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+The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Ancient Allan, by H. Rider Haggard
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and
+most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions
+whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms
+of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at
+www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you
+will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before
+using this eBook.
+
+Title: The Ancient Allan
+
+Author: H. Rider Haggard
+
+Release Date: August 22, 2002 [eBook #5746]
+[Most recently updated: March 12, 2021]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: UTF-8
+
+Produced by: John Bickers, Dagny and David Widger
+
+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ANCIENT ALLAN ***
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+The Ancient Allan
+
+by H. Rider Haggard
+
+First Published 1920.
+
+
+Contents
+
+ CHAPTER I. AN OLD FRIEND
+ CHAPTER II. RAGNALL CASTLE
+ CHAPTER III. ALLAN GIVES HIS WORD
+ CHAPTER IV. THROUGH THE GATES 
+ CHAPTER V. THE WAGER
+ CHAPTER VI. THE DOOM OF THE BOAT
+ CHAPTER VII. BES STEALS THE SIGNET
+ CHAPTER VIII. THE LADY AMADA
+ CHAPTER IX. THE MESSENGERS
+ CHAPTER X. SHABAKA PLIGHTS HIS TROTH
+ CHAPTER XI.  THE HOLY TANOFIR
+ CHAPTER XII. THE SLAYING OF IDERNES
+ CHAPTER XIII. AMADA RETURNS TO ISIS
+ CHAPTER XIV. SHABAKA FIGHTS THE CROCODILE
+ CHAPTER XV. THE SUMMONS
+ CHAPTER XVI. TANOFIR FINDS HIS BROKEN CUP
+ CHAPTER XVII. THE BATTLE—AND AFTER
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+AN OLD FRIEND
+
+
+Now I, Allan Quatermain, come to the weirdest (with one or two
+exceptions perhaps) of all the experiences which it has amused me to
+employ my idle hours in recording here in a strange land, for after all
+England is strange to me. I grow elderly. I have, as I suppose, passed
+the period of enterprise and adventure and I should be well satisfied
+with the lot that Fate has given to my unworthy self.
+
+To begin with, I am still alive and in health when by all the rules I
+should have been dead many times over. I suppose I ought to be thankful
+for that but, before expressing an opinion on the point, I should have
+to be quite sure whether it is better to be alive or dead. The
+religious plump for the latter, though I have never observed that the
+religious are more eager to die than the rest of us poor mortals.
+
+For instance, if they are told that their holy hearts are wrong, they
+spend time and much money in rushing to a place called Nauheim in
+Germany, to put them right by means of water-drinking, thereby
+shortening their hours of heavenly bliss and depriving their heirs of a
+certain amount of cash. The same thing applies to Buxton in my own
+neighbourhood and gout, especially when it threatens the stomach or the
+throat. Even archbishops will do these things, to say nothing of such
+small fry as deans, or stout and prominent lay figures of the Church.
+
+From common sinners like myself such conduct might be expected, but in
+the case of those who are obviously poised on the topmost rungs of the
+Jacobean—I mean, the heavenly—ladder, it is legitimate to inquire why
+they show such reluctance in jumping off. As a matter of fact the only
+persons that, individually, I have seen quite willing to die, except
+now and again to save somebody else whom they were so foolish as to
+care for more than they did for themselves, have been not those “upon
+whom the light has shined” to quote an earnest paper I chanced to read
+this morning, but, to quote again, “the sinful heathen wandering in
+their native blackness,” by which I understand the writer to refer to
+their moral state and not to their sable skins wherein for the most
+part they are also condemned to wander, that is if they happen to have
+been born south of a certain degree of latitude.
+
+To come to facts, the staff of Faith which each must shape for himself,
+is often hewn from unsuitable kinds of wood, yes, even by the very best
+among us. Willow, for instance, is pretty and easy to cut, but try to
+support yourself with it on the edge of a precipice and see where you
+are. Then of a truth you will long for ironbark, or even homely oak. I
+might carry my parable further, some allusions to the proper material
+of which to fashion the helmet of Salvation suggest themselves to me
+for example, but I won’t.
+
+The truth is that we fear to die because all the religions are full of
+uncomfortable hints as to what may happen to us afterwards as a reward
+for our deviations from their laws and we half believe in something,
+whereas often the savage, not being troubled with religion, fears less,
+because he half believes in nothing. For very few inhabitants of this
+earth can attain either to complete belief or to its absolute opposite.
+They can seldom lay their hands upon their hearts, and say they _know_
+that they will live for ever, or sleep for ever; there remains in the
+case of most honest men an element of doubt in either hypothesis.
+
+That is what makes this story of mine so interesting, at any rate to
+me, since it does seem to suggest that whether or no I have a future,
+as personally I hold to be the case and not altogether without
+evidence, certainly I have had a past, though, so far as I know, in
+this world only; a fact, if it be a fact, from which can be deduced all
+kinds of arguments according to the taste of the reasoner.
+
+And now for my experience, which it is only fair to add, may after all
+have been no more than a long and connected dream. Yet how was I to
+dream of lands, events and people whereof I have only the vaguest
+knowledge, or none at all, unless indeed, as some say, being a part of
+this world, we have hidden away somewhere in ourselves an acquaintance
+with everything that has ever happened in the world. However, it does
+not much matter and it is useless to discuss that which we cannot
+prove.
+
+Here at any rate is the story.
+
+In a book or a record which I have written down and put away with
+others under the title of “The Ivory Child,” I have told the tale of a
+certain expedition I made in company with Lord Ragnall. Its object was
+to search for his wife who was stolen away while travelling in Egypt in
+a state of mental incapacity resulting from shock caused by the loss of
+her child under tragic and terrible circumstances. The thieves were the
+priests of a certain bastard Arab tribe who, on account of a birthmark
+shaped like the young moon which was visible above her breast, believed
+her to be the priestess or oracle of their worship. This worship
+evidently had its origin in Ancient Egypt since, although they did not
+seem to know it, the priestess was nothing less than a personification
+of the great goddess Isis, and the Ivory Child, their fetish, was a
+statue of the infant Horus, the fabled son of Isis and Osiris whom the
+Egyptians looked upon as the overcomer of Set or the Devil, the
+murderer of Osiris before his resurrection and ascent to Heaven to be
+the god of the dead.
+
+I need not set down afresh all that happened to us on this remarkable
+adventure. Suffice it to say that in the end we recovered the lady and
+that her mind was restored to her. Before she left the Kendah country,
+however, the priesthood presented her with two ancient rolls of
+papyrus, also with a quantity of a certain herb, not unlike tobacco in
+appearance, which by the Kendah was called _Taduki_. Once, before we
+took our great homeward journey across the desert, Lady Ragnall and I
+had a curious conversation about this herb whereof the property is to
+cause the person who inhales its fumes to become clairvoyant, or to
+dream dreams, whichever the truth may be. It was used for this purpose
+in the mystical ceremonies of the Kendah religion when under its
+influence the priestess or oracle of the Ivory Child was wont to
+announce divine revelations. During her tenure of this office Lady
+Ragnall was frequently subjected to the spell of the _Taduki_ vapour,
+and said strange things, some of which I heard with my own ears. Also
+myself once I experienced its effects and saw a curious vision, whereof
+many of the particulars were afterwards translated into facts.
+
+Now the conversation which I have mentioned was shortly to the effect,
+that she, Lady Ragnall, believed a time would come when she or I or
+both of us, were destined to imbibe these _Taduki_ fumes and see
+wonderful pictures of some past or future existence in which we were
+both concerned. This knowledge, she declared, had come to her while she
+was officiating in an apparently mindless condition as the priestess of
+the Kendah god called the Ivory Child.
+
+At the time I did not think it wise to pursue so exciting a subject
+with a woman whose mind had been recently unbalanced, and afterwards in
+the stress of new experiences, I forgot all about the matter, or at any
+rate only thought of it very rarely.
+
+Once, however, it did recur to me with some force. Shortly after I came
+to England to spend my remaining days far from the temptations of
+adventure, I was beguiled into becoming a steward of a Charity dinner
+and, what was worse, into attending the said dinner. Although its
+objects were admirable, it proved one of the most dreadful functions in
+which I was ever called upon to share. There was a vast number of
+people, some of them highly distinguished, who had come to support the
+Charity or to show off their Orders, I don’t know which, and others
+like myself, not at all distinguished, just common subscribers, who had
+no Orders and stood about the crowded room like waiters looking for a
+job.
+
+At the dinner, which was very bad, I sat at a table so remote that I
+could hear but little of the interminable speeches, which was perhaps
+fortunate for me. In these circumstances I drifted into conversation
+with my neighbour, a queer, wizened, black-bearded man who somehow or
+other had found out that I was acquainted with the wilder parts of
+Africa. He proved to be a wealthy scientist whose passion it was to
+study the properties of herbs, especially of such as grow in the
+interior of South America where he had been travelling for some years.
+
+Presently he mentioned a root named Yagé, known to the Indians which,
+when pounded up into a paste and taken in the form of pills, had the
+effect of enabling the patient to see events that were passing at a
+distance. Indeed he alleged that a vision thus produced had caused him
+to return home, since in it he saw that some relative of his, I think a
+twin-sister, was dangerously ill. In fact, however, he might as well
+have stayed away, as he only arrived in London on the day after her
+funeral.
+
+As I saw that he was really interested in the subject and observed that
+he was a very temperate man who did not seem to be romancing, I told
+him something of my experiences with _Taduki_, to which he listened
+with a kind of rapt but suppressed excitement. When I affected
+disbelief in the whole business, he differed from me almost rudely,
+asking why I rejected phenomena simply because I was too dense to
+understand them. I answered perhaps because such phenomena were
+inconvenient and upset one’s ideas. To this he replied that all
+progress involved the upsetting of existent ideas. Moreover he implored
+me, if the chance should ever come my way, to pursue experiments with
+_Taduki_ fumes and let him know the results.
+
+Here our conversation came to an end for suddenly a band that was
+braying near by, struck up “God save the Queen,” and we hastily
+exchanged cards and parted. I only mention it because, had it not
+occurred, I think it probable that I should never have been in a
+position to write this history.
+
+The remarks of my acquaintance remained in my mind and influenced it so
+much that when the occasion came, I did as a kind of duty what, however
+much I was pressed, I am almost sure I should never have done for any
+other reason, just because I thought that I ought to take an
+opportunity of trying to discover what was the truth of the matter. As
+it chanced it was quick in coming.
+
+Here I should explain that I attended the dinner of which I have spoken
+not very long after a very lengthy absence from England, whither I had
+come to live when King Solomon’s Mines had made me rich. Therefore it
+happened that between the conclusion of my Kendah adventure some years
+before and this time I saw nothing and heard little of Lord and Lady
+Ragnall. Once a rumour did reach me, however, I think through Sir Henry
+Curtis or Captain Good, that the former had died as a result of an
+accident. What the accident was my informant did not know and as I was
+just starting on a far journey at the time, I had no opportunity of
+making inquiries. My talk with the botanical scientist determined me to
+do so; indeed a few days later I discovered from a book of reference
+that Lord Ragnall was dead, leaving no heir; also that his wife
+survived him.
+
+I was working myself up to write to her when one morning the postman
+brought me here at the Grange a letter which had “Ragnall Castle”
+printed on the flap of the envelope. I did not know the writing which
+was very clear and firm, for as it chanced, to the best of my
+recollection, I had never seen that of Lady Ragnall. Here is a copy of
+the letter it contained:
+
+“MY DEAR MR. QUATERMAIN,—Very strangely I have just seen at a meeting
+of the Horticultural Society, a gentleman who declares that a few days
+ago he sat next to you at some public dinner. Indeed I do not think
+there can be any doubt for he showed me your card which he had in his
+purse with a Yorkshire address upon it.
+
+“A dispute had arisen as to whether a certain variety of Crinum lily
+was first found in Africa, or Southern America. This gentleman, an
+authority upon South American flora, made a speech saying that he had
+never met with it there, but that an acquaintance of his, Mr.
+Quatermain, to whom he had spoken on the subject, said that he had seen
+something of the sort in the interior of Africa.” (This was quite true
+for I remembered the incident.) “At the tea which followed the meeting
+I spoke to this gentleman whose name I never caught, and to my
+astonishment learnt that he must have been referring to you whom I
+believed to be dead, for so we were told a long time ago. This seemed
+certain, for in addition to the evidence of the name, he described your
+personal appearance and told me that you had come to live in England.
+
+“My dear friend, I can assure you it is long since I heard anything
+which rejoiced me so much. Oh! as I write all the past comes back,
+flowing in upon me like a pent-up flood of water, but I trust that of
+this I shall soon have an opportunity of talking to you. So let it be
+for a while.
+
+“Alas! my friend, since we parted on the shores of the Red Sea, tragedy
+has pursued me. As you will know, for both my husband and I wrote to
+you, although you did not answer the letters” (I never received them),
+“we reached England safely and took up our old life again, though to
+tell you the truth, after my African experiences things could never be
+quite the same to me, or for the matter of that to George either. To a
+great extent he changed his pursuits and certain political ambitions
+which he once cherished, seemed no longer to appeal to him. He became a
+student of past history and especially of Egyptology, which under all
+the circumstances you may think strange, as I did. However it suited me
+well enough, since I also have tastes that way. So we worked together
+and I can now read hieroglyphics as well as most people. One year he
+said that he would like to go to Egypt again, if I were not afraid. I
+answered that it had not been a very lucky place for us, but that
+personally I was not in the least afraid and longed to return there.
+For as you know, I have, or think I have, ties with Egypt and indeed
+with all Africa. Well, we went and had a very happy time, although I
+was always expecting to see old Harût come round the corner.
+
+“After this it became a custom with us who, since George practically
+gave up shooting and attending the House of Lords, had nothing to keep
+us in England, to winter in Egypt. We did this for five years in
+succession, living in a bungalow which we built at a place in the
+desert, not far from the banks of the Nile, about half way between
+Luxor which was the ancient Thebes, and Assouan. George took a great
+fancy to this spot when first he saw it, and so in truth did I, for,
+like Memphis, it attracted me so much that I used to laugh and say I
+believed that once I had something to do with it.
+
+“Now near to our villa that we called ‘Ragnall’ after this house, are
+the remains of a temple which were almost buried in the sand. This
+temple George obtained permission to excavate. It proved to be a long
+and costly business, but as he did not mind spending the money, that
+was no obstacle. For four winters we worked at it, employing several
+hundred men. As we went on we discovered that although not one of the
+largest, the temple, owing to its having been buried by the sand
+during, or shortly after the Roman epoch, remained much more perfect
+than we had expected, because the early Christians had never got at it
+with their chisels and hammers. Before long I hope to show you pictures
+and photographs of the various courts, etc., so I will not attempt to
+describe them now.
+
+“It is a temple to Isis—built, or rather rebuilt over the remains of an
+older temple on a site that seems to have been called Amada, at any
+rate in the later days, and so named after a city in Nubia, apparently
+by one of the Amen-hetep Pharaohs who had conquered it. Its style is
+beautiful, being of the best period of the Egyptian Renaissance under
+the last native dynasties.
+
+“At the beginning of the fifth winter, at length we approached the
+sanctuary, a difficult business because of the retaining walls that had
+to be built to keep the sand from flowing down as fast as it was
+removed, and the great quantities of stuff that must be carried off by
+the tramway. In so doing we came upon a shallow grave which appeared to
+have been hastily filled in and roughly covered over with paving stones
+like the rest of the court, as though to conceal its existence. In this
+grave lay the skeleton of a large man, together with the rusted blade
+of an iron sword and some fragments of armour. Evidently he had never
+been mummified, for there were no wrappings, canopic jars, _ushapti_
+figures or funeral offerings. The state of the bones showed us why, for
+the right forearm was cut through and the skull smashed in; also an
+iron arrow-head lay among the ribs. The man had been buried hurriedly
+after a battle in which he had met his death. Searching in the dust
+beneath the bones we found a gold ring still on one of the fingers. On
+its bezel was engraved the cartouche of ‘Peroa, beloved of Ra.’ Now
+Peroa probably means Pharaoh and perhaps he was Khabasha who revolted
+against the Persians and ruled for a year or two, after which he is
+supposed to have been defeated and killed, though of his end and place
+of burial there is no record. Whether these were the remnants of
+Khabasha himself, or of one of his high ministers or generals who wore
+the King’s cartouche upon his ring in token of his office, of course I
+cannot say.
+
+“When George had read the cartouche he handed me the ring which I
+slipped upon the first finger of my left hand, where I still wear it.
+Then leaving the grave open for further examination, we went on with
+the work, for we were greatly excited. At length, this was towards
+evening, we had cleared enough of the sanctuary, which was small, to
+uncover the shrine that, if not a monolith, was made of four pieces of
+granite so wonderfully put together that one could not see the joints.
+On the curved architrave as I think it is called, was carved the symbol
+of a winged disc, and beneath in hieroglyphics as fresh as though they
+had only been cut yesterday, an inscription to the effect that Peroa,
+Royal Son of the Sun, gave this shrine as an ‘excellent eternal work,’
+together with the statues of the Holy Mother and the Holy Child to the
+‘emanations of the great Goddess Isis and the god Horus,’ Amada, Royal
+Lady, being votaress or high-priestess.
+
+“We only read the hieroglyphics very hurriedly, being anxious to see
+what was within the shrine that, the cedar door having rotted away, was
+filled with fine, drifted sand. Basketful by basketful we got it out
+and then, my friend, there appeared the most beautiful life-sized
+statue of Isis carved in alabaster that ever I have seen. She was
+seated on a throne-like chair and wore the vulture cap on which traces
+of colour remained. Her arms were held forward as though to support a
+child, which perhaps she was suckling as one of the breasts was bare.
+But if so, the child had gone. The execution of the statue was
+exquisite and its tender and mystic face extraordinarily beautiful, so
+life-like also that I think it must have been copied from a living
+model. Oh! my friend, when I looked upon it, which we did by the light
+of the candles, for the sun was sinking and shadows gathered in that
+excavated hole, I felt—never mind what I felt—perhaps _you_ can guess
+who know my history.
+
+“While we stared and stared, I longing to go upon my knees, I knew not
+why, suddenly I felt a faint trembling of the ground. At the same
+moment, the head overseer of the works, a man called Achmet, rushed up
+to us, shouting out—‘Back! Back! The wall has burst. The sand runs!’
+
+“He seized me by the arm and dragged me away beside of and behind the
+grave, George turning to follow. Next instant I saw a kind of wave of
+sand, on the crest of which appeared the stones of the wall, curl over
+and break. It struck the shrine, overturned and shattered it, which
+makes me think it was made of four pieces, and shattered also the
+alabaster statue within, for I saw its head strike George upon the back
+and throw him forward. He reeled and fell into the open grave which in
+another moment was filled and covered with the débris that seemed to
+grip me to my middle in its flow. After this I remembered nothing more
+until hours later I found myself lying in our house.
+
+“Achmet and his Egyptians had done nothing; indeed none of them could
+be persuaded to approach the place till the sun rose because, as they
+said, the old gods of the land whom they looked upon as devils, were
+angry at being disturbed and would kill them as they had killed the
+Bey, meaning George. Then, distracted as I was, I went myself for there
+was no other European there, to find that the whole site of the
+sanctuary was buried beneath hundreds of tons of sand, that, beginning
+at the gap in the broken wall, had flowed from every side. Indeed it
+would have taken weeks to dig it out, since to sink a shaft was
+impracticable and so dangerous that the local officials refused to
+allow it to be attempted. The end of it was that an English bishop came
+up from Cairo and consecrated the ground by special arrangement with
+the Government, which of course makes it impossible that this part of
+the temple should be further disturbed. After this he read the Burial
+Service over my dear husband.
+
+“So there is the end of a very terrible story which I have written down
+because I do not wish to have to talk about it more than is necessary
+when we meet. For, dear Mr. Quatermain, we shall meet, as I always knew
+that we should—yes, even after I heard that you were dead. You will
+remember that I told you so years ago in Kendah Land and that it would
+happen after a great change in my life, though what that change might
+be I could not say....”
+
+This is the end of the letter except for certain suggested dates for
+the visit which she took for granted I should make to Ragnall.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+RAGNALL CASTLE
+
+
+When I had finished reading this amazing document I lit my pipe and set
+to work to think it over. The hypothetical inquirer might ask why I
+thought it amazing. There was nothing odd in a dilettante Englishman of
+highly cultivated mind taking to Egyptology and, being, as it chanced,
+one of the richest men in the kingdom, spending a fraction of his
+wealth in excavating temples. Nor was it strange that he should have
+happened to die by accident when engaged in that pursuit, which I can
+imagine to be very fascinating in the delightful winter climate of
+Egypt. He was not the first person to be buried by a fall of sand. Why,
+only a little while ago the same fate overtook a nursery-governess and
+the child in her charge who were trying to dig out a martin’s nest in a
+pit in this very parish. Their operations brought down a huge mass of
+the overhanging bank beneath which the sand-vein had been hollowed by
+workmen who deserted the pit when they saw that it had become unsafe.
+Next day I and my gardeners helped to recover their bodies, for their
+whereabouts was not discovered until the following morning, and a sad
+business it was.
+
+Yet, taken in conjunction with the history of this couple, the whole
+Ragnall affair was very strange. When but a child Lady Ragnall, then
+the Hon. Miss Holmes, had been identified by the priests of a remote
+African tribe as the oracle of their peculiar faith, which we
+afterwards proved to be derived from old Egypt, in short the worship of
+Isis and Horus. Subsequently they tried to steal her away and through
+the accident of my intervention, failed. Later on, after her marriage
+when shock had deprived her of her mind, these priests renewed the
+attempt, this time in Egypt, and succeeded. In the end we rescued her
+in Central Africa, where she was playing the part of the Mother-goddess
+Isis and even wearing her ancient robes. Next she and her husband came
+home with their minds turned towards a branch of study that took them
+back to Egypt. Here they devote themselves to unearthing a temple and
+find out that among all the gods of Egypt, who seem to have been
+extremely numerous, it was dedicated to Isis and Horus, the very
+divinities with whom they recently they had been so intimately
+concerned if in traditional and degenerate forms.
+
+Moreover that was not the finish of it. They come to the sanctuary.
+They discover the statue of the goddess with the child gone, as their
+child was gone. A disaster occurs and both destroys and buries Ragnall
+so effectually that nothing of him is ever seen again: he just vanishes
+into another man’s grave and remains there.
+
+A common sort of catastrophe enough, it is true, though people of
+superstitious mind might have thought that it looked as though the
+goddess, or whatever force was behind the goddess, was working
+vengeance on the man who desecrated her ancient shrine. And, by the
+way, though I cannot remember whether or no I mentioned it in “The
+Ivory Child,” I recall that the old priest of the Kendah, Harût, once
+told me he was sure Ragnall would meet with a violent death. This
+seemed likely enough in that country under our circumstances there,
+still I asked him why. He answered,
+
+“Because he has laid hands on that which is holy and not meant for
+man,” and he looked at Lady Ragnall.
+
+I remarked that all women were holy, whereon he replied that he did not
+think so and changed the subject.
+
+Well, Ragnall, who had married the lady who once served as the last
+priestess of Isis upon earth, was killed, whereas she, the priestess,
+was almost miraculously preserved from harm. And—oh! the whole story
+was deuced odd and that is all. Poor Ragnall! He was a great English
+gentleman and one whom when first I knew him, I held to be the most
+fortunate person I ever met, endowed as he was with every advantage of
+mind, body and estate. Yet in the end this did not prove to be the
+case. Well, while he lived he was a good friend and a good fellow and
+none can hope for a better epitaph in a world where all things are soon
+forgotten.
+
+And now, what was I to do? To tell the truth I did not altogether
+desire to reopen this chapter in past history, or to have to listen to
+painful reminiscences from the lips of a bereaved woman. Moreover,
+beautiful as she had been, for doubtless she was _passée_ now, and
+charming as of course she remained—I do not think I ever knew anyone
+who was quite so charming—there was something about Lady Ragnall which
+alarmed me. She did not resemble any other woman. Of course no woman is
+ever quite like another, but in her case the separateness, if I may so
+call it, was very marked. It was as though she had walked out of a
+different age, or even world, and been but superficially clothed with
+the attributes of our own. I felt that from the first moment I set eyes
+upon her and while reading her letter the sensation returned with added
+force.
+
+Also for me she had a peculiar attraction and not one of the ordinary
+kind. It is curious to find oneself strangely intimate with a person of
+whom after all one does not know much, just as if one really knew a
+great deal that was shut off by a thin but quite impassable door. If
+so, I did not want to open that door for who could tell what might be
+on the other side of it? And intimate conversations with a lady in
+whose company one has shared very strange experiences, not infrequently
+lead to the opening of every kind of door.
+
+Further I had made up my mind some time ago to have no more friendships
+with women who are so full of surprises, but to live out the rest of my
+life in a kind of monastery of men who have few surprises, being
+creatures whose thoughts are nearly always open and whose actions can
+always be foretold.
+
+Lastly there was that _Taduki_ business. Well, there at any rate I was
+clear and decided. No earthly power would induce me to have anything
+more to do with _Taduki_ smoke. Of course I remembered that Lady
+Ragnall once told me kindly but firmly that I would if she wished. But
+that was just where she made a mistake. For the rest it seemed unkind
+to refuse her invitation now when she was in trouble, especially as I
+had once promised that if ever I could be of help, she had only to
+command me. No, I must go. But if that word—_Taduki_—were so much as
+mentioned I would leave again in a hurry. Moreover it would not be, for
+doubtless she had forgotten all about the stuff by now, even if it were
+not lost.
+
+The end of it was that as I did not wish to write a long letter
+entering into all that Lady Ragnall had told me, I sent her a telegram,
+saying that if convenient to her, I would arrive at the Castle on the
+following Saturday evening and adding that I must be back here on the
+Tuesday afternoon, as I had guests coming to stay with me on that day.
+This was perfectly true as the season was mid-November and I was to
+begin shooting my coverts on the Wednesday morning, a function that
+once fixed, cannot be postponed.
+
+In due course an answer arrived—“Delighted, but hoped that you would
+have been able to stay longer.”
+
+Behold me then about six o’clock on the said Saturday evening being
+once more whirled by a splendid pair of horses through the gateway arch
+of Ragnall Castle. The carriage stopped beneath the portico, the great
+doors flew open revealing the glow of the hall fire and lights within,
+the footman sprang down from the box and two other footmen descended
+the steps to assist me and my belongings out of the carriage. These, I
+remember, consisted of a handbag with my dress clothes and a
+yellow-backed novel.
+
+So one of them took the handbag and the other had to content himself
+with the novel, which made me wish I had brought a portmanteau as well,
+if only for the look of the thing. The pair thus burdened, escorted me
+up the steps and delivered me over to the butler who scanned me with a
+critical eye. I scanned him also and perceived that he was a very fine
+specimen of his class. Indeed his stately presence so overcame me that
+I remarked nervously, as he helped me off with my coat, that when last
+I was here another had filled his office.
+
+“Indeed, Sir,” he said, “and what was his name, Sir?”
+
+“Savage,” I replied.
+
+“And where might he be now, Sir?”
+
+“Inside a snake!” I answered. “At least he was inside a snake but now I
+hope he is waiting upon his master in Heaven.”
+
+The man recoiled a little, pulling off my coat with a jerk. Then he
+coughed, rubbed his bald head, stared and recovering himself with an
+effort, said,
+
+“Indeed, Sir! I only came to this place after the death of his late
+lordship, when her ladyship changed all the household. Alfred, show
+this gentleman up to her ladyship’s boudoir, and William, take
+his—baggage—to the blue room. Her ladyship wishes to see you at once,
+Sir, before the others come.”
+
+So I went up the big staircase to a part of the Castle that I did not
+remember, wondering who “the others” might be. Almost could I have
+sworn that the shade of Savage accompanied me up those stairs; I could
+feel him at my side.
+
+Presently a door was thrown open and I was ushered into a room somewhat
+dimly lit and full of the scent of flowers. By the fire near a
+tea-table, stood a lady clad in some dark dress with the light glinting
+on her rich-hued hair. She turned and I saw that she still wore the
+necklace of red stones, and beneath it on her breast a single red
+flower. For this was Lady Ragnall; about that there was no doubt at
+all, so little doubt indeed that I was amazed. I had expected to see a
+stout, elderly woman whom I should only know by the colour of her eyes
+and her voice, and perhaps certain tricks of manner. But, this was the
+mischief of it, I could not perceive any change, at any rate in that
+light. She was just the same! Perhaps a little fuller in figure, which
+was an advantage; perhaps a little more considered in her movements,
+perhaps a little taller or at any rate more stately, and that was all.
+
+These things I learned in a flash. Then with a murmured “Mr.
+Quatermain, my Lady,” the footman closed the door and she saw me.
+
+Moving quickly towards me with both her hands outstretched, she
+exclaimed in that honey-soft voice of hers,
+
+“Oh! my dear friend——” stopped and added, “Why, you haven’t changed a
+bit.”
