the usual public rites and ceremonies, the name of
+wife, as I promised that you should. Merytra, you are the wife of the
+great Vizier, the pre-eminent lord, the sole Companion of the King of
+Egypt, a high position for one who after all during the late reign was
+but Pharaoh's favourite, and Lady of the Footstool."
+
+"A footstool of silk is more comfortable to sit on than a state chair
+fashioned of blood-stained swords. Hearken you, Kaku! I am afraid. You
+say that you are the greatest of seers, and can read the future. Well,
+I desire to know the future, so if you are not a charlatan, show it to
+me."
+
+"A charlatan! How can you suggest it, Merytra, remembering the adventure
+of the image?"
+
+"That may have been an accident. Pharaoh was sickly for years, and had
+a stroke before. If you are not a cheat show me the future in that magic
+crystal. I would learn the worst, so that I may know how to meet it when
+it comes."
+
+"Well, Wife, we will try, though to see such high visions the spirit
+should be calm, which I fear yours is not--nay, be not angry. We will
+try, we will try. Sit here now, and gaze, and above all be silent while
+I say the appropriate spells."
+
+So the ball of crystal having been set upon the table, the pair stared
+into it as Kaku muttered his charms and invocations. For a long while
+Merytra saw nothing, till suddenly a shadow gathered in the ball, which
+slowly cleared away, revealing the image of dead Pharaoh clothed in his
+mummy wrappings. As she started back to scream the image seemed to loose
+its hands from the cloths that bound them, and strike outwards, whereon
+the crystal suddenly shattered, so that the pieces of it flew about
+the room, one of which struck her on the mouth, knocking out two of her
+front teeth, and gashing her lips.
+
+Merytra uttered a cry, and fell backwards to the floor, while Kaku
+sprang from his chair as though to run away, then thought better of it,
+and stood still, shivering with fear.
+
+"What was that?" said Merytra, rising from the ground, and wiping the
+blood from her cut mouth.
+
+"I do not know," answered Kaku, in a quavering voice. "It would seem
+that the gods deny to us that knowledge of the future which you sought.
+Be content with the present, Merytra."
+
+"Content with the present," she screamed, infuriated. "Look at what
+the present has given me--a mouthful of blood and teeth. I, who was
+beautiful, am spoiled for ever; I am become an old hag. Pharaoh burst
+the ball with his hand, and threw the pieces at me. I saw him do it, and
+you set him there. Wretch, I will pay you back for this evil trick," and
+springing at Kaku, she tore of his astrologer's cap, and the wig beneath
+it, and beat his bald head with them till he cried for mercy.
+
+It was at this moment that the door opened, and through it, breathless,
+white with terror, half-clothed, appeared none other than the Prince
+Abi.
+
+"What passes here?" he gasped, sinking into a chair. "Is this the way
+you conduct your midnight studies, Kaku?"
+
+"Certainly not, most high Lord," replied the astrologer, trying to bow
+with his eye fixed on Merytra, who stood by him, the torn wig in her
+hand, in the act of striking. "Certainly not, exalted Prince. A domestic
+difference, that is all. This wild cat of a woman whom I have married
+having met with an accident, gave way to her devilish temper."
+
+"Repeat that," exclaimed Merytra, "and I will throw you from the
+window-place to find out whether your sorceries can make paving-stones
+as soft as air. See, Lord, what he has done to me by his accursed
+wizardry," and she exhibited her two front teeth in her shaking hand.
+"I say that he set the spirit of Pharaoh whom he beguiled me to do to
+death, in the crystal, for I saw him there wrapped in his mummy clothes,
+and caused dead Pharaoh to burst the crystal and stone me with its
+fragments."
+
+"Be silent, Woman," shouted Abi, "or I will have you beaten with rods,
+till your feet hurt more than your mouth. What is this about the spirit
+of Pharaoh, Kaku? Is he everywhere, for know, it is of Pharaoh, the
+dweller in Osiris, that I came to speak to you."
+
+"Most exalted Ruler of the North, Son of Royal Blood, Hereditary Count
+who shall be King----"
+
+"Cease your titles, Knave," exclaimed Abi, "and listen, for I need
+counsel, and if you cannot give it I will find one who can. Just now I
+lay on my bed asleep, and a dreadful vision came to me. I dreamed that I
+woke up, and feeling a weight on the bed beside me turned to learn
+what it was, and saw there the body of my brother, Pharaoh, in his
+death-wrappings----"
+
+"As I saw him in the ball," broke in Merytra. "Did he pelt you also, O
+Abi?"
+
+"Nay, Woman, he did worse, he spoke to me. He said--'You, my brother, to
+whom I forgave all your sins, you and the woman-snake that I cherished
+in my bosom, and your servant, the black-souled magician, her
+accomplice, have done me miserably to death, and set the Queen of both
+the Lands, Amen's royal child, to starve in yonder tower with the noble
+lady Asti, until she dies or takes you to be her husband--you, her
+uncle, who seek her beauty and my throne. Now I have a message for
+you from the gods, who write down these things in their eternal books
+against the day of judgment, when we all shall meet and plead our cause
+before them, Osiris the Redeemer standing on the right hand, and the
+Eater-up of Souls standing on the left.
+
+"'This is the message, O Abi--Go to the Temple of Sekhet at the dawn.
+There you shall find that Royal Loveliness which you desire. Take it to
+be your wife as you desire, for it shall not say you nay. Be wedded to
+that Loveliness with pomp before all the eyes of Egypt, and reign by
+right of that Royalty, until you meet one Rames, son of Mermes, whom
+you also murdered, and with him a certain Beggar-man who is charged with
+another message for you, O Abi. Ascend the Nile to Thebes, and lay this
+body of mine in the splendid tomb which I have made ready and sit in
+my seat, and do those things which that Royal Loveliness you have wed,
+commands to you, for It you shall obey. But hasten, hasten, Abi, to
+hollow for yourself a grave, and let it be near to mine, for when you
+are dead this my Ka would come to visit you, as it does to-night.'
+
+"Then the Ka or the body of Pharaoh--I know not which it was--ceased
+from speaking, and lay there a while staring at me with its cold eyes,
+till at length the spirits of my four sons who are dead entered the
+chamber and, lifting up the shape, carried it away. I awoke, shaking
+like a reed in the wind, and ran hither up a thousand steps to find you
+brawling with this low-born slut, dead Pharaoh's worn-out shoe that in
+bygone years I kicked from off my foot."
+
+Now Merytra would have answered, for she loved not such names, but
+the two men looked at her so fiercely that her rage died, and she was
+silent.
+
+"Read me this vision, Man, and be swift, for the torment of it haunts
+me," went on Abi. "If you cannot I strip you of your offices, and give
+your carcase to the rods until you find wisdom. It was you who set me
+on this path, and by the gods you shall keep me safe in it or die by
+inches."
+
+Now, seeing his great danger, Kaku grew cold and cunning.
+
+"It is true, O Prince," he said, "that I set you on this path, this high
+and splendid path, and it is true also that from the beginning I have
+kept you safe in it. Had it not been for me and my counsel, long ago
+you would have become but a forgotten traitor. Remember that night at
+Thebes, when in your pride you desired to smite at the heart of Pharaoh,
+and how I held your hand, and remember how, many a time, my wisdom has
+been your guide, when left to your own rash folly you must have failed
+or perished. It is true also, Prince, that in the future as in the past,
+with me and by me you stand or fall. Yet if you think otherwise, find
+some wiser man to lead you, and wait the end. All the rods in Egypt
+cannot be broken on my back, O Abi. Now shall I speak who alone have
+knowledge, or will you seek another counsellor?"
+
+"Speak on," answered Abi sullenly, "we are fish in the same net, and
+share each other's fortune to the end, whether it be Set's gridiron or
+fat Egypt's pleasure pond. Fear not, what I have promised you shall have
+while it is mine to give."
+
+"Just now you promised rods," remarked Kaku, making a wry face and
+replacing the remains of his wig upon his bald head, "but let that pass.
+Now as to this dream of yours, I find its meaning good. How did Pharaoh
+come to you? Not as a living spirit, but in the fashion of a dead man,
+and who cares for dead men?"
+
+"I do, for one, when they cut my mouth with broken crystals,"
+interrupted Merytra, who was bathing her wounds in a basin of water.
+
+"Would that they had cut your tongue instead of your lips, Woman,"
+snarled Abi. "Continue, Kaku, and heed her not."
+
+"And what was his message?" went on the magician. "Why, that you shall
+marry the Majesty of Egypt, and rule in her right and sit in the seat
+of kings. Are not these the very things that you desire, and have worked
+for years to win?"
+
+"Yes, Kaku, but you forget all that about one Rames, and the tomb that I
+must hollow, and the rest."
+
+"Rames? Merytra here can tell you of him, Prince. He is the madcap young
+Count who killed the Prince of Kesh, and was sent by Neter-Tua far to
+the South-lands, that the barbarians there might make an end of him
+without scandal. If ever he should come back with the Beggar-man and
+his message, which is not likely, you can answer him with the halter he
+deserves."
+
+"Aye, Kaku, but how will the Queen answer him? There are stories
+afloat----"
+
+"Lies, every one of them, Prince. She would have executed him at once
+had it not been for the influence of Mermes, and her foster-mother,
+Asti. This Rames has in him the royal blood of the last dynasty, and the
+Star of Amen is not one who will share her sky with a rival star, unless
+he be her lawful Lord, which is your part. If Rames or the foul Beggar
+brings you any message it will be that you are King of Kesh as well as
+of Egypt, and then you can kill him and take the heritage. A fig for
+Rames and its stalk for the Beggar!"
+
+"Perhaps," replied Abi more cheerfully, "at any rate I do not fear that
+risk; but how about all Pharaoh's talk of tombs?"
+
+"Being dead, Prince, it is natural that the mind of his Ka should run
+on tombs, and his own royal burial, which as a matter of policy we must
+give to him. Besides there the prophesy was safe, since to these same
+tombs all must come, especially those of us who have seen the Nile rise
+over sixty times--as I have," he added hastily. "When we reach the tomb
+it will be time to deal with its affairs; till then let us be content
+with life, and the good things it offers, such as thrones, and find the
+love of the most beautiful woman in the world, and the rest. Harvest
+your corn when it is ripe, Prince, and do not trouble about next year's
+crop or whether in his grave Pharaoh's Double eats white bread or brown.
+Pharaoh's daughter--or Amen's--is your business, not his ghost."
+
+"Yes, good soothsayer," said Abi, "she is my business. But one more
+question. Why did that accursed mummy speak of her as 'It'--in my dream
+I mean--as though she were no woman, but something beyond woman?"
+
+For a moment Kaku hesitated, for the point was hard to answer, then he
+replied boldly:
+
+"Because as I believe, Prince, this Queen with whom the gods are
+rewarding your deserts is in truth more than woman, being Amen's very
+daughter, and therefore in those realms whence the dream came, she is
+known not as woman, but by her title of Royal Loveliness. Oh!" went on
+Kaku, simulating an enthusiasm that in truth did not glow within his
+breast, "great and glorious is your lot, King of the world, and splendid
+the path which I have opened to your triumphant feet. It was I who
+showed you how Pharaoh might be trapped in Memphis, being but a poor
+fool easy to deceive, and it was I--or rather Merytra yonder--who rid
+you of him. And now it is I, the Master whom you threatened with rods,
+that alone can interpret to you the happy omen of a dream which you
+thought fearsome. Think of the end of it, Prince, and banish every
+doubt. Who bore away the shape of Pharaoh? Why the spirits of your sons,
+thus symbolising the triumph of your House."
+
+"At least they will have no share in it, Kaku, for they are dead," said
+Abi with a groan, for he had loved his sons.
+
+"What of that, Prince? They died bravely, and we mourn them, but here
+again Fortune is with you, for had they lived trouble might have arisen
+between them and those other sons which the Queen of Egypt shall bear to
+you."
+
+"Mayhap, mayhap," replied Abi, waving his hand, for the subject was
+painful to him, "but this Queen is not yet my wife. She is starving in
+yonder tower, and what am I to do? If I try to force my presence upon
+her, she will destroy herself as she swore, and if I leave her there any
+longer, being mortal, she must die. Moreover, I dare not, for even these
+folk of Memphis, who love me, begin to murmur. Egypt's Queen is Egypt's
+Queen, and they will not suffer that she should perish miserably, being
+beautiful and young, and one who takes all hearts. This night at sunset
+they gathered in tens of thousands round the tower to hear her sing that
+evening hymn to Ra, and afterwards marched past my palace, shouting
+in the darkness, 'Give food to Her Majesty, and free her, or we will.'
+Moreover, by now the news must have come to Thebes, and there a great
+army will gather to liberate or avenge her. What am I to do, Prophet?"
+
+"Do what dead Pharaoh bade you in your dream, Prince. At the hour of
+dawn go to the Temple of Sekhet, where you will find the Queen become
+obedient to your wishes, for did not the dream declare that she will not
+say you nay? Then lead her to your palace, and marry her in the face
+of all men, and rule by right of her Majesty and of your own conquering
+arm."
+
+"It can be tried," said Abi, "for then, at least, we shall learn what
+truth there is in dreams. But what of this Asti her companion?"
+
+"Asti has been an ill guide to her Majesty, Prince," replied Kaku,
+rubbing his chin as he always did when there was mischief in his mind.
+"Moreover, she is advanced in years, and must be weak with grief and
+hunger. If she still lives Merytra here will take her in charge and care
+for her. You are old friends, are you not, Merytra?"
+
+"Very," answered that lady with emphasis, "like the cat and the bird
+which were pets of the same master. Well, we shall have much to say to
+each other. Only, beware, Husband, Asti is no weakling. Your magic may
+be strong, but hers is stronger, for she is a great priestess and draws
+it from gods--not devils."
+
+
+
+So it came about that at dawn Prince Abi, clad in magnificent robes, and
+accompanied by Councillors, among them Kaku, and by a small guard, was
+carried in a litter to the gates of the old temple of Sekhet, being too
+heavy to walk so far, and there descended. As there were none to defend
+them these gates were opened easily enough, and they passed through,
+leaving the guard without. When they came to the inner court, Abi
+stopped and asked where they should search.
+
+"In one place only, your Highness," answered Kaku, "that pylon tower
+which overlooks the Nile, for there her Majesty starves with Asti."
+
+"Pylon tower," grumbled Abi. "Have I not climbed enough steps this
+night? Still, lead on."
+
+So they went to the narrow stair, up which the thin Kaku ran like a cat,
+while the officers pushed and led the huge Abi behind him. On the third
+landing they all halted at Abi's command.
+
+"Hurry not," he said in a thick whisper. "Her Majesty dwells on the next
+floor of this hateful tower, and since Asti is with her she cannot be
+surprised. Beware, then, of frightening her by your sudden appearance,
+lest she should run to the top of the pylon, and hurl herself into the
+Nile, as she has sworn that she will do. Halt now, and I will call to
+her when I have got my breath."
+
+So after a while he called, saying:
+
+"O Queen, cease to starve yourself in this miserable abode, and come
+down to dwell in plenty with your faithful subject."
+
+He called it once, and twice, and thrice, but there was no answer. Now
+Abi grew afraid.
+
+"She must have perished," he said, "and Egypt will demand her blood at
+my hands. Kaku, go up and see what has happened. You are a magician, and
+have nothing to fear."
+
+But the astrologer thought otherwise, and hesitated, till Abi in a rage
+lifted his cedar wand to strike him on the back. Then he went, step by
+step, slowly, pausing at each step to address prayers and praises to her
+Majesty of Egypt. At length he came to the door of the Queen's chamber,
+and kneeling down, peeped into it, to see that it was quite empty. Next
+he crawled across the landing to the chamber opposite, that which
+had been Asti's, and found it empty also. Then, made bold by fear, he
+ascended to the pylon roof. But here, too, there was no one to be seen.
+So he returned, and told Abi, who shouted:
+
+"By Ptah, great Lord of Memphis! either she has escaped to raise Egypt
+on me, or she has sought death in the Nile to raise the gods upon me,
+which is worse. So much for your interpretation of dreams, O Cheat."
+
+"Wait till you are sure before you call me such names, Prince," replied
+Kaku indignantly. "Let us search the temple, she may be elsewhere."
+
+So they searched it court by court, and chamber by chamber, till they
+came to that inner hall in front of the Sanctuary where Pharaoh had set
+up his throne while he sojourned at Memphis. This hall was a dark place,
+into which light flowed only through the gratings in the clerestory,
+being roofed in with blocks of granite laid upon its lotus-shaped
+columns. Now, at the hour of sunrise, the gloom in it was still deep,
+so deep that the searchers felt their way from pillar to pillar, seeing
+nothing. Presently, however, a ray of light from the rising sun sped
+through the opening shaped like the eye of Osiris in the eastern wall,
+and as it had done for thousands of years, struck upon the shrine of
+the goddess, and the throne that was set in front of it, revealing the
+throne, and seated thereon Neter-Tua, her Majesty of Egypt.
+
+Glorious she looked indeed, a figure of flame set in the midst of
+darkness. The royal robe she wore glittered in the sunlight, glittered
+her sceptre, her jewels, and the _uræi_ on her Double Crown, but more
+than all of them glittered her fierce and splendid eyes. Indeed,
+there was something so terrible in those eyes that the beholders who
+discovered them thus suddenly, shrank back, whispering to each other
+that here sat a goddess, not a woman. For in her calmness, her proud
+beauty and her silence, she seemed like an immortal, one victorious who
+had triumphed over death, not a woman who for seven days had starved
+within a tower.
+
+They shrank back, they huddled themselves together in the doorway, and
+there remained whispering till the growing light fell on them also. But
+the figure on the throne took no heed, only stared over their heads as
+though it were lost in mystery and thought.
+
+At length Kaku, gathering courage, said to Abi:
+
+"O Prince, there is your bride, such a bride as never man had before. Go
+now and take her," and all the others echoed:
+
+"Go now, O Prince, and take her."
+
+Thus adjured for very shame's sake Abi advanced, looking often behind
+him, till he came to the foot of the throne, and stood there bowing.
+
+For a long while he stood bowing thus, till he grew weary indeed, for
+he knew not what to say. Then suddenly a clear and silvery voice spoke
+above him, asking:
+
+"What do you here, Lord of Memphis? Why are you not in the cell where
+Pharaoh bound you? Oh! I remember--the footstool-bearer, Merytra, your
+paid spy, let you out, did she not? Why is she not here with Kaku the
+Sorcerer, who fashioned the enchanted image that did Pharaoh to death?
+Is it because she stays to doctor those false lips of hers that were
+cut last night before you went to ask yonder Kaku to interpret a certain
+dream which came to you?"
+
+"How did you learn these things? Have you spies in my palace, O Queen?"
+
+"Yes, my uncle, I have spies in your palace and everywhere. What Amen
+sees his daughter knows. Now you have come to lead me away to be your
+wife, have you not? Well, I await you, I am ready. Do it if you dare!"
+
+"If I dare? Why should I not dare, O Queen?" asked Abi in a doubtful
+voice.
+
+"Surely that question is one for you to answer, Count of Memphis and its
+subject nomes. Yet tell me this--why did the magic crystal burst asunder
+without cause in the chamber of Kaku last night, and why do you suppose
+that Kaku interpreted to you all the meaning of your dream--he who will
+never tell the truth unless it be beneath the rods?"
+
+"I do not know, Queen," answered Abi, "but with Kaku I can speak
+later, if need be after the fashion you suggest," and he glanced at the
+magician wrathfully.
+
+"No, Prince Abi, you know nothing, and Kaku knows nothing, save that
+rods break the backs of snakes, unless they can find a wall to hide in,"
+and she pointed to the astrologer slinking back into the shadow. "No
+one knows anything save me, to whom Amen gives wisdom with sight of the
+future, and what I know I keep. Were it otherwise, O Abi, I could tell
+you things that would turn your grey hair white, and to Kaku and Merytra
+the spy, promise rewards that would make the torture-chamber seem a bed
+of down. But it is not lawful, nor would they sound pleasant in this
+bridal hour."
+
+Now while Kaku between his chattering teeth muttered the words of
+Protection in the shadow, Abi and his courtiers stared at this terrible
+queen as boys seeking wild fowls' eggs in the reeds, and stumbling on
+a lion, stare ere they fly. Twice, indeed, the Prince turned looking
+towards the door and the pleasant light without, for it seemed to him
+that he was entering on a dark and doubtful road. Then he said:
+
+"Your words, O Queen, cut like a two-edged sword, and methinks they
+leave a poison in the wound. Say now, if you are human, how it comes
+about that after seven days of want your flesh is not minished nor has
+your beauty waned. Say also who brought to you those glorious robes you
+wear here in this empty temple, and where is your foster-mother, Asti?"
+
+"The gods fed me," answered the Queen gently, "and brought me these
+robes that I might seem the more worthy of you, O Prince. And as for
+Asti, I sent her to Cyprus to fetch a scent they make there and nowhere
+else. No, I forgot, it was yesterday she went to bring the scent from
+Cyprus that now is on my hair; to-day she is in Thebes, seeing to a
+business of mine. That is no secret, I will tell it you--it is as to
+the carving of all the history of his murder and betrayal in the first
+chamber of the Pharaoh's tomb."
+
+Now at these magical and ill-omened words the courage of the company
+left them, so that they began to walk backwards towards the door, Abi
+going with them.
+
+"What!" cried the Queen in a voice of sorrow that yet seemed laden
+with mockery. "Would you leave me here alone? Do my power and my wisdom
+frighten you? Alas! I cannot help them, for when the full vase is tilted
+the wine will run out, and when light is set behind alabaster, then the
+white stone must shine. Yet am I one meet to adorn the palace of the
+King, even such a king as you shall be, O Abi, whom Osiris loves. See,
+now, I will dance and sing to you as once I sang to the Prince of Kesh
+before the sword of Rames took away his life, so that you may judge of
+me, Abi, you, who have looked upon so many lovely women."
