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+Project Gutenberg's Etext of Morning Star, by H. Rider Haggard
+#13 in our series by H. Rider Haggard
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+Title:  Morning Star
+
+Author:  H. Rider Haggard
+
+July, 2001  [Etext #2722]
+[Yes, we are about one year ahead of schedule]
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+Project Gutenberg's Etext of Morning Star, by H. Rider Haggard
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+Etext prepared by John Bickers, jbickers@ihug.co.nz
+Dagny, dagnyj@hotmail.com
+and Emma Dudding, emma_302@hotmail.com
+
+
+
+
+
+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 /urĉus/, 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
+/urĉus/ 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 /urĉus/
+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 /urĉi/ 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 scarabĉus 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 Phœnicia
+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 /urĉi/, 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 Phœnician 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 scarabĉus
+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 /urĉi/ 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 /urĉus/, 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 /urĉi/ 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 Project Gutenberg's Etext of Morning Star, by H. Rider Haggard
+