+
+“Fossils wear well,” I replied, “but that is just what I was thinking
+of you.”
+
+“Then it is very rude of you to call me a fossil when I am only
+approaching that stage. Oh! I am glad to see you. I _am_ glad!” and she
+gave me both the outstretched hands.
+
+Upon my word I felt inclined to kiss her and have wondered ever since
+if she would have been very angry. I am not certain that she did not
+divine the inclination. At any rate after a little pause she dropped my
+hands and laughed. Then she said,
+
+“I must tell you at once. A most terrible catastrophe has happened——”
+
+Instantly it occurred to me that she had forgotten having informed me
+by letter of all the details of her husband’s death. Such things chance
+to people who have once lost their memory. So I tried to look as
+sympathetic as I felt, sighed and waited.
+
+“It’s not so bad as all that,” she said with a little shake of her
+head, reading my thought as she always had the power to do from the
+first moment we met. “We can talk about _that_ afterwards. It’s only
+that I hoped we were going to have a quiet two days, and now the
+Atterby-Smiths are coming, yes, in half an hour. Five of them!”
+
+“The Atterby-Smiths!” I exclaimed, for somehow I too felt disappointed.
+“Who are the Atterby-Smiths?”
+
+“Cousins of George’s, his nearest relatives. They think he ought to
+have left them everything. But he didn’t, because he could never bear
+the sight of them. You see his property was unentailed and he left it
+all to me. Now the entire family is advancing to suggest that I should
+leave it to them, as perhaps I might have done if they had not chosen
+to come just now.”
+
+“Why didn’t you put them off?” I asked.
+
+“Because I couldn’t,” she answered with a little stamp of her foot,
+“otherwise do you suppose they would have been here? They were far too
+clever. They telegraphed after lunch giving the train by which they
+were to arrive, but no address save Charing Cross. I thought of moving
+up to the Berkeley Square house, but it was impossible in the time,
+also I didn’t know how to catch you. Oh! it’s _most_ vexatious.”
+
+“Perhaps they are very nice,” I suggested feebly.
+
+“Nice! Wait till you have seen them. Besides if they had been angels I
+did not want them just now. But how selfish I am! Come and have some
+tea. And you can stop longer, that is if you live through the
+Atterby-Smiths who are worse than both the Kendah tribes put together.
+Indeed I wish old Harût were coming instead. I should like to see Harût
+again, wouldn’t you?” and suddenly the mystical look I knew so well,
+gathered on her face.
+
+“Yes, perhaps I should,” I replied doubtfully. “But I must leave by the
+first train on Tuesday morning; it goes at eight o’clock. I looked it
+up.”
+
+“Then the Atterby-Smiths leave on Monday if I have to turn them out of
+the house. So we shall get one evening clear at any rate. Stop a
+minute,” and she rang the bell.
+
+The footman appeared as suddenly as though he had been listening at the
+door.
+
+“Alfred,” she said, “tell Moxley” (he, I discovered, was the butler)
+“that when Mr. and Mrs. Atterby-Smith, the two Misses Atterby-Smith and
+the young Mr. Atterby-Smith arrive, they are to be shown to their
+rooms. Tell the cook also to put off dinner till half-past eight, and
+if Mr. and Mrs. Scroope arrive earlier, tell Moxley to tell them that I
+am sorry to be a little late, but that I was delayed by some parish
+business. Now do you understand?”
+
+“Yes, my Lady,” said Alfred and vanished.
+
+“He doesn’t understand in the least,” remarked Lady Ragnall, “but so
+long as he doesn’t show the Atterby-Smiths up here, in which case he
+can go away with them on Monday, I don’t care. It will all work out
+somehow. Now sit down by the fire and let’s talk. We’ve got nearly an
+hour and twenty minutes and you can smoke if you like. I learnt to in
+Egypt,” and she took a cigarette from the mantelpiece and lit it.
+
+That hour and twenty minutes went like a flash, for we had so much to
+say to each other that we never even got to the things we wanted to
+say. For instance, I began to tell her about King Solomon’s Mines,
+which was a long story; and she to tell me what happened after we
+parted on the shores of the Red Sea. At least the first hour and a
+quarter went, when suddenly the door opened and Alfred in a somewhat
+frightened voice announced—“Mr. and Mrs. Atterby-Smith, the Misses
+Atterby-Smith and Mr. Atterby-Smith junior.”
+
+Then he caught sight of his mistress’s eye and fled.
+
+I looked and felt inclined to do likewise if only there had been
+another door. But there wasn’t and that which existed was quite full.
+In the forefront came A.-S. senior, like a bull leading the herd.
+Indeed his appearance was bull-like as my eye, travelling from the
+expanse of white shirt-front (they were all dressed for dinner) to his
+red and massive countenance surmounted by two horn-like tufts of
+carroty hair, informed me at a glance. Followed Mrs. A.-S., the British
+matron incarnate. Literally there seemed to be acres of her; black silk
+below and white skin above on which set in filigree floated big green
+stones, like islands in an ocean. Her countenance too, though stupid
+was very stern and frightened me. Followed the progeny of this
+formidable pair. They were tall and thin, also red haired. The girls,
+whose age I could not guess in the least, were exactly like each other,
+which was not strange as afterwards I discovered that they were twins.
+They had pale blue eyes and somehow reminded me of fish. Both of them
+were dressed in green and wore topaz necklaces. The young man who
+seemed to be about one or two and twenty, had also pale blue eyes, in
+one of which he wore an eye-glass, but his hair was sandy as though it
+had been bleached, parted in the middle and oiled down flat.
+
+For a moment there was a silence which I felt to be dreadful. Then in a
+big, pompous voice A.-S. _père_ said,
+
+“How do you do, my dear Luna? As I ascertained from the footman that
+you had not yet gone to dress, I insisted upon his leading us here for
+a little private conversation after we have been parted for so many
+years. We wished to offer you our condolences in person on your and our
+still recent loss.”
+
+“Thank you,” said Lady Ragnall, “but I think we have corresponded on
+the subject which is painful to me.”
+
+“I fear that we are interrupting a smoking party, Thomas,” said Mrs.
+A.-S. in a cold voice, sniffing at the air for all the world like a
+suspicious animal, whereon the five of them stared at Lady Ragnall’s
+cigarette which she held between her fingers.
+
+“Yes,” said Lady Ragnall. “Won’t you have one? Mr. Quatermain, hand
+Mrs. Smith the box, please.”
+
+I obeyed automatically, proffering it to the lady who nearly withered
+me with a glance, and then to each to each in turn. To my relief the
+young man took one.
+
+“Archibald,” said his mother, “you are surely not going to make your
+sisters’ dresses smell of tobacco just before dinner.”
+
+Archibald sniggered and replied,
+
+“A little more smoke will not make any difference in this room, Ma.”
+
+“That is true, darling,” said Mrs. A.-S. and was straightway seized
+with a fit of asthma.
+
+After this I am sure I don’t know what happened, for muttering
+something about its being time to dress, I rushed from the room and
+wandered about until I could find someone to conduct me to my own where
+I lingered until I heard the dinner-bell ring. But even this retreat
+was not without disaster, for in my hurry I trod upon one of the young
+lady’s dresses; I don’t know whether it was Dolly’s or Polly’s (they
+were named Dolly and Polly) and heard a dreadful crack about her middle
+as though she were breaking in two. Thereon Archibald giggled again and
+Dolly and Polly remarked with one voice—they always spoke together,
+
+“Oh! clumsy!”
+
+To complete my misfortunes I missed my way going downstairs and strayed
+to and fro like a lost lamb until I found myself confronted by a green
+baize door which reminded me of something. I stood staring at it till
+suddenly a vision arose before me of myself following a bell wire
+through that very door in the darkness of the night when in search for
+the late Mr. Savage upon a certain urgent occasion. Yes, there could be
+no doubt about it, for look! there was the wire, and strange it seemed
+to me that I should live to behold it again. Curiosity led me to push
+the door open just to ascertain if my memory served me aright about the
+exact locality of the room. Next moment I regretted it for I fell
+straight into the arms of either Polly or Dolly.
+
+“Oh!” said she, “I’ve just been sewn up.”
+
+I reflected that this was my case also in another sense, but asked
+feebly if she knew the way downstairs.
+
+She didn’t; neither of us did, till at length we met Mrs. Smith coming
+to look for her.
+
+If I had been a burglar she could not have regarded me with graver
+suspicions. But at any rate _she_ knew the way downstairs. And there to
+my joy I found my old friend Scroope and his wife, both of them grown
+stout and elderly, but as jolly as ever, after which the Smith family
+ceased to trouble me.
+
+Also there was the rector of the parish, Dr. Jeffreys and an absurdly
+young wife whom he had recently married, a fluffy-headed little thing
+with round eyes and a cheerful, perky manner. The two of them together
+looked exactly like a turkey-cock and a chicken. I remembered him well
+enough and to my astonishment he remembered me, perhaps because Lady
+Ragnall, when she had hastily invited him to meet the Smith family,
+mentioned that I was coming. Lastly there was the curate, a dark, young
+man who seemed to be always brooding over the secrets of time and
+eternity, though perhaps he was only thinking about his dinner or the
+next day’s services.
+
+Well, there we stood in that well-remembered drawing-room in which
+first I had made the acquaintance of Harût and Marût; also of the
+beautiful Miss Holmes as Lady Ragnall was then called. The Scroopes,
+the Jeffreys and I gathered in one group and the Atterby-Smiths in
+another like a force about to attack, while between the two, brooding
+and indeterminate, stood the curate, a neutral observer.
+
+Presently Lady Ragnall arrived, apologizing for being late. For some
+reason best known to herself she had chosen to dress as though for a
+great party. I believe it was out of mischief and in order to show Mrs.
+Atterby-Smith some of the diamonds she was firmly determined that
+family should never inherit. At any rate there she stood glittering and
+lovely, and smiled upon us.
+
+Then came dinner and once more I marched to the great hall in her
+company; Dr. Jeffreys got Mrs. Smith; Papa Smith got Mrs. Jeffreys who
+looked like a Grecian maiden walking into dinner with the Minotaur;
+Scroope got one of the Miss Smiths, she who wore a pink bow, the gloomy
+curate got the other with a blue bow, and Archibald got Mrs. Scroope
+who departed making faces at us over his shoulder.
+
+“You look very grand and nice,” I said to Lady Ragnall as we followed
+the others at a discreet distance.
+
+“I am glad,” she answered, “as to the nice, I mean. As for the grand,
+that dreadful woman is always writing to me about the Ragnall diamonds,
+so I thought that she should see some of them for the first and last
+time. Do you know I haven’t worn these things since George and I went
+to Court together, and I daresay shall never wear them again, for there
+is only one ornament I care for and I have got _that_ on under my
+dress.”
+
+I stared and her and with a laugh said that she was very mischievous.
+
+“I suppose so,” she replied, “but I detest those people who are pompous
+and rude and have spoiled my party. Do you know I had half a mind to
+come down in the dress that I wore as Isis in Kendah Land. I have got
+it upstairs and you shall see me in it before you go, for old time’s
+sake. Only it occurred to me that they might think me mad, so I didn’t.
+Dr. Jeffreys, will you say grace, please?”
+
+Well, it was a most agreeable dinner so far as I was concerned, for I
+sat between my hostess and Mrs. Scroope and the rest were too far off
+for conversation. Moreover as Archibald developed an unexpected
+quantity of small talk, and Scroope on the other side amused himself by
+filling pink-bow Miss Smith’s innocent mind with preposterous stories
+about Africa, as had happened to me once before at this table, Lady
+Ragnall and I were practically left undisturbed.
+
+“Isn’t it strange that we should find ourselves sitting here again
+after all these years, except that you are in my poor mother’s place?
+Oh! when that scientific gentleman convinced me the other day that you
+whom I had heard were dead, were not only alive and well but actually
+in England, really I could have embraced him.”
+
+I thought of an answer but did not make it, though as usual she read my
+mind for I saw her smile.
+
+“The truth is,” she went on, “I am an only child and really have no
+friends, though of course being—well, you know,” and she glanced at the
+jewels on her breast, “I have plenty of acquaintances.”
+
+“And suitors,” I suggested.
+
+“Yes,” she replied blushing, “as many as Penelope, not one of whom
+cares twopence about me any more than I care for them. The truth is,
+Mr. Quatermain, that nobody and nothing interest me, except a spot in
+the churchyard yonder and another amid ruins in Egypt.”
+
+“You have had sad bereavements,” I said looking the other way.
+
+“Very sad and they have left life empty. Still I should not complain
+for I have had my share of good. Also it isn’t true to say that nothing
+interests me. Egypt interests me, though after what has happened I do
+not feel as though I could return there. All Africa interests me and,”
+she added dropping her voice, “I can say it because I know you will not
+misunderstand, you interest me, as you have always done since the first
+moment I saw you.”
+
+“_I!_” I exclaimed, staring at my own reflection in a silver plate
+which made me look—well, more unattractive than usual. “It’s very kind
+of you to say so, but I can’t understand why I should. You have seen
+very little of me, Lady Ragnall, except in that long journey across the
+desert when we did not talk much, since you were otherwise engaged.”
+
+“I know. That’s the odd part of it, for I feel as though I had seen you
+for years and years and knew everything about you that one human being
+can know of another. Of course, too, I do know a good lot of your life
+through George and Harût.”
+
+“Harût was a great liar,” I said uneasily.
+
+“Was he? I always thought him painfully truthful, though how he got at
+the truth I do not know. Anyhow,” she added with meaning, “don’t
+suppose I think the worse of you because others have thought so well.
+Women who seem to be all different, generally, I notice, have this in
+common. If one or two of them like a man, the rest like him also
+because something in him appeals to the universal feminine instinct,
+and the same applies to their dislike. Now men, I think, are different
+in that respect.”
+
+“Perhaps because they are more catholic and charitable,” I suggested,
+“or perhaps because they like those who like them.”
+
+She laughed in her charming way, and said,
+
+“However these remarks do not apply to you and me, for as I think I
+told you once before in that cedar wood in Kendah Land where you feared
+lest I should catch a chill, or become—odd again, it is another you
+with whom something in me seems to be so intimate.”
+
+“That’s fortunate for your sake,” I muttered, still staring at and
+pointing to the silver plate.
+
+Again she laughed. “Do you remember the _Taduki_ herb?” she asked. “I
+have plenty of it safe upstairs, and not long ago I took a whiff of it,
+only a whiff because you know it had to be saved.”
+
+“And what did you see?”
+
+“Never mind. The question is what shall we _both_ see?”
+
+“Nothing,” I said firmly. “No earthly power will make me breathe that
+unholy drug again.”
+
+“Except me,” she murmured with sweet decision. “No, don’t think about
+leaving the house. You can’t, there are no Sunday trains. Besides you
+won’t if I ask you not.”
+
+“‘In vain is the net spread in the sight of any bird,’” I replied, firm
+as a mountain.
+
+“Is it? Then why are so many caught?”
+
+At that moment the Bull of Bashan—I mean Smith, began to bellow
+something at his hostess from the other end of the table and our
+conversation came to an end.
+
+“I say, old chap,” whispered Scroope in my ear when we stood up to see
+the ladies out. “I suppose you are thinking of marrying again. Well,
+you might do worse,” and he glanced at the glittering form of Lady
+Ragnall vanishing through the doorway behind her guests.
+
+“Shut up, you idiot!” I replied indignantly.
+
+“Why?” he asked with innocence. “Marriage is an honourable estate,
+especially when there is lots of the latter. I remember saying
+something of the sort to you years ago and at this table, when as it
+happened you also took in her ladyship. Only there was George in the
+wind then; now it has carried him away.”
+
+Without deigning any reply I seized my glass and went to sit down
+between the canon and the Bull of Bashan.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+ALLAN GIVES HIS WORD
+
+
+Mr. Atterby-Smith proved on acquaintance to be even worse than unfond
+fancy painted him. He was a gentleman in a way and of good family
+whereof the real name was Atterby, the Smith having been added to
+secure a moderate fortune left to him on that condition. His connection
+with Lord Ragnall was not close and through the mother’s side. For the
+rest he lived in some south-coast watering-place and fancied himself a
+sportsman because he had on various occasions hired a Scottish moor or
+deer forest. Evidently he had never done anything nor earned a shilling
+during all his life and was bringing his family up to follow in his
+useless footsteps. The chief note of his character was that intolerable
+vanity which so often marks men who have nothing whatsoever about which
+to be vain. Also he had a great idea of his rights and what was due to
+him, which he appeared to consider included, upon what ground I could
+not in the least understand, the reversal of all the Ragnall properties
+and wealth. I do not think I need say any more about him, except that
+he bored me to extinction, especially after his fourth glass of port.
+
+Perhaps, however, the son was worse, for he asked questions without
+number and when at last I was reduced to silence, lectured me about
+shooting. Yes, this callow youth who was at Sandhurst, instructed me,
+Allan Quatermain, how to kill elephants, he who had never seen an
+elephant except when he fed it with buns at the Zoo. At last Mr. Smith,
+who to Scroope’s great amusement had taken the end of the table and
+assumed the position of host, gave the signal to move and we adjourned
+to the drawing-room.
+
+I don’t know what had happened but there we found the atmosphere
+distinctly stormy. The ample Mrs. Smith sat in a chair fanning herself,
+which caused the barbaric ornaments she wore to clank upon her fat arm.
+Upon either side of her, pale and indeterminate, stood Polly and Dolly
+each pretending to read a book. Somehow the three of them reminded me
+of a coat-of-arms seen in a nightmare, British Matron _sejant_ with
+Modesty and Virtue as supporters. Opposite, on the other side of the
+fire and evidently very angry, stood Lady Ragnall, _regardant_.
+
+“Do I understand you to say, Luna,” I heard Mrs. A.-S. ask in resonant
+tones as I entered the room, “that you actually played the part of a
+heathen goddess among these savages, clad in a transparent bed-robe?”
+
+“Yes, Mrs. Atterby-Smith,” replied Lady Ragnall, “and a nightcap of
+feathers. I will put it on for you if you won’t be shocked. Or perhaps
+one of your daughters——”
+
+“Oh!” said both the young ladies together, “please be quiet. Here come
+the gentlemen.”
+
+After this there was a heavy silence broken only by the stifled giggles
+in the background of Mrs. Scroope and the canon’s fluffy-headed wife,
+who to do her justice had some fun in her. Thank goodness the evening,
+or rather that part of it did not last long, since presently Mrs.
+Atterby-Smith, after studying me for a long while with a cold eye, rose
+majestically and swept off to bed followed by her offspring.
+
+Afterwards I ascertained from Mrs. Scroope that Lady Ragnall had been
+amusing herself by taking away my character in every possible manner
+for the benefit of her connections, who were left with a general
+impression that I was the chief of a native tribe somewhere in Central
+Africa where I dwelt in light attire surrounded by the usual
+accessories. No wonder, therefore, that Mrs. A.-S. thought it best to
+remove her “Twin Pets,” as she called them, out of my ravening reach.
+
+Then the Scroopes went away, having arranged for me to lunch with them
+on the morrow, an invitation that I hastily accepted, though I heard
+Lady Ragnall mutter—“Mean!” beneath her breath. With them departed the
+canon and his wife and the curate, being, as they said, “early birds
+with duties to perform.” After this Lady Ragnall paid me out by going
+to bed, having instructed Moxley to show us to the smoking room,
+“where,” she whispered as she said good night, “I hope you will enjoy
+yourself.”
+
+Over the rest of the night I draw a veil. For a solid hour and
+three-quarters did I sit in that room between this dreadful pair, being
+alternately questioned and lectured. At length I could stand it no
+longer and while pretending to help myself to whiskey and soda, slipped
+through the door and fled upstairs.
+
+I arrived late to breakfast purposely and found that I was wise, for
+Lady Ragnall was absent upstairs, recovering from “a headache.” Mr.
+A.-Smith was also suffering from a headache downstairs, the result of
+champagne, port and whisky mixed, and all his family seemed to have
+pains in their tempers. Having ascertained that they were going to the
+church in the park, I departed to one two miles away and thence walked
+straight on to the Scroopes’ where I had a very pleasant time,
+remaining till five in the afternoon. I returned to tea at the Castle
+where I found Lady Ragnall so cross that I went to church again, to the
+six o’clock service this time, only getting back in time to dress for
+dinner. Here I was paid out for I had to take in Mrs. Atterby-Smith.
+Oh! what a meal was that. We sat for the most part in solemn silence
+broken only by requests to pass the salt. I observed with satisfaction,
+however, that things were growing lively at the other end of the table
+where A.-Smith _père_ was drinking a good deal too much wine. At last I
+heard him say,
+
+“We had hoped to spend a few days with you, my dear Luna. But as you
+tell us that your engagements make this impossible”—and he paused to
+drink some port, whereon Lady Ragnall remarked inconsequently,
+
+“I assure you the ten o’clock train is far the best and I have ordered
+the carriage at half-past nine, which is not very early.”
+
+“As your engagements make this impossible,” he repeated, “we would ask
+for the opportunity of a little family conclave with you to-night.”
+
+Here all of them turned and glowered at me.
+
+“Certainly,” said Lady Ragnall, “‘the sooner ‘tis over the sooner to
+sleep.’ Mr. Quatermain, I am sure, will excuse us, will you not? I have
+had the museum lit up for you, Mr. Quatermain. You may find some
+Egyptian things there that will interest you.”
+
+“Oh, with pleasure!” I murmured, and fled away.
+
+I spent a very instructive two hours in the museum, studying various
+Egyptian antiquities including a couple of mummies which rather
+terrified me. They looked so very corpse-like standing there in their
+wrappings. One was that of a lady who was a “Singer of Amen,” I
+remember. I wondered where she was singing now and what song. Presently
+I came to a glass case which riveted my attention, for above it was a
+label bearing the following words: “Two Papyri given to Lady Ragnall by
+the priests of the Kendah Tribe in Africa.” Within were the papyri
+unrolled and beneath each of the documents, its translation, so far as
+they could be translated for they were somewhat broken. No. 1, which
+was dated, “In the first year of Peroa,” appeared to be the official
+appointment of the Royal Lady Amada, to be the prophetess to the temple
+of Isis and Horus the Child, which was also called Amada, and situated
+on the east bank of the Nile above Thebes. Evidently this was the same
+temple of which Lady Ragnall had written to me in her letter, where her
+husband had met his death by accident, a coincidence which made me
+start when I remembered how and where the document had come into her
+hands and what kind of office she filled at the time.
+
+The second papyrus, or rather its translation, contained a most
+comprehensive curse upon any man who ventured to interfere with the
+personal sanctity of this same Royal Lady of Amada, who, apparently in
+virtue of her office, was doomed to perpetual celibacy like the vestal
+virgins. I do not remember all the terms of the curse, but I know that
+it invoked the vengeance of Isis the Mother, Lady of the Moon, and
+Horus the Child upon anyone who should dare such a desecration, and in
+so many words doomed him to death by violence “far from his own country
+where first he had looked on Ra,” (i.e. the sun) and also to certain
+spiritual sufferings afterwards.
+
+The document gave me the idea that it was composed in troubled days to
+protect that particularly sacred person, the Prophetess of Isis whose
+cult, as I have since learned, was rising in Egypt at the time, from
+threatened danger, perhaps at the hands of some foreign man. It
+occurred to me even that this Princess, for evidently she was a
+descendant of kings, had been appointed to a most sacred office for
+that very purpose. Men who shrink from little will often fear to incur
+the direct curse of widely venerated gods in order to obtain their
+desires, even if they be not their own gods. Such were my conclusions
+about this curious and ancient writing which I regret I cannot give in
+full as I neglected to copy it at the time.
+
+I may add that it seemed extremely strange to me that it and the other
+which dealt with a particular temple in Egypt should have passed into
+Lady Ragnall’s hands over two thousand years later in a distant part of
+Africa, and that subsequently her husband should have been killed in
+her presence whilst excavating the very temple to which they referred,
+whence too in all probability they were taken. Moreover, oddly enough
+Lady Ragnall had herself for a while filled the rôle of Isis in a
+shrine whereof these two papyri had been part of the sacred
+appurtenances for unknown ages, and one of her official titles there
+was Prophetess and Lady of the Moon, whose symbol she wore upon her
+breast.
+
+Although I have always recognized that there are a great many more
+things in the world than are dreamt of in our philosophy, I say with
+truth and confidence that I am not a superstitious man. Yet I confess
+that these papers and the circumstances connected with them, made me
+feel afraid.
+
+Also they made me wish that I had not come to Ragnall Castle.
+
+Well, the Atterby-Smiths had so far effectually put a stop to any talk
+of such matters and even if Lady Ragnall should succeed in getting rid
+of them by that morning train, as to which I was doubtful, there
+remained but a single day of my visit during which it ought not to be
+hard to stave off the subject. Thus I reflected, standing face to face
+with those mummies, till presently I observed that the Singer of Amen
+who wore a staring, gold mask, seemed to be watching me with her oblong
+painted eyes. To my fancy a sardonic smile gathered in them and spread
+to the mouth.
+
+“That’s what _you_ think,” this smile seemed to say, “as once before
+you thought that Fate could be escaped. Wait and see, my friend. Wait
+and see!”
+
+“Not in this room any way,” I remarked aloud, and departed in a hurry
+down the passage which led to the main staircase.
+
+Before I reached its end a remarkable sight caused me to halt in the
+shadow. The Atterby-Smith family were going to bed _en bloc_. They
+marched in single file up the great stair, each of them carrying a hand
+candle. Papa led and young Hopeful brought up the rear. Their
+countenances were full of war, even the twins looked like angry lambs,
+but something written on them informed me that they had suffered defeat
+recent and grievous. So they vanished up the stairway and out of my ken
+for ever.
+
+When they had gone I started again and ran straight into Lady Ragnall.
+If her guests had been angry, it was clear that _she_ was furious,
+almost weeping with rage, indeed. Moreover, she turned and rent me.
+
+“You are a wretch,” she said, “to run away and leave me all day long
+with those horrible people. Well, they will never come here again, for
+I have told them that if they do the servants have orders to shut the
+door in their faces.”
+
+Not knowing what to say I remarked that I had spent a most instructive
+evening in the museum, which seemed to make her angrier than ever. At
+any rate she whisked off without even saying “good night” and left me
+standing there. Afterwards I learned that the A.-S.‘s had calmly
+informed Lady Ragnall that she had stolen their property and demanded
+that “as an act of justice” she should make a will leaving everything
+she possessed to them, and meanwhile furnish them with an allowance of
+£4,000 a year. What I did not learn were the exact terms of her answer.
+
+Next morning Alfred, when he called me, brought me a note from his
+mistress which I fully expected would contain a request that I should
+depart by the same train as her other guests. Its real contents,
+however, were very different.
+
+“MY DEAR FRIEND,” it ran, “I am so ashamed of myself and so sorry for
+my rudeness last night, for which I deeply apologise. If you knew all
+that I had gone through at the hands of those dreadful mendicants, you
+would forgive me.—L.R.”
+
+“P.S.—I have ordered breakfast at 10. Don’t go down much before, for
+your own sake.”
+
+Somewhat relieved in my mind, for I thought she was really angry with
+me, not altogether without cause, I rose, dressed and set to work to
+write some letters. While I was doing so I heard the wheels of a
+carriage beneath and opening my window, saw the Atterby-Smith family in
+the act of departing in the Castle bus. Smith himself seemed to be
+still enraged, but the others looked depressed. Indeed I heard the wife
+of his bosom say to him,
+
+“Calm yourself, my dear. Remember that Providence knows what is best
+for us and that beggars on horseback are always unjust and ungrateful.”
+
+To which her spouse replied,
+
+“Hold your infernal tongue, will you,” and then began to rate the
+servants about the luggage.
+
+Well, off they went. Glaring through the door of the bus, Mr. Smith
+caught sight of me leaning out of the window, seeing which I waved my
+hand to him in adieu. His only reply to this courtesy was to shake his
+fist, though whether at me or at the Castle and its inhabitants in
+general, I neither know nor care.
+
+When I was quite sure that they had gone and were not coming back again
+to find something they had forgotten, I went downstairs and surprised a
+conclave between the butler, Moxley, and his satellites, reinforced by
+Lady Ragnall’s maid and two other female servants.
+
+“Gratuities!” Moxley was exclaiming, which I thought a fine word for
+tips, “not a smell of them! His gratuities were—‘Damn your eyes, you
+fat bottle-washer,’ being his name for butler. _My_ eyes, mind you,
+Ann, not Alfred’s or William’s, and that because he had tumbled over
+his own rugs. Gentleman! Why, I name him a hog with his litter.”
+
+“Hogs don’t have litters, Mr. Moxley,” observed Ann smartly.
+
+“Well, young woman, if there weren’t no hogs, there’d be no litters, so
+there! However, he won’t root about in this castle no more, for I
+happened to catch a word or two of what passed between him and her
+Ladyship last night. He said straight out that she was making love to
+that little Mr. Quatermain who wanted her money, and probably not for
+the first time as they had forgathered in Africa. A gentleman, mind
+you, Ann, who although peculiar, I like, and who, the keeper Charles
+tells me, is the best shot in the whole world.”