+
+As she spoke, very slowly, so slowly that they could scarcely see her
+move, she glided from the throne, and standing before them, began to
+move her feet and body, and to chant a song.
+
+What were the words of that song none could ever remember, but to every
+man there present it opened a door in his heart, and brought back the
+knowledge of youth. She whom he had loved best danced before him, her
+tender hands caressed him; the words she sang were sighs which the dead
+had whispered in his ears. Even to Abi, old, unwieldy and steeped in
+cunning, these soft visions came, although it is true that it seemed to
+him that this lovely singer led him to a precipice, and that when she
+ceased her song and appeared to vanish, to seek her he leapt into the
+clouds that rushed beneath.
+
+Now the dance was done, and the last echoes of the music died away
+against the ancient walls whence the images of Sekhet the cat-headed
+watched them with her cruel smile of vengeance. The dance was done, and
+the beautiful dancer stood before them unflushed, unheated, but laughing
+gently.
+
+"Now go, divine Prince," she said, "and you his followers, go, all of
+you, and leave me to my lonely house, until Pharaoh sends for me to
+share that new realm which he inherits beyond the West."
+
+But they would not go and could not if they would, for some power bound
+them to her, while, as for Abi he scarce could take his eyes from her,
+but heedless of who heard them, babbled out his passion at her feet,
+while the rest glowered on him jealously. She listened always smiling
+that same smile that was so sweet, yet so inhuman. Then when he stopped
+exhausted, at last she spoke, saying:
+
+"What! do you love now more greatly than you fear, as the divine Prince
+of Kesh loved after Amen's Star had sung to him. May your fate be
+happier, O noble Abi, but that, since it is not lawful that I should
+tell it to you, you shall discover. Abi, there shall be a royal marriage
+in Memphis of such joy and feasting as has not been known in the history
+of the Northern or the Southern Land, and for your allotted span you
+shall sit by the side of Egypt's Queen and shine in her light. Have you
+not earned the place by right of blood, O conqueror of Pharaoh, and did
+not Pharaoh promise it to you in your sleep? Come, the sun of this new
+day shines, let us walk in it, and bid farewell to shadows."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+THE ROYAL MARRIAGE
+
+A strange rumour ran through Memphis. It was said that the Queen had
+yielded; it was said that she would marry the Prince Abi, that she
+was already at the great White House waiting to be made a bride. Men
+wrangled about in the streets. They swore that it could not be true, for
+would this high lady, the anointed Pharaoh of Egypt, take her father's
+murderer, and her own uncle to husband? Would she not rather die in her
+prison tower on which night by night they had seen her stand and sing?
+In their hearts they thought that she should die, for thus they had
+summed her up, this pure, high-hearted daughter of Amen, whom Fate had
+caught in an evil net. Yes, being men they held that she ought to die,
+and leave a story in the world, whereof Egypt could be proud for ever.
+
+But their wives and daughters mocked at them. After all she was but a
+woman, they argued, and was it likely that she would throw aside the
+pomp of rule and the prospect of long years in order to steal away into
+the shadows of a forgotten tomb? Henceforth, it was true, she must take
+second place, for Abi would be a stern master to her. Still, any place
+was better than a funeral barge. She had felt the pinch of hunger yonder
+in that old temple; her fierce spirit had been tamed; she had kissed the
+rod, and after long years of waiting, Abi would be Pharaoh in Egypt.
+
+The dispute grew hot, for even those men who rebelled against her, in
+their hearts had set her high, and grieved to think of her, the divine
+Lady, bowing her neck to the common yoke of circumstance, and selling
+herself for safety, and a seat on the steps of her own throne. But the
+women mocked on, and showed them that as they had always said, she was
+no better than others of her sex.
+
+Presently the matter was settled, for heralds appeared crying throughout
+the city that the marriage would take place in the great hall of the
+White House one hour before sundown. Then the women laughed in triumph,
+and the men were silent.
+
+It was the appointed hour, and that hall was filled to overflowing by
+all who could gain entrance there. Between the towering obelisks that
+stood on either side the open cedar doors, folk hung upon its steps like
+hiving bees; the vast square without and all the streets that led to it
+were black with them. Here, it is true, they could see nothing, still
+they fought for the merest foothold, and some of those who fell never
+rose again. At the head of the hall were set two thrones, the greater
+and the richer throne for Abi the Prince, the lesser throne for
+Neter-Tua the Queen. He had arranged it thus since Kaku the cunning
+pointed out to him that from the first he should show the people that it
+was he who ruled, and not Pharaoh's daughter.
+
+It was the appointed hour, and at some signal from every temple top rang
+out the blare of trumpets. Thrice they sounded, and echoed into silence
+in that hot, still air, thus announcing that in the temple of Hathor,
+and the presence of the priests of all the gods, the hands of Abi and
+Neter-Tua had been joined in marriage.
+
+Another rumour began to run among the crowd; like the ring set circling
+by a stone in water it spread from mouth to mouth, ever widening as it
+went.
+
+Marvels had happened in the temple of Hathor, that was the rumour.
+Moreover it gave details: that the High-Priest had handed to the bride
+the accustomed lotus-bud, the flower of the goddess, and lo! it opened
+in her hand. Also, it was said, that presently the stem of it turned
+to a sceptre of gold, and the cup of the bloom to sapphire stones more
+perfect far than any from the desert mines.
+
+Nor was this all, so went the tale, for when, as he must, the bridegroom
+Abi offered the white dove to Hathor in her shrine, a hawk swept through
+the doorway and smote it in his very hand. Yes, there in the gloom of
+the shrine smote it and left it dead, blood running from its beak and
+breast, dead upon the knees of the goddess; left it and was gone again!
+
+Now what hawk, asked the people of each other, dare such a deed as
+this, unless in truth it was sent by the hawk-headed Horus, the son of
+Amen-Ra.
+
+Soon these matters were forgotten for the moment, since now it was known
+that the royal pair were entering the great White Hall, there to show
+themselves to the people, and receive the homage of the nobles, chiefs,
+and captains. First, advancing by the covered way which led from the
+temple of Hathor, appeared the priests in their robes, chanting as they
+walked, followed by the masters of ceremonies, butlers, and heralds.
+Next, surrounded by his officers and guard, came the Prince Abi himself,
+accompanied by his vizier, Kaku, he whose magic was said to have brought
+Pharaoh to his end.
+
+Not all his pomp nor the splendour of his apparel, whereof the
+whiteness, as many noted, was spotted with ill-omened blood, nor even
+the royal crown which now, for the first time, was set upon his huge,
+round head, could hide from those who watched that this bridegroom was
+ill at ease. Even as he stood there, bowing in answer to the obsequious
+shouts of the multitude, the sceptre in his fat hand shook, and his red
+lips blanched and trembled. Still he smiled and bowed on, till at length
+the shouting died away, and quiet fell upon the place.
+
+Abi was forgotten, they waited the coming of the Queen, and though no
+herald called her advent, yet every heart of all those thousands felt
+that she drew near to them. Look! Yonder she stood. They had watched
+closely enough, yet none saw her come, doubtless because the shadows
+were thick. But there she stood, quite alone upon the edge of the dais
+in front of the two thrones, and, oh! she was different from what they
+had expected. Thus now she wore no gorgeous robes, but only a simple
+garment of purest white, cut low upon her bosom, where the red rays of
+the sinking sun, striking up the hall, revealed to every eye that dark
+mole shaped like the Cross of Life, which was her wondrous birthmark.
+But two ornaments adorned her, the double snakes of royalty, golden with
+red eyes, set in front of her tall white head-dress, which none but
+she might wear, the crowns of Upper and of Lower Egypt, and of all
+the subject lands, and in her hand a sceptre fashioned of gold, and
+surmounted by a lotus-bloom of sapphire, that sceptre of which rumour
+had told the magic tale.
+
+Yes, she was different. They had thought to see a woman weak and pale,
+her eyes still red with grief, her face still stained with tears, one
+who had been tamed by misfortune, hunger, and the fear of death, whence
+she had bought herself by marriage with her conqueror. But it was not
+so, for never had the Star of Amen shone half so beautiful, never had
+they seen such majesty in those deep blue eyes that looked them through
+and through as though they read the secret heart of every one of them.
+Her tall and lovely form had not wasted, her cheeks were red with the
+glow of health; power and dignity flowed from her presence, fear seemed
+beneath her feet.
+
+Now no voice was lifted up; they stared at her, and, smiling a little,
+she answered them with her calm eyes till their heads sank beneath her
+gaze. Then at length in the midst of that dead, oppressive silence which
+none dared to break, she turned, and they heard the sweep of her silken
+robe upon the alabaster floor.
+
+With an effort two chamberlains stepped forward, their wands of office
+in their hands, to lead her to her seat, but she waved them back, and
+said in her clear voice:
+
+"Nay, here I am alone; of all the millions who serve her, not one is
+left to lead Amen's daughter and Egypt's Queen to her rightful place.
+Therefore she takes it of her own strength, now and for evermore."
+
+Then very slowly, still in the midst of silence, she mounted the greater
+throne that had been prepared for Abi, and there seated herself and
+waited.
+
+Now murmuring rose among the courtiers and Kaku whispered into Abi's
+ear, while the multitude held its breath. Abi stamped his foot and
+issued orders which all seemed to fear to execute. At length he stepped
+forward, addressing the Queen in a hoarse voice.
+
+"Lady," he said, "doubtless you know it not, but that place is mine;
+your seat is on my left. Be pleased to take it."
+
+"Why so, Prince Abi?" she asked quietly.
+
+"Lady," he answered, "because the husband takes precedence of the wife,
+and," he added with savage meaning, "the conqueror of the conquered."
+
+"The conqueror of the conquered?" she repeated after him in a musing
+voice. "Should you not have said--the murderer of the murdered and his
+seed? Nay, Prince Abi, you are wrong. The sovereign of Egypt by right
+divine, takes precedence of her vassal, even though it has pleased the
+gods, whose will she has come to execute, to command her to give to him
+the name of husband until that will is more fully known. Come now and do
+homage to your Queen, and after you those slaves of yours who dared to
+lift the sword against her."
+
+Then a great tumult arose, a tumult of rage and of dismay, for well nigh
+all in that vast place were partners in this crime, and knew that if
+Neter-Tua prevailed death yawned wide for them.
+
+They shouted to Abi to take no heed of her. They shouted to him to tear
+her from the throne, to kill her, and seize the crown. They drew their
+swords and raged like an angry sea. Those who were loyal among them to
+Pharaoh's House, and those who feared turmoil, began to work their way
+backwards, and slipped by twos and threes out of the great open doors,
+till Tua had no friend left in all that hall. But ever as they went,
+others of the turbulent and the rebellious who had been concerned in the
+slaughter of Pharaoh's guard, took their place, pouring in from the mob
+without.
+
+Wild desert-dwellers of the Bedouin tribes, who for thousands of years
+had been the bitter enemies of Egypt; descendants of the Hyksos, whose
+forefathers had ruled the land for a dozen generations, and at last been
+driven out; those Hyksos whose blood ran in Abi's veins, and who looked
+to him to lift them up again; evil-doers who had sought shelter in his
+regiments; hook-nosed Semites from the Lebanon; black, barbarian savages
+from the shores of Punt--with such as these was that hall filled.
+
+Abi was the hope of every one of them; to him they looked for the spoils
+of Egypt, and before them on Abi's throne they saw a woman who stood
+between them and their ends, who in her ancient pride dared to demand
+that he, her husband, should do homage to her, and who to-morrow, if she
+conquered, would give them to the sword.
+
+"Tear her to pieces!" they screamed, "the bastard whom childless Pharaoh
+palmed off upon the land! She is a sorceress who keeps fat on air--an
+evil spirit. Away with her! Or if you fear, then let us come!"
+
+At length they had roared themselves hoarse; at length they grew still.
+Then Abi, who all this while had stood there hesitating, and now and
+again turning to hearken to Kaku who whispered in his ear, looked up at
+Tua and spoke.
+
+"You see and you hear, Queen," he said. "My people mistrust you, and
+they are a rough people, I cannot hold them back for long. If once they
+get at you, very soon that sweet body of yours will be in more fragments
+than was Osiris after Set had handled him."
+
+Now Tua, who hitherto had sat still and indifferent, like one who takes
+no heed, seemed to awake, and answered:
+
+"A bad example, Prince, for Osiris rose again, did he not?" Then she
+leaned back and once more was silent.
+
+"Do you still desire that I should do homage to you, Queen, I, your
+husband?" he asked presently.
+
+"Why not?" she replied. "I have spoken. A decree of Pharaoh may not be
+changed, and though a woman, I am--Pharaoh."
+
+Now Abi went white with rage, and turned to his guard to bid them drag
+her from the throne. But she who was watching him, suddenly lifted
+her sceptre and spoke in a new voice, a clear, strong voice that rang
+through the hall, and even reached those who were gathered on the steps
+without.
+
+"There is a question between you and me, O People," she said, "and it is
+this--Shall I, your Queen, rule in Egypt, as my fathers ruled, or shall
+yonder man rule whom by the decree of Amen I have taken for husband? Now
+you who for the most part have the Hyksos blood running in your veins,
+as he has, desire that he should rule, and you have slain the good god,
+my father, and would make Abi king over you, and see me his handmaid,
+one to give him children of my royal race, no more. See, you are a
+multitude and my legions are far away, and I--I am alone, one lamb among
+the jackals, thousands and thousands of jackals who for a long while
+have been hungry. How, then, shall I match myself against you?"
+
+"You cannot," shouted a wild-eyed spokesman. "Come down, lamb, and kneel
+before the lion, Abi, or we, the jackals, will rend you. We will not
+acknowledge you, we who are of the fierce Hyksos blood. While the
+obelisks stand that were set up by the great Hyksos Pharaoh whose
+descendant was Abi's mother, while the obelisks stand that are set there
+for all eternity, we will not acknowledge you. Come down and take your
+place in our lord's harem, O Pharaoh's bastard daughter."
+
+"Ah!" Tua repeated after him, "while the obelisks stand that the Hyksos
+thief set up you will not acknowledge me, Pharaoh's bastard daughter!"
+
+Then she paused and seemed to grow disturbed; she sighed, wrung her
+hands a little, and said in a choking voice:
+
+"I am but one woman alone among you. My father, Pharaoh, is dead, and
+you bid me lay down my rank and henceforth rule only through him who
+trapped Pharaoh and brought him to his end. What, then, can I do?"
+
+"Be a good maid and obey your husband, Bastard," mocked a voice, and
+during the roar of laughter that followed Tua looked at the speaker, an
+officer of Abi's, who had taken a great part in the slaughter of their
+escort.
+
+Very strangely she looked at him, and those who stood by the man noted
+that his lips became white, and that he turned so faint that had it not
+been for the press about him he would have fallen. Presently he seemed
+to recover, and asked the priests who were near to let him join their
+circle, as among the outer throng the heat was too great for him to
+bear. Thereon one of them nodded and made room for him, and he passed
+in, which Tua noted also.
+
+Now she was speaking again.
+
+"Ill names to throw at Egypt's anointed queen, crowned and accepted by
+the god himself in the sanctuary of his most holy temple," she said, her
+eyes still resting on the brutal soldier. "Yet it is your hour, and she
+must bear them who has no friends in Memphis. Oh! what shall I do?" and
+again she wrung her hands. "Good People, it was sworn to me that Amen,
+greatest of the gods, set his spirit within me when I was born, and
+vowed that he would help me in the hour of my need. Of your grace,
+then, give me space to pray to Amen. Look," and she pointed before her,
+"yonder sinks the red ball of the sun; soon, soon it will be gone--give
+me until it enters the gateways of the West to pray to Amen, and then if
+no help comes I will bow me to your bidding, and do homage to this noble
+Prince of the Hyksos blood, who snared Pharaoh his brother, and by help
+of his magicians and of his spy, Merytra, brought him to his end."
+
+"Yes, my people, give her the space she asks," called Abi, who feared
+nothing from Amen, a somewhat remote personage, and was afraid lest some
+tumult should happen in the course of which this lovely, new-made wife
+of his might be slain or injured.
+
+So they gave her the space of time she asked. Standing up, Tua raised
+her arms and eyes towards heaven, and began to pray aloud:
+
+"Hear me, Amen my Father, in the House of thy Rest, as thou hast sworn
+to do. O Amen my Father, thou seest my strait. Is it thy will that thy
+daughter should degrade herself and thee before this man who slew his
+king and brother, to whom thou hast commanded her to give the name of
+husband? If it be so, I will obey; but if it be not so, then show thy
+word by might or marvel, and cause him and his folk who mock my majesty
+and name me bastard, to bow down before me. O Amen, they deny thee in
+their hearts who worship other gods, as did the barbarians who begat
+them and threw down thy shrines in Egypt, but I know that thou sentest
+me forth, and in thee I put my trust, aye, even if thou slay me. Amen my
+Father, yonder sinks that glory in which thou dost hide thy spirit. Now,
+ere it be gone and night falls upon the world, declare thyself in such
+fashion that all men may know that indeed I am thy child; or if this be
+thy decree, desert me and Egypt, and leave me to my shame."
+
+She ended her prayer and, sinking back upon the throne, rested her chin
+upon her hand, and gazed steadily upon the splendour of the sinking sun.
+Nor did she gaze alone, for every man in that vast hall turned himself
+about, and stared at its departing glory. There in the red light they
+stood, and stared, and since the place was open to the sky, the shadows
+of the two towering obelisks without fell on them like the shadows of
+swords whereof the points met together at the foot of Tua's throne. They
+did not believe that anything would happen, no, not even the priests
+believed it who here at Memphis, the city of Ptah, thought little of
+Amen, the god of Thebes. They thought that this piteous prayer was but
+a last cry of dying faith wrung from a proud and fallen woman in her
+wretchedness.
+
+And yet, and yet they stared, for she had spoken with a strange
+certainty like one who knew the god, and was she not named Star of
+Amen, and were there not wondrous tales as to her birth, and had not a
+lotus-bloom seemed to turn to gold and jewels in the hand of this young,
+anointed Queen who bore the Cross of Life upon her breast? No, nothing
+would happen, but still they stared.
+
+It was a very strange sunset. For days the heat had been great, but now
+it was fearful, also a marvellous stillness reigned in heaven and earth.
+Nothing seemed to stir in all the city, no dog barked, no child cried,
+no leaf quivered upon the tall palms; it might have been a city of the
+dead.
+
+Dense clouds arose upon the sky, and moved, though no wind blew. Where
+the sun's rays touched them they were gold and red and purple, but above
+these of an inky blackness. They took strange shapes those clouds, and
+marshalled themselves like a host gathering for battle. There were the
+commanders moving quickly to and fro; there the chariots, and there the
+sullen lines of footmen with their gleaming spears. Now one cloud higher
+than the rest seemed to shoot itself across the arch of heaven, and its
+fashion was that of a woman with outspread hair of gold. Her feet stood
+upon the sun, her body bent itself athwart the sky, and upon the far
+horizon in the east her hands held the pale globe of the rising moon.
+
+The watchers were frightened at this cloud. "It is Isis with the moon in
+her arms," said one. "Nay, it is the mother goddess Nout brooding upon
+the world," answered another. And though they only spoke softly, in that
+awful silence their voices reached Tua on the throne, and for the first
+time her face changed, for on it came a cold, curious smile.
+
+Kaku began to whisper into Abi's ear, and there was fear in the eyes of
+both of them. He pointed with his finger at two stars, which of a sudden
+shone out through the green haze above the sunset glow, and then turned
+and looked at the Queen, urging his master eagerly. At last Abi spoke.
+
+"Ra is set," he said. "Come, let us make an end of all this folly."
+
+"Not yet," answered Tua quietly, "not yet awhile."
+
+As she said the words, of a sudden, as though at a given signal, all the
+long lines of palm trees that grew in the rich gardens upon the river
+banks were seen to bow themselves towards the east, as though they did
+obeisance to the Queen upon her throne. Thrice they bowed thus, without
+a wind, and then were straight and still once more. Next the clouds
+rushed together as though a black pall had been drawn across the
+heavens, only in the west the half-hidden globe of the sun shone on
+through an opening in them, shone like a great and furious eye. By slow
+degrees it sank, till nothing was left save a little rim of fire. All
+the hall grew dark, and through the darkness Neter-Tua could be heard
+calling on the name of Amen.
+
+"Ra is dead!" shouted a voice. "Have done, Bastard, Ra is dead!"
+
+"Aye," she answered in a cold triumphant cry, "but Amen lives. Behold
+his sword, ye Traitors!"
+
+As the words left her lips the heavens were cleft in twain by a fearful
+flash of lightning, and in it the people saw that once again the
+palm-trees bowed themselves, this time almost to the ground. Then with a
+roar the winds were loosed, and beneath their feet the solid earth began
+to heave as though a giant lifted it. Thrice it heaved like a heaving
+wave, and the third time through the thick cover of the darkness there
+rose a shriek of terror and of agony followed by the awful crash of
+falling stones.
+
+Now the whole sky seemed to melt in fire, and in that fierce light was
+seen Tua, Star of Amen, seated on her throne, holding her sceptre to the
+heavens, and laughing in triumphant merriment. Well might she laugh, for
+the two great obelisks without the gate that the old Hyksos lion had set
+up there to stand "to all eternity," had fallen across the low pylons
+and the doors and crushed them. On to the heads of those who watched
+beneath they had fallen, shattering in their fall and carrying death to
+hundreds. Beneath the electrum cap of one of them that had been hurled
+from it in its descent right into the circle of the priests, lay a
+shapeless mass. It was that man who had mocked the Queen and turned
+faint beneath her gaze.