+
+“And what did she say to that?” asked Ann.
+
+“What did she say? What didn’t she say, that’s the question. It was
+just as though all the furniture in the room got up and went for them
+Smiths. Well, having heard enough, and more than I wanted, I stepped
+off with the tray and next minute out they all come and grab the
+bedroom candlesticks. That’s all and there’s her Ladyship’s bell.
+Alfred, don’t stand gaping there but go and light the hot-plates.”
+
+So they melted away and I descended from the landing, indignant but
+laughing. No wonder that Lady Ragnall lost her temper!
+
+Ten minutes later she arrived in the dining-room, waving a lighted
+ribbon that disseminated perfume.
+
+“What on earth are you doing?” I asked.
+
+“Fumigating the house,” she said. “It is unnecessary as I don’t think
+they were infectious, but the ceremony has a moral significance—like
+incense. Anyway it relieves my feelings.”
+
+Then she laughed and threw the remains of the ribbon into the fire,
+adding,
+
+“If you say a word about those people I’ll leave the room.”
+
+I think we had one of the jolliest breakfasts I ever remember. To begin
+with we were both hungry since our miseries of the night before had
+prevented us from eating any dinner. Indeed she swore that she had
+scarcely tasted food since Saturday. Then we had such a lot to talk
+about. With short intervals we talked all that day, either in the house
+or while walking through the gardens and grounds. Passing through the
+latter I came to the spot on the back drive where once I had saved her
+from being abducted by Harût and Marût, and as I recognized it, uttered
+an exclamation. She asked me why and the end of it was that I told her
+all that story which to this moment she had never heard, for Ragnall
+had thought well to keep it from her.
+
+She listened intently, then said,
+
+“So I owe you more than I knew. Yet, I’m not sure, for you see I was
+abducted after all. Also if I had been taken there, probably George
+would never have married me or seen me again, and that might have been
+better for him.”
+
+“Why?” I asked. “You were all the world to him.”
+
+“Is any woman ever all the world to a man, Mr. Quatermain?”
+
+I hesitated, expecting some attack.
+
+“Don’t answer,” she went on, “it would be too long and you wouldn’t
+convince me who have been in the East. However, he was all the world to
+me. Therefore his welfare was what I wished and wish, and I think he
+would have had more of it if he had never married me.”
+
+“Why?” I asked again.
+
+“Because I brought him no good luck, did I? I needn’t go through all
+the story as you know it. And in the end it was through me that he was
+killed in Egypt.”
+
+“Or through the goddess Isis,” I broke in rather nervously.
+
+“Yes, the goddess Isis, a part I have played in my time, or something
+like it. And he was killed in the temple of the goddess Isis. And those
+papyri of which you read the translations in the museum, which were
+given to me in Kendah Land, seem to have come from that same temple.
+And—how about the Ivory Child? Isis in the temple evidently held a
+child in her arms, but when we found her it had gone. Supposing this
+child was the same as that of which I was guardian! It might have been,
+since the papyri came from that temple. What do you think?”
+
+“I don’t think anything,” I answered, “except that it is all very odd.
+I don’t even understand what Isis and the child Horus represent. They
+were not mere images either in Egypt or Kendah Land. There must be an
+idea behind them somewhere.”
+
+“Oh! there was. Isis was the universal Mother, Nature herself with all
+the powers, seen and unseen, that are hidden in Nature; Love
+personified also, although not actually the queen of Love like Hathor,
+her sister goddess. The Horus child, whom the old Egyptians called
+Heru-Hennu, signified eternal regeneration, eternal youth, eternal
+strength and beauty. Also he was the Avenger who overthrew Set, the
+Prince of Darkness, and thus in a way opened the Door of Life to men.”
+
+“It seems to me that all religions have much in common,” I said.
+
+“Yes, a great deal. It was easy for the old Egyptians to become
+Christian, since for many of them it only meant worshipping Isis and
+Horus under new and holier names. But come in, it grows cold.”
+
+We had tea in Lady Ragnall’s boudoir and after it had been taken away
+our conversation died. She sat there on the other side of the fire with
+a cigarette between her lips, looking at me through the perfumed smoke
+till I began to grow uncomfortable and to feel that a crisis of some
+sort was at hand. This proved perfectly correct, for it was. Presently
+she said,
+
+“We took a long journey once together, Mr. Quatermain, did we not?”
+
+“Undoubtedly,” I answered, and began to talk of it until she cut me
+short with a wave of her hand, and went on,
+
+“Well, we are going to take a longer one together after dinner
+to-night.”
+
+“What! Where! How!” I exclaimed much alarmed.
+
+“I don’t know where, but as for how—look in that box,” and she pointed
+to a little carved Eastern chest made of rose or sandal wood, that
+stood upon a table between us.
+
+With a groan I rose and opened it. Inside was another box made of
+silver. This I opened also and perceived that within lay bundles of
+dried leaves that looked like tobacco, from which floated an enervating
+and well-remembered scent that clouded my brain for a moment. Then I
+shut down the lids and returned to my seat.
+
+“_Taduki_,” I murmured.
+
+“Yes, _Taduki_, and I believe in perfect order with all its virtue
+intact.”
+
+“Virtue!” I exclaimed. “I don’t think there is any virtue about that
+hateful and magical herb which I believe grew in the devil’s garden.
+Moreover, Lady Ragnall, although there are few things in the world that
+I would refuse you, I tell you at once that nothing will induce me to
+have anything more to do with it.”
+
+She laughed softly and asked why not.
+
+“Because I find life so full of perplexities and memories that I have
+no wish to make acquaintance with any more, such as I am sure lie hid
+by the thousand in that box.”
+
+“If so, don’t you think that they might clear up some of those which
+surround you to-day?”
+
+“No, for in such things there is no finality, since whatever one saw
+would also require explanation.”
+
+“Don’t let us argue,” she replied. “It is tiring and I daresay we shall
+need all our strength to-night.”
+
+I looked at her speechless. Why could she not take No for an answer? As
+usual she read my thought and replied to it.
+
+“Why did not Adam refuse the apple that Eve offered him?” she inquired
+musingly. “Or rather why did he eat it after many refusals and learn
+the secret of good and evil, to the great gain of the world which
+thenceforward became acquainted with the dignity of labour?”
+
+“Because the woman tempted him,” I snapped.
+
+“Quite so. It has always been her business in life and always will be.
+Well, I am tempting you now, and not in vain.”
+
+“Do you remember who was tempting the woman?”
+
+“Certainly. Also that he was a good school-master since he caused the
+thirst for knowledge to overcome fear and thus laid the
+foundation-stone of all human progress. That allegory may be read two
+ways, as one of a rise from ignorance instead of a fall from
+innocence.”
+
+“You are too clever for me with your perverted notions. Also, you said
+we were not to argue. I have therefore only to repeat that I will not
+eat your apple, or rather, breathe your _Taduki_.”
+
+“Adam over again,” she replied, shaking her head. “The same old
+beginning and the same old end, because you see at last you will do
+exactly what Adam did.”
+
+Here she rose and standing over me, looked me straight in the eyes with
+the curious result that all my will power seemed to evaporate. Then she
+sat down again, laughing softly, and remarked as though to herself,
+
+“Who would have thought that Allan Quatermain was a moral coward!”
+
+“Coward,” I repeated. “Coward!”
+
+“Yes, that’s the right word. At least you were a minute ago. Now
+courage has come back to you. Why, it’s almost time to dress for
+dinner, but before you go, listen. I have some power over you, my
+friend, as you have some power over me, for I tell you frankly if you
+wished me very much to do anything, I should have to do it; and the
+same applies conversely. Now, to-night we are, as I believe, going to
+open a great gate and to see wonderful things, glorious things that
+will thrill us for the rest of our lives, and perhaps suggest to us
+what is coming after death. You will not fail me, will you?” she
+continued in a pleading voice. “If you do I must try alone since no one
+else will serve, and then I _know_—how I cannot say—that I shall be
+exposed to great danger. Yes, I think that I shall lose my mind once
+more and never find it again this side the grave. You would not have
+that happen to me, would you, just because you shrink from digging up
+old memories?”
+
+“Of course not,” I stammered. “I should never forgive myself.”
+
+“Yes, of course not. There was really no need for me to ask you. Then
+you promise you will do all I wish?” and once more she looked at me,
+adding, “Don’t be ashamed, for you remember that I have been in touch
+with hidden things and am not quite as other women are. You will
+recollect I told you that which I have never breathed to any other
+living soul, years ago on that night when first we met.”
+
+“I promise,” I answered and was about to add something, I forget what,
+when she cut me short, saying,
+
+“That’s enough, for I know your word is rather better than your bond.
+Now dress as quickly as you can or the dinner will be spoiled.”
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+THROUGH THE GATES
+
+
+Short as was the time at my disposal before the dinner-gong sounded, it
+proved ample for reflection. With every article of attire that I
+discarded went some of that boudoir glamour till its last traces
+vanished with my walking-boots. I was fallen indeed. I who had come to
+this place so full of virtuous resolutions, could now only reflect upon
+the true and universal meaning of our daily prayer that we might be
+kept from temptation. And yet what had tempted me? For my life’s sake I
+could not say. The desire to please a most charming woman and to keep
+her from making solitary experiments of a dangerous nature, I suppose,
+though whether they should be less dangerous carried out jointly
+remained to be seen. Certainly it was not any wish to eat of her
+proffered apple of Knowledge, for already I knew a great deal more than
+I cared for about things in general. Oh! the truth was that woman is
+the mightiest force in the world, at any rate where the majority of us
+poor men is concerned. She commanded and I must obey.
+
+I grew desperate and wondered if I could escape. Perhaps I might slip
+out of the back door and run for it, without my great coat or hat
+although the night was so cold and I should probably be taken up as a
+lunatic. No, it was impossible for I had forged a chain that might not
+be broken. I had passed my word of honour. Well, I was in for it and
+after all what was there of which I need be afraid that I should
+tremble and shrink back as though I were about to run away with
+somebody’s wife, or rather to be run away with quite contrary to my own
+inclination? Nothing at all. A mere nonsensical ordeal much less
+serious than a visit to the dentist.
+
+Probably that stuff had lost its strength by now—that is, unless it had
+grown more powerful by keeping, as is the case with certain sorts of
+explosives. And if it had not, the worst to be expected was a silly
+dream, followed perhaps by headache. That is, unless I did not chance
+to wake up again at all in this world, which was a most unpleasant
+possibility. Another thing, suppose I woke and she didn’t! What should
+I say then? Of a certainty I should find myself in the dock. Yes, and
+there were further dreadful eventualities, quite conceivable, every one
+of them, the very thought of which plunged me into a cold perspiration
+and made me feel so weak that I was obliged to sit down.
+
+Then I heard the gong; to me it sounded like the execution bell to a
+prisoner under sentence of death. I crept downstairs feebly and found
+Lady Ragnall waiting for me in the drawing-room, clothed with gaiety as
+with a garment. I remember that it made me most indignant that she
+could be so happy in such circumstances, but I said nothing. She looked
+me up and down and remarked,
+
+“Really from your appearance you might have seen the Ragnall ghost, or
+be going to be married against your will, or—I don’t know what. Also
+you have forgotten to fasten your tie.”
+
+I looked in the glass. It was true, for there hung the ends down my
+shirt front. Then I struggled with the wretched thing until at last she
+had to help me, which she did laughing softly. Somehow her touch gave
+me confidence again and enabled me to say quite boldly that I only
+wanted my dinner.
+
+“Yes,” she replied, “but you are not to eat much and you must only
+drink water. The priestesses in Kendah Land told me that this was
+necessary before taking _Taduki_ in its strongest form, as we are going
+to do to-night. You know the prophet Harût only gave us the merest
+whiff in this room years ago.”
+
+I groaned and she laughed again.
+
+That dinner with nothing to drink, although to avoid suspicion I let
+Moxley fill my glass once or twice, and little to eat for my appetite
+had vanished, went by like a bad dream. I recall no more about it until
+I heard Lady Ragnall tell Moxley to see that there was a good fire in
+the museum where we were going to study that night and must not be
+disturbed.
+
+Another minute and I was automatically opening the door for her. As she
+passed she paused to do something to her dress and whispered,
+
+“Come in a quarter of an hour. Mind—no port which clouds the
+intellect.”
+
+“I have none left to cloud,” I remarked after her.
+
+Then I went back and sat by the fire feeling most miserable and staring
+at the decanters, for never in my life do I remember wanting a bottle
+of wine more. The big clock ticked and ticked and at last chimed the
+quarter, jarring on my nerves in that great lonely banqueting hall.
+Then I rose and crept upstairs like an evil-doer and it seemed to me
+that the servants in the hall looked on me with suspicion, as well they
+might.
+
+I reached the museum and found it brilliantly lit, but empty except for
+the cheerful company of the two mummies who also appeared to regard me
+with gleaming but doubtful eyes. So I sat down there in front of the
+fire, not even daring to smoke lest tobacco should complicate _Taduki_.
+
+Presently I heard a low sound of laughter, looked up and nearly fell
+backwards, that is, metaphorically, for the chair prevented such a
+physical collapse.
+
+It was not wonderful since before me, like a bride of ancient days
+adorned for her husband, stood the goddess Isis—white robes, feathered
+headdress, ancient bracelets, gold-studded sandals on bare feet,
+scented hair, ruby necklace and all the rest. I stared, then there
+burst from me words which were the last I meant to say,
+
+“Great Heavens! how beautiful you are.”
+
+“Am I?” she asked. “I am glad,” and she glided across the room and
+locked the door.
+
+“Now,” she said, returning, “we had better get to business, that is
+unless you would like to worship the goddess Isis a little first, to
+bring yourself into a proper frame of mind, you know.”
+
+“No,” I replied, my dignity returning to me. “I do not wish to worship
+any goddess, especially when she isn’t a goddess. It was not a part of
+the bargain.”
+
+“Quite so,” she said, nodding, “but who knows what you will be
+worshipping before an hour is over? Oh! forgive me for laughing at you,
+but I can’t help it. You are so evidently frightened.”
+
+“Who wouldn’t be frightened?” I answered, looking with gloomy
+apprehension at the sandal-wood box which had appeared upon a case full
+of scarabs. “Look here, Lady Ragnall,” I added, “why can’t you leave
+all this unholy business alone and let us spend a pleasant evening
+talking, now that those Smith people have gone? I have lots of stories
+about my African adventures which would interest you.”
+
+“Because I want to hear my own African adventures, and perhaps yours
+too, which I am sure will interest me a great deal more,” she exclaimed
+earnestly. “You think it is all foolishness, but it is not. Those
+Kendah priestesses told me much when I seemed to be out of my mind. For
+a long time I did not remember what they said, but of late years,
+especially since George and I began to excavate that temple, plenty has
+come back to me bit by bit, fragments, you know, that make me desire to
+learn the rest as I never desired anything else on earth. And the worst
+of it has always been that from the beginning I have known—and
+know—that this can only happen with you and through you, why I cannot
+say, or have forgotten. That’s what sent me nearly wild with joy when I
+heard that you were not only alive, but in this country. You won’t
+disappoint me, will you? There is nothing I can offer you which would
+have any value for you, so I can only beg you not to disappoint
+me—well, because I am your friend.”
+
+I turned away my head, hesitating, and when I looked up again I saw
+that her beautiful eyes were full of tears. Naturally that settled the
+matter, so I only said,
+
+“Let us get on with the affair. What am I to do? Stop a bit. I may as
+well provide against eventualities,” and going to a table I took a
+sheet of notepaper and wrote:
+
+“Lady Ragnall and I, Allan Quatermain, are about to make an experiment
+with an herb which we discovered some years ago in Africa. If by any
+chance this should result in accident to either or both of us, the
+Coroner is requested to understand that it is not a case of murder or
+of suicide, but merely of unfortunate scientific research.”
+
+
+This I dated, adding the hour, 9.47 P.M., and signed, requesting her to
+do the same.
+
+She obeyed with a smile, saying it was strange that one who had lived a
+life of such constant danger as myself, should be so afraid to die.
+
+“Look here, young lady,” I replied with irritation, “doesn’t it occur
+to you that _I_ may be afraid lest _you_ should die—and _I_ be hanged
+for it,” I added by an afterthought.
+
+“Oh! I see,” she answered, “that is really very nice of you. But, of
+course, you would think like that; it is your nature.”
+
+“Yes,” I replied. “Nature, not merit.”
+
+She went to a cupboard which formed the bottom of one of the mahogany
+museum cases, and extracted from it first of all a bowl of ancient
+appearance made of some black stone with projecting knobs for handles
+that were carved with the heads of women wearing ceremonial wigs; and
+next a low tripod of ebony or some other black wood. I looked at these
+articles and recognized them. They had stood in front of the sanctuary
+in the temple in Kendah Land, and over them I had once seen this very
+woman dressed as she was to-night, bend her head in the magic smoke
+before she had uttered the prophecy of the passing of the Kendah god.
+
+“So you brought these away too,” I said.
+
+“Yes,” she replied with solemnity, “that they might be ready at the
+appointed hour when we needed them.”
+
+Then she spoke no more for a while, but busied herself with certain
+rather eerie preparations. First she set the tripod and its bowl in an
+open space which I was glad to note was at some distance from the fire,
+since if either of us fell into that who would there be to take us off
+before cremation ensued? Then she drew up a curved settee with a back
+and arms, a comfortable-looking article having a seat that sloped
+backwards like those in clubs, and motioned to me to sit down. This I
+did with much the same sensations that are evoked by taking one’s place
+upon an operation-table.
+
+Next she brought that accursed _Taduki_ box, I mean the inner silver
+one, the contents of which I heartily wished I had thrown upon the
+fire, and set it down, open, near the tripod. Lastly she lifted some
+glowing embers of wood from the grate with tongs, and dropped them into
+the stone bowl.
+
+“I think that’s all. Now for the great adventure,” she said in a voice
+that was at once rapt and dreamy.
+
+“What am I to do?” I asked feebly.
+
+“That is quite simple,” she replied, as she sat herself down beside me
+well within reach of the _Taduki_ box, the brazier being between us
+with its tripod stand pressed against the edge of the couch, and in its
+curve, so that we were really upon each side of it. “When the smoke
+begins to rise thickly you have only to bend your head a little
+forward, with your shoulders still resting against the settee, and
+inhale until you find your senses leaving you, though I don’t know that
+this is necessary for the stuff is subtle. Then throw your head back,
+go to sleep and dream.”
+
+“What am I to dream about?” I inquired in a vacuous way, for my senses
+were leaving me already.
+
+“You will dream, I think, of past events in which both of us played a
+part, at least I hope so. I dreamt of them before in Kendah Land, but
+then I was not myself, and for the most part they are forgotten.
+Moreover, I learned that we can only see them all when we are together.
+Now speak no more.”
+
+This command, by the way, at once produced in me an intense desire for
+prolonged conversation. It was not to be gratified, however, for at
+that moment she stood up again facing the tripod and me, and began to
+sing in a rich and thrilling voice. What she sang I do not know for I
+could not understand the language, but I presume it was some ancient
+chant that she learned in Kendah Land. At any rate, there she stood, a
+lovely and inspired priestess clad in her sacerdotal robes, and sang,
+waving her arms and fixing her eyes upon mine. Presently she bent down,
+took a little of the _Taduki_ weed and with words of incantation,
+dropped it upon the embers in the bowl. Twice she did this, then sat
+herself upon the couch and waited.
+
+A clear flame sprang up and burned for thirty seconds or so, I suppose
+while it consumed the volatile oils in the weed. Then it died down and
+smoke began to come, white, rich and billowy, with a very pleasant
+odour resembling that of hot-house flowers. It spread out between us
+like a fan, and though its veil I heard her say,
+
+“The gates are wide. Enter!”
+
+I knew what she meant well enough, and though for a moment I thought of
+cheating, there is no other word for it, knew also that she had
+detected the thought and was scorning me in her mind. At any rate I
+felt that I must obey and thrust my head forward into the smoke, as a
+green ham is thrust into a chimney. The warm vapour struck against my
+face like fog, or rather steam, but without causing me to choke or my
+eyes to smart. I drew it down my throat with a deep inhalation—once,
+twice, thrice, then as my brain began to swim, threw myself back as I
+had been instructed to do. A deep and happy drowsiness stole over me,
+and the last thing I remember was hearing the clock strike the first
+two strokes of the hour of ten. The third stroke I heard also, but it
+sounded like to that of the richest-throated bell that ever boomed in
+all the world. I remember becoming aware that it was the signal for the
+rolling up of some vast proscenium, revealing behind it a stage that
+was the world—nothing less.
+
+What did I see? What did I see? Let me try to recall and record.
+
+First of all something chaotic. Great rushes of vapour driven by mighty
+winds; great seas, for the most part calm. Then upheavals and volcanoes
+spouting fire. Then tropic scenes of infinite luxuriance. Terrific
+reptiles feeding on the brinks of marshes, and huge elephant-like
+animals moving between palms beyond. Then, in a glade, rough huts and
+about them a jabbering crowd of creatures that were only half human,
+for sometimes they stood upright and sometimes ran on their hands and
+feet. Also they were almost covered with hair which was all they had in
+the way of clothes, and at the moment that I met them, were terribly
+frightened by the appearance of a huge mammoth, if that is the right
+name for it, which walked into the glade and looked at us. At any rate
+it was a beast of the elephant tribe which I judged to be nearly twenty
+feet high, with enormous curving tusks.
+
+The point of the vision was that I recognized myself among those hairy
+jabberers, not by anything outward and visible, but by something inward
+and spiritual. Moreover, I was being urged by a female of the race, I
+can scarcely call her a woman, to justify my existence by tackling the
+mammoth in her particular interest, or to give her up to someone who
+would. In the end I tackled it, rushing forward with a weapon, I think
+it was a sharp stone tied to a stick, though how I could expect to hurt
+a beast twenty feet high with such a thing is more than I can
+understand, unless perhaps the stone was poisoned.
+
+At any rate the end was sudden. I threw the stone, whereat a great
+trunk shot out from between the tusks and caught me. Round and round I
+went in the air, reflecting as I did so, for I suppose at the time my
+normal consciousness had not quite left me, that this was my first
+encounter with the elephant Jana, also that it was very foolish to try
+to oblige a female regardless of personal risk....
+
+All became dark, as no doubt it would have done, but presently, that is
+after a lapse of a great many thousands of years, or so it appeared to
+me, light grew again. This time I was a black man living in something
+not unlike a Kaffir kraal on the top of a hill.
+
+There was shouting below and enemies attacked us; a woman rushed out of
+a hut and gave me a spear and a shield, the latter made of wood with
+white spots on it, and pointed to the path of duty which ran down the
+hill. I followed in company with others, though without enthusiasm, and
+presently met a roaring giant of a man at the bottom. I stuck my spear
+into him and he stuck his into me, through the stomach, which hurt me
+most abominably. After this I retired up the hill where the woman
+pulled the spear out and gave it to another man. I remember no more.
+
+Then followed a whole maze of visions, but really I cannot disentangle
+them. Nor is it worth while doing so since after all they were only of
+the nature of an overture, jumbled incidents of former lives, real or
+imaginary, or so I suppose, having to do, all of them, with elementary
+things, such as hunger and wounds and women and death.
+
+At length these broken fragments of the past were swept away out of my
+consciousness and I found myself face to face with something connected
+and tangible, not too remote or unfamiliar for understanding. It was
+the beginning of the real story.
+
+I, please remember always that I knew it was I, Allan, and no one else,
+that is, the same personality or whatever it may be which makes each
+man different from any other man, saw myself in a chariot drawn by two
+horses with arched necks and driven by a charioteer who sat on a little
+seat in front. It was a highly ornamented, springless vehicle of wood
+and gilded, something like a packing-case with a pole, or as we should
+call it in South Africa, a disselboom, to which the horses were
+harnessed. In this cart I stood arrayed in flowing robes fastened round
+my middle by a studded belt, with strips of coloured cloth wound round
+my legs and sandals on my feet. To my mind the general effect of the
+attire was distinctly feminine and I did not like it at all.
+
+I was glad to observe, however, that the I of those days was anything
+but feminine. Indeed I could never have believed that once I was so
+good-looking, even over two thousand years ago. I was not very tall but
+extremely stalwart, burly almost, with an arm that as I could observe,
+since it projected from the sleeve of my lady’s gown, would have done
+no discredit to a prize-fighter, and a chest like a bull.
+
+The face also I admired very much. The brow was broad; the black eyes
+were full and proud-looking, the features somewhat massive but well-cut
+and highly intelligent; the mouth firm and shapely, with lips that were
+perhaps a trifle too thick; the hair—well, there was rather a failure
+in the hair, at least according to modern ideas, for it curled so
+beautifully as to suggest that one of my ancestors might have fallen in
+love with a person of negroid origin. However there was lots of it,
+hanging down almost to the shoulders and bound about the brow by a very
+neat fillet of blue cloth with silver studs. The colour of my skin, I
+was glad to note, was by no means black, only a light and pleasing
+brown such as might have been produced by sunburn. My age, I might add,
+was anywhere between five and twenty and five and thirty, perhaps
+nearer the latter than the former, at any rate, the very prime of life.
+
+For the rest, I held in my left hand a very stout, long bow of black
+wood which seemed to have seen much service, with a string of what
+looked like catgut, on which was set a broad-feathered, barbed arrow.
+This I kept in place with the fingers of my right hand, on one of which
+I observed a handsome gold ring with strange characters carved upon the
+bezel.
+
+Now for the charioteer.
+
+He was black as night, black as a Sunday hat, with yellow rolling eyes
+set in a countenance of extraordinary ugliness and I may add,
+extraordinary humour. His big, wide mouth with thick lips ran up the
+left side of his face towards an ear that was also big and projecting.
+His hair, that had a feather stuck in it, was real nigger wool covering
+a skull like a cannon ball and I should imagine as hard. This head, by
+the way, was set plumb upon the shoulders, as though it had been driven
+down between them by a pile hammer. They were very broad shoulders
+suggesting enormous strength, but the gaily-clad body beneath, which
+was supported by two bowed legs and large, flat feet, was that of a
+dwarf who by the proportions of his limbs Nature first intended for a
+giant; yes, an Ethiopian dwarf.
+
+Looking through this remarkable exterior, as it were, I recognized that
+inside of it was the soul, or animating principle, of—whom do you
+think? None other than my beloved old servant and companion, the
+Hottentot Hans whose loss I had mourned for years! Hans himself who
+died for me, slaying the great elephant, Jana, in Kendah Land, the
+elephant I could not hit, and thereby saving my life. Oh! although I
+had been obliged to go back to the days of I knew not what ancient
+empire to do so in my trance, or whatever it was, I could have wept
+with joy at finding him again, especially as I knew by instinct that as
+he loved the Allan Quatermain of to-day, so he loved this Egyptian in a
+wheeled packing-case, for I may as well say at once that such was my
+nationality in the dream.
+
+Now I looked about me and perceived that my chariot was the second of a
+cavalcade. Immediately in front of it was one infinitely more gorgeous
+in which stood a person who even if I had not known it, I should have
+guessed to be a king, and who, as a matter of fact, was none other than
+the King of kings, at that time the absolute master of most of the
+known world, though what his name may have been, I have no notion. He
+wore a long flowing robe of purple silk embroidered with gold and bound
+in at the waist by a jewelled girdle from which hung the private,
+sacred seal; the little “White Seal” that, as I learned afterwards, was
+famous throughout the earth.
+
+On his head was a stiff cloth cap, also purple in colour, round which
+was fastened a fillet of light blue stuff spotted with white. The best
+idea that I can give of its general appearance is to liken it to a tall
+hat of fashionable shape, without a brim, slightly squashed in so that
+it bulged at the top, and surrounded by a rather sporting necktie.
+Really, however, it was the _kitaris_ or headdress of these monarchs
+worn by them alone. If anyone else had put on that hat, even by mistake
+in the dark, well, his head would have come off with it, that is all.
+
+This king held a bow in his hand with an arrow set upon its string,
+just as I did, for we were out hunting, and as I shall have to narrate
+presently, lions are no respecters of persons. By his side, leaning
+against the back of the chariot, was a tall, sharp-pointed wand of
+cedar wood with a knob of some green precious stone, probably an
+emerald, fashioned to the likeness of an apple. This was the royal
+sceptre. Immediately behind the chariot walked several great nobles.
+One of them carried a golden footstool, another a parasol, furled at
+the moment; another a spare bow and a quiver of arrows, and another a
+jewelled fly-whisk made of palm fibre.
+
+The king, I should add, was young, handsome with a curled beard and
+clear-cut, high-bred looking features; his face, however, was bad,
+cruel and stamped with an air of weariness, or rather, satiety, which
+was emphasized by the black circles beneath his fine dark eyes.
+Moreover pride seemed to emanate from him and yet there was something
+in his bearing and glances which suggested fear. He was a god who knows
+that he is mortal and is therefore afraid lest at any moment he may be
+called upon to lose his godship in his mortality.
+
+Not that he dreaded the perils of the chase; he was too much of a man
+for that. But how could he tell lest among all that crowd of crawling
+nobles, there was not one who had a dagger ready for his back, or a
+phial of poison to mix with his wine or water? He with all the world in
+the hollow of his hand, was filled with secret terrors which as I
+learned since first I seemed to see him thus, fulfilled themselves at
+the appointed time. For this man of blood was destined to die in blood,
+though not by murder.
+
+The cavalcade halted. Presently a fat eunuch glittering in his
+gold-wrought garments like some bronzed beetle in the sunlight, came
+waddling back towards me. He was odious and I knew that we hated each
+other.
+
+“Greeting, Egyptian,” he said, mopping his brow with his sleeve for the
+sun was hot. “An honour for you! A great honour! The King of kings
+commands your presence. Yes, he would speak with you with his own lips,
+and with that abortion of a servant of yours also. Come! Come swiftly!”
+
+“Swift as an arrow, Houman,” I answered laughing, “seeing that for
+three moons I, like an arrow, have rested upon the string and flown no
+nearer to his Majesty.”
+
+“Three moons!” screeched the eunuch. “Why, many wait three years and
+many go to the grave still waiting; bigger men than you, Egyptian,
+though I hear you do claim to be of royal blood yonder on the Nile. But
+talk not of arrows flying towards the most High, for surely it is
+ill-omened and might earn you another honour, that of the string,” and
+he made a motion suggestive of a cord encircling his throat. “Man,
+leave your bow behind! Would you appear before the King armed? Yes, and
+your dagger also.”
+
+“Perchance a lion might appear before the King and he does not leave
+his claws and teeth behind,” I answered drily as I divested myself of
+my weapons.
+
+Then we started, the three of us, leaving the chariot in charge of a
+soldier.
+
+“Draw your sleeves over your hands,” said the eunuch. “None must appear
+before the King showing his hands, and, dwarf, since you have no
+sleeves, thrust yours into your robe.”
+
+“What am I to do with my feet?” he answered in a thick, guttural voice.
+“Will it offend the King of kings to see my feet, most noble eunuch?”
+
+“Certainly, certainly,” answered Houman, “since they are ugly enough to
+offend even me. Hide them as much as possible. Now we are near, down on
+your faces and crawl forward slowly on your knees and elbows, as I do.
+Down, I say!”
+
+So down I went, though with anger in my heart, for be it remembered
+that I, the modern Allan Quatermain, knew every thought and feeling
+that passed through the mind of my prototype.
+
+It was as though I were a spectator at a play, with this difference. I
+could read the motives and reflections of this former _ego_ as well as
+observe his actions. Also I could rejoice when he rejoiced, weep when
+he wept and generally feel all that he felt, though at the same time I
+retained the power of studying him from my own modern standpoint and
+with my own existing intelligence. Being two we still were one, or
+being one we still were two, whichever way you like to put it. Lastly I
+lacked these powers with reference to the other actors in the piece. Of
+these I knew just as much, or as little as my former self knew, that is
+if he ever really existed. There was nothing unnatural in my faculties
+where they were concerned. I had no insight into their souls any more
+than I have into those of the people about me to-day. Now I hope that I
+have made clear my somewhat uncommon position with reference to these
+pages from the Book of the Past.
+
+Well, preceded by the eunuch and followed by the dwarf, I crawled
+though the sand in which grew some thorny plants that pricked my knees
+and fingers, towards the person of the Monarch of the World. He had
+descended from his chariot by help of a footstool, and was engaged in
+drinking from a golden cup, while his attendants stood around in
+various attitudes of adoration, he who had handed him the cup being
+upon his knees. Presently he looked up and saw us.
+
+“Who are these?” he asked in a high voice that yet was not unmusical,
+“and why do you bring them into my presence?”
+
+“May it please the King,” answered our guide, knocking his head upon
+the ground in a very agony of humiliation, “may it please the King——”
+
+“It would please me better, dog, if you answered my question. Who are
+they?”
+
+“May it please the King, this is the Egyptian hunter and noble,
+Shabaka.”
+
+“I hear,” said his Majesty with a gleam of interest in his tired eyes,
+“and what does this Egyptian here?”
+
+“May it please the King, the King bade me bring him to the presence,
+but now when the chariots halted.”
+
+“I forgot; you are forgiven. But who is that with him? Is it a man or
+an ape?”
+
+Here I screwed my head round and saw that my slave in his efforts to
+obey the eunuch’s instructions and hide his feet, had made himself into
+a kind of ball, much as a hedgehog does, except that his big head
+appeared in front of the ball.
+
+“O King, that I understand is the Egyptian’s servant and charioteer.”
+
+Again he looked interested, and exclaimed,
+
+“Is it so? Then Egypt must be a stranger country than I thought if such
+ape-men live there. Stand up, Egyptian, and bid your ape stand up also,
+for I cannot hear men who speak with their mouths in the dust.”
+
+So I rose and saluted by lifting both my hands and bowing as I had
+observed others do, trying, however, to keep them covered by my
+sleeves. The King looked me up and down, then said briefly,
+
+“Set out your name and the business that brought you to my city.”
+
+“May the King live for ever,” I replied. “As this lord said,” and I
+pointed to the eunuch——
+
+“He is not a lord but a dog,” interrupted the Monarch, “who wears the
+robe of women. But continue.”
+
+“As this dog who wears the robe of women said”—here the King laughed,
+but the eunuch, Houman, turned green with rage and glowered at me—“my
+name is Shabaka. I am a descendant of the Ethiopian king of Egypt of
+that same name.”
+
+“It seems from all I hear that there are too many descendants of kings
+in Egypt. When I visit that land which perhaps soon I must do with an
+army at my back,” here he stared at me coldly, “it may be well to
+lessen their number. There is a certain Peroa for instance.”
+
+He paused, but I made no answer, since Peroa was my father’s cousin and
+of the fallen Royal House; also the protector of my youth.
+
+“Well, Shabaka,” he went on, “in Persia royal blood is common also,
+though some of us think it looks best when it is shed. What else are
+you?”
+
+“A slayer of royal beasts, O King of kings, a hunter of lions and of
+elephants,” (this statement interested me, Allan Quatermain, intensely,
+showing me as it did that our tastes are very persistent); “also when I
+am at home, a breeder of cattle and a grower of grain.”
+
+“Good trades, all of them, Shabaka. But why came you here?”
+
+“Idernes the satrap of Egypt, servant of the King of kings, sought for
+one who would travel to the East because the King of kings desired to
+hear of the hunting of lions in the lands that lie to the south of
+Egypt towards the beginnings of the great river. Then I, who desired to
+see new countries, said, ‘Here am I. Send me.’ So I came and for three
+moons have dwelt in the royal city, but till this hour have scarcely so
+much as seen the face of the great King, although by many messengers I
+have announced my presence, showing them the letters of Idernes giving
+me safe-conduct. Therefore I propose to-morrow or the next day to
+return to Egypt.”
+
+The King said a word and a scribe appeared whom he commanded to take
+note of my words and let the matter be inquired of, since some should
+suffer for this neglect, a saying at which I saw Houman and certain of
+the nobles turn pale and whisper to each other.
+
+“Now I remember,” he exclaimed, “that I did desire Idernes to send me
+an Egyptian hunter. Well, you are here and we are about to hunt the
+lion of which there are many in yonder reeds, hungry and fierce beasts,
+since for three days they have been herded in so that they can kill no
+food. How many lions have you slain, Shabaka?”
+
+“Fifty and three in all, O King, not counting the cubs.”
+
+He stared at me, answering with a sneer,
+
+“You Egyptians have large mouths. I have always heard it of you. Well,
+to-day we will see whether you can kill a fifty-fourth. In an hour when
+the sun begins to sink, the hounds will be loosed in yonder reeds and
+since the water is behind them, the lions will come out, and then we
+shall see.”
+
+Now I saw that the King thought me to be a liar and the blood rose to
+my head.
+
+“Why wait till the sun begins to sink, O King of kings?” I said. “Why
+not enter the reeds, as is our fashion in the Land of Kush, and rouse
+the lions from sleep in their own lair?”
+
+Now the King laughed outright and called in a loud voice to his
+courtiers,
+
+“Do ye hear this boasting Egyptian, who talks of entering the reeds and
+facing the lions in their lair, a thing that no man dare do where none
+can see to shoot? What say ye now? Shall we ask him to prove his
+words?”
+
+Some great lord stepped forward, one who was a hunter though he looked
+little like it, for the scent on his hair reached me from four paces
+away and there was paint upon his face.
+
+“Yes, O King,” he said in a mincing voice, “let him enter and kill a
+lion. But if he fail, then let a lion kill him. There are some hungry
+in the palace den and it is not fit that the King’s ears should be
+filled with empty words by foreigners from Egypt.”
+
+“So be it,” said the King. “Egyptian, you have brought it on your own
+head. Prove that you can do what you say and I will give you great
+honour. Fail, and to the lions with him who lies of lions. Still,” he
+added, “it is not right that you should go alone. Choose therefore one
+of these lords to keep you company; he who would put you to the test,
+if you will.”
+
+Now I looked at the scented noble who turned pale beneath his paint.
+Then I looked at the fat eunuch, Houman, who opened his mouth and
+gasped like a fish, and when I had looked, I shook my head and said as
+though to myself,
+
+“Not so, no woman and no eunuch shall be my companion on this quest,”
+whereat the King and all the rest laughed out loud. “The dwarf and I
+will go alone.”
+
+“The dwarf!” said the King. “Can he hunt lions also?”
+
+“No, O King, but perchance he can smell them, for otherwise how shall I
+find them in that thicket within an hour?”
+
+“Perchance they can smell him. How is the ape-man named?” asked the
+King.
+
+“Bes, O King, after the god of the Egyptians whom he resembles.”
+
+“Dare you accompany your master on this hunt, O Bes?” inquired the
+King.
+
+Then Bes looked up, rolling his yellow eyes, and answered in his thick
+and guttural voice,
+
+“I am my master’s slave and dare I refuse to accompany him? If I did he
+might kill me, as the King of kings kills his slaves. It is better to
+die with honour by the teeth of a lion, than with dishonour beneath the
+whip of a master. So at least we think in Ethiopia.”
+
+“Well spoken, dwarf Bes!” exclaimed the King. “So would I have all men
+think throughout the East. Let the words of this Ethiop be written down
+and copies of them sent to the satraps of all the provinces that they
+may be read to the peoples of the earth. I the King have decreed it.”
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+THE WAGER
+
+
+While the scribes were at their work I bowed before the King and prayed
+his leave that I and the dwarf Bes might get to ours.
+
+“Go,” he said, “and return here within an hour. If you do not return
+tidings of your death shall be sent to the satrap of Egypt to be told
+to your wives.”
+
+“I thank the King, but it is needless, for I have no wives, which are
+ill company for a hunter.”
+
+“Strange,” he said, “since many women would be glad to name such a man
+their husband, at least here among us Easterns.”
+
+Walking backwards and bowing as we went, Bes and I returned to our
+chariot. There we stripped off our outer garments till Bes was naked
+save for his waistcloth and I was clad only in a jerkin. Then I took my
+bow, my arrows and my knife, and Bes took two spears, one light for
+throwing and the other short, broad and heavy for stabbing. Thus armed
+we passed back before the Easterns who stared at us, and advanced to
+the edge of the thicket of tall reeds that was full of lions.
+
+Here Bes took dust and threw it into the air that we might learn from
+which quarter the light wind blew.
+
+“We will go against the breeze, Lord,” he said, “that I may smell the
+lions before they smell us.”
+
+I nodded, and answered,
+
+“Hearken, Bes. Well may it be that we kill no lions in this place where
+it is hard to shoot. Yet I would not return to be thrown to wild beasts
+by yonder evil king. Therefore if we fail in this or in any other way,
+do you kill me, if you still live.”
+
+He rolled his eyes and grinned.
+
+“Not so, Master. Then we will win through the reeds and lie hid in
+their edge till darkness comes, for in them those half-men will never
+dare to seek for us. Afterwards we will swim the water and disguise
+ourselves as jugglers and try to reach the coast, and so back to Egypt,
+having learned much. Never stretch out your hand to Death till he
+stretches out his to you, which he will do soon enough, Master.”
+
+Again I nodded and said,
+
+“And if a lion should kill me, Bes, what then?”
+
+“Then, Master, I will kill that lion if I can and go report the matter
+to the King.”
+
+“And if he should wish to throw you to the beasts, Bes, what then?”
+
+“Then, first I will drag him down to the greatest of all beasts, he who
+waits to devour evil-doers in the Under-world, be they kings or
+slaves,” and he stretched out his long arms and made a motion as of
+clutching a man by the throat. “Oh! have no fear, Master, I can break
+him like a stick, and afterwards we will talk the matter over among the
+dead, for I shall swallow my tongue and die also. It is a good trick,
+Master, which I wish you would learn.”
+
+Then he took my hand and kissed it and we entered the reeds, I, who was
+a hunter, feeling more happy than I had done since we set foot in the
+East.
+
+Yet the quest was desperate for the reeds were tall and often I could
+not see more than a bow’s length in front of me. Presently, however, we
+found a path made perchance by game coming down to drink, or by
+crocodiles coming up to sleep, and followed it, I with an arrow on my
+string and Bes with the throwing spear in his right hand and the
+stabbing spear in his left, half a pace ahead of me. On we crept, Bes
+drawing in the air through his great nostrils as a hound might do, till
+suddenly he stopped and sniffed towards the north.
+
+“I smell lion near,” he whispered, searching among the reed stems with
+his eyes. “I see lion,” he whispered again, and pointed, but I could
+see nothing save the stems of the reeds.
+
+“Rouse him,” I whispered back, “and I will shoot as he bounds.”
+
+Then Bes poised the spear, shook it till it quivered, and threw. There
+was a roar and a lioness appeared with the spear fast in her flank. I
+loosed the arrow but it cut into the thick reeds and stuck there.
+
+“Forward!” whispered Bes, “for where woman is, there look for man. The
+lion will be near.”
+
+We crept on, Bes stopping to cut the arrow from a reed and set it back
+in the quiver, for it was a good arrow made by himself. But now he
+shifted the broad spear to his right hand and in his left held his
+knife. We heard the wounded lioness roar not far away.
+
+“She calls her man to help her,” whispered Bes, and as the words left
+his lips the reeds down wind began to sway, for we were smelt.
+
+They swayed, they parted and, half seen, half hid between their stems,
+appeared the head of a great, black-maned lion. I drew the string and
+shot, this time not in vain, for I heard the arrow thud upon his hide.
+Then before I could set another he was on us, reared upon his hind legs
+and roaring. As I drew my dagger he struck at me, but I bent down and
+his paw went over my head. Then his weight came against me and I fell
+beneath him, stabbing him in the belly as I fell. I saw his mighty jaws
+open to crush my head. Then they shut again and through them burst a
+whine like that of a hurt dog.
+
+Bes had driven his spear into the lion’s breast, so deep that the point
+of it came out through the back. Still he was not dead, only now it was
+Bes he sought. The dwarf ran at him as he reared up again, and casting
+his great arms about the brute’s body, wrestled with him as man with
+man.
+
+Then it was, for the first time I think, that I learned all the
+Ethiopian’s strength. For he, a dwarf, threw that lion on its back and
+thrusting his big head beneath the jaws, struggled with it madly. I was
+up, the knife still in my hand, and oh! I too was strong. Into the
+throat I drove it, dragging it this way and that, and lo! the lion
+moaned and died and his blood gushed out over both of us. Then Bes sat
+up and laughed, and I too laughed, since neither of us had more than
+scratches and we had done what men could scarcely do.
+
+“Do you remember, Master,” said Bes when he had finished laughing, as
+he wiped his brow with some damp moss, “how, once far away up the Nile
+you charged a mad elephant with a spear and saved me who had fallen,
+from being trampled to death?”
+
+I, Shabaka, answered that I did. (And I, Allan Quatermain, observing
+all these things in my psychic trance in the museum of Ragnall Castle,
+reflected that I also remembered how a certain Hans had saved me from a
+certain mad elephant, to wit, Jana, not so long before, which just
+shows how things come round.)
+
+“Yes,” went on Bes, “you saved me from that elephant, though it seemed
+death to you. And, Master, I will tell you something now. That very
+morning I had tried to poison you, only you would not wait to eat
+because the elephants were near.”
+
+“Did you?” I asked idly. “Why?”
+
+“Because two years before you captured me in battle with some of my
+people, and as I was misshapen, or for pity’s sake, spared my life and
+made me your slave. Well, I who had been a chief, a very great chief,
+Master, did not wish to remain a slave and did wish to avenge my
+people’s blood. Therefore I tried to poison you, and that very day you
+saved my life, offering for it your own.”
+
+“I think it was because I wanted the tusks of the elephant, Bes.”
+
+“Perhaps, Master, only you will remember that this elephant was a young
+cow and had no tusks worth anything. Still had it carried tusks, it
+might have been so, since one white tusk is worth many black dwarfs.
+Well, to-day I have paid you back. I say it lest you should forget that
+had it not been for me, that lion would have eaten you.”
+
+“Yes, Bes, you have paid me back and I thank you.”
+
+“Master, hitherto I always thought you one who worshipped Maat, goddess
+of Truth. Now I see that you worship the god of Lies, whoever he may
+be, that god who dwells in the breasts of women and most men, but has
+no name. For, Master, it was _you_ who saved _me_ from the lion and not
+I you, since you cut its throat at the last. So that debt of mine is
+still to pay and by the great Grasshopper which we worship in my
+country, who is much better than all the gods of the Egyptians put
+together, I swear that I will pay it soon, or mayhap ten thousand years
+hence. At the last it shall be paid.”
+
+“Why do you worship a grasshopper and why is he better than the gods of
+the Egyptians?” I asked carelessly, for I was tired and his talk amused
+me while we rested.
+
+“We worship the Grasshopper, Master, because he jumps with men’s
+spirits from one life to another, or from this world to the next, yes,
+right through the blue sky. And he is better than your Egyptian gods
+because they leave you to find your own way there, and then eat you
+alive, that is if you have tried to poison people, as of course we have
+all done. But, Master, we are fresh again now, so let us be going, for
+the hour will soon be finished. Also when she has eaten the spear
+handle, that lioness may return.”
+
+“Yes,” I said; “let us go and report to the King of kings that we have
+killed a lion.”
+
+“Master, it is not enough. Even common kings believe little that they
+do not see, wherefore it is certain that a King of kings will believe
+nothing and still more certain that he will not come here to look. So
+as we cannot carry the lion, we must take a bit of it,” and straightway
+he cut off the end of the brute’s tail.
+
+Following the crocodile path, presently we reached the edge of the
+reeds opposite to the camp where the King now sat in state beneath a
+purple pavilion that had been reared, eating a meal, with his courtiers
+standing at a distance and looking very hungry.
+
+Out of the reeds bounded Bes, naked and bloody, waving the lion’s tail
+and singing some wild Ethiopian chant, while I, also bloody and half
+naked, for the lion’s claws had torn my jerkin off me, followed with
+bow unstrung.
+
+The King looked up and saw us.
+
+“What! Do you live, Egyptian?” he asked. “Of a surety I thought that by
+now you would be dead.”
+
+“It was the lion that died, O King,” I answered, pointing to Bes who,
+having ceased from his song, was jumping about carrying the beast’s
+tail in his mouth as a dog carries a bone.
+
+“It seems that this Egyptian has killed a lion,” said the King to one
+of his lords, him of the painted face and scented hair.
+
+“May it please the King,” he answered, bowing, “a tail is not the whole
+beast and may have been taken thither, or cut from a lion lying dead
+already. The King knows that the Egyptians are great liars.”
+
+So he spoke because he was jealous of the deed.
+
+“These men look as though they had met a live one, not one that is
+dead,” said the King, scanning our blood-stained shapes. “Still, as you
+doubt it, you will wish to put the matter to the proof. Therefore,
+Cousin, take six men with you, enter the reeds and search. In that soft
+ground it will be easy to follow their footmarks.”
+
+“It is dangerous, O King,” began the prince, for such he was, no less.
+
+“And therefore the task will be the more to your taste, Cousin. Go now,
+and be swift.”
+
+So six hunters were called and the prince went, cursing me beneath his
+breath as he passed us. For he was terribly afraid, and with reason.
+Suddenly Bes ceased from his antics and prostrating himself, cried,
+
+“A boon, O King. This noble lord throws doubt upon my master’s word.
+Suffer that I may lead him to where the lion lies dead, since otherwise
+wandering in those reeds the great King’s cousin might come to harm and
+the great King be grieved.”
+
+“I have many cousins,” said the King. “Still go if you wish, Dwarf.”
+
+So Bes ran after the prince and catching him up, tapped him on the
+shoulder with the lion’s tail to point out the way. Then they vanished
+into the reeds and I went to the chariot to wash off the blood from my
+body and clothes. As I fastened my robe I heard a sound of roaring,
+then one scream, after which all grew still. Now I drew near to the
+reeds and stood between them and the King’s camp.
+
+Presently on their edge appeared Bes dancing and singing as before, but
+this time he held a lion’s tail in either hand. After him came the six
+hunters dragging between them the body of the lion we had killed. They
+staggered with it towards the King, and I followed.
+
+“I see the dwarf,” he said. “I see the dead lion and I see the hunters.
+But where is my cousin? Make report, O Bes.”
+
+“O King of kings,” replied Bes, “the mighty prince your cousin lies
+flat yonder beneath the body of that lion’s wife. She sprang upon him
+and killed him, and I sprang upon her and killed her with my spear.
+Here is her tail, O King of kings.”
+
+“Is this true?” he asked of the hunters.
+
+“It is true, O King,” answered their captain. “The lioness, which was
+wounded, leapt upon the prince, choosing him although he was behind us
+all. Then this dwarf leapt upon the lioness, being behind the prince
+and nearest to him, and drove his spear through her shoulders to her
+heart. So we brought the first lion as the King commanded us, since we
+could carry no more.”
+
+The face of the King grew red with rage.
+
+“Seven of my people and one black dwarf!” he exclaimed. “Yet the
+lioness kills my cousin and the dwarf kills the lioness. Such is the
+tale that will go to Egypt concerning the hunters of the King of the
+world. Seize those men, Guards, and let them be fed to the wild beasts
+in the palace dens.”
+
+At once the unfortunates were seized and led away. Then the King called
+Bes to him, and taking the gold chain he wore about his neck, threw it
+over his head, thereby, though I knew nothing of it at the time,
+conferring upon him some noble rank. Next he called to me and said,
+
+“It would seem that you are skilled in the use of the bow and in the
+hunting of lions, Egyptian. Therefore I will honour you, for this
+afternoon your chariot shall drive with my chariot, and we will hunt
+side by side. Moreover, I will lay you a wager as to which of us will
+kill the most lions, for know, Shabaka, that I also am skilled in the
+use of the bow, more skilled than any among the millions of my
+subjects.”
+
+“Then, O King, it is of little use for me to match myself against you,
+seeing that I have met men who can shoot better than I do, or, since in
+the East all must speak nothing but the truth, not being liars as the
+dead prince said we Egyptians are, one man.”
+
+“Who was that man, Shabaka?”
+
+“The Prince Peroa, O King.”
+
+The King frowned as though the name displeased him, then answered,
+
+“Am I not greater than this Peroa and cannot I therefore shoot better?”
+
+“Doubtless, O King of kings, and therefore how can I who shoot worse
+than Peroa, match myself against you?”
+
+“For which reason I will give you odds, Shabaka. Behold this rope of
+rose-hued pearls I wear. They are unequalled in the whole world, for
+twenty years the merchants sought them in the days of my father; half
+of them would buy a satrapy. I wager them”—here the listening nobles
+gasped and the fat eunuch, Houman, held up his hands in horror.
+
+“Against what, O King?”
+
+“Your slave Bes, to whom I have taken a fancy.”
+
+Now I trembled and Bes rolled his yellow eyes.
+
+“Your pardon, O King of kings,” I said, “but it is not enough. I am a
+hunter and to such, priceless pearls are of little use. But to me that
+dwarf is of much use in my hunting.”
+
+“So be it, Shabaka, then I will add to the wager. If you win, together
+with the pearls I will give you the dwarf’s weight in solid gold.”
+
+“The King is bountiful,” I answered, “but it is not enough, for even if
+I win against one who can shoot better than Peroa, which is impossible,
+what should I do with so much gold? Surely for the sake of it I should
+be murdered or ever I saw the coasts of Egypt.”
+
+“What shall I add then?” asked the King. “The most beauteous maiden in
+the House of Women?”
+
+I shook my head. “Not so, O King, for then I must marry who would
+remain single.”
+
+“There is no need, you might sell her to your friend, Peroa. A
+satrapy?”
+
+“Not so, O King, for then I must govern it, which would keep me from my
+hunting, until it pleased the King to take my head.”
+
+“By the name of the holy ones I worship what then do you ask added to
+the pearls and the pure gold?”
+
+Now I tried to bethink me of something that the King could not grant,
+since I had no wish for this match which my heart warned me would end
+in trouble. As no thought came to me I looked at Bes and saw that he
+was rolling his eyes towards the six doomed hunters who were being led
+away, also in pretence of driving off a fly, pointing to them with one
+of the lion tails. Then I remembered that a decree once uttered by the
+King of the East could not be altered, and saw a road of escape.
+
+“O King,” I said, “together with the pearls and the gold I ask that the
+lives of those six hunters be added to the wager, to be spared if by
+chance I should win.”
+
+“Why?” asked the King amazed.
+
+“Because they are brave men, O King, and I would not see the bones of
+such cracked by tame beasts in a cage.”
+
+“Is my judgment registered?” asked the King.
+
+“Not yet, O King,” answered the head scribe.
+
+“Then it has no weight and can be suspended without the breaking of the
+law. Shabaka, thus stands our wager. If I kill more lions than you do
+this day, or, should but two be slain, I kill the first, or should none
+be slain, I plant more arrows in their bodies, I take your slave, Bes
+the dwarf, to be my slave. But should you have the better of me in any
+of these ways, then I give to you this girdle of rose pearls and the
+weight of the dwarf Bes in gold and the six hunters free of harm, to do
+with what you will. Let it be recorded, and to the hunt.”
+
+Soon Bes and I were in our chariot which by command took place in line
+with that of the King, but at a distance of some thirty steps. Bending
+over the dwarf who drove, I spoke with him, saying,
+
+“Our luck is ill to-day, Bes, seeing that before the end of it we may
+well be parted.”
+
+“Not so, Master, our luck is good to-day seeing that before the end of
+it you will be the richer by the finest pearls in the whole world, by
+my weight in pure gold (and Master, I am twice as heavy as the king
+thought and will stuff myself with twenty pounds of meat before the
+weighing, if I have the chance, or at least with water, though in this
+hot place that will not last for long), and by six picked huntsmen,
+brave men as you thought, who will serve to escort us and our treasure
+to the coast.”
+
+“First I must win the match, Bes.”
+
+“Which you could do with one eye blinded, Master, and a sore finger.
+Kings think that they can shoot because all the worms that crawl about
+them and are named men, dare not show themselves their betters. Oh! I
+have heard tales in yonder city. There have been days when this Lord of
+the world has missed six lions with as many arrows, and they seated
+smiling in his face, being but tamed brutes brought from far in cages
+of wood, yes, smiling like cats in the sun. Look you, Master, he drinks
+too much wine and sits up too late in his Women’s house—there are three
+hundred of them there, Master—to shoot as you and I can. If you doubt
+it, look at his eyes and hands. Oh! the pearls and the gold and the men
+are yours, and that painted prince who mocked us is where he ought to
+be—dead in the mud.
+
+“Did I tell you how I managed that, Master? As you know better than I
+do, lions hate those that have on them the smell of their own blood.
+Therefore, while I pointed out the way to him, I touched the painted
+prince with the bleeding tail of that which we killed, pretending that
+it was by chance, for which he cursed me, as well he might. So when we
+came to the dead lion and, as I had expected, met there the lioness you
+had wounded, she charged through the hunters at him who smelt of her
+husband, and bit his head off.”
+
+“But, Bes, you smelt of him also, and worse.”
+
+“Yes, Master, but that painted cousin of the King came first. I kept
+well behind him, pretending to be afraid,” and he chuckled quietly,
+adding, “I expect that he is now telling an angry tale about me to
+Osiris, or to the Grasshopper that takes him there, as it may happen.”
+
+“These Easterns worship neither Osiris, nor your Grasshopper, Bes, but
+a flame of fire.”
+
+“Then he is telling the tale to the fire, and I hope that it will get
+tired and burn him.”
+
+So we talked merrily enough because we had done great deeds and thought
+that we had outwitted the Easterns and the King, not knowing all their
+craft. For none had told us that that man who hunted with the King and
+yet dared to draw arrow upon the quarry before the King should be put
+to death as one who had done insult to his Majesty. This that royal fox
+remembered and therefore was sure that he would win the wager.