+
+Through the western ruin of the hall those who were left alive within
+it fled out, a maddened mob, trampling each other to death by scores,
+fighting furiously to escape the vengeance of Amen and his daughter.
+Within the enclosure the priests lay prostrate on their faces, each
+praying to his god for mercy. In front of the throne, upon his knees,
+the royal crown shaken from his head, Abi grasped the feet of Neter-Tua
+and screamed to her to forgive and spare him, whilst above, shining like
+fire, That which sat upon the throne pointed with her sceptre at the
+ruin and the rout, and laughed and laughed again.
+
+Soon all were gone save the mumbling priests, the dying, the dead, and
+Abi with his officers.
+
+The clouds rolled off, the moon and the stars shone out, filling the
+place with gentle light. Then Tua spoke, looking down at the wretched
+Abi who grovelled before her.
+
+"Say, now, Husband," she asked, "who is god in Egypt?"
+
+"Amen your father," he gasped.
+
+"And who is Pharaoh in Egypt?"
+
+"You, and no other, O Queen."
+
+"Ah!" she said, "it was over that matter that we quarrelled, did we not?
+which forced me, whom you thought so helpless, to find helpers. Look,
+there are their footsteps; they walk heavily, do they not, my Uncle?"
+and she nodded towards the huge fragments of the broken obelisks.
+
+He glanced behind him at his ruined hall, at the dying and the dead.
+"You are Pharaoh and no other," he repeated with a shudder. "Give breath
+to your servant, and let him live on in your shadow."
+
+"The first is not mine to give," she answered coldly, "though perchance
+it may please Amen to hold you back a little while from that place
+where you must settle your account with him who went before me, and his
+companions who died in your streets. I hope so, for you have work to do.
+As for the second--arise, you Priests and Officers, and see this Prince
+of yours do homage to the Queen of Egypt."
+
+They rose, and clung to each other trembling, for all the heart was out
+of them. Then she pointed to her foot with the sceptre in her hand,
+and in their presence Abi knelt down and kissed her sandal. After him
+followed the others, the priests, the captains, the head-stewards, and
+the butlers, till at length came Kaku, the astrologer, who prostrated
+himself before her, trembling in every limb. But him she would not
+suffer even to touch her sandals.
+
+"Tell me," she said, drawing back her foot, "you who are a magician, and
+have studied the secret writings, how does it chance that you still live
+on, when for lesser crimes so many lie here dead, you who are stained
+with the blood of Pharaoh?"
+
+Hearing these words from which he presaged the very worst, Kaku beat his
+head upon the ground, babbling denials of this awful crime, and at the
+same time began to implore pardon for what he said he had not committed.
+
+"Cease," she exclaimed, "and learn that your life is spared for a while,
+yes, and even Merytra's. Also you will retain your office of Vizier--for
+a while."
+
+Now he began to pour out thanks, but she stopped him, saying:
+
+"Thank me not, seeing that you do not know the end of this matter.
+Perchance it is hidden from you lest you should go mad, you and your
+wife, Merytra, she who was the Pharaoh's Lady of the Footstool, and sang
+him to sleep. Look at me, Wizard, and tell me, who am I?" and she bent
+down over him.
+
+He glanced up at her, and their eyes met, nor could he turn his head
+away again.
+
+"Come," she said, "as you may have learned to-night, I also have some
+knowledge of the hidden things. For otherwise, why did the earth shake
+and the everlasting pillars fall at my bidding? Now, between two of
+a trade there should be no secrets, so I will tell you something that
+perhaps you have already guessed, since I am sure that you will not
+repeat it even to your master or to Merytra. For I will add this--that
+the moment you repeat it will be the moment of your death, and the
+beginning of that punishment which here I withhold. Now, in the Name of
+the Eater-up of Souls, listen to me, O fashioner of waxen images!" and,
+bending down, she whispered into his ear.
+
+Another instant, and, stark horror written on his face, the tall shape
+of Kaku was seen reeling backward, like to a drunken man. Indeed, had
+not Abi caught him he would have fallen over the edge of the dais.
+
+"What did she tell you?" he muttered, for the Queen, who seemed to have
+forgotten all about him, was looking the other way.
+
+But, making no answer, Kaku wrenched himself free and fled the place.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+ABI LEARNS THE TRUTH
+
+A moon had gone by, and on the first day of the new month Kaku the
+Vizier sat in the Hall of the Great Officers at Memphis, checking the
+public accounts of the city. It was not easy work, for during the past
+ten days twice these accounts had been sent back to him by the command
+of the Queen, or the Pharaoh as she called herself, with requests
+for information as to their items, and other awkward queries. Abi had
+overlooked such matters, recognising that a faithful servant was worthy
+of his hire--provided that he paid himself. But now it seemed that
+things were different, and that the amount received was the exact amount
+that had to be handed over to the Crown, neither more nor less. Well,
+there was a large discrepancy which must be made up from somewhere, or,
+in other words, from Kaku's private store.
+
+In a rage he caused the two head collectors of taxes to be brought
+before him, and as they would not pay, bade the executioners throw
+them down and beat them on the feet until they promised to produce the
+missing sums, most of which he himself had stolen.
+
+Then, somewhat soothed, he retired from the hall into his own office, to
+find himself face to face with Abi, who was waiting for him. So changed
+was the Prince from his old, portly self, so aged and thin and miserable
+did he look, that in the dusk of that chamber Kaku failed to recognise
+him. Thinking that he was some suppliant, he began to revile him and
+order him to be gone. Then the fury of Abi broke out.
+
+Rushing at him, he seized the astrologer by the beard and smote him on
+the ears, saying: "Dog, is it thus that you speak to your king? Well, on
+you at least I can revenge myself."
+
+"Pardon, your Majesty," said Kaku, "I did not know you in these shadows.
+Your Majesty is changed of late."
+
+"Changed!" said Abi, letting him go. "Who would not be changed who
+suffers as I do ever since I listened to your cursed counsel, and tried
+to climb into the seat of Pharaoh? Before that I was happy. I had my
+sons, I had my wives, as many as I wished. I had my revenues and armies.
+Now everything has gone. My sons are dead, my women are driven away, my
+revenues are taken from me, my armies serve another."
+
+"At least," suggested Kaku, "you are Pharaoh, and the husband of the
+most beautiful and the wisest woman in the world."
+
+"Pharaoh!" groaned Abi. "The humblest mummy in the common city vaults
+is a greater king than I am, and as for the rest----" and he stopped and
+groaned again.
+
+"What is the matter with your Majesty?" asked Kaku.
+
+"The matter is that I have fallen under the influence of an evil
+planet."
+
+"The Star of Amen," suggested the astrologer.
+
+"Yes, the Star of Amen, that lovely Terror whom you call my wife. Man,
+she is no wife to me. Listen--there in the harem I went into the chamber
+where she was, none forbidding me, and found her sitting before her
+mirror and singing, clothed only in a thin robe of white, and her dark
+hair--O Kaku, never did you see such hair--which fell almost to the
+ground. She smiled on me, she spoke me fair, she drew me with those
+glittering eyes of hers--yes, she even called me husband, and sighed
+and talked of love, till at length I drew near to her and threw my arms
+about her."
+
+"And then----"
+
+"And then, Kaku, she was gone, and where her sweet face should have been
+I saw the yellow, mummied head of Pharaoh, he who is with Osiris, that
+seemed to grin at me. I opened my arms again, and lo! there she sat,
+laughing and shaking perfume from her hair, asking me, too, what ailed
+me that I turned so white, and if such were the way of husbands?
+
+"Well, that was nigh a month ago, and as it began, so it has gone on. I
+seek my wife, and I find the mummied head of Pharaoh, and all the while
+she mocks me. Nor may I see the others any more, for she has caused them
+to be hunted hence, even those who have dwelt with me for years, saying
+that she must rule alone."
+
+"Is that all?" asked Kaku.
+
+"No, indeed, for as she torments me, so she torments every other man who
+comes near to her. She nets them with smiles, she bewitches them with
+her eyes till they go mad for love of her, and then, still smiling, she
+sends them about their business. Already two of them who were leaders in
+the great plot have died by their own hands, and another is mad, while
+the rest have become my secret but my bitter foes, because they love my
+Queen and think that I stand between her and them."
+
+"Is that all?" asked Kaku again.
+
+"No, not all, for my power is taken from me. I who was great, after
+Pharaoh the greatest in all the land, now am but a slave. From morning
+to night I must work at tasks I hate; I must build temples to Amen, I
+must dig canals, I must truckle to the common herd, and redress their
+grievances and remit their taxes. More, I must chastise the Bedouin who
+have ever been my friends, and--next month undertake a war against that
+King of Khita, with whom I made a secret treaty, and whose daughter that
+I married has been sent back to him because I loved her."
+
+"And then?" asked Kaku.
+
+"Oh! then when the Khita have been destroyed and made subject to Egypt,
+then her Majesty purposes to return in state to Thebes 'to attend to the
+fashioning of my sepulchre' since, so she says, this is a matter that
+will not bear delay. Indeed, already she makes drawings for it, horrible
+and mystic drawings that I cannot understand, and brings them to me to
+see. Moreover, Friend, know this, out of it opens another smaller tomb
+for _you_. Indeed, but this morning she sent an expedition to the desert
+quarries to bring thence three blocks of stone, one for my sarcophagus,
+one for yours, and one for that of your wife, Merytra. For she says
+that after the old fashion she purposes to honour both of you with these
+gifts."
+
+At these words Kaku could no longer control himself, but began to walk
+up and down the room, muttering and snatching at his beard.
+
+"How can you suffer it?" he said at length, "You who were a great
+prince, to become a woman's slave, to be made as dirt beneath her feet,
+to be held up to the mockery of those you rule, to see your wives and
+household driven away from you, to be tormented, to be mocked, to look
+on other men favoured before your eyes, to be threatened with early
+death. Oh! how can you suffer it? Why do you not kill her, and make an
+end?"
+
+"Because," answered Abi, "because I dare not, since if I dreamed of
+such a thing she would guess my thought and kill _me_. Fool, do you not
+remember the fall of the eternal obelisks upon my captains, and what
+befell that man who mocked her, calling her Bastard, and sought refuge
+among the priests? No, I dare not lift a finger against her."
+
+"Then, Prince, you must carry your yoke until it wears through to the
+marrow, which will be when that sepulchre is ready."
+
+"Not so," answered Abi, shivering, "for I have another plan; it is of
+it that I am come to speak with you. Friend Kaku, _you_ must kill her.
+Listen: you are a master of spells. The magic which prevailed against
+the father will overcome the daughter also. You have but to make a waxen
+image or two and breathe strength into them, and the thing is done, and
+then--think of the reward."
+
+"Indeed I am thinking, most noble Prince," replied the astrologer with
+sarcasm. "Shall I tell you of that reward? It would be my death by slow
+torture. Moreover, it is impossible, for if you would know the truth,
+she cannot be killed."
+
+"What do you mean, Fool?" asked Abi angrily. "Flesh and blood must bow
+to death."
+
+A sickly smile spread itself over Kaku's thin face as he answered:
+
+"A saying worthy of your wisdom, Prince. Certainly the experience of
+mankind is that flesh and blood must bow to death. Yes, yes, flesh and
+blood!"
+
+"Cease grinning at me, you ape of the rocks," hissed the enraged Abi,
+"or I will prove as much on your mocking throat," and snatching out his
+sword he threatened him with it, adding: "Now tell me what you mean,
+or----"
+
+"Prince," ejaculated Kaku, falling to his knees, "I may not, I cannot.
+Spare me, it is a secret of the gods."
+
+"Then get you gone to the gods, you lying cur, and talk it over with
+them," answered Abi, lifting the sword, "for at least she will not blame
+me if I send you there."
+
+"Mercy, mercy!" gasped Kaku, sprawling on the ground, while his lord
+held the sword above his bald head, thinking that he would choose speech
+rather than death.
+
+It was at this moment, while the astrologer's fate trembled in the
+balance, that a sound of voices reached their ears, and above them
+the ring of a light, clear laugh which they knew well. Forgetting his
+purpose, Abi stepped to the window-place, and looked through the opening
+of the shutters. Presently he turned, beckoning to Kaku, and whispered:
+
+"Come and look; there is always time for you to die."
+
+The Vizier heard, and, creeping on his hands and knees to the
+window-place, raised himself and peeped through the shutter. This
+was what he saw. In the walled garden below, the secret garden of the
+palace, stood the queen Neter-Tua, and the sunlight piercing through the
+boughs of a flowering tree, fell in bright bars upon her beauty. She was
+not alone, for before her knelt a man wearing the rich robes of a noble.
+Kaku knew him at once, for although still young, he was Abi's favourite
+captain, an officer whom he loved, and had raised to high place
+because of his wit and valour, having given him one of his daughters
+in marriage. Also he had played a chief part in the great plot against
+Pharaoh, and it was he who had dealt the death-blow to Mermes, the
+husband of the lady Asti.
+
+Now he was playing another part, namely that of lover to the Queen,
+for he clasped the hem of her robe in his hands, and kissed it with his
+lips, and pleaded with her passionately. They could catch some of his
+words.
+
+He had risked his life to climb the wall. He worshipped her. He could
+not live without her. He was ready to do her bidding in all things--to
+gather a band and slay Abi; it would be easy, for every man was jealous
+of the Prince, and thought him quite unworthy of her. Let her give him
+her love, and he would make her sole Pharaoh of Egypt again, and be
+content to serve her as a slave. At least let her say one kind word to
+him.
+
+Thus he spoke, wildly, imploringly, like a man that is drunk with
+passion and knows not what he says or does, while Neter-Tua listened
+calmly, and now and again laughed that light, low laugh of hers.
+
+At length he rose and strove to take her hand, but, still laughing, she
+waved him back, then said suddenly:
+
+"You slew Mermes when he was weak with wounds, did you not, and he was
+my foster-father. Well, well, it was done in war, and you must be
+a brave man, as brave as you are handsome, for otherwise you would
+scarcely have ventured here where a word of mine would give you to your
+death. And now get you gone, Friend, back to my Lord's daughter who is
+your wife, and if you dare--tell her where you have been and why, you
+who are so brave a man," and once more she laughed.
+
+Again he began his passionate implorings, begging for some token, till
+at length she seemed to melt and take pity on him, for stretching out
+her hand, she chose a flower from the many that grew near, and gave
+it to him, then pointed to the trees that hid the wall, among which
+presently he vanished, reeling in the delirium of his joy.
+
+She watched him go, smiling very strangely, then, still smiling, looked
+down at the bush whence she had plucked the flower, and Kaku noted that
+it was one used only by the embalmers to furnish coronals for the dead.
+
+But Abi noted no such thing. Forgetting his quarrel with Kaku and all
+else, he gasped, and foamed in his jealous rage, muttering that he would
+kill that captain, yes, and the false Queen, too, who dared to listen
+to a tale of love and give the lover flowers. Yes, were she ten times
+Pharaoh he would kill her, as he had the right to do, and, the naked
+sword still in his hand, he turned to leave the place.
+
+"If that is your will, Lord," said Kaku in a strained voice, "bide
+here."
+
+"Why, man?" asked Abi.
+
+"Because her Majesty comes," he answered, "and this chamber is quiet and
+fitting. None enter it save myself."
+
+As he spoke the words the door opened, and closed again, and before them
+stood Neter-Tua, Star of Amen.
+
+In the dusk of that room the first thing that seemed to catch her eye
+was the bared blade in Abi's hand. For a moment she looked at it and
+him, also at Kaku crouching in the corner, then asked in her quiet
+voice:
+
+"Why is your sword drawn, O Husband?"
+
+"To kill you, O Wife," he answered furiously, for his rage mastered him.
+
+She continued to look at him a little while and said, smiling in her
+strange fashion:
+
+"Indeed? But why more now than at any other time? Has Kaku's counsel
+given you courage?"
+
+"Need you ask, shameless woman? Does not this window-place open on to
+yonder garden?"
+
+"Oh! I remember, that captain of yours--he who slew Mermes, your
+daughter's husband who made love to me--so well that I rewarded him with
+a funeral flower, knowing that you watched us. Settle your account with
+him as you and his wife may wish; it is no matter of mine. But I warn
+you that if you would take men's lives for such a fault as this, soon
+you will have no servants left, since they all are sinners who desire to
+usurp your place."
+
+Then Abi's fury broke out. He cursed and reviled her, he called her by
+ill names, swearing that she should die, who bewitched all men and was
+the love of none, and who made him a mock and a shame in the sight of
+Egypt. But Neter-Tua only listened until at length he raved himself to
+silence.
+
+"You talk much and do little," she said at length. "The sword is in your
+hand, use it, I am here."
+
+Maddened by her scorn he lifted the weapon and rushed at her, only to
+reel back again as though he had been smitten by some power unseen. He
+rested against the wall, then again rushed and again reeled back.
+
+"You are a poor butcher," she said at length, "after so many years of
+practice. Let Kaku yonder try. I think he has more skill in murder."
+
+"Oh! your Majesty," broke in the astrologer, "unsay those cruel words,
+you who know that rather than lift hands against you I would die a
+thousand times."
+
+"Yes," she answered gravely, "the Prince Abi suggested it to you but
+now, did he not, after you had suggested it to him, and you refused--for
+your own reasons?"
+
+Then the sword fell from Abi's hand, and there was silence in that
+chamber.
+
+"What were you talking of, Abi, before you peeped through the shutters
+and saw that captain of yours and me together in the garden, and why did
+you wish to kill this dog?" she went on presently. "Must I answer for
+you? You were talking of how you might be rid of me, and you wished to
+kill him because he did not dare to tell you why he could not do the
+deed, knowing that if he did so he must die. Well, since you desire to
+know, you shall learn, and now. Look on me, wretched Man, whom men name
+my husband. Look on me, accursed Slave, whom Amen has given into my
+hand to punish here upon the earth, until you pass to his yonder in the
+Under-world."
+
+He looked up, and Kaku looked also, because he could not help it, but
+what they saw they never told. Only they fell down upon their faces,
+both of them, and groaned; beating the floor with their foreheads.
+
+At length the icy terror seemed to be lifted from their hearts, and they
+dared to glance up again, and saw that she was as she had been, a most
+royal and lovely woman, but no more.
+
+"What are you?" gasped Abi. "The goddess Sekhet in the flesh, or Isis,
+Queen of Death, or but dead Tua's ghost sent here for vengeance?"
+
+"All of them, or none of them, as you will, though, Man, it is true that
+I am sent here for vengeance. Ask the Wizard yonder. He knows, and I
+give him leave to say."
+
+"_She is the Double of Amen's daughter_," moaned Kaku. "She is her Ka
+set free to bring doom upon those who would have wronged her. She is
+a ghost armed with the might of the gods, and all we who have sinned
+against dead Pharaoh and her and her father Amen are given into her hand
+to be tormented and brought to doom."
+
+"Where, then, is Neter-Tua, who was Queen of Egypt?" gasped Abi, rolling
+his great eyes. "Is she with Osiris?"
+
+"I will tell you, Man," answered the royal Shape. "She is not dead--she
+lives, and is gone to seek one she loves. When she returns with him and
+a certain Beggar, then I shall depart and you will die, both of you,
+for such is the punishment decreed upon you. Until then, arise and do my
+bidding."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+THE BOAT OF RA
+
+Tua, Star of Amen, opened her eyes. For some time already she had lain
+as one lies between sleep and waking, and it seemed to her that she
+heard the sound of dipping oars, and of water that rippled gently
+against the sides of a ship. She thought to herself that she dreamed.
+Doubtless she was in her bed in the palace at Thebes, and presently,
+when it was light, her ladies would come to waken her.
+
+In the palace at Thebes! Why, now she remembered that it was months
+since she had seen that royal city, she who had travelled far since
+then, and come at last to white-walled Memphis, where many terrible
+things had befallen her. One by one they came into her mind; the snare,
+Pharaoh's murder by magic, the battle, and the slaughter of her guards,
+the starvation in the tower, with death on one hand, and the hateful Abi
+on the other; the wondrous vision of that spirit who wore her face, and
+said she was the guardian Ka given to her at birth, the words it spoke,
+and her dread resolve; and last of all Asti and herself standing in
+the lofty window niche, then a flame of fire before her face, and that
+fearful downward rush.
+
+Oh! without a doubt it was over; she was dead, and these dreams and
+memories were such as come to the dwellers in the Under-world. Only then
+why did she hear the sound of lapping water, and of dipping oars?
+
+Very slowly she opened her eyes, for Tua greatly feared what she might
+see. Light flowed upon her, the light of the moon which hung in a clear
+sky like some great lamp of gold. By it she saw that, robed all in
+white, she lay upon a couch in a pavilion, whereof the silken curtains
+were drawn back in front, and tied to gilded posts. At her side, wrapped
+in a grey robe, lay another figure, which she knew for Asti. It was
+still, so still that she was sure it must be dead, yet she knew that
+this was Asti. Perchance Asti dreamed also, and could hear in her
+dreams; at least, she would speak to her.
+
+"Asti," she whispered, "Asti, can you hear me?"
+
+The grey figure at her side stirred, and the head turned towards her.
+Then the voice of Asti, none other, answered:
+
+"Aye, Lady, I hear and see. But say, where are we now?"
+
+"In the Under-world, I think, Asti. Oh! that fire was death, and now we
+journey to the Place of Souls."
+
+"If so, Lady, it is strange that we should still have eyes and flesh and
+voices as mortal women have. Let us sit up and look."
+
+So they sat up, their arms about each other, and peered through the open
+curtains. Behold! they were on a ship more beautiful than any they had
+ever seen, for it seemed to be covered with gold and silver, while sweet
+odours floated from its hold. Their pavilion was set in the centre of
+the ship and looking aft, they perceived lines of white-clad rowers
+seated at their oars in the shadow of the bulwarks, and on the high
+stern--also robed in white--a tall steersman whose face was veiled,
+behind whom in the dim glimpses of the moon, they caught sight of a wide
+and silvery river, and on its distant banks palms and temple towers.