+
+Now the chariots turned and passing down a path came to an open space
+that was cleared of reeds. Here they halted, that of the King and my
+own side by side with ten paces between them, and those of the court
+behind. Meanwhile huntsmen with dogs entered the great brake far away
+to the right and left of us, also in front, so that the lions might be
+driven backwards and forwards across the open space.
+
+Soon we heard the hounds baying on all sides. Then Bes made a sucking
+noise with his great lips and pointed to the edge of the reeds in front
+of us some sixty paces away. Looking, I saw a yellow shape creeping
+along between their dark stems, and although the shot was far,
+forgetting all things save I was a hunter and there was my game, I drew
+the arrow to my ear, aimed and loosed, making allowance for its fall
+and for the wind.
+
+Oh! that shot was good. It struck the lion in the body and pierced him
+through. Out he came, roaring, rolling, and tearing at the ground. But
+by now I had another arrow on the string, and although the King lifted
+his bow, I loosed first. Again it struck, this time in the throat, and
+that lion groaned and died.
+
+The King looked at me angrily, and from the court behind rose a murmur
+of wonder mingled with wrath, wonder at my marksmanship, and wrath
+because I had dared to shoot before the King.
+
+“The wager looks well for us,” muttered Bes, but I bade him be silent,
+for more lions were stirring.
+
+Now one leapt across the open space, passing in front of the King and
+within thirty paces of us. He shot and missed it, sending his shaft two
+spans above its back. Then I shot and drove the arrow through it just
+where the head joins the neck, cutting the spine, so that it died at
+once.
+
+Again that murmur went up and the King struck the charioteer on the
+head with his clenched fist, crying out that he had suffered the horses
+to move and should be scourged for causing his hand to shake.
+
+This charioteer, although he was a lord—since in the East men of high
+rank waited on the King like slaves and even clipped his nails and
+beard—craved pardon humbly, admitting his fault.
+
+“It is a lie,” whispered Bes. “The horses never stirred. How could they
+with those grooms holding their heads? Nevertheless, Master, the pearls
+are as good as round your neck.”
+
+“Silence,” I answered. “As we have heard, in the East all men speak the
+truth; it is only Egyptians who lie. Also in the East men’s necks are
+encircled with bowstrings as well as pearls, and ears are long.”
+
+The hounds continued to bay, drawing nearer to us. A lioness bounded
+out of the reeds, ran towards the King’s chariot and as though amazed,
+sat down like a dog, so near that a man might have hit it with a stone.
+The King shot short, striking it in the fore-paw only, whereon it shook
+out the arrow and rushed back into the reeds, while the court behind
+cried,
+
+“May the King live for ever! The beast is dead.”
+
+“We shall see if it is dead presently,” said Bes, and I nodded.
+
+Another lion appeared to the right of the King. Again he shot and
+missed it, whereon he began to curse and to swear in his own royal
+oaths, and the charioteer trembled. Then came the end.
+
+One of the hounds drew quite close and roused the lioness that had been
+pricked in the foot. She turned and killed it with a blow of her paw,
+then, being mad, charged straight at the King’s chariot. The horses
+reared, lifting the grooms off their feet. The King shot wildly and
+fell backwards out of the chariot, as even Kings of the world must do
+when they have nothing left to stand on. The lioness saw that he was
+down and leapt at him, straight over the chariot. As she leapt I shot
+at her in the air and pierced her through the loins, paralysing her, so
+that although she fell down near the King, she could not come at him to
+kill him.
+
+I sprang from my chariot, but before I could reach the lioness hunters
+had run up with spears and stabbed her, which was easy as she could not
+move.
+
+The King rose from the ground, for he was unharmed, and said in a loud
+voice,
+
+“Had not that shaft of mine gone home, I think that the East would have
+bowed to another lord to-night.”
+
+Now, forgetting that I was speaking to the King of the earth,
+forgetting the wager and all besides, I exclaimed,
+
+“Nay, your shaft missed; mine went home,” whereon one of the courtiers
+cried,
+
+“This Egyptian is a liar, and calls the King one!”
+
+“A liar?” I said astonished. “Look at the arrow and see from whose
+quiver it came,” and I drew one from my own of the Egyptian make and
+marked with my mark.
+
+Then a tumult broke out, all the courtiers and eunuchs talking at once,
+yet all bowing to the mud-stained person of the King, like ears of
+wheat to a tree in a storm. Not wishing to urge my claims further, for
+my part I returned to the chariot and the hunting being done, as I
+supposed, unstrung my bow which I prized above all things, and set it
+in its case.
+
+While I was thus employed the eunuch Houman approached me with a sickly
+smile, saying,
+
+“The King commands your presence, Egyptian, that you may receive your
+reward.”
+
+I nodded, saying that I would come, and he returned.
+
+“Bes,” I said when he was out of hearing, “my heart sinks. I do not
+trust that King who I think means mischief.”
+
+“So do I, Master. Oh! we have been great fools. When a god and a man
+climb a tree together, the man should allow the god to come first to
+the top, and thence tell the world that he is a god.”
+
+“Yes,” I answered, “but who ever sees Wisdom until she is flying away?
+Now perhaps, the god being the stronger, will cast down the man.”
+
+Then both together we advanced towards the King, leaving the chariot in
+charge of soldiers. He was seated on a gilded chair which served him as
+a throne, and behind him were his officers, eunuchs and attendants,
+though not all of them, since at a little distance some of them were
+engaged in beating the lord who had served as his charioteer upon the
+feet with rods. We prostrated ourselves before him and waited till he
+spoke. At length he said,
+
+“Shabaka the Egyptian, we made a wager with you, of which you will
+remember the terms. It seems that you have won the wager, since you
+slew two lions, whereas we, the King, slew but one, that which leapt
+upon us in the chariot.”
+
+Here Bes groaned at my side and I looked up.
+
+“Fear nothing,” he went on, “it shall be paid.” Here he snatched off
+the girdle of priceless, rose-hued pearls and threw it in my face.
+
+“At the palace too,” he went on, “the dwarf shall be set in the scales
+and his full weight in pure gold shall be given to you. Moreover, the
+lives of the six hunters are yours, and with them the men themselves.”
+
+“May the King live for ever!” I exclaimed, feeling that I must say
+something.
+
+“I hope so,” he answered cruelly, “but, Egyptian, you shall not, who
+have broken the laws of the land.”
+
+“In what way, O King?” I asked.
+
+“By shooting at the lions before the King had time to draw his bow, and
+by telling the King that he lied to his face, for both of which things
+the punishment is death.”
+
+Now my heart swelled till I thought it would burst with rage. Then of a
+sudden, a certain spirit entered into me and I rose to my feet and
+said,
+
+“O King, you have declared that I must die and as this is so, I will
+kneel to you no more who soon shall sup at the table of Osiris, and
+there be far greater than any king, going before him with clean hands.
+Is it not your law that he who is condemned to die has first the right
+to set out his case for the honour of his name?”
+
+“It is,” said the King, I think because he was curious to hear what I
+had to say. “Speak on.”
+
+“O King, although my blood is as high as your own, of that I say
+nothing, for at the wish of your satrap I came to the East from Egypt
+as a hunter, to show you how we of Egypt kill lions and other beasts.
+For three months I have waited in the royal city seeking admission to
+the presence of the King, and in vain. At length I was bidden to this
+hunt when I was about to depart to my own land, and being taunted by
+your servants, entered the reeds with my slave, and there slew a lion.
+Then it pleased you to thrust a wager upon me which I did not wish to
+take, as to which of us would shoot the most lions; a wager as I now
+understand you did not mean that I should win, whatever might be my
+skill, since you thought I knew that I must shoot at nothing till you
+had first shot and killed the beasts or scared them away.
+
+“So I matched myself against you, as hunter against hunter, for in the
+field, as before the gods, all are equal, not as a slave against a king
+who is determined to avenge defeat by death. We were posted and the
+lions came. I shot at those which appeared opposite to me, or upon my
+side, leaving those that appeared opposite to you, or on your side
+unshot at, as is the custom of hunters. My skill, or my fortune, was
+better than yours and I killed, whereas you missed or only wounded. In
+the end a lioness sprang at you and I shot it lest it should kill you;
+as could easily be proved by the arrow in its body. Now you say that I
+must die because I have broken some laws of yours which men should be
+ashamed to make, and to save your honour, pay me what I have won,
+knowing that pearls and gold and slaves are of no value to a dying man
+and can be taken back again. That is all the story.
+
+“Yet I would add one word. You Easterns have two sayings which you
+teach to your children; that they should learn to shoot with the bow,
+and to tell the truth. O King, they are my last lessons to you. Learn
+to shoot with the bow—which you cannot do, and to tell the truth which
+you have not done. Now I have spoken and am ready to die and I thank
+you for the patience with which you have heard my words, that, as the
+King does _not_ live for ever, I hope one day to repeat to you more
+fully beyond the grave.”
+
+Now at this bold speech of mine all those nobles and attendants gasped,
+for never had they heard such words addressed to his Majesty. The King
+turned red as though with shame, but made no answer, only he asked of
+those about him.
+
+“What fate for this man?”
+
+“Death, O King!” they cried with one voice.
+
+“What death?” he asked again.
+
+Then his Councillors consulted together and one of them answered,
+
+“The slowest known to our law, _death by the boat_.”
+
+Hearing this and not knowing what was meant, it came into my mind that
+I was to be turned adrift in a boat and there left to starve.
+
+“Behold the reward of good hunting!” I mocked in my rage. “O King,
+because of this deed of shame I call upon you the curse of all the gods
+of all the peoples. Henceforth may your sleep be ever haunted by evil
+dreams of what shall follow the last sleep, and in the end may you also
+die in blood.”
+
+The King opened his mouth as though to answer, but from it came nothing
+but a low cry of fear. Then guards rushed up and seized me.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+THE DOOM OF THE BOAT
+
+
+The guards led me to my chariot and thrust me into it, and with me Bes.
+I asked them if they would murder him also, to which the eunuch,
+Houman, answered No, since he had committed no crime, but that he must
+go with me to be weighed. Then soldiers took the horses by the bridles
+and led them, while others, having first snatched away my bow and all
+our other weapons, surrounded the chariot lest we should escape. So Bes
+and I were able to talk together in a Libyan tongue that none of them
+understood, even if they heard our words.
+
+“Your life is spared,” I said to him, “that the King may take you as a
+slave.”
+
+“Then he will take an ill slave, Master, since I swear by the
+Grasshopper that within a moon I will find means to kill him, and
+afterwards come to join you in a land where men hunt fair.”
+
+I smiled and Bes went on,
+
+“Now I wish I had time to teach you that trick of swallowing your own
+tongue, since perhaps you will need it in this boat of which they
+talk.”
+
+“Did you not say to me an hour or two ago, Bes, that we are fools to
+stretch out our hands to Death until he stretches out his to us? I will
+not die until I must—now.”
+
+“Why ‘now,’ Master, seeing that only this afternoon you bade me kill
+you rather than let you be thrown to the wild beasts?” he asked peering
+at me curiously.
+
+“Do you remember the old hermit, the holy Tanofir, who dwells in a cell
+over the sepulchre of the Apis bulls in the burial ground of the desert
+near to Memphis, Bes?”
+
+“The magician and prophet who is the brother of your grandfather,
+Master, and the son of a king; he who brought you up before he became a
+hermit? Yes, I know him well, though I have seldom been very near to
+him because his eyes frighten me, as they frightened Cambyses the
+Persian when Tanofir cursed him and foretold his doom after he had
+stabbed the holy Apis, saying that by a wound from that same sword in
+his own body he should die himself, which thing came to pass. As they
+have frightened many another man also.”
+
+“Well, Bes, when yonder king told me that I must die, fear filled me
+who did not wish to die thus, and after the fear came a blackness in my
+mind. Then of a sudden in that blackness I saw a picture of Tanofir, my
+great uncle, seated in a sepulchre looking towards the East. Moreover I
+heard him speak, and to me, saying, ‘Shabaka, my foster-son, fear
+nothing. You are in great danger but it will pass. Speak to the great
+King all that rises in your heart, for the gods of Vengeance make use
+of your tongue and whatever you prophesy to him shall be fulfilled.’ So
+I spoke the words you heard and I feared nothing.”
+
+“Is it so, Master? Then I think that the holy Tanofir must have entered
+my heart also. Know that I was minded to leap upon that king and break
+his neck, so that all three of us might end together. But of a sudden
+something seemed to tell me to leave him alone and let things go as
+they are fated. But how can the holy Tanofir who grows blind with age,
+see so far?”
+
+“I do not know, Bes, save that he is not as are other men, for in him
+is gathered all the ancient wisdom of Egypt. Moreover he lives with the
+gods while still upon earth, and like the gods can send his _Ka_, as we
+Egyptians call the spirit, or invisible self which companions all from
+the cradle to the grave and afterwards, whither he will. So doubtless
+to-day he sent it hither to me whom he loves more than anything on
+earth. Also I remember that before I entered on this journey he told me
+that I should return safe and sound. Therefore, Bes, I say I fear
+nothing.”
+
+“Nor do I, Master. Yet if you see me do strange things, or hear me
+speak strange words, take no note of them, since I shall be but playing
+a part as I think wisest.”
+
+After this we talked of that day’s adventure with the lions, and of
+others that we had shared together, laughing merrily all the while,
+till the soldiers stared at us as though we were mad. Also the fat
+eunuch, Houman, who was mounted on an ass, rode up and said,
+
+“What, Egyptian who dared to twist the beard of the Great King, you
+laugh, do you? Well, you will sing a different song in the boat to that
+which you sing in the chariot. Think of my words on the eighth day from
+this.”
+
+“I will think of them, Eunuch,” I answered, looking at him fiercely in
+the eyes, “but who knows what kind of a song you will be singing before
+the eighth day from this?”
+
+“What I do is done under the authority of the ancient and holy Seal of
+Seals,” he answered in a quavering voice, touching the little cylinder
+of white shell which I had noted upon the person of the King, but that
+now hung from a gold chain about the eunuch’s neck.
+
+Then he made the sign which Easterns use to avert evil and rode off
+again, looking very frightened.
+
+So we came to the royal city and went up to a wonderful palace. Here we
+were taken from the chariot and led into a room where food and drink in
+plenty were given to me as though I were an honoured guest, which
+caused me to wonder. Bes also, seated on the ground at a distance, ate
+and drank, for his own reasons filling himself to the throat as though
+he were a wineskin, until the serving slaves mocked at him for a
+glutton.
+
+When we had finished eating, slaves appeared bearing a wooden framework
+from which hung a great pair of scales. Also there appeared officers of
+the King’s Treasury, carrying leather bags which they opened, breaking
+the seals to show that the contents were pure gold coin. They set a
+number of these bags on one of the scales, and then ordered Bes to seat
+himself in the other. So much heavier did he prove than they expected
+him to be, that they were obliged to send back to the Treasury to fetch
+more bags of gold, for although Bes was so short in height, his weight
+was that of a large man. One of the treasurers grumbled, saying he
+should have been weighed before he had eaten and drunk. But the officer
+to whom he spoke grinned and answered that it mattered little, since
+the King was heir to criminals and that these bags would soon return to
+the Treasury, only they would need washing first, a remark that made me
+wonder.
+
+At length, when the scales were even, the six hunters whose lives I had
+won and who had been given to me as slaves, were brought in and ordered
+to shoulder the bags of gold. I too was seized and my hands were bound
+behind me. Then I was led out in charge of the eunuch Houman, who
+informed me with a leer that it would be his duty to attend to my
+comfort till the end. With him were four black men all dressed in the
+same way. These, he said, were the executioners. Lastly came Bes
+watched by three of the king’s guards armed with spears, lest he should
+attempt to rescue me or to do anyone a mischief.
+
+Now my heart began to sink and I asked Houman what was to happen to me.
+
+“This, O Egyptian slayer of lions. You will be laid upon a bed in a
+little boat upon the river and another boat will be placed over you,
+for these boats are called the Twins, Egyptian, in such a fashion that
+your head and your hands will project at one end and your feet at the
+other. There you will be left, comfortable as a baby in its cradle, and
+twice every day the best of food and drink will be brought to you.
+Should your appetite fail, moreover, it will be my duty to revive it by
+pricking your eyes with the point of a knife until it returns. Also
+after each meal I shall wash your face, your hands and your feet with
+milk and honey, lest the flies that buzz about them should suffer
+hunger, and to preserve your skin from burning by the sun. Thus slowly
+you will grow weaker and at length fall asleep. The last one who went
+into the boat—he, unlucky man, had by accident wandered into the court
+of the House of Women and seen some of the ladies there unveiled—only
+lived for twelve days, but you, being so strong, may hope to last for
+eighteen. Is there anything more that I can tell you? If so, ask it
+quickly for we draw near to the river.”
+
+Now when I heard this and understood all the horror of my fate, I
+forgot the vision of my great uncle, the holy Tanofir, and his
+comfortable prophecies, and my heart failed me altogether, so that I
+stood stock still.
+
+“What, Lion-hunter and Bearder of kings, do you think it is too early
+to go to bed?” mocked this devilish eunuch. “On with you!” and he began
+to beat me about the face with the handle of his fly-whisk.
+
+Then my manhood came back to me.
+
+“When did the King tell you to touch me, you fatted swine?” I roared,
+and turning, since I could not reach him with my bound hands, kicked
+him in the body with all my strength, so that he fell down, writhing
+and screaming with agony. Indeed, had not the executioners leapt upon
+me, I would have trampled the life out of him where he lay. But they
+held me fast and presently, after he had been sick, Houman recovered
+enough to come forward leaning on the shoulders of two guards. Only now
+he mocked me no more.
+
+We reached a quay just as the sun was setting. There in charge of a
+one-eyed black slave, a little square-ended boat floated at the river’s
+edge, while on the quay itself lay a similar but somewhat shorter boat,
+bottom uppermost. Now the hunters whom I had won in the wager, with
+many glances of compassion, for they were brave men and knew that it
+was I who had saved their lives, placed the bags of gold in the bottom
+of the floating boat, and on the top of these a mattress stuffed with
+straw. Then the girdle of rose-hued pearls was made fast about my
+middle, my hands were untied, I was seized by the executioners and laid
+on my back on the mattress, and my wrists and ankles were fixed by
+cords to iron rings that were screwed to the thwarts of the boat. After
+this the other, shorter boat was laid over me in such a manner that it
+did not touch me, leaving my head, my hands and my feet exposed as the
+eunuch had said.
+
+While this wicked work was going forward Bes sat on the quay, watching,
+till presently, after I had been made fast and covered up, he burst
+into shouts of laughter, clapped his hands and began to dance about as
+though with joy, till the eunuch, who had now recovered somewhat from
+my kick, grew curious and asked him why he behaved thus.
+
+“O noble Eunuch,” he answered, “once I was free and that man made me a
+slave, so that for many years I have been obliged to toil for him whom
+I hate. Moreover, often he has beaten me and starved me, which was why
+you saw me eat so much not long ago, and threatened to kill me, and now
+at last I have my revenge upon him who is about to die miserably. That
+is why I laugh and sing and dance and clap my hands, O most noble
+Eunuch, I who shall become the follower and servant of the glorious
+King of all the earth, and perhaps your friend, too, O Eunuch of
+eunuchs, whose sacred person my brutal master dared to kick.”
+
+“I understand,” said Houman smiling, though with a twisted face, “and
+will make report of all you say to the King, and ask him to grant that
+you shall sometimes prick this Egyptian in the eye. Now go spit in his
+face and tell him what you think of him.”
+
+So Bes waded into the water which was quite shallow here, and spat into
+my face, or pretended to, while amid a torrent of vile language, he
+interpolated certain words in the Libyan tongue, which meant,
+
+“O my most beloved father, mother, and other relatives, have no fear.
+Though things look very black, remember the vision of the holy Tanofir,
+who doubtless allows these things to happen to you to try your faith by
+direct order of the gods. Be sure that I will not leave you to perish,
+or if there should be no escape, that I will find a way to put you out
+of your misery and to avenge you. Yes, yes, I will yet see that
+accursed swine, Houman, take your place in this boat. Now I go to the
+Court to which it seems that this gold chain gives me a right of entry,
+or so the eunuch says, but soon I will be back again.”
+
+Then followed another stream of most horrible abuse and more spitting,
+after which he waded back to land and embraced Houman, calling him his
+best friend.
+
+They went, leaving me alone in the boat save for the guard upon the
+quay who, now that darkness had come, soon grew silent. It was lonely,
+very lonely, lying there staring at the empty sky with only the
+stinging gnats for company, and soon my limbs began to ache. I thought
+of the poor wretches who had suffered in this same boat and wondered if
+their lot would be my lot.
+
+Bes was faithful and clever, but what could a single dwarf do among all
+these black-hearted fiends? And if he could do nothing, oh! if he could
+do nothing!
+
+The seconds seemed minutes, the minutes seemed hours, and the hours
+seemed years. What then would the days be, passed in torture and agony
+while waiting for a filthy death? Where now were the gods I had
+worshipped and—was there any god? Or was man but a self-deceiver who
+created gods instead of the gods creating him, because he did not love
+to think of an eternal blackness in which he would soon be swallowed up
+and lost? Well, at least that would mean sleep, and sleep is better
+than torment of mind or body.
+
+It came to me, I think, who was so weary. At any rate I opened my eyes
+to see that the low moon had vanished and that some of the stars which
+I knew as a hunter who had often steered his way by them, had moved a
+little. While I was wondering idly why they moved, I heard the tramp of
+soldiers on the quay and the voice of an officer giving a command. Then
+I felt the boat being drawn in by the cord with which it was attached
+to the quay. Next the other boat that lay over me was lifted off, the
+ropes that bound me were undone and I was set upon my feet, for already
+I was so stiff that I could scarcely stand. A voice which I recognised
+as that of the eunuch Houman, addressed me in respectful tones, which
+made me think I must be dreaming.
+
+“Noble Shabaka,” said the voice, “the Great King commands your presence
+at his feast.”
+
+“Is it so?” I answered in my dream. “Then my absence from their feast
+will vex the gnats of the river,” a saying at which Houman and others
+with him laughed obsequiously.
+
+Next I heard the bags of gold being removed from the boat, after which
+we walked away, guards supporting me by either elbow until I found my
+strength again, and Houman following just behind, perhaps because he
+feared my foot if he went in front.
+
+“What has chanced, Eunuch,” I asked presently, “that I am disturbed
+from the bed where I was sleeping so well?”
+
+“I do not know, Lord,” he answered. “I only know that the King of kings
+has suddenly commanded that you should be brought before him as a guest
+clothed in a robe of honour, even if to do so, you must be awakened
+from your rest, yes, to his own royal table, for he holds a feast this
+night. Lord,” he went on in a whining voice, “if perchance fortune
+should have changed her face to you, I pray you bear no malice to those
+who, when she frowned, were forced, yes, under the private Seal of
+Seals, against their will to carry out the commands of the King. Be
+just, O Lord Shabaka.”
+
+“Say no more. I will try to be just,” I answered. “But what is justice
+in the East? I only know of it in Egypt.”
+
+Now we reached one of the doors of the palace and I was taken to a
+chamber where slaves who were waiting, washed and anointed me with
+scents, after which they clad me in a beautiful robe of silk, setting
+the girdle of rose-hued pearls about me.
+
+When they had finished, preceded by Houman I was led to a great
+pillared hall closed in with silk hangings, where many feasted. Through
+them I went to a dais at the head of the hall where between half-drawn
+curtains surrounded by cup-bearers and other officers, the King sat in
+all his glory upon a cushioned golden throne. He had a glittering
+wine-cup in his hand and at a glance I saw that he was drunk, as it is
+the fashion for these Easterns to be at their great feasts, for he
+looked happy and human which he did not do when he was sober. Or
+perchance, as sometimes I thought afterwards, he only pretended to be
+drunk. Also I saw something else, namely, Bes, wondrously attired with
+the gold chain about his neck and wearing a red headdress. He was
+seated on the carpet before the throne, and saying things that made the
+King laugh and even caused the grave officers behind to smile.
+
+I came to the dais and at a little sign from Bes who yet did not seem
+to see me, such a sign as he often made when he caught sight of game
+before I did, I prostrated myself. The King looked at me, then asked,
+
+“Who is this?” adding, “Oh, I remember, the Egyptian whose arrows do
+not miss, the wonderful hunter whom Idernes sent to me from Memphis,
+which I hope to visit ere long. We quarrelled, did we not, Egyptian,
+something about a lion?”
+
+“Not so, King,” I answered. “The King was angry and with justice,
+because I could not kill a lion before it frightened his horses.”
+
+This I said because my hours in the boat had made me humble, also
+because the words came to my lips.
+
+“Yes, yes, something like that, or at least you lie well. Whatever it
+may have been, it is done with now, a mere hunters’ difference,” and
+taking from his side his long sceptre that was headed with the great
+emerald, he stretched it out for me to touch in token of pardon.
+
+Then I knew that I was safe for he to whom the King has extended his
+sceptre is forgiven all crimes, yes, even if he had attempted the royal
+life. The Court knew it also, for every man who saw bowed towards me,
+yes, even the officers behind the King. One of the cup-bearers too
+brought me a goblet of the King’s own wine, which I drank thankfully,
+calling down health on the King.
+
+“That was a wonderful shot of yours, Egyptian,” he said, “when you sent
+an arrow through the lioness that dared to attack my Majesty. Yes, the
+King owes his life to you and he is grateful as you shall learn. This
+slave of yours,” and he pointed to Bes in his gaudy attire, “has
+brought the whole matter to my mind whence it had fallen, and,
+Shabaka,” here he hiccupped, “you may have noted how differently things
+look to the naked eye and when seen through a wine goblet. He has told
+me a wonderful story—what was the story, Dwarf?”
+
+“May it please the great King,” answered Bes, rolling his big eyes,
+“only a little tale of another king of my own country whom I used to
+think great until I came to the East and learned what kings could be.
+That king had a servant with whom he used to hunt, indeed he was my own
+father. One day they were out together seeking a certain elephant whose
+tusks were bigger than those of any other. Then the elephant charged
+the king and my father, at the risk of his life, killed it and claimed
+the tusks, as is the custom among the Ethiopians. But the king who
+greatly desired those tusks, caused my father to be poisoned that he
+might take them as his heir. Only before he died, my father, who could
+talk the elephant language, told all the other elephants of this
+wickedness, at which they were very angry, because they knew well that
+from the beginning of time their tusks have belonged to him who killed
+them, and the elephants are a people who do not like ancient laws to be
+altered. So the elephants made a league together and when the king next
+went out hunting, taking heed of nothing else they rushed at the king
+and tore him into pieces no bigger than a finger, and then killed the
+prince his son, who was behind him. That is the tale of the elephants
+who love Law, O King.”
+
+“Yes, yes,” said his Majesty, waking up from a little doze, “but what
+became of the great tusks? I should like to have them.”
+
+“I inherited them as my father’s son, O King, and gave them to my
+master, who doubtless will send them to you when he gets back to
+Egypt.”
+
+“A strange tale,” said the King. “A very strange tale which seems to
+remind me of something that happened not long ago. What was it? Well,
+it does not matter. Egyptian, do you seek any reward for that shot of
+yours at the lioness? If so, it shall be given to you. Have you a
+grudge against anyone, for instance?”
+
+“O King,” I answered, “I do seek justice against a certain man. This
+evening I was led to the bank of the river in charge of the eunuch
+Houman, who desired to take me for a row in a boat. On the road, for no
+offence he struck me on the head with the handle of his fly-whip. See,
+here are the marks of it, O King. Unless the King commanded him to
+strike me which I do not remember, I seek justice against this eunuch.”
+
+Now the King grew very angry and cried,
+
+“What! Did the dog dare to strike a freeborn noble Egyptian?”
+
+Here Houman threw himself upon his face in terror and began to babble
+out I know not what about the punishment of the boat, which was unlucky
+for him, for it put the matter into the King’s mind.
+
+“The boat!” he cried. “Ah! yes, the boat; being so fat you will fit it
+well, Eunuch. To the boat with him, and before he enters it a hundred
+blows upon the feet with the rods,” and he pointed at him with his
+sceptre.
+
+Then guards sprang upon Houman and dragged him away. As he went he
+clutched at Bes, but hissing something into his ear, the dwarf bit him
+through the hand till he let go. So Houman departed and the King’s
+guests laughed at the sight, for he had worked mischief to many.
+
+When he had gone the King stared at me and asked,
+
+“But why did I disturb you from your sleep, Egyptian? Oh! I remember.
+This dwarf says that he has seen the fairest woman in the whole world,
+and the most learned, some lady of Egypt, but that he does not know her
+name, that you alone know her name. I disturbed you that you might tell
+it to me but if you have forgotten it, you can go back to your bed and
+rest there till it returns to you. There are plenty of boats in the
+river, Egyptian.”
+
+“The fairest and most learned woman in the world?” I said astonished.
+“Who can that be, unless he means the lady Amada?” and I paused,
+wishing I had bitten out my tongue before I spoke, for I smelt a trap.
+
+“Yes, Master,” said Bes in a clear voice. “That was the name, the lady
+Amada.”
+
+“Who is this lady Amada?” asked the King, seeming to grow suddenly
+sober. “And what is she like?”
+
+“I can tell you that, O King,” said Bes. “She is like a willow shaken
+in the wind for slenderness and grace. She has eyes like those of a
+buck at gaze; she has lips like rosebuds; she has hair black as the
+night and soft as silk, the odour of which floats round her like that
+of flowers. She has a voice that whispers like the evening wind, and
+yet is rich as honey. Oh! she is beautiful as a goddess and when men
+see her their hearts melt like wax in the sun and for a long while they
+can look upon no other woman, not till the next day indeed if they meet
+her in the evening,” and Bes smacked his thick lips and gazed upwards.
+
+“By the holy Fire,” laughed the King, “I feel my heart melting already.
+Say, Shabaka, what do you know of this Amada? Is she married or a
+maiden?”
+
+Now I answered because I must, for after all that boat was not far
+away, nor did I dare to lie.
+
+“She is married, O King of kings, to the goddess Isis whom she loves
+alone.”
+
+“A woman married to a woman, or rather to the Queen of women,” he
+answered laughing, “well, that matters little.”
+
+“Nay, O King, it matters much since she is under the protection of Isis
+and inviolate.”
+
+“That remains to be seen, Shabaka. I think that I would dare the wrath
+of every false goddess in heaven to win such a prize. Learned also, you
+say, Shabaka.”
+
+“Aye, O King, full of learning to the finger tips, a prophetess also,
+one in whom the divine fire burns like a lamp in a vase of alabaster,
+one to whom visions come and who can read the future and the past.”
+
+“Still better,” said the King. “One, then, who would be a fitting
+consort for the King of kings, who wearies of fat, round-eyed,
+sweetmeat-sucking fools whereof there are hundreds yonder,” and he
+pointed towards the House of Women. “Who is this maid’s father?”
+
+“He is dead but she is the niece of the Prince Peroa, and by birth the
+Royal Lady of Egypt, O King.”
+
+“Good, then she is well born also. Hearken, O Shabaka, to-morrow you
+start back to Egypt, bearing letters from me to my vassal Peroa, and to
+my Satrap Idernes, bidding Peroa to hand over this lady Amada to
+Idernes and bidding Idernes to send her to the East with all honour and
+without delay, that she may enter my household as one of my wives.”
+
+Now I was filled with rage and horror, and about to refuse this mission
+when Bes broke in swiftly,
+
+“Will the King of kings be pleased to give command as to my master’s
+safe and honourable escort to Egypt?”
+
+“It is commanded with all things necessary for Shabaka the Egyptian and
+the dwarf his servant, with the gold and gems and slaves he won from me
+in a wager, and everything else that is his. Let it be recorded.”
+
+Scribes sprang forward and wrote the King’s words down, while like one
+in a dream I thought to myself that they could not now be altered. The
+King watched them sleepily for a while, then seemed to wake up and grow
+clear-minded again. At least he said to me,
+
+“Fortune has shown you smiles and frowns to-day, Egyptian, and the
+smiles last. Yet remember that she has teeth behind her lips wherewith
+to tear out the throat of the faithless. Man, if you play me false or
+fail in your mission, be sure that you shall die and in such a fashion
+that will make you think of yonder boat as a pleasant bed, and with you
+this woman Amada and her uncle Peroa, and all your kin and hers; yes,”
+he added with a burst of shrewdness, “and even that abortion of a dwarf
+to whom I have listened because he amused me, but who perhaps is more
+cunning than he seems.”
+
+“O King of kings,” I said, “I will not be false.” But I did not add to
+whom I would be true.
+
+“Good. Ere long I shall visit Egypt, as I have told you, and there I
+shall pass judgment on you and others. Till then, farewell. Fear
+nothing, for you have my safe-conduct. Begone, both of you, for you
+weary me. But first drink and keep the cup, and in exchange, give me
+that bow of yours which shoots so far and straight.”
+
+“It is the King’s,” I answered as I pledged him in the golden, jewelled
+cup which a butler had handed to me.
+
+Then the curtain fell in front of the throne and chamberlains came
+forward to lead me and Bes back to our lodging, one of whom took the
+cup and bore it in front of us. Down the hall we went between the
+feasting nobles who all bowed to one to whom the Great King had shown
+favour, and so out of the palace through the quiet night back to the
+house where I had dwelt while waiting audience of the King. Here the
+chamberlains bade me farewell, giving the cup to Bes to carry, and
+saying that on the morrow early my gold should be brought to me
+together with all that was needed for my journey, also one who would
+receive the bow I had promised to the King, which had already been
+returned to my lodgings with everything that was ours. Then they bowed
+and went.
+
+We entered the house, climbing a stair to an upper chamber. Here Bes
+barred the door and the shutters, making sure that none could see or
+hear us.
+
+Then he turned, threw his arms about me, kissed my hand and burst into
+tears.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+BES STEALS THE SIGNET
+
+
+“Oh! my Master,” gulped Bes, “I weep because I am tired, so take no
+notice. The day was long and during it twice at least there has been
+but the twinkling of an eyelid, but the thickness of a finger nail, but
+the weight of a hair between you and death.”
+
+“Yes,” I said, “and you were the eyelid, the finger nail and the hair.”
+
+“No, Master, not I, but something beyond me. The tool carves the statue
+and the hand holds the tool but the spirit guides the hand. Not once
+only since the sun rose has my mind been empty as a drum. Then
+something struck on it, perhaps the holy Tanofir, perhaps another, and
+it knew what note to sound. So it was when I cursed you in the boat. So
+it was when I walked back with the eunuch, meaning to kill him on the
+road, and then remembered that the death of one vile eunuch would not
+help you at all, whereas alive he could bring me to the presence of the
+King, if I paid him, as I did out of the gold in your purse which I
+carried. Moreover he earned his hire, for when the King grew dull, wine
+not yet having taken a hold on him, it was he who brought me to his
+mind as one who might amuse him, being so ugly and different from
+others, if only for a few minutes, after the women dancers had failed
+to do so.”
+
+“And what happened then, Bes?”
+
+“Then I was fetched and did my juggling tricks with that snake I caught
+and tamed, which is in my pouch now. You should not hate it any more,
+Master, for it played your game well. After this the King began to talk
+to me and I saw that his mind was ill at ease about you whom he knew
+that he had wronged. So I told him that story of an elephant that my
+father killed to save a king—it grew up in my mind like a toadstool in
+the night, Master, did this story of an ungrateful king and what befell
+him. Then the King became still more unquiet in his heart about you and
+asked the eunuch, Houman, where you were, to which he answered that by
+his order you were sleeping in a boat and might not be disturbed. So
+that arrow of mine missed its mark because the King did not like to eat
+his own words and cause you to be brought from out the boat, whither he
+had sent you. Now when everything seemed lost, some god, or perhaps the
+holy Tanofir who is ever present with me to see that I have not
+forgotten him, put it into the King’s mouth to begin to talk about
+women and to ask me if I had ever seen any fairer than those dancers
+whom I met going out as I came in. I answered that I had not noticed
+them much because they were so ugly, as indeed all women had seemed to
+me since once upon the banks of Nile I had looked upon one who was as
+Hathor herself for beauty. The King asked me who this might be and I
+answered that I did not know since I had never dared to ask the name of
+one whom even my master held to be as a goddess, although as boy and
+girl they had been brought up together.
+
+“Then the King saw his opportunity to ease his conscience and inquired
+of an old councillor if there were not a law which gave the king power
+to alter his decree if thereby he could satisfy his soul and acquire
+knowledge. The councillor answered that there was such a law and began
+to give examples of its working, till the King cut him short and said
+that by virtue of it he commanded that you should be brought out of
+your bed in the boat and led before him to answer a question.
+
+“So you were sent for, Master, but I did not go with the messengers,
+fearing lest if I did the King would forget all about the matter before
+you came. Therefore I stayed and amused him with tales of hunting, till
+I could not think of any more, for you were long in coming. Indeed I
+began to fear lest he should declare the feast at an end. But at the
+last, just as he was yawning and spoke to one of his councillors,
+bidding him send to the House of Women that they might make ready to
+receive him there, you came, and the rest you know.”
+
+Now I looked at Bes and said,
+
+“May the blessing of all the gods of all the lands be on your head,
+since had it not been for you I should now lie in torment in that boat.
+Hearken, friend: If ever we reach Egypt again, you will set foot on it,
+not as a slave but as a free man. You will be rich also, Bes, that is,
+if we can take the gold I won with us, since half of it is yours.”
+
+Bes squatted down upon the floor and looked up at me with a strange
+smile on his ugly face.
+
+“You have given me three things, Master,” he said. “Gold, which I do
+not want at present; freedom, which I do not want at present and
+mayhap, never shall while you live and love me; and the title of
+friend. This I do want, though why I should care to hear it from your
+lips I am not sure, seeing that for a long while I have known that it
+was spoken in your heart. Since you have said it, however, I will tell
+you something which hitherto I have hid even from you. I have a right
+to that name, for if your blood is high, O Shabaka, so is mine. Know
+that this poor dwarf whom you took captive and saved long years ago was
+more than the petty chief which he declared himself to be. He was and
+is by right the King of the Ethiopians and that throne with all its
+wealth and power he could claim to-morrow if he would.”
+
+“The King of the Ethiopians!” I said. “Oh! friend Bes, I pray you to
+remember that we no longer stand in yonder court lying for our lives.”
+
+“I speak no lie, O Shabaka, I before you am King of the Ethiopians.
+Moreover, I laid that kingship down of my own will and should I so
+desire, can take it up again when I will, since the Ethiopians are
+faithful to their kings.”
+
+“Why?” I asked, astonished.
+
+“Master, for so I will still call you who am not yet upon the land of
+Egypt where you have promised me freedom, do you remember anything
+strange about the people of that tribe from among whom you and the
+Egyptian soldiers captured me by surprise, because they wished to drive
+you and your following from their country?”
+
+Now I thought and answered,
+
+“Yes, one thing. I saw no women in their camp, nor any sign of
+children. This I know because I gave orders that such were to be spared
+and it was reported to me that there were none, so I supposed that they
+had fled away.”
+
+“There were none to fly, Master. That tribe was a brotherhood which had
+abjured women. Look on me now. I am misshapen, hideous, am I not? Born
+thus, it is said, because before my birth my mother was frightened by a
+dwarf. Yet the law of the Ethiopians is that their kings must marry
+within a year of their crowning. Therefore I chose a woman to be the
+queen whom I had long desired in secret. She scorned me, vowing that
+not for all the thrones of all the world would she be mated to a
+monster, and that if it were done by force she would kill herself, a
+saying that went abroad throughout the land. I said that she had spoken
+well and sent her in safety from the country, after which I too laid
+down my crown and departed with some who loved me, to form a
+brotherhood of women-haters further down the Nile, beyond the borders
+of Ethiopia. There the Egyptian force of which you were in command,
+attacked us unprepared, and you made me your slave. That is all.”
+
+“But why did you do this, Bes, seeing that maidens are many and all
+would not have thought thus?”
+
+“Because I wished for that one only, Master; also I feared lest I
+should become the father of a breed of twisted dwarfs. So I who was a
+king am now a slave, and yet, who knows which way the Grasshopper will
+jump? One day from a slave I may again grow into a king. And now let us
+seek that wherein kings are as slaves and slaves as kings—sleep.”
+
+So we lay down and slept, I thanking the gods that my bed was not
+yonder in the boat upon the great river.
+
+When I woke refreshed, though after all I had gone through on the
+yesterday my brain still swam a little, the light was pouring through
+the carved work of the shuttered windows. By it I saw Bes seated on the
+floor engaged in doing something to his bow, which, as I have said, had
+been restored to us with our other weapons, and asked him sleepily what
+it was.
+
+“Master,” he said, “yonder King demanded your bow and therefore a bow
+must be sent to him. But there is no need for it to be that with which
+you shot the lions, which, too, you value above anything you have,
+seeing that it came down to you from your forefather who was a Pharaoh
+of Egypt, and has been your companion from boyhood ever since you were
+strong enough to draw it. As you may remember I copied that bow out of
+a somewhat lighter wood, which I could bend with ease, and it is the
+copy that we will give to the King. Only first I must set your string
+upon it, for that may have been noted; also make one or two marks that
+are on your bow which I am finishing now, having begun the task with
+the dawn.”
+
+“You are clever,” I said laughing, “and I am glad. The holy Tanofir,
+looking on my bow, once had a vision. It was that an arrow loosed from
+it would drink the blood of a great king and save Egypt. But what king
+and when, he did not see.”
+
+The dwarf nodded and answered,
+
+“I have heard that tale and so have others. Therefore I play this trick
+since it is better that yonder palace dweller should get the arrow than
+the bow. There, it is finished to the last scratch, and none, save you
+and I, would know them apart. Till we are clear of this cursed land
+your bow is mine, Master, and you must find you another of the Eastern
+make.”
+
+“Master,” I repeated after him. “Say, Bes, did I dream or did you in
+truth tell me last night that you are by birth and right the king of a
+great country?”
+
+“I told you that, Master and it is true, no dream, since joy and
+suffering mixed unseal the lips and from them comes that at times which
+the heart would hide. Now I ask a favour of you, that you will speak no
+more of this matter either to me or to any other, man or woman, unless
+I should speak of it first. Let it be as though it were indeed a
+dream.”
+
+“It is granted,” I said as I rose and clothed myself, not in my own
+garments which had been taken from me in the palace, but in the
+splendid silken robes that had been set upon me after I was loosed from
+the boat. When this was done and I had washed and combed my long,
+curling hair, we descended to a lower chamber and called for the woman
+of the house to bring us food, of which I ate heartily. As we finished
+our meal we heard shouts in the street outside of, “Make way for the
+servants of the King!” and looking through the window-place, saw a
+great cavalcade approaching, headed by two princes on horseback.
+
+“Now I pray that yonder Tyrant has not changed his mind and that these
+do not come to take me back to the boat,” I said in a low voice.
+
+“Have no fear, Master,” answered Bes, “seeing that you have touched his
+sceptre and drunk from his cup which he gave to you. After these things
+no harm can happen to you in any land he rules. Therefore be at ease
+and deal with these fellows proudly.”
+
+A minute later two princes entered followed by slaves who bore many
+things, among them those hide bags filled with gold that had been set
+beneath me in the boat. The elder of them bowed, greeting me with the
+title of “Lord,” and I bowed back to him. Then he handed me certain
+rolls tied up with silk and sealed, which he said I was to deliver as
+the King had commanded to the King’s Satrap in Egypt, and to the Prince
+Peroa. Also he gave me other letters addressed to the King’s servants
+on the road and written on tablets of clay in a writing I could not
+read, with all of which I touched my forehead in the Eastern fashion.
+
+After this he told me that by noon all would be ready for my journey
+which I should make with the rank of the King’s Envoy, duly provisioned
+and escorted by his servants, with liberty to use the royal horses from
+post to post. Then he ordered the slaves to bring in the gifts which
+the King sent to me, and these were many, including even suits of
+flexible armour that would turn any sword-thrust or arrow.
+
+I thanked him, saying that I would be ready to start by noon, and asked
+whether the King wished to see me before I rode. He replied that he had
+so wished, but that as he was suffering in his head from the effects of
+the sun, he could not. He bade me, however, remember all that he had
+said to me and to be sure that the beauteous lady Amada, of whom I had
+spoken, was sent to him without delay. In that case my reward should be
+great; but if I failed to fulfil his commands, then his wrath would be
+greater and I should perish miserably as he had promised.
+
+I bowed and made no answer, after which he and his companions opened
+the bags of gold to show me that it was there, offering to weigh it
+again against my servant, the dwarf, so that I could see that nothing
+had been taken away.
+
+I replied that the King’s word was truer than any scale, whereon the
+bags were tied up again and sealed. Then I produced the bow, or rather
+its counterfeit, and having shown it to the princes, wrapped it and six
+of my own arrows in a linen cloth, to be taken to the King, with a
+message that though hard to draw it was the deadliest weapon in the
+world. The elder of them took it, bowed and bade me farewell, saying
+that perhaps we should meet again ere long in Egypt, if my gods gave me
+a safe journey. So we parted and I was glad to see the last of them.
+
+Scarcely had they gone when the six hunters whom I had won in the wager
+and thereby saved from death, entered the chamber and fell upon their
+knees before me, asking for orders as to making ready my gear for the
+journey. I inquired of them if they were coming also, to which their
+spokesman replied that they were my slaves to do what I commanded.
+
+“Do you desire to come?” I inquired.
+
+“O Lord Shabaka,” answered their spokesman, “we do, though some of us
+must leave wives and children behind us.”
+
+“Why?” I asked.
+
+“For two reasons, Lord. Here we are men disgraced, though through no
+fault of our own and if you were to leave us in this land, soon the
+anger of the King would find us out and we should lose not only our
+wives and children, but with them our lives. Whereas in another land we
+may get other wives and more children, but never shall we get another
+life. Therefore we would leave those dear ones to our friends, knowing
+that soon the women will forget and find other husbands, and that the
+children will grow up to whatever fate is appointed them, thinking of
+us, their fathers, as dead. Secondly we are hunters by trade, and we
+have seen that you are a great hunter, one whom we shall always be
+proud to serve in the chase or in war, one, too, who went out of his
+path to save our lives, because he saw that we had been unjustly doomed
+to a cruel death. Therefore we desire nothing better than to be your
+slaves, hoping that perchance we may earn our liberty from you in days
+to come by our good service.”
+
+“Is that the wish of all of you?” I asked.
+
+Speaking one by one, they said that it was, though tears rose in the
+eyes of some of them who were married at the thought of parting from
+their women and their little ones, who, it seemed might not be brought
+with them because they were the people of the King and had not been
+named in the bet. Moreover, horses could not be found for so many, nor
+could they travel fast.
+
+“Come then,” I said, “and know that while you are faithful to me, I
+will be good to you, men of my own trade, and perhaps in the end set
+you free in a land where brave fellows are not given to be torn to
+pieces by wild beasts at the word of any king. But if you fail me or
+betray me, then either I will kill you, or sell you to those who deal
+in slaves, to work at the oar, or in the mines till you die.”
+
+“Henceforth we have no lord but you, O Shabaka,” they said, and one
+after another took my hand and pressed it to their foreheads, vowing to
+be true to me in all things while we lived.
+
+So I bade them begone to bid farewell to those they loved and return
+again within half an hour of noon, never expecting, to tell the truth,
+that they would come. Indeed I did this to give them the opportunity of
+escaping if they saw fit, and hiding themselves where they would. But
+as I have often noted, the trade of hunting breeds honesty in the blood
+and at the hour appointed all of these men appeared, one of them with a
+woman who carried a child in her arms, clinging to him and weeping
+bitterly. When her veil slipped aside I saw that she was young and very
+fair to look on.
+
+So at noon we left the city of the Great King in the charge of two of
+his officers who brought me his thanks for the bow I had sent him,
+which he said he should treasure above everything he possessed, a
+saying at which Bes rolled his yellow eyes and grinned. We were mounted
+on splendid stallions from the royal stables and clad in the shirts of
+mail that had been presented to us, though when we were clear of the
+city we took these off because of the heat, also because that which Bes
+wore chafed him, being too long for his squat shape. Our goods together
+with the bags of gold were laden on sumpter horses which were led by my
+six hunter slaves. Four picked soldiers brought up the rear, mighty men
+from the King’s own bodyguard, and two of the royal postmen who served
+us as guides. Also there were cooks and grooms with spare horses.
+
+Thus we started in state and a great crowd watched us go. Our road ran
+by the river which we must cross in barges lower down, so that in a few
+minutes we came to that quay whither I had been led on the previous
+night to die. Yes, there were the watching guards, and there floated
+the hateful double boat, at the prow of which appeared the tortured
+face of the eunuch Houman, who rolled his head from side to side to rid
+himself of the torment of the flies. He caught sight of us and began to
+scream for pity and forgiveness, whereat Bes smiled. The officers
+halted our cavalcade and one of them approaching me said,
+
+“It is the King’s command, O Lord Shabaka, that you should look upon
+this villain who traduced you to the King and afterwards dared to
+strike you. If you will, enter the water and blind him, that your face
+may be the last thing he sees before he passes into darkness.”
+
+I shook my head, but Bes into whose mind some thought had come,
+whispered to me,
+
+“I wish to speak with yonder eunuch, so give me leave and fear nothing.
+I will do him no hurt, only good, if I find the chance.”
+
+Then I said to the officer,
+
+“It is not for great lords to avenge themselves upon the fallen. Yet my
+slave here was also wronged and would say a word to yonder Houman.”
+
+“So be it,” said the officer, “only let him be careful not to hurt him
+too sorely, lest he should die before the time and escape his
+punishment.”
+
+Then Bes tucked up his robes and waded into the river, flourishing a
+great knife, while seeing him come, Houman began to scream with fear.
+He reached the boat and bent over the eunuch, talking to him in a low
+voice. What he did there I could not see because his cloak was spread
+out on either side of the man’s head. Presently, however, I caught
+sight of the flash of a knife and heard yells of agony followed by
+groans, whereat I called to him to return and let the fellow be. For
+when I remembered that his fate was near to being my own, those sounds
+made me sick at heart and I grew angry with Bes, though the cruel
+Easterns only laughed.
+
+At length he came back grinning and washing the blade of his knife in
+the water. I spoke fiercely to him in my own language, and still he
+grinned on, making no answer. When we were mounted again and riding
+away from that horrible boat with its groaning prisoner, watching Bes
+whose behaviour and silence I could not understand, I saw him sweep his
+hand across his great mouth and thrust it swiftly into his bosom. After
+this he spoke readily enough, though in a low voice lest someone who
+understood Egyptian should overhear him.
+
+“You are a fool, Master,” he said, “to think that I should wish to
+waste time in torturing that fat knave.”
+
+“Then why did you torture him?” I asked.
+
+“Because my god, the Grasshopper, when he fashioned me a dwarf, gave me
+a big mouth and good teeth,” he answered, whereon I stared at him,
+thinking that he had gone mad.
+
+“Listen, Master. I did not hurt Houman. All I did was to cut his cords
+nearly through from the under side, so that when night comes he can
+break them and escape, if he has the wit. Now, Master, you may not have
+noticed, but I did, that before the King doomed you to death by the
+boat yesterday, he took a certain round, white seal, a cylinder with
+gods and signs cut on it, which hung by a gold chain from his girdle,
+and gave it to Houman to be his warrant for all he did. This seal
+Houman showed to the Treasurer whereon they produced the gold that was
+weighed in the scales against me, and to others when he ordered the
+boat to be prepared for you to lie in. Moreover he forgot to return it,
+for when he himself was dragged off to the boat by direct command of
+the King, I caught sight of the chain beneath his robe. Can you guess
+the rest?”
+
+“Not quite,” I answered, for I wished to hear the tale in his own
+words.
+
+“Well, Master, when I was walking with Houman after he had put you in
+the boat, I asked him about this seal. He showed it to me and said that
+he who bore it was for the time the king of all the Empire of the East.
+It seems that there is but one such seal which has descended from
+ancient days from king to king, and that of it every officer, great or
+small, has an impress in all lands. If the seal is produced to him, he
+compares it with the impress and should the two agree, he obeys the
+order that is brought as though the King had given it in person. When
+we reached the Court doubtless Houman would have returned the seal, but
+seeing that the King was, or feigned to be drunk, waited for fear lest
+it should be lost, and with it his life. Then he was seized as you saw,
+and in his terror forgot all about the seal, as did the King and his
+officers.”
+
+“But, surely, Bes, those who took Houman to the boat would have removed
+it.”
+
+“Master, even the most clear-sighted do not see well at night. At any
+rate my hope was that they had not done so, and that is why I waded out
+to prick the eyes of Houman. Moreover, as I had hoped, so it was; there
+beneath his robe I saw the chain. Then I spoke to him, saying,
+
+“‘I am come to put out your eyes, as you deserve, seeing how you have
+treated my master. Still I will spare you at a price. Give me the
+King’s ancient white seal that opens all doors, and I will only make a
+pretence of blinding you. Moreover I will cut your cords nearly
+through, so that when the night comes you can break them, roll into the
+river and escape.’
+
+“‘Take it if you can,’ he said, ‘and use it to injure or destroy that
+accursed one.’”
+
+“So you took it, Bes.”
+
+“Yes, Master, but not easily. Remember, it was on a chain about the
+man’s neck, and I could not draw it over his head, for, like his hands,
+his throat was tied by a cord, as you remember yours was.”
+
+“I remember very well,” I said, “for my throat is still sore from the
+rope that ran to the same staples to which my hands were fastened.”
+
+“Yes, Master, and therefore if I drew the chain off his neck, it would
+still have been on the ropes. I thought of trying to cut it with the
+knife, but this was not easy because it is thick, and if I had dragged
+it up on the blade of the knife it would have been seen, for many eyes
+were watching me, Master. Then I took another counsel. While I
+pretended to be putting out the eyes of Houman, I bent down and getting
+the chain between my teeth I bit it through. One tooth broke—see, but
+the next finished the business. I ate through the soft gold, Master,
+and then sucked up the chain and the round white seal into my mouth,
+and that is why I could not answer you just now, because my cheeks were
+full of chain. So we have the King’s seal that all the subject
+countries know and obey. It may be useful, yonder in Egypt, and at
+least the gold is of value.”
+
+“Clever!” I exclaimed, “very clever. But you have forgotten something,
+Bes. When that knave escapes, he will tell the whole story and the King
+will send after us and kill us who have stolen his royal seal.”
+
+“I don’t think so, Master. First, it is not likely that Houman will
+escape. He is very fat and soft and already suffers much. After a day
+in the sun also he will be weak. Moreover I do not think that he can
+swim, for eunuchs hate the water. So if he gets out of the boat it is
+probable that he will drown in the river, since he dare not wade to the
+quay where the guards will be waiting. But if he does escape by
+swimming across the river, he will hide for his life’s sake and never
+be seen again, and if by chance he is caught, he will say that the seal
+fell into the water when he was taken to the boat, or that one of the
+guards had stolen it. What he will not say is that he had bargained it
+away with someone who in return, cut his cords, since for that crime he
+must die by worse tortures than those of the boat. Lastly we shall ride
+so fast that with six hours’ start none will catch us. Or if they do I
+can throw away the chain and swallow the seal.”
+
+As Bes said, so it happened. The fate of Houman I never learned, and of
+the theft of the seal I heard no more until a proclamation was issued
+to all the kingdoms that a new one was in use. But this was not until
+long afterwards when it had served my turn and that of Egypt.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+THE LADY AMADA
+
+
+Now day by day, hour by hour and minute by minute every detail of that
+journey appeared before me, but to set it all down is needless. As I,
+Allan Quatermain, write the record of my vision, still I seem to hear
+the thunder of our horses’ hoofs while we rushed forward at full gallop
+over the plains, over the mountain passes and by the banks of rivers.
+The speed at which we travelled was wonderful, for at intervals of
+about forty miles were post-houses and at these, whatever might be the
+hour of day or night, we found fresh horses from the King’s stud
+awaiting us. Moreover, the postmasters knew that we were coming, which
+astonished me until we discovered that they had been warned of our
+arrival by two King’s messengers who travelled ahead of us.
+
+These men, it would seem, although our officers and guides professed
+ignorance of the matter, must have left the King’s palace at dawn on
+the day of our departure, whereas we did not mount in the city till a
+little after noon. Therefore they had six hours good start of us, and
+what is more, travelled lighter than we did, having no sumpter beasts
+with them, and no cooks or servants. Moreover, always they had the pick
+of the horses and chose the three swiftest beasts, leading the third in
+case one of their own should founder or meet with accident. Thus it
+came about that we never caught them up although we covered quite a
+hundred miles a day. Only once did I see them, far off upon the skyline
+of a mountain range which we had to climb, but by the time we had
+reached its crest they were gone.
+
+At length we came to the desert without accident and crossed it, though
+more slowly. But even here the King had his posts which were in charge
+of Arabs who lived in tents by wells of water, or sometimes where there
+was none save what was brought to them. So still we galloped on,
+parched by the burning sand beneath and the burning sand above, and
+reached the borders of Egypt.
+
+Here, upon the very boundary line, the two officers halted the
+cavalcade saying that their orders were to return thence and make
+report to the King. There then we parted, Bes and I with the six
+hunters who still chose to cling to me, going forward and the officers
+of the King with the guides and servants going back. The good horses
+that we rode from the last post they gave to us by the King’s command,
+together with the sumpter beasts, since horses broken to the saddle
+were hard to come by in Egypt where they were trained to draw chariots.