+
+"It is the Boat of Ra," murmured Tua, "which bears us down the River of
+Death to the Kingdom behind the Sun."
+
+Then she sank back upon her cushions, and once more fell into swoon or
+sleep.
+
+Tua woke again, and lo! the sun was shining brightly, and at her side
+sat Asti watching her. Moreover, in front of them was set a table spread
+with delicate food.
+
+"Tell me what has chanced, Nurse," she said faintly, "for I am
+bewildered, and know not in what world we wander."
+
+"Our own, Queen, I think," answered Asti, "but in charge of those who
+are not of it, for surely this is no mortal boat, nor do mortals guide
+her to her port. Come, we need food. Let us eat while we may."
+
+So they ate and drank heartily enough, and when they had finished even
+dared to go out of the pavilion. Looking around them they saw that they
+stood upon a high deck in the midst of a great ship, but that this ship
+was enclosed with a net of silver cords in which they could find no
+opening. Looking through its meshes they noted that the oars were
+inboard, and the great purple sails set upon the mast, also that the
+rowers were gone, perchance to rest beneath the deck, while on the
+forecastle of the ship stood the captain, white-robed and masked, and
+aft the steersman, also still masked, so that they could see nothing of
+their faces. Now, too, they were no longer sailing on a river, but down
+a canal bordered by banks of sand on either side, beyond which stretched
+desert farther than the eye could reach.
+
+Asti studied the desert, then turned and said:
+
+"I think I know this canal, Lady, for once I sailed it as a child. I
+think it is that which was dug by the Pharaohs of old, and repaired
+after the fall of the Hyksos kings, and that it runs from Bubastis to
+that bay down which wanderers sail towards the rising sun."
+
+"Mayhap," answered Tua. "At least, this is the world that bore us and no
+other, and by the mercy of Amen and the power of my Spirit we are still
+alive, and not dead, or so it seems. Call now to the captain on yonder
+deck; perhaps he will tell whither he bears us in his magic ship."
+
+So Asti called, but the captain made no sign that he saw or heard her.
+Next she called to the steersman, but although his veiled face was
+towards them, he also made no sign, so that at last they believed either
+that these were spirits or that they were men born deaf and dumb. In the
+end, growing weary of staring at this beautiful ship, at the canal and
+the desert beyond it, and of wondering where they were, and how they
+came thither, they returned to the pavilion to avoid the heat of the
+sun. Here they found that during their absence some hand unseen had
+arranged the silken bed-clothing on their couches and cleared away the
+fragments of their meal, resetting the beautiful table with other foods.
+
+"Truly here is wizardry at work," said Tua, as she sank into a
+leather-seated ivory chair that was placed ready.
+
+"Who doubts it?" answered Asti calmly. "By wizardry were you born; by
+wizardry was Pharaoh slain; by wizardry we are saved to an end that we
+cannot guess; by wizardry, or what men so name, does the whole world
+move; only being so near we see it not."
+
+Tua thought a while, then said:
+
+"Well, this golden ship is better than the sty of Abi the hog, nor do I
+believe that we journey to no purpose. Still I wonder what that spirit
+who named herself my Ka does on the throne of Egypt; also how we came on
+board this boat, and whither we sail."
+
+"Wonder not, for all these things we shall learn in due season, and for
+my part, although I hate him I am sorry for Abi," answered Asti drily.
+
+So they sat there in the pavilion watching the desert, over the sands
+of which their ship seemed to move, till at length the sun grew low,
+and they went to walk upon the deck. Then they returned to eat of the
+delicious food that was always provided for them in such plenty, and at
+nightfall sought their couches, and slept heavily, for they needed rest.
+
+When they awoke again, it was daylight, though no sun shone through the
+skies, and their vessel rolled onward across a wide and sullen sea out
+of sight of land. Also the silken pavilion about them was gone, and
+replaced by a cabin of massive cedar wood, though of this, being sated
+with marvels, Tua and Asti took little note. Indeed, having neither of
+them been on an angry ocean before, a strange dizziness overcame them,
+which caused them to sleep much and think little for three whole days
+and nights.
+
+At length, one evening as the sun sank, they perceived that the violent
+motion of the vessel had ceased with the roaring of the gale above,
+which for all this while had driven them onward at such fearful speed.
+Venturing from their cedar house, they saw that they had entered the
+mouth of a great river upon the banks of which grew enormous trees that
+sent out long crooked roots into the water, and that among these roots
+crouched crocodiles and other noisome reptiles. Also the white-robed
+oarsmen had appeared again, and, as there was no wind, rowed the ship up
+the river, till at length they came to a spit of sand which jutted out
+into the stream, and here cast anchor.
+
+Now Tua's and Asti's desire for food returned to them, and they ate.
+Just as they had finished their meal, and the sun was sinking suddenly,
+there appeared before them two masked men, each of whom bore a basket
+in his hand. Asti began to question them, but like the captain and
+the steersman, they seemed to be deaf and dumb. At least they made no
+answer, only prostrated themselves humbly, and pointed towards the shore
+where now Tua saw a fire burning on a rock, though who had lit it she
+did not know.
+
+"They mean us to leave the ship," said Asti. "Come, Queen, let us follow
+our fortunes, for doubtless these are high."
+
+"As you will," answered Tua, "seeing that we should scarcely have been
+brought here to no end."
+
+So they accompanied the men to the side of that splendid vessel, for now
+the netting that confined them had been removed, to find that a gangway
+had been laid from its bulwark to the shore. As they stepped on to
+this gangway their masked companions handed to each of them one of the
+baskets, then again bowed humbly and were gone. Soon they gained the
+bank, and scarcely had their feet touched it when the gangway was
+withdrawn, and the great oars began to beat the muddy water.
+
+Round swung the ship, and for a minute hung in midstream. There stood
+the captain on the foredeck, and there was the steersman at the helm,
+and the red light of the sinking sun turned them into figures of flame.
+Suddenly with a simultaneous motion these men tore off their masks so
+that for a moment Asti and Tua saw their faces--and behold! the face of
+the captain was the face of Pharaoh, Tua's father, and the face of the
+steersman was the face of Mermes, Asti's husband.
+
+For one moment only did they see them, then a dark cloud hid the dying
+sun, and when it passed that ship was gone, whither they knew not.
+
+The two women looked at each other, and for the first time were much
+afraid.
+
+"Truly," said Tua, "we are haunted if ever mortals were, for yonder ship
+has ghosts for mariners."
+
+"Aye, Lady," answered Asti, "so have I thought from the first. Still,
+take heart, for these ghosts once were men who loved us well, and
+doubtless they love us still. Be sure that for no ill purpose have we
+been snatched out of the hand of Abi, and brought living and unharmed by
+the shades of Pharaoh your sire, and Mermes my husband, to this secret
+shore. See, yonder burns a fire, let us go to it, and await what may
+befall bravely, knowing that at least it can be naught but good."
+
+So they went to the rock and, darkness being come, sat themselves down
+by the fire, alongside of which lay wood for its replenishment, and near
+the wood soft robes of camel-hair to shield them from the cold.
+These robes they put on with thankfulness, and, having fed the flame,
+bethought them of and opened the baskets which were given to them when
+they left the ship. The first basket, that which Asti held, they found
+to contain food, cakes, dried meats and dates, as much as one woman
+could carry. But the second, that which had been given to Tua, was
+otherwise provided, for in the mouth of it lay a lovely harp of ivory
+with golden strings, whereof the frame was fashioned to the shape of a
+woman. Tua drew it out and looked at it by the light of the fire.
+
+"It is my own harp," she said in an awed voice, "the harp that the
+Prince of Kesh, whom Rames slew, brought as a gift to me, to the notes
+of which I sang the Song of the Lovers but just before the giver died.
+Yes, it is my own harp that I left in Thebes. Say, now, Nurse, how came
+it here?"
+
+"How came _we_ here?" answered Asti shortly. "Answer my question and I
+will answer yours."
+
+Then, laying down the harp, Tua looked again into her basket and
+found that beneath a layer of dried papyrus leaves were hidden pearls,
+thousands of pearls of all sizes, and of such lustre and beauty as she
+had never seen. They were strung upon threads of silk, all those of a
+like size being set upon a single thread, except the very biggest, which
+were as great as a finger nail, or even larger, that lay wrapped up
+separately in cloth at the bottom of the basket.
+
+"Surely," said Tua, amazed, "no Queen in all the earth ever had a dower
+of such priceless pearls. Moreover, what good they and the harp can be
+to us in this forest I may not guess."
+
+"Doubtless we shall discover in due course," answered Asti; "meanwhile,
+let us thank the gods for their gifts and eat."
+
+So they ate, and then, having nothing else to do, lay down by the fire
+and would have slept.
+
+But scarcely had they closed their eyes when the forest seemed to awake.
+First from down by the river there came dreadful roarings which they
+knew must be the voice of lions, for there were tame beasts of this sort
+in the gardens at Thebes. Next they heard the whines and wimperings of
+wolves and jackals, and mingled with them great snortings such as are
+made by the rhinoceros and the river-horse.
+
+Nearer, nearer came these awful sounds, till at length they saw yellow
+eyes moving like stars in the darkness at the edge of the forest, while
+cross the patch of sand beneath their rock galloped swift shapes which
+halted and sniffed towards them. Also on the river side of them appeared
+huge, hog-like beasts, with gleaming tusks, and red cavernous mouths,
+and beyond these again, crashing through the brushwood, a gigantic brute
+that bore a single horn upon its snout.
+
+"Now our end is at hand," said Tua faintly, "for surely these creatures
+will devour us."
+
+But Asti only threw more wood upon the fire and waited, thinking that
+the flame would frighten them away. Yet it did not, for so curious, or
+so hungry were they, that the lions crept and crept nearer, and still
+more near, till at length they lay lashing their tails in the distance
+almost within springing distance of the rock, while on the farther side
+of these, like a court waiting on its monarch, gathered the hyenas and
+other beasts.
+
+"They will spring presently," whispered Tua.
+
+"Did the Spirits of the divine Pharaoh your father, and of Mermes my
+lord, bring us here in the Boat of Ra that we should be devoured by wild
+animals, like lost sheep in the desert?" asked Asti. Then, as though by
+an inspiration, she added, "Lady, take that harp of yours, and play and
+sing to it."
+
+So Tua took the harp and swept its golden chords, and, lifting up her
+lovely voice, she began to sing. At first it trembled a little, but by
+degrees, as she forgot all save the music, it grew strong, and rang out
+sweetly in the silence of the forest, and the great, slow-moving river.
+And lo! as she sang thus, the wild brutes grew still, and seemed to
+listen as though they were charmed. Yes, even a snake wriggled out from
+between the rocks and listened, waving its crested head to and fro.
+
+At length Tua ceased, and as the echoes died away the brutes, every one
+of them, turned and vanished into the forest or the river, all save the
+snake that coiled itself up and slept where it was. So stillness came
+again, and Tua and Asti slept also, nor did they wake until the sun was
+shining in the heavens.
+
+Then they arose wondering, and went down over the patch of sand that was
+marked with the footprints of all the beasts to the river's brink, and
+drank and washed themselves, peering the while through the mists, for
+they thought that perchance they would see that golden ship with the
+veiled crew which had carried them from Memphis, returned and awaiting
+them in midstream.
+
+But no ship was there; nothing was there except the river-horses which
+rose and sank, and the crocodiles on the mud-banks, and the wildfowl
+that flighted inward from the sea to feed. So they went back to the
+ashes of their fire and ate of the food in Asti's basket, and, when they
+had eaten, looked at each other, not knowing what to do. Then Tua said:
+
+"Come, Nurse, let us be going. Up the river and down the river we cannot
+walk, for there are nothing but weeds and mud, so we must strike out
+through the forest, whither the gods may lead us."
+
+Asti nodded, and, clad in the light warm clothes of camel-hair, they set
+the baskets upon their heads after the fashion of the peasant women of
+Egypt and started forward, the harp of ivory and of gold hanging upon
+Tua's back.
+
+For hour after hour they marched thus through the forest, threading
+their path between the big boles of the trees, and heading always for
+the south, for that way ran the woodland glades beyond which was dense
+bush. Great apes chattered above them in the tree tops, and now
+and again some beast of prey crossed their path and vanished in the
+underwood, but nothing else did they see. At length, towards midday, the
+ground began to rise, and the trees grew smaller and farther apart, till
+at last they reached the edge of a sandy desert, and walked out to a
+little oasis, where the green grass showed them they would find water.
+In this oasis there was a spring, and by the edge of it they sat down
+and drank, and ate of their store of food, and afterwards slept a while.
+
+Suddenly Tua, in her sleep, heard a voice, and, awaking with a
+start, saw a man who stood near by, leaning on a thornwood staff and
+contemplating them. He was a very strange man, apparently of great age,
+for his long white hair fell down upon his shoulders, and his white
+beard reached to his middle. Once he must have been very tall, but now
+he was bent with age, and the bones of his gaunt frame thrust out his
+ragged garments. His dark eyes also were horny, indeed it seemed as
+though he could scarcely see with them, for he leaned forward to peer at
+their faces where they lay. His face was scored by a thousand wrinkles,
+and almost black with exposure to the sun and wind, but yet of a
+marvellous tenderness and beauty. Indeed, except that it was far more
+ancient, and the features were on a larger and a grander scale, it
+reminded Tua of the face of Pharaoh after he was dead.
+
+"My Father," said Tua, sitting up, for an impulse prompted her to name
+this wanderer thus, "say whence do you come, and what would you with
+your servants?"
+
+"My Daughter," answered the old man in a sweet, grave voice, "I come
+from the wilderness which is my home. Long have I outlived all those of
+my generation, yes, and their children also. Therefore the wilderness
+and the forest that do not change are now my only friends, since they
+alone knew me when I was young. Be pitiful now to me, for I am poor, so
+poor that for three whole days no food has passed my lips. It was the
+smell of the meat which you have with you that led me to you. Give me of
+that meat, Daughter, for I starve."
+
+"It is yours, O----" and she paused.
+
+"I am called Kepher."
+
+"Kepher, Kepher!" repeated Tua, for she thought it strange that a
+beggar-man should be named after that scarabæus insect which among the
+Egyptians was the symbol of eternity. "Well, take and eat, O Kepher,"
+she said, and handed him the basket that contained what was left to them
+of their store.
+
+The beggar took it, and having looked up to heaven as though to ask a
+blessing on his meal, sat down upon the sand and began to devour the
+food ravenously.
+
+"Lady," said Asti, "he will eat it all, and then we shall starve in
+this desert. He is a locust, not a man," she added, as another cake
+disappeared.
+
+"He is our guest," answered Tua gravely, "let him take what we have to
+give."
+
+For a while Asti was silent, then again she broke out into remonstrance.
+
+"Peace, Nurse," replied Tua, "I have said that he is our guest, and the
+law of hospitality may not be broken."
+
+"Then the law of hospitality will bring us to our deaths," muttered
+Asti.
+
+"If so, so let it be, Nurse; at least this poor man will be filled, and
+for the rest, as always, we must trust to Amen our father."
+
+Yet as she spoke the words tears gathered in her eyes, for she knew that
+Asti was right, and now that all the food was gone, on which with care
+they might have lived for two days or more, soon they would faint, and
+perish, unless help came to them, which was not likely in that lonesome
+place. Once, not so long ago, they had starved for lack of sustenance,
+and it was the thought of that slow pain so soon to be renewed, that
+brought the water to her eyes.
+
+Meanwhile Kepher, whose appetite for one so ancient was sharp indeed,
+finished the contents of the basket down to the last date, and handed it
+back to Tua with a bow, saying:
+
+"I thank you, Daughter; the Queen of Egypt could not have entertained
+me more royally," and he peered at her with his horny eyes. "I who have
+been empty for long, am full again, and since I cannot reward you I pray
+to the gods that they will do so. Beautiful Daughter, may you never know
+what it is to lack a meal."
+
+At this saying Tua could restrain herself no more. A large tear from her
+eyes fell upon Kepher's rough hand as she answered with a little sob:
+
+"I am glad that you are comforted with meat, but do not mock us, Friend,
+seeing that we are but lost wanderers who very soon must starve, since
+now our food is done."
+
+"What, Daughter?" asked the old man in an astonished voice, "what? Can I
+believe that you gave all you had to a beggar of the wilderness, and sat
+still while he devoured it? And is it for this reason that you weep?"
+
+"Forgive me, Father, but it is so," answered Tua. "I am ashamed of such
+weakness, but recently my friend here and I have known hunger, very sore
+hunger, and the dread of it moves me. Come, Asti, let us be going while
+our strength remains in us."
+
+Kepher looked up at the name, then turned to Tua and said:
+
+"Daughter, your face is fair, and your heart is perfect, since otherwise
+you would not have dealt with me as you have done. Still, it seems
+that you lack one thing--undoubting faith in the goodness of the gods.
+Though, surely," he added in a slow voice, "those who have passed yonder
+lion-haunted forest without hurt should not lack faith. Say, now, how
+came you there?"
+
+"We are ladies of Egypt," interrupted Asti, "or at least this maiden is,
+for I am but her old nurse. Man-stealing pirates of Phoenicia seized us
+while we wandered on the shores of the Nile, and brought us hither in
+their ship, by what way we do not know. At length they put into yonder
+river for water, and we fled at night. We are escaped slaves, no more."
+
+"Ah!" said Kepher, "those pirates must mourn their loss. I almost wonder
+that they did not follow you. Indeed, I thought that you might be
+other folk, for, strangely enough, as I slept in the sand last night, a
+certain spirit from the Under-world visited me in my dreams, and told
+me to search for one Asti and another lady who was with her--I cannot
+remember the name of that lady. But I do remember the name of the
+spirit, for he told it to me; it was Mermes."
+
+Now Asti gave a little cry, and, springing up, searched Kepher's face
+with her eyes, nor did he shrink from her gaze.
+
+"I perceive," she said slowly, "that you who seem to be a beggar are
+also a seer."
+
+"Mayhap, Asti," he answered. "In my long life I have often noted that
+sometimes men are more than they seem--and women also. Perhaps you have
+learned the same, for nurses in great houses may note many things if
+they choose. But let us say no more. I think it is better that we should
+say no more. You and your companion--how is she named?"
+
+"Neferte," answered Asti promptly.
+
+"Neferte, ah! Certainly that was not the name which the spirit used,
+though it is true that other name began with the same sound, or so I
+think. Well, you and your companion, Neferte, escaped from those wicked
+pirates, and managed to bring certain things with you, for instance,
+that beautiful harp, wreathed with the royal _uræi_, and--but what is in
+that second basket?"
+
+"Pearls," broke in Tua quickly.
+
+"And a large basket of pearls. Might I see them? Oh! do not be afraid, I
+shall not rob those whose food I have eaten, it is against the custom of
+the desert."
+
+"Certainly," answered Tua. "I never thought that you would rob us, for
+if you were of the tribe of thieves, surely you would be richer, and
+less hungry than you seem. I only thought that you were almost blind,
+Father Kepher, and therefore could not know the difference between a
+pearl and a pebble."
+
+"My feeling still remains to me, Daughter Neferte," he answered with a
+little smile.
+
+Then Tua gave him the basket. He opened it and drew out the strings of
+pearls, feeling them, smelling and peering at them, touching them with
+his tongue, especially the large single ones which were wrapped up by
+themselves. At length, having handled them all, he restored them to the
+basket, saying drily:
+
+"It is strange, indeed, Nurse Asti, that those Syrian man-stealers
+attempted no pursuit of you, for here, whether they were theirs or not,
+are enough gems to buy a kingdom."
+
+"We cannot eat pearls," answered Asti.
+
+"No, but pearls will buy more than you need to eat."
+
+"Not in a desert," said Asti.
+
+"True, but as it chances there is a city in this desert, and not so very
+far away."
+
+"Is it named Napata?" asked Tua eagerly.
+
+"Napata? No, indeed. Yet, I have heard of such a place, the City of Gold
+they called it. In fact, once I visited it in my youth, over a hundred
+years ago."
+
+"A hundred years ago! Do you remember the way thither?"
+
+"Yes, more or less, but on foot it is over a year's journey away, and
+the path thither lies across great deserts and through tribes of savage
+men. Few live to reach that city."
+
+"Yet I will reach it, or die, Father."
+
+"Perhaps you will, Daughter Neferte, perhaps you will, but I think not
+at present. Meanwhile, you have a harp, and therefore it is probable
+that you can play and sing; also you have pearls. Now the inhabitants of
+this town whereof I spoke to you love music. Also they love pearls, and
+as you cannot begin your journey to Napata for three months, when the
+rain on the mountains will have filled the desert wells, I suggest that
+you would do wisely to settle yourselves there for a while. Nurse Asti
+here would be a dealer in pearls, and you, her daughter, would be a
+musician. What say you?"
+
+"I say that I should be glad to settle myself anywhere out of this
+desert," said Tua wearily. "Lead us on to the city, Father Kepher, if
+you know the way."
+
+"I know the way, and will guide you thither in payment for that good
+meal of yours. Now come. Follow me." And taking his long staff he strode
+away in front of them.
+
+"This Kepher goes at a wonderful pace for an old man," said Tua
+presently. "When first we saw him he could scarcely hobble."
+
+"Man!" answered Asti. "He is not a man, but a spirit, good or bad, I
+don't know which, appearing as a beggar. Could a man eat as much as
+he did--all our basketful of food? Does a man talk of cities that he
+visited in his youth over a hundred years ago, or declare that my dead
+husband spoke to him in his dreams? No, no, he is a ghost like those
+upon the ship."
+
+"So much the better," answered Tua cheerfully, "since ghosts have been
+good friends to us, for had it not been for them I should have been dead
+or shamed to-day."
+
+"That we shall find out at the end of the story," said Asti, who was
+cross and weary, for the heat of the sun was great. "Meanwhile, follow
+on. There is nothing else to do."
+
+For hour after hour they walked, till at length towards evening, when
+they were almost exhausted, they struggled up a long rise of sand and
+rocks, and from the crest of it perceived a large walled town set in a
+green and fertile valley not very far beneath them. Towards this town
+Kepher, who marched at a distance in front, guided them till they
+reached a clump of trees on the outskirts of the cultivated land. Here
+he halted, and when they came up to him, led them among the trees.
+
+"Now," he said, "drop your veils and bide here, and if any should come
+to you, say that you are poor wandering players who rest. Also, if it
+pleases you, give me a small pearl off one of those strings, that I may
+go into the city, which is named Tat, and sell it to buy you food and a
+place to dwell in."
+
+"Take a string," said Tua faintly.
+
+"Nay, nay, Daughter, one will be enough, for in this town pearls are
+rare, and have a great value."
+
+So she gave him the gem, or rather let him take it from the silk, which
+he re-fastened very neatly for one who seemed to be almost blind, and
+strode off swiftly towards the town.
+
+"Man or spirit, I wonder if we shall see him again?" said Asti.
+
+Tua made no answer--she was too tired, but resting herself against the
+bole of a tree, fell into a doze. When she awoke again it was to see
+that the sun had sunk, and that before her stood the beggar Kepher, and
+with him two black men, each of whom led a saddled mule.
+
+"Mount, Friends," he said, "for I have found you a lodging."
+
+So they mounted, and were led to the gate of the city which at the word
+of Kepher was opened for them, and thence down a long street to a house
+built in a walled garden. Into this house they entered, the black men
+leading off the mules, to find that it was a well-furnished place with a
+table ready set in the ante-room, on which was food in plenty. They ate
+of it, all three of them, and when they had finished Kepher bade a woman
+who was waiting on them, lead them to their chamber, saying that he
+himself would sleep in the garden.
+
+Thither then they went without more questions, and throwing themselves
+down upon beds which were prepared for them, were soon fast asleep.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+TUA AND THE KING OF TAT
+
+In the morning, after Tua and Asti had put on the clean robes that lay
+to their hands, and eaten, suddenly they looked up and perceived that
+Kepher, the ancient beggar of the desert, was in the room with them,
+though neither of them had heard or seen him enter.
+
+"You come silently, Friend," said Asti, looking at him with a curious
+eye. "A Double could not move with less noise, and--where is your
+shadow?" she added, staring first at the sun without, and then at the
+floor upon which he stood.
+
+"I forgot it," he answered in his deep voice. "One so poor as I am
+cannot always afford a shadow. But look, there it is now. And for the
+rest, what do you know of Doubles which those who are uninstructed
+cannot discern? Now I have heard of a Lady in Egypt who by some chance
+bore your name, and who has the power, not only to see the Double, but
+to draw it forth from the body of the living, and furnish it with every
+semblance of mortal life. Also I have heard that she who reigns in Egypt
+to-day has such a Ka or Double that can take her place, and none know
+the difference, save that this Ka, which Amen gave her at her birth,
+works the vengeance of the gods without pity or remorse. Tell me, Friend
+Asti, when you were a slave-woman in Egypt did you ever hear talk of
+such things as these?"
+
+Now he looked at Asti, and Asti looked at him, till at length he moved
+his old hands in a certain fashion, whereon she bowed her head and was
+silent.
+
+But Tua, who was terrified at this talk, for she knew not what would
+befall them if the truth were guessed, broke in, saying:
+
+"Welcome, Father, however it may please you to come, and with or without
+a shadow. Surely we have much to thank you for who have found us this
+fine house and servants and food--by the way, will you not eat again?"
+
+"Nay," he answered, smiling, "as you may have guessed yesterday, I touch
+meat seldom; as a rule, once only in three days, and then take my fill.
+Life is so short that I cannot waste time in eating."
+
+"Oh!" said Tua, "if you feel thus whose youth began more than a hundred
+years ago, how must it seem to the rest of us? But, Father Kepher, what
+are we to do in this town Tat?"
+
+"I have told you, Maiden. Asti here will deal in pearls and other goods,
+and you will sing, but always behind the curtain, since here in Tat you
+must suffer no man to see your beauty, and least of all him who rules
+it. Now give me two more pearls, for I go out to buy for you other
+things that are needful, and after that perhaps you will see me no
+more for a long while. Yet if trouble should fall upon you, go to the
+window-place wherever you may be, and strike upon that harp of yours,
+and call thrice upon the name of Kepher. Doubtless there will be some
+listening who will hear you and bring me the news in the Desert, where I
+dwell who do not love towns, and then I may be able to help you."
+
+"I thank you, my Father, and I will remember. But pardon me if I ask how
+can one so----" and she paused.
+
+"So old, so ragged and so miserable give help to man or woman--that is
+what you would say, Daughter Neferte, is it not? Well, judge not from
+the outward seeming; good wine is often found in jars of common clay,
+and the fire hid in a rough flint can destroy a city."
+
+"And therefore a wanderer who can swallow his own shadow can aid another
+wanderer in distress," remarked Tua drily. "My Father, I understand,
+who although I am still young, have seen many things and ere now been
+dragged out of deep water by strange hands."
+
+"Such as those of Phoenician pirates," suggested Kepher. "Well, good-bye.
+I go to purchase what you need with the price of these pearls, and then
+the Desert calls me for a while. Remember what I told you, and do
+not seek to leave this town of Tat until the rain has fallen on the
+mountains, and there is water in the wells. Good-bye, Friend Asti, also;
+when I come again we will talk more of Doubles, until which time may
+the great god of Egypt--he is called Amen, is he not?--have you and your
+Lady in his keeping."
+
+Then he turned and went.
+
+"What is that man?" asked Tua when they had heard the door of the house
+close behind him.
+
+"Man?" answered Asti. "I have told you that he is no man. Do men unfold
+their shadows like a garment? He is a god or a ghost, wearing a beggar's
+shape."
+
+"Man or ghost, I like him well for he has befriended us in our need,
+Nurse."
+
+"That we shall know when he has done with us," answered Asti.
+
+An hour later, whilst they were still talking of Kepher and all the
+marvels that had befallen them, porters began to arrive, bearing bundles
+which, when opened, were found to contain silks and broideries in gold
+and silver thread, and leather richly worked, such as the Arabs make,
+and alabaster pots of ointments, and brass work from Syria, and copper
+jars from Cyprus, with many other goods, all very costly, and in number
+more than enough for a wealthy trader's store.
+
+These goods the porters set out on the mats and shelves of the large
+front room of the house that opened to the street, which room seemed to
+have been built to receive them. Then they departed, asking no fees,
+and there appeared a man riding a fine white horse, who dismounted, and,
+bowing low towards the screen of pierced wood-work behind which Tua and
+Asti were hidden, laid a writing upon a little table, and rode away.
+When he had gone Asti opened the door in the screen and took the writing
+which she found she could read well enough, for it was in the Egyptian
+character and language.
+
+It proved to be the title-deed of the house and garden conveyed to them
+jointly, and also of the rich goods which the porters had brought. At
+the foot of this document was written--
+
+"Received by Kepher the Wanderer in payment of the above house and land
+and goods, three pearls and one full meal of meat and dates."
+
+Then followed the seal of Kepher in wax, a finely cut scarabæus holding
+the symbol of the sun between its two front feet.
+
+"A proud seal for a tattered wanderer, though it is but his name writ in
+wax," said Tua.
+
+But Asti only answered:
+
+"If small pearls have such value in this city, what price will the large
+ones bring? Well, let us to our business, for we have time upon our
+hands, and cannot live upon pearls and costly stuffs."
+
+
+
+So it happened that Neter-Tua, Star of Amen, Queen of Egypt, and Asti
+her Nurse, the Mistress of Magic, became merchants in the town of Tat.
+
+This was the manner of their trade. For one hour in the morning, and one
+in the afternoon, Asti, heavily veiled, and a woman of the servants whom
+they had found in the house, would sit on stools amidst the goods and
+traffic with all comers, selling to those who would buy, and taking
+payment in gold dust or other articles of value, or buying from those
+who would sell. Then when the hour drew towards its close Tua would
+sweep her harp behind the screen that hid her and begin to sing, whereon
+all would cease from their chaffering and listen, for never before had
+they heard so sweet a voice. Indeed, at these times the broad street
+in front of their house was packed with people, for the fame of this
+singing of hers went through the city and far into the country that
+lay beyond. Then the traffic came to an end, with her song, and leaving
+their goods in charge of the servants, Tua and Asti departed to the back
+rooms of the house, and ate their meals or wandered in the large, walled
+garden that lay behind.
+
+Thus the weeks went on and soon, although they sold few of the pearls,
+and those the smallest, for of the larger gems they said little or
+nothing, they began to grow rich, and to hoard up such a weight of gold
+in dust and nuggets, and so many precious things, that they scarcely
+knew what they should do with them. Still Tat seemed to be a peaceful
+city, or at the least none tried to rob or molest them, perhaps because
+a rumour was abroad that these strangers who had come out of the Unknown
+were under the protection of some god.
+
+There was nothing to show how or why this rumour had arisen in the city,
+but on account of it, if for no other reason, these pearl-merchants,
+as they were called, suffered no wrong, and although they were only
+undefended women, whatever credit they might give, the debt was always
+paid. Also their servants, to whom they added as they had means, were
+all faithful to them. So there they remained and traded, keeping their
+secrets and awaiting the appointed hour of escape, but never venturing
+to leave the shelter of their own walls.
+
+Now, as it happened, when they came thither the King of Tat was away
+making war upon another king whose country lay upon the coast, but after
+they had dwelt for many weeks in the place, this King, who was named
+Janees, returned victorious from his war and prepared to celebrate a
+triumph.
+
+While he was making ready for this triumph his courtiers told him of
+these pearl-merchants, and, desiring pearls for his adornment on that
+great day, he went in disguise to the house of those who sold them. As
+it chanced he arrived late, and requested to see the gems just as Tua,
+according to her custom, was playing upon her harp. Then she began to
+sing, and this King Janees, who was a man of under forty years of age,
+listened intently to her beautiful voice, forgetting all about the
+pearls that he had come to buy. Her song finished, the veiled Asti rose,
+and bowing to all the company gathered in the street, bade her servants
+shut up the coffers and remove the goods.
+
+"But I would buy pearls, Merchant, if you have such to sell," said
+Janees.
+
+"Then you must return this afternoon, Purchaser," replied Asti, scanning
+his pale and haughty face, "for even if you were the King of Tat I would
+not sell to you out of my hours."
+
+"You speak high words, Woman," exclaimed Janees angrily.
+
+"High or low, they are what I mean," answered Asti, and went away.
+
+The end of it was that this King Janees returned at the evening hour,
+led thither more by a desire to hear that lovely voice again than to
+purchase gems. Still he asked to see pearls, and Asti showed him some
+which he thrust aside as too small. Then she produced those that were
+larger, and again he thrust them aside, and so it went on for a long
+while. At length from somewhere in her clothing Asti drew two of the
+biggest that she had, perfect pearls of the size of the middle nail of
+a man's finger, and at the sight of these the eyes of Janees brightened,
+for such gems he had never seen before. Then he asked the price. Asti
+answered carelessly that it was doubtless more than he would wish to
+pay, since there were few such pearls in the whole world, and she named
+a weight in gold that caused him to step back from her amazed, for it
+was a quarter of the tribute that he had taken from his new-conquered
+kingdom.
+
+"Woman, you jest," he said, "surely there is some abatement."
+
+"Man," she answered, "I jest not; there is no abatement," and she
+replaced the pearls in her garments.
+
+Now he grew very angry, and asked:
+
+"Did you know that I am the King of Tat, and if I will, can take your
+pearls without any payment at all?"
+
+"Are you?" asked Asti, looking at him coolly. "I should never have
+guessed it. Well, if you steal my goods, as you say you can, you will be
+King of Thieves also."
+
+Now those who heard this saying laughed, and the King thought it best to
+join in their merriment. Then the bargaining went on, but before it was
+finished, at her appointed hour Tua began to sing behind the screen.
+
+"Have done," said the King to Asti, "to-morrow you shall be paid your
+price. I would listen to that music which is above price."
+
+So Janees listened like one fascinated, for Tua was singing her best.
+Step by step he drew ever nearer to the screen, though this Asti did
+not notice, for she was engaged in locking up her goods. At length
+he reached it, and thrusting his fingers through the openings in the
+pierced woodwork, rested his weight upon it like a man who is faint, as
+perhaps he was with the sweetness of that music. Then of a sudden, by
+craft or chance, he swung himself backward, and with him came the frail
+screen. Down it clattered to the floor, and lo! beyond it, unveiled, but
+clad in rich attire, stood Tua sweeping her harp of ivory and gold. Like
+sunlight from a cloud the bright vision of her beauty struck the eyes of
+the people gathered there, and seemed to dazzle them, since for a while
+they were silent. Then one said:
+
+"Surely this woman is a queen," and another answered:
+
+"Nay, she is a goddess," but ere the words had left his lips Tua was
+gone.
+
+As for Janees the King, he stared at her open-mouthed, reeling a little
+upon his feet, then, as she fled, turned to Asti, saying:
+
+"Is this Lady your slave?"
+
+"Nay, King, my daughter, whom you have done ill to spy upon."
+
+"Then," said Janees slowly, "I who might do less, desire to make this
+daughter of yours my Queen--do you understand, Merchant of Pearls--my
+Queen, and as a gift you shall have as much gold again as I have
+promised for your gems."
+
+"Other kings have desired as much and offered more, but she is not for
+you or any of them," answered Asti, looking him in the face.
+
+Now Janees made a movement as though he would strike her, then seemed to
+change his mind, for he replied only:
+
+"A rough answer to a fair offer, seeing that none know who you are or
+whence you come. But there are eyes upon us. I will talk with you again
+to-morrow; till then, rest in peace."
+
+"It is useless," began Asti, but he was already gone.
+
+Presently Asti found Tua in the garden, and told her everything.
+
+"Now I wish that Kepher of the Desert were at hand," said Tua nervously,
+"for it seems that I am in a snare, who like this Janees no better than
+I did Abi or the Prince of Kesh, and will never be his Queen."
+
+"Then I think we had better fly to the wilderness and seek him there
+this very night, for, Lady, you know what chances to men who look upon
+your loveliness."
+
+"I know what chanced to the Prince of Kesh, and what will chance to Abi
+at the hands of one I left behind me, I can guess; perhaps this Janees
+will fare no better. Still, let us go."
+
+Asti nodded, then by an afterthought went into the house and asked some
+questions of the servants. Presently she returned, and said:
+
+"It is useless; soldiers are already stationed about the place, and some
+of our women who tried to go out have been turned back, for they say
+that by the King's order none may leave our door."
+
+"Now shall I strike upon the harp and call upon the name of Kepher, as
+he bade me?" asked Tua.
+
+"I think not yet awhile, Lady. This danger may pass by or the night
+bring counsel, and then he would be angry if you summoned him for
+naught. Let us go in and eat."
+
+So they went in, and while they sat at their food suddenly they heard
+a noise, and looking up, perceived by the light of the lamp that women
+were crowding into the room led by two eunuchs.
+
+Tua drew a dagger from her robe and sprang up, but the head eunuch, an
+old, white-haired man, bowed low before her, and said:
+
+"Lady, you can kill me if you will, for I am unarmed, but there are many
+more of us without, and to resist is useless. Hearken; no harm shall be
+done to you or to your companion, but it is the King's desire that one
+so royal and beautiful should be better lodged than in this place
+of traffic. Therefore he has commanded me to take you and all your
+household and all your goods to no less a place than his own palace,
+where he would speak with you."
+
+"Sheathe the dagger and waste no words upon these slaves, Daughter,"
+said Asti. "Since we have no choice, let us go."
+
+So after they had veiled and robed, they suffered themselves to be led
+out and placed in a double litter with their pearls and gold, while the
+King's women collected all the rest of their goods and took them away
+together with their servants, leaving the house quite empty. Then,
+guarded by soldiers, they were borne through the silent streets till
+they came to great gates which closed behind them, and having passed up
+many stairs, the litter was set down in a large and beautiful room lit
+with silver lamps of scented oil. Here, and in other rooms beyond,
+they found women of the royal household and their own servants already
+arranging their possessions.
+
+Soon it was done, and food and wine having been set for them, they were
+left alone in that room, and stood looking at each other.
+
+"Now shall I strike and call?" said Tua, lifting the harp which she had
+brought with her. "Look, yonder is a window-place such as that of which
+Kepher spoke."
+
+"Not yet, I think, Lady. Let us learn all our case ere we call for
+help," and as the words left her lips the door opened, and through it,
+clad in his royal robes, walked Janees the King.
+
+Now in the centre of this great room was a marble basin filled with pure
+water which, perhaps, had served as the bath of the queens who dwelt
+there in former days, or, perhaps, was so designed for the sake of
+coolness in times of heat. Tua and Asti stood upon one side of this
+basin, and to the other came the King, so that the water lay between
+them. Thrice he bowed to Tua, then said:
+
+"Lady, who, as your servants tell me, are known as Neferte, a maiden of
+Egypt, and for lack of the true name, doubtless this will serve, Lady,
+I come to ask your pardon for what must seem to you to be a grievous
+wrong. O Lady Neferte, this must be my excuse, that I have no choice. By
+fortune, good or ill, I know not which, this day I beheld your face,
+and now but one desire is left to me, to behold it again, and for all my
+life. Lady, the Goddess of Love, she, whom in Egypt you name Hathor, has
+made me her slave, so that I no longer think of pomp or power or wealth,
+or of other women, but of you and you only. Lady, I would do you no
+harm, for I offer you half my throne. You and you alone shall be my
+Queen. Speak now."
+
+"King Janees," answered Tua, "what evil spirit has entered into you that
+you should wish to make a Queen of a singing-girl, the daughter of a
+merchant who has wandered to your city? Let me go, and keep that high
+place for one of the great ones of the earth. Send now to Abi, who I
+have heard rules as Pharaoh in Egypt, and ask a daughter of his blood,
+for they say that he has several; or to some of the princes of Syria, or
+to the King of Byblos by Lebanon, or to the lords of Kesh, or across
+the desert to the Emperor of Punt, and let this poor singing-girl go her
+ways."
+
+"This poor singing-girl," repeated Janees after her, "who, or whose
+mother," and he bowed to Asti with a smile, "has pearls to sell that are
+worth the revenue of a kingdom; this singing-girl, the ivory figure on
+whose harp is crowned with the royal _uræi_ of Egypt; this singing-girl
+whose chiselled loveliness is such as might be found perhaps among the
+daughters of ancient kings; this singing-girl whose voice can ravish
+the hearts of men and beasts! Well, Lady Neferte, I thank you for your
+warning, still I am ready to take my chance, hoping that my children
+will not be made ashamed by the blood of such a singing-girl as this,
+who, as I saw when that screen fell, has stamped upon her throat the
+holy sign they worship on the Nile."
+
+"I am honoured," answered Tua coldly, "yet it may not be. Among my own
+humble folk I have a lover, and him I will wed or no man."
+
+"You have a lover! Then hide his name from me, lest presently I should
+play Set to his Osiris and rend him into pieces. You shake your head,
+knowing doubtless that the man is great, yet I tell you that I will
+conquer him and rend him into pieces for the crime of being loved by
+you. Listen now! I would make you my Queen, but Queen or not, mine you
+shall be who lie in my power. I will not force you, I will give you
+time. But if on the morning of the third day from this night you still
+refuse to share my throne, why, then you shall sit upon its footstool."
+
+Now, in her anger, Tua threw back her veil, and met him eye to eye.
+
+"You think me great," she said, "and truly you are right, for whatever
+is my rank, with me go my gods, and in their strength my innocence is
+great. Let me be, you petty King of Tat, lest I lift up my voice to
+heaven, and call down upon you the anger of the gods."
+
+"Already, Lady, you have called down upon me the anger of a goddess,
+that Hathor of whom I spoke, and for the rest I fear them not. Let them
+do their worst. On the third night from this night, as Queen or slave,
+I swear that you shall be mine. This woman here, whom you call your
+mother, shall be witness to my oath, and to its end."
+
+"Aye, King," broke in Asti, "I will be witness, but as to the end of
+that oath I do not know it yet. Would you like to learn? In my own
+country I was held to have something of a gift, I mean in the way of
+magic. It came to me, I know not whence, and it is very uncertain--at
+times it is my servant, and at times I can do nothing. Still, for your
+sake, I would try. Is it your pleasure to see that end of which you
+spoke, the end of your attempt to force yonder maiden to be your queen
+or love?"
+
+"Aye, Woman," answered Janees, "if you have a trick, show it--why not?"
+
+"So be it, King; but, of course, I have your word that you will
+not blame me if by any chance the trick should not prove to your
+liking--your royal word. Now stand you there, and look into this water
+while I pray our gods, the gods of my own country, to be gracious, and
+to show you what shall be your state at this same hour on the third
+night from now, which you say and hope shall be the night of your
+wedding. Sing, my Daughter, sing that old and sacred song which I have
+taught you. It will serve to while away the tedium of our waiting until
+the gods declare themselves, if such be their will."
+
+Then Asti knelt down by the pool, and bent her head, and stretched out
+her hands over the water, and Tua touched the strings of her harp and
+began to chant very solemnly in an unknown tongue. The words of that
+chant were low and sweet, yet it seemed to Janees that they fell like
+ice upon his hot blood, and froze it within his veins. At first he kept
+his eyes fixed upon her beauty, but by slow degrees something drew them
+down to the water of the pool.