+These we took, sending back my thanks to the King, and started on once
+more, Bes leading that beast which bore the gold and the hunters
+serving as a guard.
+
+Indeed I was glad to see the last of those Easterns although they had
+brought us safely and treated us well, for all the while I was never
+sure but that they had some orders to lead us into a trap, or perhaps
+to make away with us in our sleep and take back the gold and the
+priceless, rose-hued pearls, any two of which were worth it all. But
+such was not their command nor did they dare to steal them on their own
+account, since then, even if they escaped the vengeance of the King,
+their wives and all their families would have paid the price.
+
+Now we entered Egypt near the Salt Lakes that are not far from the head
+of the Gulf, crossing the canal that the old Pharaohs had dug, which
+proved easy for it was silted up. Before we reached it we found some
+peasant folk labouring in their gardens and I heard one of them call to
+another,
+
+“Here come more of the Easterns. What is toward, think you, neighbour?”
+
+“I do not know,” answered the other, “but when I passed down the canal
+this morning, I saw a body of the Great King’s guards gathering from
+the fort. Doubtless it is to meet these men of whose coming the other
+two who went by fifty hours ago, have warned the officers.”
+
+“Now what does that mean?” I asked of Bes.
+
+“Neither more nor less than we have heard, Master. The two King’s
+messengers who have gone ahead of us all the way from the city, have
+told the officer of the frontier fort that we are coming, so he has
+advanced to the ford to meet us, for what purpose I do not know.”
+
+“Nor do I,” I said, “but I wish we could take another road, if there
+were one.”
+
+“There is none, Master, for above and below the canal is full of water
+and the banks are too steep for horses to climb. Also we must show no
+doubt or fear.”
+
+He thought a while, then added,
+
+“Take the royal seal, Master. It may be useful.”
+
+He gave it to me, and I examined it more closely than I had done
+before. It was a cylinder of plain white shell hung on a gold chain,
+that which Bes had bitten through, but now mended again by taking out
+the broken link. On this cylinder were cut figures; as I think of a
+priest presenting a noble to a god, over whom was the crescent of the
+moon, while behind the god stood a man or demon with a tall spear. Also
+between the figures were mystic signs, meaning I know not what. The
+workmanship of the carving was grown shallow with time and use for the
+cylinder seemed to be very ancient, a sacred thing that had descended
+from generation to generation and was threaded through with a bar of
+silver on which it turned.
+
+I put the seal which was like no other that I had seen, being the work
+of an early and simpler age, round my neck beneath my mail and we went
+on.
+
+Descending the steep bank of the canal we came to the ford where the
+sand that had silted in was covered by not more than a foot of water.
+As we entered it, on the top of the further bank appeared a body of
+about thirty armed and mounted men, one of whom carried the Great
+King’s banner, on which I noted was blazoned the very figures that were
+cut upon the cylinder. Now it was too late to retreat, so we rode
+through the water and met the soldiers. Their officer advanced, crying,
+
+“In the name of the Great King, greeting, my lord Shabaka!
+
+“In the name of the Great King, greeting!” I answered. “What would you
+with Shabaka, Officer of the King?”
+
+“Only to do him honour. The word of the King has reached us and we come
+to escort you to the Court of Idernes, the Satrap of the King and
+Governor of Egypt who sits at Sais.”
+
+“That is not my road, Officer. I travel to Memphis to deliver the
+commands of the King to my cousin, Peroa, the ruler of Egypt under the
+King. Afterwards, perchance, I shall visit the high Idernes.”
+
+“To whom our commands are to take you now, my lord Shabaka, not
+afterwards,” said the officer sternly, glancing round at his armed
+escort.
+
+“I come to give commands, not to receive them, Captain of the King.”
+
+“Seize Shabaka and his servants,” said the officer briefly, whereon the
+soldiers rode forward to surround us.
+
+I waited till they were near at hand. Then suddenly I plunged my hand
+beneath my robe and drew out the small, white seal which I held before
+the eyes of the officer, saying,
+
+“Who is it that dares to lay a finger upon the holder of the King’s
+White Seal? Surely that man is ready for death.”
+
+The officer stared at it, then leapt from his horse and flung himself
+face downwards on the ground, crying,
+
+“It is the ancient signet of the Kings of the East, given to their
+first forefather by Samas the Sungod, on which hangs the fortunes of
+the Great House! Pardon, my lord Shabaka.”
+
+“It is granted,” I answered, “because what you did you did in
+ignorance. Now go to the Satrap Idernes and say to him that if he would
+have speech with the bearer of the King’s seal which all must obey, he
+will find him at Memphis. Farewell,” and with Bes and the six hunters I
+rode through the guards, none striving to hinder me.
+
+“That was well done, Master,” said Bes.
+
+“Yes,” I said. “Those two messengers who went ahead of us brought
+orders to the frontier guard of Idernes that I should be taken to him
+as a prisoner. I do not know why, but I think because things are
+passing in Egypt of which we know nothing and the King did not desire
+that I should see the Prince Peroa and give him news that I might have
+gathered. Mayhap we have been outwitted, Bes, and the business of the
+lady Amada is but a pretext to pick a quarrel suddenly before Peroa can
+strike the first blow.”
+
+“Perhaps, Master, for these Easterns are very crafty. But, Master, what
+happens to those who make a false use of the King’s ancient, sacred
+signet? I think they have cut the ropes which tie them to earth,” and
+he looked upwards to the sky rolling his yellow eyes.
+
+“They must find new ropes, Bes, and quickly, before they are caught.
+Hearken. You have sat upon a throne and I can speak out to you. Think
+you that my cousin, the Prince Peroa, loves to be the servant of this
+distant, Eastern king, he who by right is Pharaoh of Egypt? Peroa must
+strike or lose his niece and perchance his life. Forward, that we may
+warn him.”
+
+“And if he will not strike, Master, knowing the King’s might and being
+somewhat slow to move?”
+
+“Then, Bes, I think that you and I had best go hunting far away in
+those lands you know, where even the Great King cannot follow us.”
+
+“And where, if only I can find a woman who does not make me ill to look
+on, and whom I do not make ill, I too can once more be a king, Master,
+and the lord of many thousand brave armed men. I must speak of that
+matter to the holy Tanofir.”
+
+“Who doubtless will know what to advise you, Bes; or, if he does not, I
+shall.”
+
+For a while we rode on in silence, each thinking his own thoughts. Then
+Bes said,
+
+“Master, before so very long we shall reach the Nile, and having with
+us gold in plenty can buy boats and hire crews. It comes into my mind
+that we should do well for our own safety and comfort to start at once
+on a hunting journey far from Egypt; in the land of the Ethiopians,
+Master. There perchance I could gather together some of the wise men in
+whose hands I left the rule of my kingdom, and submit to them this
+question of a woman to marry me. The Ethiopians are a faithful people,
+Master, and will not reject me because I have spent some years seeing
+the world afar, that I might learn how to rule them better.”
+
+“I have remembered that it cannot be, Bes,” I said.
+
+“Why not, Master?”
+
+“For this reason. You left your country because of a woman? I cannot
+leave mine again because of a woman.”
+
+Bes rolled his eyes around as though he thought to see that woman in
+the desert. Not discovering her, he stared upwards and there found
+light.
+
+“Is she perchance named the lady Amada, Master?”
+
+I nodded.
+
+“So. The lady Amada who you told the Great King is the most beautiful
+one in the whole world, causing the fire of Love to burn up in his
+royal heart, and with it many other things of which we do not know at
+present.”
+
+“_You_ told him, Bes,” I said angrily.
+
+“I told him of a beautiful one; I did not tell him her name, Master,
+and although I never thought of it at the time, perhaps she will be
+angry with him who told her name.”
+
+Now fear took hold of me, and Bes saw it in my face.
+
+“Do not be afraid, Master. If there is trouble I will swear that I told
+the Great King that lady’s name.”
+
+“Yes, Bes, but how would that fit in with the story, seeing that I was
+brought out of the boat for this very purpose?”
+
+“Quite easily, Master, since I will say that you were led from the boat
+to confirm my tale. Oh! she will be angry with me, no doubt, but in
+Egypt even a dwarf cannot be killed because he has declared a certain
+lady to be the most beautiful in the world. But, Master, tell me, when
+did you learn to love her?”
+
+“When we were boy and girl, Bes. We used to play together, being
+cousins, and I used to hold her hand. Then suddenly she refused to let
+me hold her hand any more, and I being quite grown up then, though she
+was younger, understood that I had better go away.”
+
+“I should have stopped where I was, Master.”
+
+“No, Bes. She was studying to be a priestess and my great uncle, the
+holy Tanofir, told me that I had better go away. So I went down south
+hunting and fighting in command of the troops, and met you, Bes.”
+
+“Which perhaps was better for you, Master, than to stop to watch the
+lady Amada acquire learning. Still, I wonder whether the holy Tanofir
+is _always_ right. You see, Master, he thinks a great deal of priests
+and priestesses, and is so very old that he has forgotten all about
+love and that without it there never would have been a holy Tanofir.”
+
+“The holy Tanofir thinks of souls, not of bodies, Bes.”
+
+“Yes, Master. Still, oil is of no use without a lamp, or a soul without
+a body, at least here underneath the sun, or so we were taught who
+worship the Grasshopper. But, Master, when you came back from all your
+hunting, what happened then?”
+
+“Then I found, Bes, that the lady Amada, having acquired all the
+learning possible, had taken her first vows to Isis, which she said she
+would not break for any man on earth although she might have done so
+without crime. Therefore, although I was dear to her, as a brother
+would have been had she had one, and she swore that she had never even
+thought of another man, she refused so much as to think of marrying who
+dreamed only of the heavenly perfections of the lady Isis.”
+
+“Ump!” said Bes. “We Ethiopians have Priestesses of the Grasshopper, or
+the Grasshopper’s wife, but they do not think of her like that. I hope
+that one day something stronger than herself will not cause the lady
+Amada to break her vows to the heavenly Isis. Only then, perhaps, it
+may be for the sake of another man who did not go off to the East on
+account of such fool’s talk. But here is a village and the horses are
+spent. Let us stop and eat, as I suppose even the lady Amada does
+sometimes.”
+
+On the following afternoon we crossed the Nile, and towards sunset
+entered the vast and ancient city of Memphis. On its white walls
+floated the banners of the Great King which Bes pointed out to me,
+saying that wherever we went in the whole world, it seemed that we
+could never be free from those accursed symbols.
+
+“May I live to spit upon them and cast them into the moat,” I answered
+savagely, for as I drew near to Amada they grew ten times more hateful
+to me than they had been before.
+
+In truth I was nearer to Amada than I thought, for after we had passed
+the enclosure of the temple of Ptah, the most wonderful and the
+mightiest in the whole world, we came to the temple of Isis. There near
+to the pylon gate we met a procession of her priests and priestesses
+advancing to offer the evening sacrifice of song and flowers, clad, all
+of them, in robes of purest white. It was a day of festival, so singers
+went with them. After the singers came a band of priestesses bearing
+flowers, in front of whom walked another priestess shaking a _sistrum_
+that made a little tinkling music.
+
+Even at a distance there was something about the tall and slender shape
+of this priestess that stirred me. When we came nearer I saw why, for
+it was Amada herself. Through the thin veil she wore I could see her
+dark and tender eyes set beneath the broad brow that was so full of
+thought, and the sweet, curved mouth that was like no other woman’s.
+Moreover there could be no doubt since the veil parting above her
+breast showed the birth-mark for which she was famous, the mark of the
+young moon, the sign of Isis.
+
+I sprang from my horse and ran towards her. She looked up and saw me.
+At first she frowned, then her face grew wondering, then tender, and I
+thought that her red lips shaped my name. Moreover in her confusion she
+let the _sistrum_ fall.
+
+I muttered “Amada!” and stepped forward, but priests ran between us and
+thrust me away. Next moment she had recovered the _sistrum_ and passed
+on with her head bowed. Nor did she lift her eyes to look back.
+
+“Begone, man!” cried a priest, “Begone, whoever you may be. Because you
+wear Eastern armour do you think that you can dare the curse of Isis?”
+
+Then I fell back, the holy image of the goddess passed and the
+procession vanished through the pylon gate. I, Shabaka the Egyptian,
+stood by my horse and watched it depart. I was happy because the lady
+Amada was alive, well, and more beautiful than ever; also because she
+had shown signs of joy and confusion at seeing me again. Yet I was
+unhappy because I met her still filling a holy office which built a
+wall between us, also because it seemed to me an evil omen that I
+should have been repelled from her by a priest of Isis who talked of
+the curse of the goddess. Moreover the sacred statue, I suppose by
+accident, turned towards me as it passed and perhaps by the chance of
+light, seemed to frown upon me.
+
+Thus I thought as Shabaka hundreds of years before the Christian era,
+but as Allan Quatermain the modern man, to whom it was given so
+marvellously to behold all these things and who in beholding them, yet
+never quite lost the sense of his own identity of to-day, I was amazed.
+For I knew that this lady Amada was the same being though clad in
+different flesh, as that other lady with whom I had breathed the
+magical _Taduki_ fumes which had power to rend the curtain of the past,
+or, perhaps, only to breed dreams of what it might have been.
+
+To the outward eye, indeed she was different, as I was different,
+taller, more slender, larger-eyed, with longer and slimmer hands than
+those of any Western woman, and on the whole even more beautiful and
+alluring. Moreover that mysterious look which from time to time I had
+seen on Lady Ragnall’s face, was more constant on that of the lady
+Amada. It brooded in the deep eyes and settled in a curious smile about
+the curves of the lips, a smile that was not altogether human, such a
+smile as one might wear who had looked on hidden things and heard
+voices that spoke beyond the limits of the world.
+
+Somehow neither then nor at any other time during all my dream, could I
+imagine this Amada, this daughter of a hundred kings, whose blood might
+be traced back through dynasty on dynasty, as nothing but a woman who
+nurses children upon her breast. It was as though something of our
+common nature had been bred out of her and something of another nature
+whereof we have no ken, had entered to fill its place. And yet these
+two women were the same, that I _knew_, or at any rate, much of them
+was the same, for who can say what part of us we leave behind as we
+flit from life to life, to find it again elsewhere in the abysms of
+Time and Change? One thing too was quite identical—the birthmark of the
+new moon above the breast which the priests of the Kendah had declared
+was always the seal that marked their prophetess, the guardian of the
+Holy Child.
+
+When the procession had quite departed and I could no longer hear the
+sound of singing, I remounted and rode on to my house, or rather to
+that of my mother, the great lady Tiu, which was situated beneath the
+wall of the old palace facing towards the Nile. Indeed my heart was
+full of this mother of mine whom I loved and who loved me, for I was
+her only child, and my father had been long dead; so long that I could
+not remember him. Eight months had gone by since I saw her face and in
+eight months who knew what might have happened? The thought made me
+cold for she, who was aged and not too strong, perhaps had been
+gathered to Osiris. Oh! if that were so!
+
+I shook my tired horse to a canter, Bes riding ahead of me to clear a
+road through the crowded street in which, at this hour of sundown, all
+the idlers of Memphis seemed to have gathered. They stared at me
+because it was not common to see men riding in Memphis, and with little
+love, since from my dress and escort they took me to be some envoy from
+their hated master, the Great King of the East. Some even threatened to
+bar the way; but we thrust through and presently turned into a
+thoroughfare of private houses standing in their own gardens. Ours was
+the third of these. At its gate I leapt from my horse, pushed open the
+closed door and hastened in to seek and learn.
+
+I had not far to go for, there in the courtyard, standing at the head
+of our modest household and dressed in her festal robes, was my mother,
+the stately and white-haired lady Tiu, as one stands who awaits the
+coming of an honoured guest. I ran to her and kneeling, kissed her
+hand, saying,
+
+“My mother! My mother, I have come safe home and greet you.”
+
+“I greet you also, my son,” she answered, bending down and kissing me
+on the brow, “who have been in far lands and passed so many dangers. I
+greet you and thank the guardian gods who have brought you safe home
+again. Rise, my son.”
+
+I rose and kissed her on the face, then looked at the servants who were
+bowing their welcome to me, and said,
+
+“How comes it, Lady of the House, that all are gathered here? Did you
+await some guest?”
+
+“We awaited you, my son. For an hour have we stood here listening for
+the sound of your feet.”
+
+“Me!” I exclaimed. “That is strange, seeing that I have ridden fast and
+hard from the East, tarrying only a few minutes, and those since I
+entered Memphis, when I met——” and I stopped.
+
+“Met whom, Shabaka?”
+
+“The lady Amada walking in the procession of Isis.”
+
+“Ah! the lady Amada. The mother waits that the son may stop to greet
+the lady Amada!”
+
+“But _why_ did you wait, my mother? Who but a spirit or a bird of the
+air could have told you that I was coming, seeing that I sent no
+messenger before me?”
+
+“You must have done so, Shabaka, since yesterday one came from the holy
+Tanofir, our relative who dwells in the desert in the burial-ground of
+Sekera. He bore a message from Tanofir to me, telling me to make ready
+since before sundown to-night you, my son, would be with me, having
+escaped great dangers, accompanied by the dwarf Bes, your servant, and
+six strange Eastern men. So I made ready and waited; also I prepared
+lodging for the six strange men in the outbuildings behind the house
+and sent a thank offering to the temple. For know, my son, I have
+suffered much fear for you.”
+
+“And not without cause, as you will say when I tell you all,” I
+answered laughing. “But how Tanofir knew that I was coming is more than
+I can guess. Come, my mother, greet Bes here, for had it not been for
+him, never should I have lived to hold your hand again.”
+
+So she greeted him and thanked him, whereon Bes rolled his eyes and
+muttered something about the holy Tanofir, after which we entered the
+house. Thence I despatched a messenger to the Prince Peroa saying that
+if it were his pleasure I would wait on him at once, seeing that I had
+much to tell him. This done I bathed and caused my hair and beard to be
+trimmed and, discarding the Eastern garments, clothed myself in those
+of Egypt, and so felt that I was my own man again. Then I came out
+refreshed and drank a cup of Syrian wine and the night having fallen,
+sat down by my mother in the chamber with a lamp between us, and,
+holding her hand, told her something of my story, showing her the sacks
+of gold that had come with me safely from the East, and the chain of
+priceless, rose-hued pearls that I had won in a wager from the Great
+King.
+
+Now when she learned how Bes by his wit had saved me from a death of
+torment in the boat, my mother clapped her hands to summon a servant
+and sent for Bes, and said to him,
+
+“Bes, hitherto I have looked on you as a slave taken by my son, the
+noble Shabaka, in one of his far journeys that it pleases him to make
+to fight and to hunt. But henceforth I look upon you as a friend and
+give you a seat at my table. Moreover it comes into my mind that
+although so strangely shaped by some evil god, perhaps you are more
+than you seem to be.”
+
+Now Bes looked at me to see if I had told my mother anything, and when
+I shook my head answered,
+
+“I thank you, O Lady of the House, who have but done my duty to my
+master. Still it is true that as a goatskin often holds good wine, so a
+dwarf should not always be judged by what can be seen of him.”
+
+Then he went away.
+
+“It seems that we are rich again, Son, who have been somewhat poor of
+late years,” said my mother, looking at the bags of gold. “Also, there
+are the pearls which doubtless are worth more than the gold. What are
+you going to do with them, Shabaka?”
+
+“I thought of offering them as a gift to the lady Amada,” I replied
+hesitatingly, “that is unless you——”
+
+“I? No, I am too old for such gems. Yet, Son, it might be well to keep
+them for a time, seeing that while they are your own they may give you
+more weight in the eyes of the Prince Peroa and others. Whereas if you
+gave them to the lady Amada and she took them, perchance it might only
+be to see them return to the East, whither you tell me she is summoned
+by one whose orders may not be disobeyed.”
+
+Now I turned white with rage and answered,
+
+“While I live, Mother, Amada shall never go to the East to be the woman
+of yonder King.”
+
+“While you live, Son. But those who cross the will of a great king, are
+apt to die. Also this is a matter which her uncle, the Prince Peroa,
+must decide as policy dictates. Now as ever the woman is but a pawn in
+the game. Oh! my son,” she went on, “do not pin all your heart to the
+robe of this Amada. She is very fair and very learned, but is she one
+who will love? Moreover, if so she is a priestess and it would be
+difficult for her to wed who is sworn to Isis. Lastly, remember this:
+If Egypt were free, she would be its heiress, not her uncle, Peroa. For
+hers is the true blood, not his. Would he, therefore, be willing to
+give her to any man who, according to the ancient custom, through her
+would acquire the right to rule?”
+
+“I do not seek to rule, Mother; I only seek to wed Amada whom I love.”
+
+“Amada whom you love and whose name you, or rather your servant Bes,
+which is the same thing since it will be held that he did it by your
+order, gave to the King of the East, or so I understand. Here is a
+pretty tangle, Shabaka, and rather would I be without all that gold and
+those priceless pearls than have the task of its unravelling.”
+
+Before I could answer and explain all the truth to her, the curtain was
+swung aside and through it came a messenger from the Prince Peroa, who
+bade me come to eat with him at once at the palace, since he must see
+me this night.
+
+So my mother having set the rope of rose-hued pearls in a double chain
+about my neck, I kissed her and went, with Bes who was also bidden.
+Outside a chariot was waiting into which we entered.
+
+“Now, Master,” said Bes to me as we drove to the palace, “I almost wish
+that we were back in another chariot hunting lions in the East.”
+
+“Why?” I asked.
+
+“Because then, although we had much to fear, there was no woman in the
+story. Now the woman has entered it and I think that our real troubles
+are about to begin. Oh! to-morrow I go to seek counsel of the holy
+Tanofir.”
+
+“And I come with you,” I answered, “for I think it will be needed.”
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+THE MESSENGERS
+
+
+We descended at the great gate of the palace and were led through empty
+halls that were no longer used now when there was no king in Egypt, to
+the wing of the building in which dwelt the Prince Peroa. Here we were
+received by a chamberlain, for the Prince of Egypt still kept some
+state although it was but small, and had about him men who bore the
+old, high-sounding titles of the “Officers of Pharaoh.”
+
+The chamberlain led me and Bes to an ante-chamber of the banqueting
+hall and left us, saying that he would summon the Prince who wished to
+see me before he ate. This, however, was not necessary since while he
+spoke Peroa, who as I guessed had been waiting for me, entered by
+another door. He was a majestic-looking man of middle age, for grey
+showed in his hair and beard, clad in white garments with a purple hem
+and wearing on his brow a golden circlet, from the front of which rose
+the _uræus_ in the shape of a hooded snake that might be worn by those
+of royal blood alone. His face was full of thought and his black and
+piercing eyes looked heavy as though with sleeplessness. Indeed I could
+see that he was troubled. His gaze fell upon us and his features
+changed to a pleasant smile.
+
+“Greeting, Cousin Shabaka,” he said. “I am glad that you have returned
+safe from the East, and burn to hear your tidings. I pray that they may
+be good, for never was good news more needed in Egypt.”
+
+“Greeting, Prince,” I answered, bowing my knee. “I and my servant here
+are returned safe, but as for our tidings, well, judge of them for
+yourself,” and drawing the letter of the Great King from my robe, I
+touched my forehead with the roll and handed it to him.
+
+“I see that you have acquired the Eastern customs, Shabaka,” he said as
+he took it. “But here in my own house which once was the palace of our
+forefathers, the Pharaohs of Egypt, by your leave I will omit them.
+Amen be my witness,” he added bitterly, “I cannot bear to lay the
+letter of a foreign king against my brow in token of my country’s
+vassalage.”
+
+Then he broke the silk of the seals and read, and as he read his face
+grew black with rage.
+
+“What!” he cried, casting down the roll and stamping on it. “What! Does
+this dog of an Eastern king bid me send my niece, by birth the Royal
+Princess of Egypt, to be his toy until he wearies of her? First I will
+choke her with my own hands. How comes it, Shabaka, that you care to
+bring me such a message? Were I Pharaoh now I think your life would pay
+the price.”
+
+“As it would certainly have paid the price, had I not done so. Prince,
+I brought the letter because I must. Also a copy of it has gone, I
+believe, to Idernes the Satrap at Sais. It is better to face the truth,
+Prince, and I think that I may be of more service to you alive than
+dead. If you do not wish to send the lady Amada to the King, marry her
+to someone else, after which he will seek her no more.”
+
+He looked at me shrewdly and said,
+
+“To whom then? I cannot marry her, being her uncle and already married.
+Do you mean to yourself, Shabaka?”
+
+“I have loved the lady Amada from a child, Prince,” I answered boldly.
+“Also I have high blood in me and having brought much gold from the
+East, am rich again and one accustomed to war.”
+
+“So you have brought gold from the East! How? Well, you can tell me
+afterwards. But you fly high. You, a Count of Egypt, wish to marry the
+Royal Lady of Egypt, for such she is by birth and rank, which, if ever
+Egypt were free again, would give you a title to the throne.”
+
+“I ask no throne, Prince. If there were one to fill I should be content
+to leave that to you and your heirs.”
+
+“So you say, no doubt honestly. But would the children of Amada say the
+same? Would you even say it if you were her husband, and would she say
+it? Moreover she is a priestess, sworn not to wed, though perhaps that
+trouble might be overcome, if she wishes to wed, which I doubt. Mayhap
+you might discover. Well, you are hungry and worn with long travelling.
+Come, let us eat, and afterwards you can tell your story. Amada and the
+others will be glad to hear it, as I shall. Follow me, Count Shabaka.”
+
+So we went to the lesser banqueting-hall, I filled with joy because I
+should see Amada, and yet, much afraid because of that story which I
+must tell. Gathered there, waiting for the Prince, we found the
+Princess his wife, a large and kindly woman, also his two eldest
+daughters and his young son, a lad of about sixteen. Moreover, there
+were certain officers, while at the tables of the lower hall sat others
+of the household, men of smaller rank, and their wives, since Peroa
+still maintained some kind of a shadow of the Court of old Egypt.
+
+The Princess and the others greeted me, and Bes also who had always
+been a favourite with them, before he went to take his seat at the
+lowest table, and I greeted them, looking all the while for Amada whom
+I did not see. Presently, however, as we took our places on the
+couches, she entered dressed, not as a priestess, but in the beautiful
+robes of a great lady of Egypt and wearing on her head the _uræus_
+circlet that signified her royal blood. As it chanced the only seat
+left vacant was that next to myself, which she took before she
+recognized me, for she was engaged in asking pardon for her lateness of
+the Prince and Princess, saying that she had been detained by the
+ceremonies at the temple. Seeing suddenly that I was her neighbour, she
+made as though she would change her place, then altered her mind and
+stayed where she was.
+
+“Greeting, Cousin Shabaka,” she said, “though not for the first time
+to-day. Oh! my heart was glad when looking up, outside the temple, I
+caught sight of you clad in that strange Eastern armour, and knew that
+you had returned safe from your long wanderings. Yet afterwards I must
+do penance for it by saying two added prayers, since at such a time my
+thoughts should have been with the goddess only.”
+
+“Greeting, Cousin Amada,” I answered, “but she must be a jealous
+goddess who grudges a thought to a relative—and friend—at such a time.”
+
+“She is jealous, Shabaka, as being the Queen of women she must be who
+demands to reign alone in the hearts of her votaries. But tell me of
+your travels in the East and how you came by that rope of wondrous
+pearls, if indeed there can be pearls so large and beautiful.”
+
+This at the time I had little chance of doing, however, since the young
+Princess on the other side of her began to talk to Amada about some
+forthcoming festival, and the Prince’s son next to me who was fond of
+hunting, to question me about sport in the East and when, unhappily, I
+said that I had shot lions there, gave me no peace for the rest of that
+feast. Also the Princess opposite was anxious to learn what food noble
+people ate in the East, and how it was cooked and how they sat at
+table, and what was the furniture of their rooms and did women attend
+feasts as in Egypt, and so forth. So it came about that what between
+these things and eating and drinking, which, being well-nigh starved, I
+was obliged to do, for, save a cup of wine, I had taken nothing in my
+mother’s house, I found little chance of talking with the lovely Amada,
+although I knew that all the while she was studying me out of the
+corners of her large eyes. Or perhaps it was the rose-hued pearls she
+studied, I was not sure.
+
+Only one thing did she say to me when there was a little pause while
+the cup went round, and she pledged me according to custom and passed
+it on. It was,
+
+“You look well, Shabaka, though somewhat tired, but sadder than you
+used, I think.”
+
+“Perhaps because I have seen things to sadden me, Amada. But you too
+look well but somewhat lovelier than you used, I think, if that be
+possible.”
+
+She smiled and blushed as she replied,
+
+“The Eastern ladies have taught you how to say pretty things. But you
+should not waste them upon me who have done with women’s vanities and
+have given myself to learning and—religion.”
+
+“Have learning and religion no vanities of their own?” I began, when
+suddenly the Prince gave a signal to end the feast.