+
+Look! A mist gathered on its blackness. It broke and cleared and there,
+as in a mirror, he saw a picture. He saw himself lying stripped and
+dead, a poor, naked corpse with wide eyes that stared to heaven, and
+gashed throat and sides whence the blood ran upon the marble floor of
+his own great hall, ruined by fire, with its scorched pillars pointing
+like fingers to the moon. There he lay alone, and by him stood a hound,
+his own hound, that lifted up its head and seemed to howl.
+
+The last words of Tua's chant died away, and with them that picture
+passed. Janees leapt back from the edge of the pool, glaring at Asti.
+
+"Sorceress!" he cried, "were you not my guest who names herself the
+mother of her who shall be my Queen, I swear that to-night you should
+die by torture in payment of this foul trick of yours."
+
+"Yet as it is," answered Asti, "I think that I shall not die, since
+those who call upon the gods must not quarrel with their oracle.
+Moreover, I know now what you saw, and it may be nothing but a fantasy
+of your brain or of mine. Now let us sleep, I pray you, O King, for we
+are weary, and leave its secrets to the future. In three days we shall
+know what they may be."
+
+Then, without another word, Janees turned and left them.
+
+"What was it that lay in the pool, Nurse?" asked Tua. "I saw nothing."
+
+"The shadow of a dead man, I think," answered Asti grimly. "Some jealous
+god has looked upon this poor King whose crime is that he desires you,
+and therefore he must die. Of a truth it goes ill with your lovers, O
+Star of Amen, and sometimes I wonder if one who is dear to me will meet
+with better fortune at those royal eyes of yours. If ill befalls him I
+think that at the last I may learn to hate you, whom from the first I
+cherished."
+
+Now at the thought that she might bring death to Rames also, Tua's tears
+began to gather, and her voice choked in her throat.
+
+"Say not such evil-omened words," she sobbed, "since you know well that
+if he is taken hence for whose sake I endure all these things, then I
+must follow him over the edge of the world. Moreover, you are unjust.
+Did I slay the Prince of Kesh, or was it another?"
+
+"Another, Queen, but for your sake."
+
+"And would you have had me wed Abi the hog, the murderer of my father,
+and of your lord? Again, was it I who but now showed this barbarian
+chief a shadow in the water, or was it Asti the witch, Asti the
+prophetess of Amen? Lastly, will the man die, if die he must, because he
+loves me, which, being a woman I can forgive him, or because he laid the
+hands of violence upon me to force me to be his queen or mistress, which
+I forgive him not? Oh! Asti, you know well I am not as other women are.
+Perchance it is true that some blood that is not human runs in me; at
+least I fulfil a doom laid on me before my birth, and working woe or
+working weal, I go as my feet are led by ghosts and gods. Why, then, do
+you upbraid me?" and she ceased and wept outright.
+
+"Nay, nay, be comforted, I upbraid you not," answered Asti, drawing her
+to her breast. "Who am I that I should cast reproaches at Amen's Star
+and daughter and my Queen? I know well that the house of your fate is
+built, that sail you up stream or sail you down stream, you must pass
+its gate at last. It was fear for Rames that made me speak so bitterly,
+Rames my only child, if, indeed, he is left to me, for I who have so
+much wisdom cannot learn from man or spirit whether he lives here or
+with Osiris, since some black veil hangs between our souls. I fear lest
+the gods, grown jealous of that high love of yours, should wreak their
+wrath upon him who has dared to win it, and bring Rames to the grave
+before his time, and the thought of it rends my heart."
+
+Now it was Tua's turn to play the comforter.
+
+"Surely," she said, "surely, my Foster-mother, you forget the promise of
+Amen, King of the Gods, which he made ere I was born, to Ahura who bore
+me, that I should find a royal lover, and that from his love and mine
+should spring many kings and princes, and that this being so, Rames must
+live."
+
+"Why must he live, Lady, seeing that even if he can be called royal,
+there are others?"
+
+"Nay, Asti," murmured Tua, laying her head upon her breast, "for me
+there are no others, nor shall any child of mine be born that does not
+name Rames father. Whatever else is doubtful, this is sure. Therefore
+Rames lives, and will live, or the King of the gods has lied."
+
+"You reason well," said Asti, and kissed her. Then she thought for a
+moment, and added: "Now to our work, it is the hour. Take the harp,
+go to the window-place, and call as the beggar-man bade you do in your
+need."
+
+So Tua went to the window-place and looked down on the great courtyard
+beneath that was lit with the light of the moon. Then she struck on the
+harp, and thrice she cried aloud:
+
+"_Kepher! Kepher! Kepher!_"
+
+And each time the echo of her cry came back louder and still more loud,
+till it seemed as though earth and heaven were filled with the sound of
+the name of Kepher.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+THE BEGGAR AND THE KING
+
+It was the afternoon of the third day. Tua and Asti, seated in the
+window-place of their splendid prison, looked through the wooden screen
+down into the court below, where, according to his custom at this hour,
+Janees the King sat in the shadow to administer justice and hear the
+petitions of his subjects. The two women were ill at ease, for the time
+of respite had almost passed.
+
+"Night draws near," said Tua, "and with it will come Janees. Look how he
+eyes this window, like a hungry lion waiting to be fed. Kepher has made
+no sign; perchance after all he is but a wandering beggar-man filled
+with strange fancies, or perchance he is dead, as may well happen at his
+age. At least, he makes no sign, nor does Amen, to whom I have prayed
+so hard, send any answer to my prayers. I am forsaken. Oh! Asti, you who
+are wise, tell me, what shall I do?"
+
+"Trust in the gods," said Asti. "There are still three hours to sundown,
+and in three hours the gods, to whom time is nothing, can destroy the
+world and build it up again. Remember when we starved in the pylon tower
+at Memphis, and what befell us there. Remember the leap to death and the
+Boat of Ra, and those by whom it was captained. Remember and trust in
+the gods."
+
+"I trust--in truth I trust, Asti, but yet--oh! let us talk of something
+else. I wonder what has chanced in Memphis since we left it in so
+strange a fashion? Do you think that awful Ka of mine queens it there
+with Abi for a husband? If so, I almost grieve for Abi, for she had
+something in her eyes which chilled my mortal blood, and yet you say she
+is a part of me, a spirit who cannot die, cast in my mould, and given to
+me at birth. I would I had another Ka, and that you could draw it forth
+again, Asti, to bewitch this Janees, and hold him while we fled. See,
+that case draws to an end at length. Janees is giving judgment, or
+rather his councillor is, for he prompts him all the time. Can you not
+hear his whispers? As for Janees himself, his thoughts are here, I feel
+his eyes burn me through this wooden screen. He is about to rise. Why!
+Who comes? Awake, Nurse, and look."
+
+Asti obeyed. There in the gate of the court she saw a tall man,
+white-bearded, yellow-faced, horny-eyed, ancient, who, clad in a
+tattered robe, leaned upon his staff of thornwood, and stared about him
+blindly as though the sun bewildered him. The guards came to thrust
+him away, but he waved his staff, and they fell back from him as though
+there were power in that staff. Now his slow, tortoise-like eyes seemed
+to catch sight of the glittering throne, and of him who sat upon it,
+and with long strides he walked to the throne and halted in front of it,
+again leaning on his staff.
+
+"Who is this fellow," asked Janees in an angry voice, "who stands here
+and makes no obeisance to the King?"
+
+"Are you a king?" asked Kepher. "I am very blind. I thought you were but
+a common man such as I am, only clad in bright clothes. Tell me, what
+is it like to be a king, and have all things beneath your feet. Do you
+still hope and suffer, and fear death like a common man? Is the flesh
+beneath your gold and purple the same as mine beneath my rags? Do old
+memories torment you, memories of the dead who come no more? Can you
+feel griefs, and the ache of disappointment?"
+
+"Do I sit here to answer riddles, Fool?" answered Janees angrily. "Turn
+the fellow out. I have business."
+
+Now guards sprang forward to do the King's bidding, but again Kepher
+waved his staff, and again they fell back. Certainly it seemed as though
+there were power in that staff.
+
+"Business, King," he said. "Not of the State, I think, but with one
+who lodges yonder," and he nodded towards the shuttered room whence Tua
+watched him. "Well, that is three hours hence after the sun has set, so
+you still have time to listen to my prayer, which you will do, as it is
+of this same lady with whom you have business."
+
+"What do you know of the lady, you old knave, and of my dealings with
+her?" asked Janees angrily.
+
+"Much of both, O King, for I am her father, and--shall I tell the rest?"
+
+"Her father, you hoary liar!" broke in Janees.
+
+"Aye, her father, and I have come to tell you that as our blood is more
+ancient than yours, I will not have you for a son-in-law, any more than
+that daughter of mine will have you for a husband."
+
+Now some of the courtiers who heard these words laughed outright, but
+Janees did not laugh, his dark face turned white with rage, and he
+gasped for breath.
+
+"Drag this madman forth," he shouted at length, "and cut out his
+insolent tongue."
+
+Again the guards sprang forward, but before ever they reached him Kepher
+was speaking in a new voice, a voice so terrible that at the sound of it
+they stopped, leaving him untouched.
+
+"Beware how you lay a finger on me, you men of Tat," he cried, "for how
+know you who dwells within these rags? Janees, you who call yourself a
+King, listen to the commands of a greater king, whose throne is yonder
+above the sun. Ere night falls upon the earth, set that maiden upon whom
+you would force yourself and her companion and all her goods without
+your southern gate, and leave them there unharmed. Such is the command
+of the King of kings, who dwells on high."
+
+"And what if I mock at the command of this King?" asked Janees.
+
+"Mock not," replied Kepher. "Bethink you of a certain picture that the
+lady Asti showed you in the water, and mock not."
+
+"It was but an Egyptian trick, Wizard, and one in which I see you had
+a hand. Begone, I defy you and your sorceries, and your King. To-night
+that maid shall be my wife."
+
+"Then, Janees, Lord of Tat, listen to the doom that I am sent to decree
+upon you. To-night you shall have another bride, and her name is Death.
+Moreover, for their sins, and because their eyes are evil, and they have
+rejected the worship of the gods, many of your people shall accompany
+you to darkness, and to-morrow another King, who is not of your House,
+shall rule in Tat."
+
+Kepher ceased speaking, then turned and walked slowly down the court of
+judgment and through its gates, nor did any so much as lift a finger to
+stay him, for now about this old man there seemed to be a majesty which
+made them strengthless.
+
+"Bring that wizard back and kill him here," shouted Janees presently,
+as the spell passed off them, and like hounds from a leash they sprang
+forward to do the bidding of the King.
+
+But without the walls they could not find him. A woman had seen him
+here, a child had seen him there, some slaves had watched him pass
+yonder, and ran away because they noted that he had no shadow. At
+length, after many a false turn, they tracked him to the southern gate,
+and there the guard said that just such a beggar-man had passed through
+as they were about to close the gate, vanishing into the sandstorm which
+blew without. They followed, but so thickly blew that sand that they
+lost each other in their search, and but just before sundown returned
+to the palace singly, where in his rage the king commanded them to be
+beaten with rods upon their feet.
+
+Now the darkness came, and at the appointed hour Janees, hardening his
+heart, went up into the chamber where dwelt Tua and Asti, leaving his
+guard of eunuchs at the door. The lamps were lit within that chamber,
+and the window-places closed, but without the desert wind howled loudly,
+and the air was blind with sand. On the farther side of the marble
+basin, as once before, Tua and Asti stood awaiting him.
+
+"Lady," he said, "it is the appointed hour, and I seek your answer."
+
+"King," replied Tua, "hear me, and for your own sake--not for mine. I
+am more than I seem. I have friends in the earth and air, did not one of
+them visit you to-day in yonder court? Put away this madness and let me
+be, for I wish you good, not evil, but if you so much as lay a finger
+on me, then I think that evil draws near, or at the best I die by my own
+hand."
+
+"Lady," replied Janees in a cold voice, "have done with threats; I await
+your answer."
+
+"King," said Tua, "for the last time I plead with you. You think that I
+lie to save myself, but it is not so. I would save you. Look now," and
+she threw back her veil and opened the wrappings about her throat. "Look
+at that which is stamped upon my breast, and think--is it well to offer
+violence to a woman who bears this holy seal?"
+
+"I have heard of such a one," said Janees hoarsely, for the sight of
+her beauty maddened him. "They say that she was born in Thebes, and of
+a strange father, though, if so, how came she here? I am told that she
+reigns as Pharaoh in Egypt."
+
+"Ask that question of your oracles, O King, but remember that rumour
+does not always lie, and let the daughter of that strange father go."
+
+"There is another who claims to be your father, Lady, if by now my
+soldiers have not scourged him to his death--a tattered beggar-man."
+
+"Whom those soldiers could not touch or find," broke in Asti, speaking
+for the first time.
+
+"Well," went on Janees, without heeding her, "whether your father be a
+beggar or a god, or even if you are Hathor's self come down from heaven
+to be the death of men, know that I take you for my own. For the third
+time, answer, will you be my Queen of your own choice, or must my women
+drown yonder witch in this water at your feet, and drag you hence?"
+
+Now Tua made no answer. She only let fall her veil, folded her arms upon
+her breast, and waited. But Asti, mocking him, cried in a loud voice,
+that he might hear above the howling of the hurricane without:
+
+"Call your women, King, for the air is full of sand that chokes my
+throat, and I long for the water which you promise me."
+
+Then, in his fury, Janees turned, and shouted:
+
+"Come hither, Slaves, and do what I have commanded you."
+
+As he spoke the door burst open, and through it, no longer clad in rags,
+but wearing a white robe and head-dress, walked Kepher the Wanderer,
+while after him, their red swords in their hands, came savage-looking
+chiefs, bearded, blank-faced, round-eyed, with gold chains that clanked
+upon their mail, captains of the Desert, men who knew neither fear nor
+mercy.
+
+Janees looked and understood. He snatched out his sword, and for a
+moment stayed irresolute, while the great men ringed him round and
+waited, their eyes fixed on Kepher's face.
+
+"Spare him, Father, if it may be so," said Tua, "since love has made him
+mad."
+
+"Too late!" answered Kepher solemnly. "Those who will not accept the
+warning of the gods must suffer the vengeance of the gods. Janees, you
+who would do violence to a helpless woman, your palace burns, your
+city is in my keeping, and the few who stood by you are slain. Janees,
+to-morrow another shall rule in your place. Amen the Father has decreed
+your doom."
+
+"Aye," echoed Janees heavily, "too late! Mortals cannot fight against
+the gods that make their sport of them. Some god commanded that I should
+love. Some god commands that I shall die. So be it, I am glad to die;
+would that I had not been born to know grief and death. Tell me, O
+Prophet, what evil power is there which ordains that we must be born and
+suffer?"
+
+Kepher beckoned to Tua and to Asti, and they followed him, leaving
+Janees ringed round by those stern-faced men.
+
+"Farewell, Lady," he called to Tua as she passed. "Here and hereafter
+remember this of Janees, King of Tat, that he who might have saved his
+life chose to die for love of you."
+
+Then they went and saw him no more.
+
+They passed the door of the great marble chamber about which they found
+guards and eunuchs lying dead; they passed down the stairways, and
+through the tall gates where more soldiers lay dead, and looking
+behind them, saw that the palace was in flames. They reached the square
+without, and at the command of Kepher entered into a litter, and were
+borne by black slaves whither they knew not.
+
+All that night they were borne, awake or sleeping, till at length the
+morning came, and they descended from the litter to find themselves in
+an oasis of the wilderness surrounded by a vast army of the desert men.
+Of the city of Tat they could see nothing; like a dream it had passed
+out of their lives, nor did they ever hear of it and its king again.
+Only in the pavilion that had been provided for them they found their
+pearls and gold, and Tua's ivory harp.
+
+They laid themselves down and slept, for they were very weary, only to
+wake when once more the day had dawned. Then they rose and ate of the
+food that had been placed by them, and went out of the tent. In the
+shadow of some palm trees stood Kepher, awaiting them, and with him
+certain of the stern-faced, desert chiefs, who bowed as they advanced.
+
+"Hearken, Lady Neferte, and you, O Asti her companion," said Kepher to
+them, "I must depart, who, this matter finished, have my bread to beg
+far from here. Yet, fear not, for know that these Lords of the Desert
+are your servants, and for this reason were they born, that they may
+help you on your way. Repeat your orders," he continued, addressing the
+chiefs.
+
+Then the captain of them all said:
+
+"Wanderer, known to our fathers' grandfathers, Guardian of our race by
+whom we live and triumph, these are your commands: That we lead this
+divine Lady and her companion a journey of many moons across the deserts
+and mountains, till at length we bring her to the gates of the City of
+Gold, where our task ends. While one man of us remains alive they shall
+be obeyed."
+
+"You hear," said Kepher to Tua. "Put your trust in these men. Go in
+peace in the day time, and sleep in peace at night, for be sure that
+they shall not fail you. But if they, or any other should perchance
+bring you into trouble, then strike upon the harp and call the name you
+know, as you called it in the house of Janees the mad, and I think that
+one will come to you. Lords of the Desert, whose great grandsires were
+known to me, and who live by my wisdom, this divine Lady is in your
+keeping. See that you guard her as you should, and when the journey is
+done, return and make report to me. Farewell."
+
+Then, lifting his staff, without speaking another word to Tua or to
+Asti, Kepher strode away from amongst them, walking through the ranks
+of the Desert men who forced their camels to kneel and saluted him as he
+passed. Presently they saw him standing alone upon a ridge, and looking
+towards them for a while. Then of a sudden he was gone.
+
+"Who is that man, O Captain, at whose bidding the wilderness swarms
+with tribesmen and kings are brought to doom?" asked Asti when she had
+watched him disappear.
+
+"Lady," he answered, "I cannot tell you, but from the beginning he has
+been Master of the Desert, and those who dwell therein. At his word the
+sandwind blows as it blew yesterday to cover our advance, at his word
+the fountains spring and tribes grow great or sink to nothingness. We
+think that he is a spirit who moves where he lists, and executes the
+decrees of heaven. At the least, though they but see him from time to
+time, all the dwellers in the wilderness obey him, as we do, and ill
+does it go, as you have learned, with those dwellers in cities who know
+not the power which breathes beneath that tattered robe."
+
+"I thank you," answered Asti. "I think with you that this Wanderer is
+a spirit, and a great one, so great that I will not name his name.
+Captains, my Lady is ready to march towards the City of Gold, whither
+you will lead us."
+
+
+
+For day after day, for week after week, for month after month, they
+marched southward and westward across the Desert, and in the centre
+of their host, mounted upon camels, rode Tua and Asti veiled. Once the
+hillmen attacked them in a defile of some rugged mountains, but they
+beat them back, and once there was a great battle with other tribes of
+the wilderness, who, hearing that they had a goddess among them, sought
+to capture her for themselves. These tribes also they defeated with
+slaughter, for when the fight hung in the balance Tua herself headed the
+charge of her horsemen, and at the sight of her in her white robes the
+enemy fled amazed. Once also they camped for two whole months in an
+oasis, waiting till rain should fall, for the country beyond lacked
+water. At length it came, and they went on again, on and on over the
+endless lands, till on a certain night they pitched their tent upon a
+hill.
+
+At the first brightening of the dawn Tua and Asti went out, and there,
+beneath them, near to the banks of a great river, which they knew for
+the Nile, they saw the pyramids and the temples of Napata the Golden,
+the southern city of Amen, and thanked the gods who had brought them
+here in safety.
+
+While they still gazed upon its glories in the red light of the rising
+sun the captain of the desert men appeared, and bowed before them.
+
+"Divine Lady," he said, "woman or goddess, whichever you may be, we have
+fulfilled the command given to us by Kepher, the ancient King of the
+Wilderness. Beneath you lies Napata whither we have journeyed through
+so many weary months, but we would draw no nearer to its walls, who from
+generation to generation are sworn not to enter any city save in war.
+Lady, our task is done, and our men murmur to be led back to their own
+place, where their wives and children await them, ere, thinking that we
+are enemies, the people of Napata sally forth to attack us."
+
+"It is well," answered Tua. "I thank you and the gods shall give you
+your reward. Leave us, and go back to your homes, but before you go,
+take a gift from me."
+
+Then she sent for the gold that they had gathered in their trading
+in the city of Tat, and gave it to be divided among them, a great and
+precious treasure. Only the pearls she kept, with a little of the gold.
+So the captains saluted her, and in the mists of the morning they and
+their swarthy host stole away, and soon were hidden in a cloud of dust.
+
+From the backs of their camels Tua and Asti watched them go like a dream
+of the night. Then with no word spoken between them, for their lips were
+sealed with hope and wonder, wrapping themselves in their dark cloaks,
+they rode down to the highway by the banks of the Nile, which led to the
+walls of Napata. Mingling with other travellers, they passed through the
+Field of Pyramids, and coming to the beautiful northern gate that was
+covered over with gold, waited there, for this gate was not yet opened.
+A woman who led three asses laden with green barley and vegetables,
+which she purposed to sell in the market-place, fell into talk with
+them, asking them whence they came.
+
+Asti answered, from the city of Meroe, adding that they were singers and
+dealers in pearls.
+
+"Then you have come to the right place," answered the woman, "for pearls
+are rare at Napata, which is so far from the sea; also it is said that
+the young King loves singing if it be good."
+
+"The young King?" asked Asti. "What is his name, and where is the old
+king?"
+
+"You cannot have dwelt long in Meroe, Strangers," answered the woman
+suspiciously, "or you would know that the old King dwells with Osiris
+beneath yonder pyramid, where the general of the Pharaoh of Egypt,
+he who rules here now, buried him after the great battle. Oh! it is a
+strange story, and I do not know the rights of it who sell my stuff and
+take little heed of such things. But at the last high Nile before one
+this general came with three thousand soldiers of Egypt, and the body
+of the Prince of Kesh, whom it seems he had slain somewhere, it is said
+because both of them sought the favour of the Queen of Egypt. As they
+tell, this was the command of that Queen--that he should submit himself
+to the King of Napata to be judged for his crime. This he did, and the
+King in his fury commanded that he should be hanged from the mast of the
+sacred boat of Amen. The general answered that he was ready to be hanged
+if the King could hang him. Then there was a war between the people of
+Napata and the Egyptians, aided by many of the soldiers of the city who
+hated their master and rebelled against his rule, which was ever cruel.
+The end of it was that the Egyptians and the rebels won, and the King
+having fallen in the fight, they crowned the Egyptian general in his
+place.
+
+"His name?--Oh, I forget it, he has so many, but he is a goodly man to
+look at, and all love him although he is mad. See, the gates are open at
+last. Farewell," and dragging her asses by the halter, the peasant woman
+mingled with the crowd and was gone.
+
+Tua and Asti also mingled with the crowd, and rode on up a wide street
+till they came to a square planted round with trees, on one side of
+which was built a splendid palace. Here they halted their camels, not
+knowing whither they should go, and as they stood irresolute the gates
+of the palace opened and through them came a body of horsemen clad in
+armour.
+
+"See the writing on their shields," whispered Asti.
+
+Tua looked and read, and lo! there in the royal cartouche was her own
+name, and after it new titles--Queen of the Upper and the Lower Land,
+Opener of the Gates of the South, Divine Lady of Napata by grace of
+Amen, Father of the Gods.
+
+"It seems that I have subjects here," she murmured, "who elsewhere have
+none," then ceased.
+
+For now through the gate rode one mounted on a splendid horse, whose
+shape seemed familiar to her even while he was far away.
+
+"Who is that?" faltered Tua.
+
+"My heart tells me it is Rames my son," answered Asti, grasping at her
+saddle-rope.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+TUA FINDS HER LOVER
+
+Rames it was without a doubt; Rames grown older and stern and sad of
+face, but still Rames, and no other man, and oh! their eyes swam and
+their hearts beat at the sight of him.
+
+"Say, shall we declare ourselves?" asked Asti.
+
+"Nay," answered Tua, "not here and now. He would not believe, and we
+cannot unveil before all these men. Also, first I desire to learn more.
+Let him pass."
+
+Rames rode on till he came opposite to where the two women sat on their
+white camels beneath a tree, when something seemed to attract his gaze
+to them. He looked once carelessly and turned his head away. He looked a
+second time, and again turned his head, though more slowly. He looked
+a third time, and his eyes remained fixed upon those two veiled women
+seated on their camels beneath the trees. Then, as though acting upon
+some impulse, he pulled upon his horse's bit, and rode up to them.
+
+"Who are you, Stranger Ladies," he asked, "who own such fine camels?"
+
+Tua bowed her head that the folds of her veil might hide her shape, but
+Asti answered in a feigned voice:
+
+"Sir, both of us are merchants, and one is a harper and a singer.
+We have travelled hither up the Nile to the Golden City because we
+understand that in Napata pearls are rare, and such we have to sell.
+Also we were told that the new King of this city loved good singing,
+and my companion, who sings and harps, learned her art in Egypt, even at
+Thebes the holy. But who are you, Sir, that question us?"
+
+"Lady," answered Rames, "I am an Egyptian who holds this town on behalf
+of the Queen of Egypt whom once I knew. Or perhaps I should say that I
+hold it on behalf of the Pharaoh of Egypt, since my spies tell me that
+the Star of Amen has taken Abi, Prince of Memphis, to husband, although
+they add that he finds her a masterful wife," and he laughed bitterly.
+
+"Sir," replied Asti, "it is long since we left holy Thebes, some years
+indeed, and we know nothing of these things, who ply our trade from
+place to place. But if you are the governor of this town, show us, we
+pray you, as countrywomen of yours, where we may lodge in safety, and
+at your leisure this afternoon permit that we exhibit our pearls before
+you, and when that is done, and you have bought or refused them, as you
+may wish, that my companion should sing to you some of the ancient songs
+of Egypt."
+
+"Ladies," answered Rames, "I am a soldier who would rather buy swords
+than pearls. Also, as it chances, I am a man who dwells alone, one
+in whose household no women can be found. Yet because you are of my
+country, or by Amen I know not why! I grant you your request. I go out
+to exercise this company in the arts of war, but after sundown you shall
+come to my palace, and I will see your wares and hear your songs. Till
+then, farewell. Officer," he added to a captain who had followed him,
+"take these Egyptians and their camels and give them a lodging in the
+guest-house, where they will not be molested, and at sundown bring them
+to me."
+
+Then, still staring at them as though they held his eyes in their
+hearts, Rames departed, and the captain led them to their lodging.
+
+
+
+It was the hour of sundown, and Tua, adorned in beautiful white raiment,
+broidered with royal purple, that she carried in her baggage on the
+camel, with her long hair combed out and scented, a necklace of great
+pearls upon her bosom, a veil flung over her head, and her harp of gold
+and ivory in her hand, waited to be led before Rames. Asti, his mother,
+waited also, but she was clad in a plain black robe, and over her
+head was a black veil. Presently that captain who had shown them their
+lodging, came to them and asked if they were ready to be led before the
+Viceroy of Napata.
+
+"Viceroy?" answered Asti, "I thought he was a King."
+
+"So he is, my good Woman," replied the captain, "but it his fancy to
+call himself the Viceroy of Neter-Tua, Star of Amen, wife of Abi the
+Usurper who rules in Egypt. A mad fancy when he might be a Pharaoh on
+his own account, but so it is."
+
+"Well, Sir," said Asti, "we merchants have nothing to do with these high
+matters; lead us to this Pharaoh, or General, or Viceroy, with whom we
+hope to transact business."
+
+So the captain conducted them to a side gate of the palace, and thence
+through various passages and halls, in some of which Tua recognised
+officers of her own whom she had commanded to accompany Rames, to an
+apartment of no great size, where he bade them be seated. Presently a
+door opened, and through it came Rames, plainly dressed in the uniform
+of an Egyptian general, on which they saw he wore no serpent crest
+or other of the outward signs of royalty. Only on his right hand that
+lacked the little finger, gleamed a certain royal ring, which Tua
+knew. With him also were several captains to whom he talked of military
+affairs.
+
+Seeing the two women, he bowed to them courteously, and asked them to
+forgive him for having kept them waiting for him. Then he said:
+
+"What was it that you wished to show me, Ladies? Oh! I remember,
+precious stones. Well, I fear me that you have brought them to a bad
+market, seeing that although Napata is called the City of Gold, she
+needs all her wealth for her own purposes, and I draw from it only a
+general's pay, and a sum for the sustenance of my household, which is
+small. Still, let me look at your wares, for if I do not buy myself,
+perhaps I may be able to find you a customer."
+
+Now when they saw the young man's noble face and bearing, and heard his
+simple words, the hearts of Asti and Tua, his mother and his love, beat
+so hard within their breasts that for a while they could scarcely speak.
+Glad were they, indeed, that the veils they wore hid their troubled
+faces from his eyes, which, as in the morning, lingered on them
+curiously.
+
+At length, controlling herself with an effort, Asti answered:
+
+"Perchance, Lord, the Great Lady your wife, or the ladies your
+companions, will buy if you do not."
+
+"Have I not already told you, Merchant," asked Rames angrily, "that I
+have no wife, and no companions that are not men?"
+
+"You said so, Sir," she replied humbly, always speaking in her feigned
+voice, "yet forgive us if we believed you not, since in our journeyings
+my daughter and I have seen many princes, and know that such a thing is
+contrary to their nature. Still we will show you our wares, for surely
+all the men in Napata are not unmarried."
+
+Then, without more ado, she drew out a box of scented cedar and, opening
+it, revealed a diadem of pearls worked into the shape of the royal
+_uræus_, which they had fashioned thus at Tat, and also a few of their
+largest single gems.
+
+"Beautiful, indeed," said Rames, looking at them, "though there is but
+one who has the right to wear this crown, the divine Queen of the Upper
+and the Lower Land," and he sighed.
+
+"Nay, Lord," replied Asti, "for surely her husband might wear it also."
+
+"It would sit but ill on the fat head of Abi, from all I hear, Lady," he
+broke in, laughing bitterly.
+
+"Or," went on Asti, taking no heed of his words, "a general who had
+conquered a great country could usurp it, and find none to reprove him,
+especially if he himself happened to be of the royal blood."
+
+Now Rames looked at her sharply.
+
+"You speak strange words," he said, "but doubtless it is by chance.
+Merchant, those pearls of yours are for richer men than I am, shut them
+in the box again, and let the lady, your daughter, sing some old song of
+Egypt, for such I long to hear."
+
+"So be it, Lord," answered Asti. "Still, keep the diadem as a gift,
+since it was made for you alone, and may yet be useful to you--who can
+know? It is the price we pay for liberty to trade in your dominions.
+Nay, unless you keep it my daughter shall not sing."
+
+"Let it lie there, then, most princely Merchant, and we will talk of the
+matter afterwards. Now for the song."
+
+Then, her moment come at last, Tua stood up, and holding the ivory harp
+beneath her veil, she swept its golden chords. Disguising her voice,
+as Asti had done, she began to sing, somewhat low, a short and gentle
+love-song, which soon came to an end.
+
+"It is pretty," said Rames, when she had finished, "and reminds me of
+I know not what. But have you no fuller music at your command? If so, I
+would listen to it before I bid you good-night."
+
+She bent her head and answered almost in a whisper:
+
+"Lord, if you wish it, I will sing you the story of one who dared to
+set his heart too high, and of what befell him at the hands of an angry
+goddess."
+
+"Sing on," he answered. "Once I heard such a story--elsewhere."
+
+Then Tua swept her harp and sang again, but this time with all her
+strength and soul. As the first glorious notes floated from her lips
+Rames rose from his seat, and stood staring at her entranced. On went
+the song, and on, as she had sung it in the banqueting hall of Pharaoh
+at Thebes, so she sang it in the chamber of Rames at Napata. The scribe
+dared the sanctuary, the angry goddess smote him cold in death, the
+high-priestess wailed and mourned, the Queen of Love relented, and gave
+him back his life again. Then came that last glorious burst when, lifted
+up to heaven, the two lovers, forgiven, purged, chanted their triumph to
+the stars, and, by slow degrees, the music throbbed itself to silence.
+
+Look! white-faced, trembling, Rames clung to a pillar in his chamber,
+while Tua sank back upon her chair, and the harp she held slipped from
+her hand down upon the floor.
+
+"Whence came that harp?" he gasped. "Surely there are not two such in
+the world? Woman, you have stolen it. Nay, how can you have stolen the
+music, and the voice as well? Lady, forgive me, I have no thought of
+evil, but oh! grant me a boon. Why, I will tell you afterwards. Grant me
+a boon--let me look upon your face."
+
+Tua lifted her hands, and undid the fastening of her veil, which slipped
+from her to her feet, showing her in the rich array of a prince of
+Egypt. His eyes met her beautiful eyes, and for a while they gazed upon
+each other like folk who dream.
+
+"What trick is this?" he said angrily at last. "Before me stands the
+Star of Amen, Egypt's anointed Queen. The harp she bears was the royal
+gift of the Prince of Kesh, he who fell that night beneath my sword. The
+voice is Egypt's voice, the song is Egypt's song. Nay, how can it be?
+I am mad, you are magicians come to mock me, for that Star, Amen's
+daughter, reigns a thousand miles away with the lord she chose, Abi, her
+own uncle, he who, they say, murdered Pharaoh. Get you gone, Sorceress,
+lest I cause the priests of Amen, whereof you also make a mock, to cast
+you to the flames for blasphemy."
+
+Slowly, very slowly, Tua opened the wrappings about her throat,
+revealing the Sign of Life that from her birth was stamped above her
+bosom.
+
+"When they see this holy mark, think you that the priests of Amen will
+cast me to the flames, O Royal Son of Mermes?" asked Tua softly.
+
+"Why not?" he answered. "If you have power to lie in one thing, you have
+power to lie in all. She who can steal the loveliness of Egypt's self,
+can also steal the signet of the god."
+
+"Say, did you, O Rames, also steal that other signet on your hand, a
+Queen's gift, I think, that once a Pharaoh wore? Say also how did you
+lose the little finger of that hand? Was it perchance in the maw of a
+certain god that dwells in the secret pool of a temple at holy Thebes?"
+
+So Tua spake, and waited a while, but Rames said nothing. He opened his
+mouth to answer, indeed, but a dumbness sealed his lips.
+
+"Nurse," she went on presently, "I cannot persuade this Lord that I am
+Egypt and no other. Try you."
+
+So Asti loosed her black veil, and let it fall about her feet. He stared
+at her noble features and grey hair, then, uttering a great cry of
+"Mother, my Mother, who they swore to me was dead in Memphis," he flung
+himself upon her breast, and there burst into weeping.
+
+"Aye, Rames," said Asti presently, "your Mother, she who bore you, and
+no other woman, and with her one who because her royal heart loves you
+now as from the first, from moon to moon for two whole years has braved
+the dangers of the desert, and of wicked men, till at last Amen her
+father brings her safely to your side. Now do you believe?"
+
+"Aye," answered Rames, "I believe."
+
+"Then, O faithful Captain," said Tua, "take this gift from Egypt's
+Queen, which a while ago you thrust aside, and be its Lord and mine,"
+and lifting the diadem of pearls crested with the royal _uræi_ she set
+it on his brow, as once before she had done in that hour of dawn when
+she vowed herself to him in Thebes.
+
+
+
+It was night, and all their wonderful story had been told.
+
+"Such is our tale, Rames my Son," said Asti, "and long may you search
+before you find another that will match it. Now tell us yours."
+
+"It is short, Mother," he answered. "Obeying the commands of her Majesty
+yonder," and he bowed towards Tua, who sat at the further side of the
+table at which they ate, "I travelled up the Nile to this city. As
+the old king, the father of the Prince of Kesh, would have slain me I
+attacked him first by the help of my Egyptians and his own subjects,
+and--well, he died. Moreover, none regretted him, for he was a bad
+king, and I stepped into his place, and ever since have been engaged in
+righting matters which they needed. Long ago I would have returned
+to Egypt and reported myself, only my spies told me of all that had
+happened there. They told me, for instance, of the murder of Pharaoh,
+by the witchcraft of Abi and his companions; and they told me that
+Pharaoh's daughter, the Star of Amen, forgetting all things and the oath
+she swore to me, had married her old uncle Abi that she might save her
+life and power."
+
+"And you believed them, Rames?" asked Tua reproachfully.
+
+"What else could I do but believe, Lady, seeing that those same spies
+swore that they had seen your Majesty seated upon your throne at
+Memphis, and elsewhere, and causing Abi to run to and fro like a little
+dog, and do your bidding in all things? How could I know that it was
+your Double, and not yourself that married Abi?"
+
+"I think that Abi knows to-day," answered Tua, "since it seems that a Ka
+makes but a bad wife to any man. But now what shall we do?"
+
+"Will you not first marry me, Lady?" suggested Rames. "Afterwards, we
+can think."
+
+"Aye," she answered, "I will marry you as I have promised, but in one
+place only, the temple of Amen in Egypt. First win me back my throne,
+then ask for my hand."
+
+"It shall be done," he answered, "though how I know not, seeing that
+another sits upon that throne of yours, who, perhaps, will not be
+willing to bid it farewell."
+
+"We will send her a message, Son," said Asti. "Now leave us, for we must
+sleep."
+
+"Where is your messenger, Mother?" asked Rames as he went.
+
+"Have you known me all these years, my Son, and not learned that I have
+servants whom you cannot see?" answered Asti.
+
+
+
+It was midnight, and in their chamber of the palace of Rames, Asti and
+Tua knelt side by side in prayer to Amen, Father of the Gods. Then,
+their petitions finished, Asti rose to her feet, and once again, as in
+the pylon tower at Memphis, uttered the awful words that in bygone days
+had been spoken to her by the spirit of Ahura the divine in Osiris.
+
+There was a sound as of whispering, a sound as of beating wings. Lo!
+in the shadow beyond the lamplight a mist gathered that brightened by
+degrees and took shape, the shape of a royal woman clad in the robes
+and ornaments of Egypt's Queen, whose face was as the face of Neter-Tua,
+only prouder and more unearthly. In silence it stood before them
+scanning them with its glittering eyes.
+
+"Whence come you, O Double?" asked Asti.
+
+"From that place where your command found me, O Mistress of Secret
+Things, from the house of Abi at Thebes, wherein he seems to rule as
+Pharaoh," the Form answered in its cold voice.
+
+"How fares it with Abi and with Egypt, O Double?"
+
+"With Abi it fares but ill; he wastes in toil and fear and longings,
+and knows no happy hour. But with Egypt it fares well. Never, O Lady
+of Strength, was she more great than she is to-day, for in all things I
+have fulfilled the commandments that were laid upon me, and now I desire
+to rest in that bosom whence I came," and she pointed to Tua, who stood
+and watched.
+
+"Not yet, O Double, for there is still work for you to do, and then you
+shall be at peace till the day of the last Awakening. Hearken: Return
+to Thebes, and tell a false tale in the ears of Abi and his councillors.
+Say that Rames the Egyptian, who has seized the rule of Kesh, has
+declared himself Pharaoh of Egypt by right of race, and your husband
+by the promise of him who ruled before you whom Abi did to death. Cause
+this Abi to gather a great army, and to march southward to make an end
+of Rames. But secretly whisper into the ears of the generals of this
+army, that it is true the divine Pharaoh who is gone promised you in
+marriage to Rames with your own consent, and by the command of Amen,
+Father of the Gods, and of your Spirit. Whisper to them that Amen is
+wrath with Abi because of his crime, as he will show them in due season,
+and that those who rebel against him shall have his love and favour. At
+the Gateway of the South, whence the Nile rushes northward between great
+walls of rock, Rames shall meet the army of Abi. With him will come her
+of whom you are, and I whom you must obey; also perchance another who
+is greater than all of us. There at the Gateway of the South your task
+shall be accomplished, and you shall find the rest you seek. It is
+said."
+
+"I hear the command, and it shall be done," answered the Ka in its cold,
+passionless voice. "Only, Lady of the Secrets, Doer of the Will Divine,
+delay not, lest, outworn, I should break back like a flame to yonder
+breast that is my home, slaying as I come, and leaving wreck behind me."
+
+Then as the figure had appeared, so also it disappeared, growing faint
+by degrees, and vanishing away into the night out of which it came.
+
+
+
+It was morning at Thebes, and Abi sat in the great hall of Pharaoh
+transacting business of the State, while at his side stood Kaku the
+Vizier. Changed were both of them, indeed, since they had plotted the
+death of their guest and king at Memphis, for now Abi was so worn with
+work and fear and wretchedness, that his royal robes hung about him in
+loose folds, while Kaku had become an old, old man, who trembled as he
+walked.
+
+"Is the business finished, Officer?" asked Abi impatiently.
+
+"Nay, Mighty Lord," answered Kaku, "there is still enough to keep you
+sitting here till noon, and after that you must receive the Council and
+the Embassies."
+
+"I will not receive them. Let them wait till another day. Knave, would
+you work me to death, who have never known an hour's rest or peace since
+the happy time when I ruled as Prince of Memphis?"
+
+"Lord," answered Kaku, bowing humbly, "weary or no you must receive
+them, for so it has been decreed by her Majesty the Queen, whose command
+may not be broken."
+
+"The Queen!" exclaimed Abi in a low voice, rolling his hollow eyes
+around him as though in fear. "Oh, Kaku, would that I had never beheld
+the Queen. I tell you that she is not a woman, as indeed you know well,
+but a fiend with a heart of ice, and the venomous cunning of a snake. I
+am called Pharaoh, yet am but her puppet to carry out her decrees. I am
+called her husband, yet she is still no wife to me, or to any, although
+all men love her, and by that love are ofttimes brought to doom. Last
+night again she vanished from my side as I sat listening to her orders,
+and after a while, lo! there she was as before, only, as it seemed to
+me, somewhat weary. I asked her where she had been and she answered:
+'Further than I could travel in a year to visit one she loved as much as
+she hated me. Now who can that be, Kaku?'"
+
+"Rames, I think, Lord, he who has made himself King of Kesh," replied
+Kaku in an awed whisper. "Without a doubt she loved the man when she was
+a woman, though whom she loves now the evil gods know alone. We are in
+her power, and must work her will, for, Lord, if we do not we shall die,
+and I think that neither of us desires to die, since beyond that gate
+dead Pharaoh waits for us."
+
+At these words Abi groaned aloud, wiping the sweat from his blanched
+face with the corner of his robe, and saying:
+
+"There you speak truly. Go, call the scribes, and let us get on with the
+Queen's business."
+
+Kaku turned to obey, when suddenly heralds entered the empty hall,
+crying:
+
+"Her Majesty the Queen waits without with a great company, and humbly
+craves audience of her good lord, the divine Pharaoh of the Upper and
+the Lower Land."
+
+Abi and Kaku looked at each other, and despair was in their eyes.
+
+"Let her Majesty enter," said the King in a low voice.
+
+The heralds retired, and presently through the cedar doors appeared
+the Queen in state. She was splendid to behold, splendid in her proud
+beauty, splendid in her dress, and in her royal ornaments. On she swept
+up the hall, attended by Merytra, who bore her fan and cushion, for
+it was her pleasure that this woman should wait upon her day and night
+without pause or rest, although she who had once been so handsome now
+was worn almost to nothingness with toil and terror. Behind Merytra came
+guards and high-priests, and after them the great lords of the Council,
+who were called the King's Companions and the generals of the army.
+
+On she swept up the hall till reaching the foot of the throne whereon
+Abi sat, she motioned to Merytra to place the cushion upon its step, and
+knelt, saying:
+
+"I am come as a loyal wife to make a humble prayer to Pharaoh my Lord in
+the presence of his Court."
+
+"Rise and speak on, Great Lady," answered Abi. "It is not fit that you
+should kneel to me."
+
+"Nay, it is most fit that Pharaoh's Queen should kneel to Pharaoh when
+she seeks his divine favour." Yet she rose, and, seating herself in a
+chair that had been brought, spoke thus:
+
+"O Pharaoh, last night I dreamed a dream. I dreamed of the Count Rames,
+son of Mermes, the last of that royal race which ruled before our House
+in Egypt. I mean that man who slew the Prince of Kesh in this very hall,
+and whom, my Father being sick, I sent to Napata, to be judged by
+the King of Kesh, but who, it seems, overthrew that king and took his
+kingdom in the name of Egypt.
+
+"I dreamed that this bold and able man, not satisfied with the rich
+kingdom of Kesh, has made a scheme to attack Egypt; to slay you, most
+glorious Lord, to proclaim himself Pharaoh by right of ancient blood,
+and more--to take me, your faithful wife, to be his wife, and thereby
+secure his throne."
+
+"Without doubt, Queen, this turbulent Rames might think of such
+things," said Abi, "and so far your dream may be true; yet it should
+be remembered that at present he is at Napata, which is a very long way
+off, and has probably only a small army at his command, so why should
+you trouble about what he thinks?"
+
+"O Pharaoh, that was not all my dream, for in it I saw two pictures. The
+first was of this bold Rames attacking Thebes, and conquering it, yes,
+and dragging me away to be his wife over your very corpse, O Pharaoh.
+The second was of you and your army meeting him at the Gate of the South
+Land, and slaying him, and taking possession of the kingdom of Kesh, and
+its golden city, and ruling them for Egypt, until you die."
+
+"Here be two dreams, O Queen," said Abi. "Tell us now, which would you
+follow, for both of them cannot be right?"
+
+"How can I know, Pharaoh, and how can you know? Yet by your side stands
+one who will know, for he is the first of magicians, and a chosen
+interpreter of the heart of the gods. Grant that he may make this matter
+clear," and she pointed to Kaku, who stood by the throne.
+
+"Divine Lady," stammered Kaku, "the thing is too high for me. I have no
+message, I cannot tell you----"
+
+"You were ever over-modest, Kaku," said the Queen. "Command him, O
+Pharaoh, to shed the light of his wisdom on us, for without doubt he
+knows the truth."
+
+"Yes, yes," said Abi, "he knows it, he knows everything. Kaku, delay
+not, interpret the dream of her Majesty."
+
+"I cannot, I will not," spluttered the old astrologer. "Ask my wife, the
+Lady Merytra there, she is wiser than I am."
+
+"My good friend Merytra has already told me her mind," said the Queen,
+"now we wait for yours. A prophet must speak when the gods call on him,
+or," she added slowly, "he must cease to be a prophet who betrays the
+gods by hiding their high counsel."
+
+Now Kaku could find no way of escape, so, since he feared the very name
+of Rames, within himself he determined that he would interpret the
+dream in the sense that Pharaoh should await the attack of this Rames at
+Thebes, and while every ear listened to him, thus began his tale. Yet as
+he spoke he felt the glittering eyes of that spirit who was called the
+Queen, fix themselves upon him and compel his tongue, so that he said
+just what he did not mean to say.
+
+"A light shines in me," he cried, "and I see that the second vision of
+her Majesty is the true vision. You must go up with your army to the
+Gate of the South, O Pharaoh, and there meet this usurper, Rames, that
+these matters may be brought to their appointed end."
+
+"Their appointed end? What appointed end?" shouted Abi.
+
+"Doubtless that which her Majesty dreamed," answered Kaku. "At least,
+it is laid upon me to tell you that you must go up to the Gate of the
+South."
+
+"Then I wish that the Gate of the South were laid upon you also, O Evil
+Prophet," exclaimed Abi. "For two years only have I ruled in Egypt, and
+lo! three wars have been my portion, a war against the people of Syria,
+a war against the desert men, and a war against the Nine Bow barbarians
+that invaded the Low Lands. Must I now, in my age, undertake another war
+against the terrible sons of Kesh also? Let this dog, Rames, come, if
+come he will, and I will hang him here at the gates of Thebes."
+
+"Nay, nay, O Pharaoh," replied Kaku, "it is laid upon me to tell you
+that you must hang him in the desert hundreds of miles away from Thebes.
+That is the interpretation of the vision; that is the command of the
+gods."
+
+"The gods have spoken by the mouth of their prophet," cried the Queen in
+a thrilling, triumphant voice. "Now Pharaoh, Priests, Councillors, and
+Captains of Egypt, let us make ready to travel to the Gate of the South,
+and there hang the dog Rames in the desert land, that thus Egypt and
+Egypt's King and Egypt's Queen may be freed from danger, and rest in
+peace, and the wealth of the City of Gold be divided amongst you all."
+
+"Aye, aye," answered the Priests, Councillors, and Captains, the shrill
+voice of Kaku leading the chorus, still against his will, "let us go up
+at once, and let her Majesty accompany us."
+
+"Yes," said the Queen, "I will accompany you, for though I be but a
+woman, shall I shrink from what Pharaoh, my dear Lord, dares? We will
+sail at the new moon."
+
+
+
+That night Abi and Kaku stood face to face.
+
+"What is this that you have done?" asked Abi. "Do you not remember the
+words which dead Pharaoh spoke in the awful vision that came to me that
+night at Memphis, when he bade me take the Royal Loveliness which I
+desired to be my wife? Do you not remember that he bade me also reign
+in her right until I met 'one Rames, Son of Mermes' and with him a
+Beggar-man who is charged with another message for me?"
+
+"I remember," answered Kaku in a hollow voice.
+
+"What, then, is this message, Man, that will come from Rames or the
+Beggar? Is it not the message of my death and yours, of us whose tombs
+were finished but yesterday?"
+
+"It may be so, Lord."
+
+"Then why did you interpret the dream of the Queen in the sense that I
+must hurry southwards to meet this very Rames--and my doom?"
+
+"Because I could not help it," groaned Kaku. "That spirit who is called
+a Queen compelled me. Abi, there is no escape for us; we are in the net
+of Fate--unless, unless you dare----" and he looked meaningly at the
+sword that hung by Pharaoh's side.
+
+"Nay, Kaku," he answered, "I dare not. Let us live while we may, knowing
+what awaits us beyond the gate."
+
+"Aye," moaned Kaku, "beyond the Gate of the South, where we shall find
+Rames the Avenger, and that Beggar who is charged with a message for
+us."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+
+THE JUDGMENT OF THE GODS
+
+Three more months had gone by, and the great host of Pharaoh was
+encamped beyond the Southern Gate, and the warships of Pharaoh were
+anchored thick on either bank of the Nile. There they lay prepared for
+battle, for spies had reported to them that the general, Rames, Lord of
+Kesh, was advancing northward swiftly, though with so small an army that
+it could easily be destroyed. Therefore Abi waited there to destroy it
+without further toil, nor did his terrible Queen gainsay him. She also
+seemed content to wait.
+
+One evening as the sun sank it was told to them that the troops of Rames
+had appeared, and occupied the mountains on the right bank of the Nile,
+being encamped around that temple of Amen which had stood there for
+thousands of years.
+
+"Good," said the Queen. "To-morrow Pharaoh will go up against him and
+make an end of this matter. Is it not so, Pharaoh?" and she looked at
+him with her glittering eyes.
+
+"Yes, yes," answered Abi, "the sooner the better, for I am worn out, and
+would return to Thebes. Yet," he added in a weak, uncertain voice, "I
+misdoubt me of this war, I know not why. What is it that you stare at in
+the heavens so fixedly, O Kaku?"
+
+Now the eyes of the Council were turned on Kaku the Vizier, and they
+perceived that he was much disturbed.
+
+"Look," he said, pointing with a trembling finger towards the skies.
+
+They looked, and saw hanging just above the evening glow a very bright
+and wonderful star, and near to it, another, paler star which presently
+it seemed to cover.
+
+"The Star of Amen," gasped Kaku in a voice that shook, "and your star, O
+Pharaoh. The Star of Amen eats it up, your star goes out, and will never
+be seen again by living man. Oh! Abi, that which I foresaw years and
+years ago has come to pass. Your day is done, and your night is at hand,
+O Abi."
+
+"If so," shouted Abi in his rage and terror, "be sure of this, Dog--that
+you shall share it."
+
+As he spoke a sound of screams drew near, and presently into the midst
+of them rushed Merytra, the wife of Kaku.
+
+"The vengeance of the gods," she screamed, "the vengeance of the gods!
+Listen, Abi. But now this very evening as I slept in my pavilion,
+who can never sleep at night, there appeared to me the spirit of dead
+Pharaoh, of Pharaoh whom we slew by magic, and he said: 'Tell the
+murderer, Abi, and the wizard-rogue, Kaku, your husband, that I summon
+both of them to meet me ere another sun is set, and Woman, come you with
+them.' Death is at our door, Abi, death and the terrible vengeance of
+the god!" and Merytra fell down foaming in a fit.
+
+Now Abi went mad in the extremity of his fear.
+
+"They are sorcerers," he shouted, "who would bewitch me. Take them and
+keep them safe, and let Kaku be beaten with rods till he comes to his
+right mind again. To-morrow, when I have slain Rames, I will hang this
+magician at my mast-head."
+
+But the Queen only laughed and repeated after him:
+
+"Yes, yes, my good Lord, to-morrow, when you have killed Rames, this
+magician shall hang at your mast-head. Fear not, whatever chances I will
+see that it is done."
+
+
+
+Merytra, recovered from her madness, lay upon a bed, when a woman
+entered and stood over her. Looking up she saw it was the Queen.
+
+"Hearken to me," said the Queen in an icy voice, "and tell the words
+I speak to Abi. The time is accomplished, and I leave him. If he would
+look again upon Neter-Tua, Morning Star of Amen, the Great Lady of
+Egypt, let him seek her in the camp of Rames. There he shall find her in
+the temple of Amen, which is set upon the mountain in the midst of the
+camp."
+
+Then she was gone.
+
+Merytra rose from the bed, and called to the guards to lead her to Abi.
+So loudly did she call, saying that she had a message for him which must
+not be delayed, that at length one went and told him of her words, and
+he came to her.
+
+"What is it now, Sorceress?" he asked. "Have you dreamed more ill-omened
+dreams?"
+
+"Nay, Pharaoh," she answered, "but the Queen has fled to Rames," and
+word for word she repeated what had been told her.
+
+"It is a lie," said Abi. "How can she have fled through a triple line of
+guards?"
+
+"Search, then, and see, O Pharaoh."
+
+So Abi searched, but though none had seen her pass, and none had gone
+with her, the Queen could not be found.
+
+It was midnight, and while they still searched, by the light of the moon
+a tall figure clad in tattered robes, who bore a thornwood staff in
+his hand, and had a white beard that fell down below his middle, was
+perceived walking to and fro about the camp.
+
+"Who is that fellow?" asked Abi, and as he spoke the figure cried aloud
+in a great voice:
+
+"Listen, Councillors, Captains, and Soldiers of Egypt, to the command of
+Amen, spoken by the lips of his messenger, Kepher the Wanderer. Lift no
+sword against Rames, Lord of Kesh, for he is my servant, and shall be
+Pharaoh over you, and husband of your Queen, and father of kings to
+come. Seize Abi the usurper, the murderer of Pharaoh, his brother, and
+Kaku the sorcerer, and Merytra the traitress, and lead them at the dawn
+to my temple upon yonder hill, where I will declare my commands to
+you in the sanctuary of the temple. So shall peace be upon you and all
+Egypt, and the breath of life remain in your nostrils."
+
+Now hearing these fearful words, and remembering dead Pharaoh's prophecy
+of a Beggar who should bring a message to him, Abi drew his sword and
+rushed at the man. But ere ever he came there, the Wanderer was gone,
+and lo! they heard him repeating his message far away. Thither they ran
+also, but now the words of doom were being called upon the ships, and
+on their prows they saw his tall shape stand--first on this and then on
+that.
+
+"It is the gods who speak," cried the priests, "let us obey the gods!"
+and suddenly they flung themselves upon Abi and bound him, and Kaku
+and Merytra they bound also, waiting for the dawn. But of the tall,
+white-bearded man in beggar's robes they saw and heard no more.
+
+
+
+At that same time Tua slept in a chamber of the temple upon the hill,
+while Asti watched her. Presently a wind blew in the chamber, and Asti,
+looking up, became aware of a Shape that she knew well, the very shape
+of Tua who slept upon the bed.
+
+"What is your will, O Double?" asked Asti.
+
+"My will is that you give me rest," answered the Ka. "My task is
+accomplished, I am weary. Speak the secret words of power that you have,
+and let me return to her from whom I came, and in her bosom sleep till
+the great Day of Awakening."
+
+So Asti, knowing that she was commanded so to do, uttered those secret
+words, and as she spoke them the glorious Shape seemed to grow faint
+and fade away. Only Tua rose upon her bed, stretched out her arms and
+sighed, fell back again and slept heavily until the morning. Then she
+awoke, asking what had befallen her, for she was changed.
+
+"This has befallen, Queen. That which went forth from you by the command
+of Amen has returned to you again, its duty done. Rise up now and adorn
+yourself, for this is your day of victory and marriage."
+
+As the sun rose Tua went forth more beautiful than the morning, and at
+the gates of the temple found Rames awaiting her, clad in his armour,
+while from the mists below came a sound as of an army approaching.
+
+"What passes?" asked Tua, looking at him, and there was more love in her
+blue eyes than there is water in the Nile at flood.
+
+"I think that Abi attacks us, Lady," he said, bowing the knee to her,
+"and I am fearful for you, for our men are few, and his are many."
+
+"Be not afraid of Abi, or of anything, O Rames, though it is true that
+this day you must lose your liberty," she answered with a sweet and
+gentle smile, and he wondered at her words.
+
+Then, before he could speak again, two of the captains of his outposts
+ran in and reported that without were priests and heralds, who came in
+peace from the army of Abi.
+
+"Summon the officers, and let them be admitted," said Rames, "but be
+careful, all of you, lest this embassy should hide some trick of war.
+Come, Queen, it is to you that they should speak, and not to me, who am
+but a general of your province, Kesh," and he followed her to the inner
+court, where, in front of the sanctuary, was a chair, on which, at his
+prayer, she seated herself, as a mighty Queen should do.
+
+Now, conducted by his own officers, the embassy entered, bearing with
+them three closed litters, and Tua and Rames noted that among that
+embassy were the greatest generals, and the most holy priests of Egypt.
+At a given sign they prostrated themselves before the glory of the
+Queen, all save the soldiers who bore the litters. Next, from among
+their ranks out stepped the venerable High-Priest of Amen at Thebes, and
+stood before Tua with bowed head till, with a motion of her hand, she
+commanded him to speak.
+
+"O Morning-Star of Amen," he began, "after you left our camp last night
+a messenger came to us from the Father of the Gods----"
+
+"Stay, O High-Priest," broke in Tua. "I did not leave your camp who
+never tarried there, and who for two long years have set no foot upon
+the holy soil of Egypt. No, not since I fled from Memphis to save myself
+from death, or what is worse--the defilement of a forced marriage with
+Abi, my Uncle, and Pharaoh's murderer."
+
+Now the High-Priest turned and stared at those behind him, and all who
+were present stared at the Queen.
+
+"Pardon me," he said, "but how can this thing be, seeing that for those
+two years we have seen your Majesty day by day living among us as the
+wife of Abi?"
+
+Now Tua looked at Asti, who stood at her side, and the tall and noble
+Asti looked at the High-Priest, saying:
+
+"You know me, do you not?"
+
+"Aye, Lady," he answered, "we know you. You were the wife of Mermes,
+the last shoot of a royal tree, and you are the mother of the Lord
+Rames yonder, against whom we came out to make war. We know you well,
+O greatest of all the seers in Egypt, Mistress of Secret Things. But we
+believed that you had perished in the temple of Sekhet at Memphis, that
+temple where Pharaoh died. Now we understand that, being a magician, you
+only vanished thence."
+
+"What bear you there?" asked Asti, glancing at the litters.
+
+"Bring forth the prisoners," said the High-Priest.
+
+Then the curtains were drawn, and the soldiers lifted from the litters
+Abi, Kaku, and Merytra, who were bound with cords, and stood them on
+their feet before the Queen.
+
+"These are the very murderers of Pharaoh, my Father, who would have also
+brought me to shame. Why are my eyes affronted with the sight of them?"
+asked Tua indignantly.
+
+"Because the Messenger of the Gods, clothed as a Beggar-man, commanded
+it, your Majesty," answered the High-Priest. "Now we understand that
+they are brought hither to be judged for the murder of Pharaoh, the good
+god who was your father."
+
+"Shall a wife sit in judgment on her husband?" broke in Abi.
+
+"Man," said Tua, "I never was your wife. How can I have been your wife,
+who have not seen you since the death of Pharaoh? Listen, now, all
+of you, to the tale of that marvel which has come to pass. At my
+birth--you, O High-Priest, should know it well--Amen gave to me a Ka, a
+Self within myself, to protect me in all dangers. The dangers came upon
+me, and Asti the Magician, my foster-mother, speaking the words that had
+been taught to her by the spirit of the divine Ahura who bore me, called
+forth that Ka of mine, and left it where I had been, to be the wife of
+Abi, such a wife, I think, as never man had before. But me, Amen, my
+father, rescued, and with me Asti, bearing us in the Boat of the Sun to
+far lands, and protecting us in many perils, till at length we came to
+the city of Napata, where we found a certain servant of mine whom, as it
+chances, I--love," and she looked at Rames and smiled.
+
+"Meanwhile, my Shadow did the work to which it was appointed, ruling for
+me in Egypt, and drawing on Abi to his ruin. But last night It returned
+to me, and will be seen no more by men, except, perchance, in my tomb
+after I am dead. Judge you if my tale be true, and whether I am indeed
+Neter-Tua, Daughter of Amen," and opening the wrappings about her
+throat, she showed the holy sign that was stamped above her breast,
+adding:
+
+"The High-Priest yonder should know this mark, for he saw it at my
+birth."
+
+Now the aged man drew near, looked, and said:
+
+"It is the sign. Here shines the Star of Amen and no other. Still we do
+not understand. Tell us the tale, O Asti."
+
+So Asti stood forward, and told that tale, omitting nothing, and then
+Rames told his tale, whereto Tua the Queen added a little, and, although
+ere they finished the sun was high, none wearied in listening save only
+Abi, Kaku, and Merytra, who heard death in every word.
+
+It was done at length, and a great silence fell upon the place, for the
+tongues of men were tied. Presently, the High-Priest, who all this while
+had stood with bent head, lifted up his eyes to heaven, crying:
+
+"O Amen, Father of the Spirit of this Queen, show now thy will, that we
+may learn it and obey."
+
+For a while there was silence, till suddenly a sound was heard in the
+dark sanctuary where stood the statue of the god, a sound as of a stick
+tapping upon the granite floor. Then the curtains of that sanctuary
+were drawn, and standing between them there appeared the figure of an
+ancient, bearded man, with stony eyes, who was clad in a beggar's robe.
+It was he who had met Tua and Asti in the wilderness and eaten up their
+food. It was he who had saved them in the palace of the desert king. It
+was he who but last night had walked the camp of Abi.
+
+"I am that Messenger whom men from the beginning have called Kepher,"
+he said. "I am the Dweller in the wilderness whom your fathers knew, and
+your sons shall know. I am he who seeks for charity and pays it back in
+life and death. I am the pen of Thoth the Recorder, I am the scourge of
+Osiris. I am the voice of Amen, god above the gods. Hearken you people
+of Egypt--not for a little end have these things come to pass, but that
+ye may learn that there is design in heaven, and justice upon earth,
+and, after justice, judgment. Pharaoh, the good servant of the gods, was
+basely murdered by his own kin whom he trusted. Neter-Tua, his daughter,
+and daughter of Amen, was condemned to shame, Rames of the royal race
+was sent forth to danger or to death, far from her he loved, and who
+loved him by that divine command which rules the hearts of men. This is
+the command of the gods--Let these twain be wed and take Egypt as their
+heritage, and call down upon it peace and greatness. But as for
+these murderers and wizards"--and he pointed to Abi, to Kaku, and to
+Merytra--"let them be placed in the sanctuary of Amen, to await what he
+shall send them."
+
+So spoke Kepher the Messenger, and departed whence he came, nor in that
+generation did any see him more.
+
+Then they took up Abi, Kaku, and Merytra, and cut their bonds. They
+threw them into the dark sanctuary before the great stone image of the
+god. They shut the electrum doors upon them, and left them there wailing
+and cursing, while the High-Priest of Amen joined the hands of Rames and
+of Tua, and declared them to be man and wife for ever.
+
+Now, after these things were done, the Pharaoh and his Queen drove
+through the hosts of Egypt in their golden chariot, and received
+the homage of the hosts ere they departed northwards for Thebes. At
+nightfall they returned again and sat side by side at the marriage
+feast, and once more Tua swept her harp of ivory and gold, and sang the
+ancient song of him who dared much for love, and won the prize.
+
+So in the dim, forgotten years, their joy fell on Rames and on Tua,
+Morning-Star of Amen, which still with them remains in the new immortal
+kingdom that they have won long and long ago.
+
+
+
+But when in the morning Asti the wise dared to open the great doors and
+peer into the sanctuary of Amen, she saw a dreadful sight. For there
+at the feet of the effigy of the god lay Abi, who slew his brother, and
+Kaku the sorcerer, and Merytra the traitress, dead, slain by their own
+or by each other's hand, and the stony eyes of the god stared down upon
+them.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Morning Star, by H. Rider Haggard
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