+
+Thereon all the lower part of the hall went away and the little tables
+at which we ate were removed by servants, leaving us only wine-cups in
+our hands which a butler filled from time to time, mixing the wine with
+water. This reminded me of something, and having asked leave, I
+beckoned to Bes, who still lingered near the door, and took from him
+that splendid, golden goblet which the Great King had given me, that by
+my command he had brought wrapped up in linen and hidden beneath his
+robe. Having undone the wrappings I bowed and offered it to the Prince
+Peroa.
+
+“What is this wondrous thing?” asked the Prince, when all had finished
+admiring its workmanship. “Is it a gift that you bring me from the King
+of the East, Shabaka?”
+
+“It is a gift from myself, O Prince, if you will be pleased to accept
+it,” I answered, adding, “Yet it is true that it comes from the King of
+the East, since it was his own drinking-cup that he gave me in exchange
+for a certain bow, though not the one he sought, after he had pledged
+me.”
+
+“You seem to have found much favour in the eyes of this king, Shabaka,
+which is more than most of us Egyptians do,” he exclaimed, then went on
+hastily, “Still, I thank you for your splendid gift, and however you
+came by it, shall value it much.”
+
+“Perhaps my cousin Shabaka will tell us his story,” broke in Amada, her
+eyes still fixed upon the rose-hued pearls, “and of how he came to win
+all the beauteous things that dazzle our eyes to-night.”
+
+Now I thought of offering her the pearls, but remembering my mother’s
+words, also that the Princess might not like to see another woman bear
+off such a prize, did not do so. So I began to tell my story instead,
+Bes seated on the ground near to me by the Prince’s wish, that he might
+tell his.
+
+The tale was long for in it was much that went before the day when I
+saw myself in the chariot hunting lions with the King of kings, which
+I, the modern man who set down all this vision, now learned for the
+first time. It told of the details of my journey to the East, of my
+coming to the royal city and the rest, all of which it is needless to
+repeat. Then I came to the lion hunt, to my winning of the wager, and
+all that happened to me; of my being condemned to death, of the
+weighing of Bes against the gold, and of how I was laid in the boat of
+torment, a story at which I noticed Amada turn pale and tremble.
+
+Here I ceased, saying that Bes knew better than I what had chanced at
+the Court while I was pinned in the boat, whereon all present cried out
+to Bes to take up the tale. This he did, and much better than I could
+have done, bringing out many little things which made the scene appear
+before them, as Ethiopians have the art of doing. At last he came to
+the place in his story where the king asked him if he had ever seen a
+woman fairer than the dancers, and went on thus:
+
+“O Prince, I told the Great King that I had; that there dwelt in Egypt
+a lady of royal blood with eyes like stars, with hair like silk and
+long as an unbridled horse’s tail, with a shape like to that of a
+goddess, with breath like flowers, with skin like milk, with a voice
+like honey, with learning like to that of the god Thoth, with wit like
+a razor’s edge, with teeth like pearls, with majesty of bearing like to
+that of the king himself, with fingers like rosebuds set in pink
+seashells, with motion like that of an antelope, with grace like that
+of a swan floating upon water, and—I don’t remember the rest, O
+Prince.”
+
+“Perhaps it is as well,” exclaimed Peroa. “But what did the King say
+then?”
+
+“He asked her name, O Prince.”
+
+“And what name did you give to this wondrous lady who surpasses all the
+goddesses in loveliness and charm, O dwarf Bes?” inquired Amada much
+amused.
+
+“What name, O High-born One? Is it needful to ask? Why, what name could
+I give but your own, for is there any other in the world of whom a man
+whose heart is filled with truth could speak such things?”
+
+Now hearing this I gasped, but before I could speak Amada leapt up,
+crying,
+
+“Wretch! You dared to speak my name to this king! Surely you should be
+scourged till your bones are bare.”
+
+“And why not, Lady? Would you have had me sit still and hear those fat
+trollops of the East exalted above you? Would you have had me so
+disloyal to your royal loveliness?”
+
+“You should be scourged,” repeated Amada stamping her foot. “My Uncle,
+I pray you cause this knave to be scourged.”
+
+“Nay, nay,” said Peroa moodily. “Poor simple man, he knew no better and
+thought only to sing your praises in a far land. Be not angry with the
+dwarf, Niece. Had it been Shabaka who gave your name, the thing would
+be different. What happened next, Bes?”
+
+“Only this, Prince,” said Bes, looking upwards and rolling his eyes, as
+was his fashion when unloading some great lie from his heart. “The King
+sent his servants to bring my master from the boat, that he might
+inquire of him whether he had always found me truthful. For, Prince,
+those Easterns set much store by truth which here in Egypt is
+worshipped as a goddess. There they do not worship her because she
+lives in the heart of every man, and some women.”
+
+Now all stared at Bes who continued to stare at the ceiling, and I rose
+to say something, I know not what, when suddenly the doors opened and
+through them appeared heralds, crying,
+
+“Hearken, Peroa, Prince of Egypt by grace of the Great King. A message
+from the Great King. Read and obey, O Peroa, Prince of Egypt by grace
+of the Great King!”
+
+As they cried thus from between them emerged a man whose long Eastern
+robes were stained with the dust of travel. Advancing without salute he
+drew out a roll, touched his forehead with it, bowing deeply, and
+handed it to the prince, saying,
+
+“Kiss the Word. Read the Word. Obey the Word, O servant of our Master,
+the King of kings, beneath whose feet we are all but dust.”
+
+Peroa took the roll, made a semblance of lifting it to his forehead,
+opened and read it. As he did so I saw the veins swell upon his neck
+and his eyes flash, but he only said,
+
+“O Messenger, to-night I feast, to-morrow an answer shall be given to
+you to convey to the Satrap Idernes. My servants will find you food and
+lodging. You are dismissed.”
+
+“Let the answer be given early lest you also should be dismissed, O
+Peroa,” said the man with insolence.
+
+Then he turned his back upon the prince, as one does on an inferior,
+and walked away, accompanied by the herald.
+
+When they were gone and the doors had been shut, Peroa spoke in a voice
+that was thick with fury, saying,
+
+“Hearken, all of you, to the words of the writing.”
+
+Then he read it.
+
+“From the King of kings, the Ruler of all the earth, to Peroa, one of
+his servants in the Satrapy of Egypt,
+    “Deliver over to my servant Idernes without delay, the person of
+    Amada, a lady of the blood of the old Pharaohs of Egypt, who is
+    your relative and in your guardianship, that she may be numbered
+    among the women of my house.”
+
+
+Now all present looked at each other, while Amada stood as though she
+had been frozen into stone. Before she could speak, Peroa went on,
+
+“See how the King seeks a quarrel against me that he may destroy me and
+bray Egypt in his mortar, and tan it like a hide to wrap about his
+feet. Nay, hold your peace, Amada. Have no fear. You shall not be sent
+to the East; first will I kill you with my own hands. But what answer
+shall we give, for the matter is urgent and on it hang all our lives?
+Bethink you, Idernes has a great force yonder at Sais, and if I refuse
+outright, he will attack us, which indeed is what the King means him to
+do before we can make preparation. Say then, shall we fight, or shall
+we fly to Upper Egypt, abandoning Memphis, and there make our stand?”
+
+Now the Councillors present seemed to find no answer, for they did not
+know what to say. But Bes whispered in my ear,
+
+“Remember, Master, that you hold the King’s seal. Let an answer be sent
+to Idernes under the White Seal, bidding him wait on you.”
+
+Then I rose and spoke.
+
+“O Peroa,” I said, “as it chances I am the bearer of the private signet
+of the Great King, which all men must obey in the north and in the
+south, in the east and in the west, wherever the sun shines over the
+dominions of the King. Look on it,” and taking the ancient White Seal
+from about my neck, I handed it to him.
+
+He looked and the Councillors looked. Then they said almost with one
+voice,
+
+“It is the White Seal, the very signet of the Great Kings of the East,”
+and they bowed before the dreadful thing.
+
+“How you came by this we do not know, Shabaka,” said Peroa. “That can
+be inquired of afterwards. Yet in truth it seems to be the old Signet
+of signets, that which has come down from father to son for countless
+generations, that which the King of kings carries on his person and
+affixes to his private orders and to the greatest documents of State,
+which afterwards can never be recalled, that of which a copy is
+emblazoned on his banner.”
+
+“It is,” I answered, “and from the King’s person it came to me for a
+while. If any doubt, let the impress be brought, that is furnished to
+all the officers throughout the Empire, and let the seal be set in the
+impress.”
+
+Now one of the officers rose and went to bring the impress which was in
+his keeping, but Peroa continued,
+
+“If this be the true seal, how would you use it, Shabaka, to help us in
+our present trouble?”
+
+“Thus, Prince,” I answered. “I would send a command under the seal to
+Idernes to wait upon the holder of the seal here in Memphis. He will
+suspect a trap and will not come until he has gathered a great army.
+Then he will come, but meanwhile, you, Prince, can also collect an
+army.”
+
+“That needs gold, Shabaka, and I have little. The King of kings takes
+all in tribute.”
+
+“I have some, Prince, to the weight of a heavy man, and it is at the
+service of Egypt.”
+
+“I thank you, Shabaka. Believe me, such generosity shall not go
+unrewarded,” and he glanced at Amada who dropped her eyes. “But if we
+can collect the army, what then?”
+
+“Then you can put Memphis into a state of defence. Then too when
+Idernes comes I will meet him and, as the bearer of the seal, command
+him under the seal to retreat and disperse his army.”
+
+“But if he does, Shabaka, it will only be until he has received fresh
+orders from the Great King, whereon he will advance again.”
+
+“No, Prince, _he_ will not advance, or that army either. For when they
+are in retreat we will fall on them and destroy them, and declare you,
+O Prince, Pharaoh of Egypt, though what will happen afterwards I do not
+know.”
+
+When they heard this all gasped. Only Amada whispered,
+
+“Well said!” and Bes clapped his big hands softly in the Ethiopian
+fashion.
+
+“A bold counsel,” said Peroa, “and one on which I must have the night
+to think. Return here, Shabaka, an hour after sunrise to-morrow, by
+which time I can gather all the wisest men in Memphis, and we will
+discuss this matter. Ah! here is the impress. Now let the seal be
+tried.”
+
+A box was brought and opened. In it was a slab of wood on which was an
+impress of the King’s seal in wax, surrounded by those of other seals
+certifying that it was genuine. Also there was a writing describing the
+appearance of the seal. I handed the signet to Peroa who, having
+compared it with the description in the writing, fitted it to the
+impress on the wax.
+
+“It is the same,” he said. “See, all of you.”
+
+They looked and nodded. Then he would have given it back to me but I
+refused to take it, saying,
+
+“It is not well that this mighty symbol should hang about the neck of a
+private man whence it might be stolen or lost.”
+
+“Or who might be murdered for its sake,” interrupted Peroa.
+
+“Yes, Prince. Therefore take it and hide it in the safest and most
+secret place in the palace, and with it these pearls that are too
+priceless to be flaunted about the streets of Memphis at night, unless
+indeed——” and I turned to look for Amada, but she was gone.
+
+So the seal and the pearls were taken and locked in the box with the
+impress and borne away. Nor was I sorry to see the last of them, wisely
+as it happened. Then I bade the Prince and his company good night, and
+presently was driving homeward with Bes in the chariot.
+
+Our way led us past some large houses once occupied by officers of the
+Court of Pharaoh, but now that there was no Court, fallen into ruins.
+Suddenly from out of these houses sprang a band of men disguised as
+common robbers, whose faces were hidden by cloths with eye-holes cut in
+them. They seized the horses by the bridles, and before we could do
+anything, leapt upon us and held us fast. Then a tall man speaking with
+a foreign accent, said,
+
+“Search that officer and the dwarf. Take from them the seal upon a gold
+chain and a rope of rose-hued pearls which they have stolen. But do
+them no harm.”
+
+So they searched us, the tall man himself helping and, aided by others,
+holding Bes who struggled with them, and searched the chariot also, by
+the light of the moon, but found nothing. The tall man muttered that I
+must be the wrong officer, and at a sign they left us and ran away.
+
+“That was a wise thought of mine, Bes, which caused me to leave certain
+ornaments in the palace,” I said. “As it is they have taken nothing.”
+
+“Yes, Master,” he answered, “though I have taken something from them,”
+a saying that I did not understand at the time. “Those Easterns whom we
+met by the canal told Idernes about the seal, and he ordered this to be
+done. That tall man was one of the messengers who came to-night to the
+palace.”
+
+“Then why did they not kill us, Bes?”
+
+“Because murder, especially of one who holds the seal, is an ugly
+business, that is easily tracked down, whereas thieves are many in
+Memphis and who troubles about them when they have failed? Oh! the
+Grasshopper, or Amen, or both, have been with us to-night.”
+
+So I thought although I said nothing, for since we had come off
+scatheless, what did it matter? Well, this. It showed me that the
+signet of the Great King was indeed to be dreaded and coveted, even
+here in Egypt. If Idernes could get it into his possession, what might
+he not do with it? Cause himself to be proclaimed Pharaoh perhaps and
+become the forefather of an independent dynasty. Why not, when the
+Empire of the East was taxed with a great war elsewhere? And if this
+was so why should not Peroa do the same, he who had behind him all Old
+Egypt, maddened with its wrongs and foreign rule?
+
+That same night before I slept, but after Bes and I had hidden away the
+bags of gold by burying them beneath the clay floor, I laid the whole
+matter before my mother who was a very wise woman. She heard me out,
+answering little, then said,
+
+“The business is very dangerous, and of its end I will not speak until
+I have heard the counsel of your great-uncle, the holy Tanofir. Still,
+things having gone so far, it seems to me that boldness may be the best
+course, since the great King has his Grecian wars to deal with, and
+whatever he may say, cannot attack Egypt yet awhile. Therefore if Peroa
+is able to overcome Idernes and his army he may cause himself to be
+proclaimed Pharaoh and make Egypt free if only for a time.”
+
+“Such is my mind, Mother.”
+
+“Not all your mind, Son, I think,” she answered smiling, “for you think
+more of the lovely Amada than of these high policies, at any rate
+to-night. Well, marry your Amada if you can, though I misdoubt me
+somewhat of a woman who is so lost in learning and thinks so much about
+her soul. At least if you marry her and Egypt should become free, as it
+was for thousands of years, you will be the next heir to the throne as
+husband of the Great Royal Lady.”
+
+“How can that be, Mother, seeing that Peroa has a son?”
+
+“A vain youth with no more in him than a child’s rattle. If once Amada
+ceases to think about her soul she will begin to think about her
+throne, especially if she has children. But all this is far away and
+for the present I am glad that neither she nor the thieves have got
+those pearls, though perhaps they might be safer here than where they
+are. And now, my son, go rest for you need it, and dream of nothing,
+not even Amada, who for her part will dream of Isis, if at all. I will
+wake you before the dawn.”
+
+So I went, being too tired to talk more, and slept like a crocodile in
+the sun, till, as it seemed to me, but a few minutes later I saw my
+mother standing over me with a lamp, saying that it was time to rise. I
+rose, unwillingly enough, but refreshed, washed and dressed myself, by
+which time the sun had begun to appear. Then I ate some food and,
+calling Bes, made ready to start for the palace.
+
+“My son,” said my mother, the lady Tiu, before we parted, “while you
+have been sleeping I have been thinking, as is the way of the old.
+Peroa, your cousin, will be glad enough to make use of you, but he does
+not love you over much because he is jealous of you and fears lest you
+should become his rival in the future. Still he is an honest man and
+will keep a bargain which he once has made. Now it seems that above
+everything on earth you desire Amada on whom you have set your heart
+since boyhood, but who has always played with you and spoken to you
+with her arm stretched out. Also life is short and may come to an end
+any day, as you should know better than most men who have lived among
+dangers, and therefore it is well that a man should take what he
+desires, even if he finds afterwards that the rose he crushes to his
+breast has thorns. For then at least he will have smelt the rose, not
+only have looked on and longed to smell it. Therefore, before you hand
+over your gold, and place your wit and strength at the service of
+Peroa, make your bargain with him; namely, that if thereby you save
+Amada from the King’s House of Women and help to set Peroa on the
+throne, he shall promise her to you free of any priestly curse, you
+giving her as dowry the priceless rose-hued pearls that are worth a
+kingdom. So you will get your rose till it withers, and if the thorns
+prick, do not blame me, and one day you may become a king—or a slave,
+Amen knows which.”
+
+Now I laughed and said that I would take her counsel who desired Amada
+and nothing else. As for all her talk about thorns, I paid no heed to
+it, knowing that she loved me very much and was jealous of Amada who
+she thought would take her place with me.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+SHABAKA PLIGHTS HIS TROTH
+
+
+Bes and I went armed to the palace, walking in the middle of the road,
+but now that the sun was up we met no more robbers. At the gate a
+messenger summoned me alone to the presence of Peroa, who, he said,
+wished to talk with me before the sitting of the Council. I went and
+found him by himself.
+
+“I hear that you were attacked last night,” he said after greeting me.
+
+I answered that I was and told him the story, adding that it was
+fortunate I had left the White Seal and the pearls in safe keeping,
+since without doubt the would-be thieves were Easterns who desired to
+recover them.
+
+“Ah! the pearls,” he said. “One of those who handled them, who was once
+a dealer in gems, says that they are without price, unmatched in the
+whole world, and that never in all his life has he seen any to equal
+the smallest of them.”
+
+I replied that I believed this was so. Then he asked me of the value of
+the gold of which I had spoken. I told him and it was a great sum, for
+gold was scarce in Egypt. His eyes gleamed for he needed wealth to pay
+soldiers.
+
+“And all this you are ready to hand over to me, Shabaka?”
+
+Now I bethought me of my mother’s words, and answered,
+
+“Yes, Prince, at a price.”
+
+“What price, Shabaka?”
+
+“The price of the hand of the Royal Lady, Amada, freed from her vows.
+Moreover, I will give her the pearls as a marriage dowry and place at
+your service my sword and all the knowledge I have gained in the East,
+swearing to stand or fall with you.”
+
+“I thought it, Shabaka. Well, in this world nothing is given for
+nothing and the offer is a fair one. You are well born, too, as well as
+myself, and a brave and clever man. Further, Amada has not taken her
+final vows and therefore the high priests can absolve her from her
+marriage to the goddess, or to her son Horus, whichever it may be, for
+I do not understand these mysteries. But, Shabaka, if Fortune should
+chance to go with us and I should became the first Pharaoh of a new
+dynasty in Egypt, he who was married to the Royal Princess of the true
+blood might become a danger to my throne and family.”
+
+“I shall not be that man, Prince, who am content with my own station,
+and to be your servant.”
+
+“And my son’s, Shabaka? You know that I have but one lawful son.”
+
+“And your son’s, Prince.”
+
+“You are honest, Shabaka, and I believe you. But how about your sons,
+if you have any, and how about Amada herself? Well, in great businesses
+something must be risked, and I need the gold and the rest which I
+cannot take for nothing, for you won them by your skill and courage and
+they are yours. But how you won the seal you have not told us, nor is
+there time for you to do so now.”
+
+He thought a little, walking up and down the chamber, then went on,
+
+“I accept your offer, Shabaka, so far as I can.”
+
+“So far as you can, Prince?”
+
+“Yes; I can give you Amada in marriage and make that marriage easy, but
+only if Amada herself consents. The will of a Royal Princess of Egypt
+of full age cannot be forced, save by her father if he reigns as
+Pharaoh, and I am not her father, but only her guardian. Therefore it
+stands thus. Are you willing to fulfil your part of the bargain, save
+only as regards the pearls, if she does not marry you, and to take your
+chance of winning Amada as a man wins a woman, I on my part promising
+to do all in my power to help your suit?”
+
+Now it was my turn to think for a moment. What did I risk? The gold and
+perhaps the pearls, no more, for in any case I should fight for Peroa
+against the Eastern king whom I hated, and through him for Egypt. Well,
+these came to me by chance, and if they went by chance what of it? Also
+I was not one who desired to wed a woman, however much I worshipped
+her, if she desired to turn her back on me. If I could win her in fair
+love—well. If not, it was my misfortune, and I wanted her in no other
+way. Lastly, I had reason to think that she looked on me more
+favourably than she had ever done on any other man, and that if it had
+not been for what my mother called her soul and its longings, she would
+have given herself to me before I journeyed to the East. Indeed, once
+she had said as much, and there was something in her eyes last night
+which told me that in her heart she loved me, though with what passion
+at the time I did not know. So very swiftly I made up my mind and
+answered,
+
+“I understand and I accept. The gold shall be delivered to you to-day,
+Prince. The pearls are already in your keeping to await the end.”
+
+“Good!” he exclaimed. “Then let the matter be reduced to writing and at
+once, that afterwards neither of us may have cause to complain of the
+other.”
+
+So he sent for his secret scribe and dictated to him, briefly but
+clearly, the substance of our bargain, nothing being added, and nothing
+taken away. This roll written on papyrus was afterwards copied twice,
+Peroa taking one copy, I another, and a third being deposited according
+to custom, in the library of the temple of Ptah.
+
+When all was done and Peroa and I had touched each other’s breasts and
+given our word in the name of Amen, we went to the hall in which we had
+dined, where those whom the Prince had summoned were assembled.
+Altogether there were about thirty of them, great citizens of Memphis,
+or landowners from without who had been called together in the night.
+Some of these men were very old and could remember when Egypt had a
+Pharaoh of its own before the East set its heel upon her neck, of noble
+blood also.
+
+Others were merchants who dealt with all the cities of Egypt; others
+hereditary generals, or captains of fleets of ships; others Grecians,
+officers of mercenaries who were supposed to be in the pay of the King
+of kings, but hated him, as did all the Greeks. Then there were the
+high priests of Ptah, of Amen, of Osiris and others who were still the
+most powerful men in the land, since there was no village between
+Thebes and the mouths of the Nile in which they had not those who were
+sworn to the service of their gods.
+
+Such was the company representing all that remained or could be
+gathered there of the greatness of Egypt the ancient and the fallen.
+
+To these when the doors had been closed and barred and trusty watchmen
+set to guard them, Peroa expounded the case in a low and earnest voice.
+He showed them that the King of the East sought a new quarrel against
+Egypt that he might grind her to powder beneath his heel, and that he
+did this by demanding the person of Amada, his own niece and the Royal
+Lady of Egypt, to be included in his household like any common woman.
+If she were refused then he would send a great army under pretext of
+taking her, and lay the land waste as far as Thebes. And if she were
+granted some new quarrel would be picked and in the person of the royal
+Amada all of them be for ever shamed.
+
+Next he showed the seal, telling them that I—who was known to many of
+them, at least by repute—had brought it from the East, and repeating to
+them the plan that I had proposed upon the previous night. After this
+he asked their counsel, saying that before noon he must send an answer
+to Idernes, the King’s Satrap at Sais.
+
+Then I was called upon to speak and, in answer to questions, answered
+frankly that I had stolen the ancient White Seal from the King’s
+servant who carried it as a warrant for the King’s private vengeance on
+one who had bested him. How I did not mention. I told them also of the
+state of the Great King’s empire and that I had heard that he was about
+to enter upon a war with the Greeks which would need all its strength,
+and that therefore if they wished to strike for liberty the time was at
+hand.
+
+Then the talk began and lasted for two hours, each man giving his
+judgment according to precedence, some one way and some another. When
+all had done and it became clear that there were differences of
+opinion, some being content to live on in slavery with what remained to
+them and others desiring to strike for freedom, among whom were the
+high priests who feared lest the Eastern heretics should utterly
+destroy their worship, Peroa spoke once more.
+
+“Elders of Egypt,” he said briefly, “certain of you think one way, and
+certain another, but of this be sure, such talk as we have held
+together cannot be hid. It will come to the ears of spies and through
+them to those of the Great King, and then all of us alike are doomed.
+If you refuse to stir, this very day I with my family and household and
+the Royal Lady Amada, and all who cling to me, fly to Upper Egypt and
+perhaps beyond it to Ethiopia, leaving you to deal with the Great King,
+as you will, or to follow me into exile. That he will attack us there
+is no doubt, either over the pretext of Amada or some other, since
+Shabaka has heard as much from his own lips. Now choose.”
+
+Then, after a little whispering together, every man of them voted for
+rebellion, though some of them I could see with heavy hearts, and bound
+themselves by a great oath to cling together to the last.
+
+The matter being thus settled such a letter was written to Idernes as I
+had suggested on the night before, and sealed with the Signet of
+signets. Of the yielding up of Amada it said nothing, but commanded
+Idernes, under the private White Seal that none dared disobey, to wait
+upon the Prince Peroa at Memphis forthwith, and there learn from him,
+the Holder of the Seal, what was the will of the Great King. Then the
+Council was adjourned till one hour after noon, and most of them
+departed to send messengers bearing secret word to the various cities
+and nomes of Egypt.
+
+Before they went, however, I was directed to wait upon my relative, the
+holy Tanofir, whom all acknowledged to be the greatest magician in
+Egypt, and to ask of him to seek wisdom and an oracle from his Spirit
+as to the future and whether in it we should fare well or ill. This I
+promised to do.
+
+When most of the Council were gone the messengers of Idernes were
+summoned, and came proudly, and with them, or rather before them, Bes
+for whom I had sent as he was not present at the Council.
+
+“Master,” he whispered to me, “the tallest of those messengers is the
+man who captained the robbers last night. Wait and I will prove it.”
+
+Peroa gave the roll to the head messenger, bidding him bear it to the
+Satrap in answer to the letter which he had delivered to him. The man
+took it insolently and thrust it into his robe, as he did so revealing
+a silver chain that had been broken and knotted together, and asked
+whether there were words to bear besides those written in the roll.
+Before Peroa could answer Bes sprang up saying,
+
+“O Prince, a boon, the boon of justice on this man. Last night he and
+others with him attacked my master and myself, seeking to rob us, but
+finding nothing let us go.”
+
+“You lie, Abortion!” said the Eastern.
+
+“Oh! I lie, do I?” mocked Bes. “Well, let us see,” and shooting out his
+long arm, he grasped the chain about the messenger’s neck and broke it
+with a jerk. “Look, O Prince,” he said, “you may have noted last night,
+when that man entered the hall, that there hung about his neck this
+chain to which was tied a silver key.”
+
+“I noted it,” said Peroa.
+
+“Then ask him, O Prince, where is the key now.”
+
+“What is that to you, Dwarf?” broke in the man. “The key is my mark of
+office as chief butler to the High Satrap. Must I always bear it for
+your pleasure?”
+
+“Not when it has been taken from you, Butler,” answered Bes. “See, here
+it is,” and from his sleeve he produced the key hanging to a piece of
+the chain. “Listen, O Prince,” he said. “I struggled with this man and
+the key was in my left hand though he did not know it at the time, and
+with it some of the chain. Compare them and judge. Also his mask
+slipped and I saw his face and knew him again.”
+
+Peroa laid the pieces of the chain together and observed the
+workmanship which was Eastern and rare. Then he clapped his hands, at
+which sign armed men of his household entered from behind him.
+
+“It is the same,” he said. “Butler of Idernes, you are a common thief.”
+
+The man strove to answer, but could not for the deed was proved against
+him.
+
+“Then, O Prince,” asked Bes, “what is the punishment of those thieves
+who attack passers-by with violence in the streets of Memphis, for such
+I demand on him?”
+
+“The cutting off of the right hand and scourging,” answered Peroa, at
+which words the butler turned to fly. But Bes leapt on him like an ape
+upon a bird, and held him fast.
+
+“Seize that thief,” said Peroa to his servants, “and let him receive
+fifty blows with the rods. His hand I spare because he must travel.”
+
+They laid the man down and the rods having been fetched, gave him the
+blows until at the thirtieth he howled for mercy, crying out that it
+was true and that it was he who had captained the robbers, words which
+Peroa caused to be written down. Then he asked him why he, a messenger
+from the Satrap, had robbed in the streets of Memphis, and as he
+refused to answer, commanded the officer of justice to lay on. After
+three more blows the man said,
+
+“O Prince, this was no common robbery for gain. I did what I was
+commanded to do, because yonder noble had about him the ancient White
+Seal of the Great King which he showed to certain of the Satrap’s
+servants by the banks of the canal. That seal is a holy token, O
+Prince, which, it is said, has descended for twice a thousand years in
+the family of the Great King, and as the Satrap did not know how it had
+come into the hands of the noble Shabaka, he ordered me to obtain it if
+I could.”
+
+“And the pearls too, Butler?”
+
+“Yes, O Prince, since those gems are a great possession with which any
+Satrap could buy a larger satrapy.”
+
+“Let him go,” said Peroa, and the man rose, rubbing himself and weeping
+in his pain.
+
+“Now, Butler,” he went on, “return to your master with a grateful
+heart, since you have been spared much that you deserve. Say to him
+that he cannot steal the Signet, but that if he is wise he will obey
+it, since otherwise his fate may be worse than yours, and to all his
+servants say the same. Foolish man, how can you, or your master, guess
+what is in the mind of the Great King, or for what purpose the Signet
+of signets is here in Egypt? Beware lest you fall into a pit, all of
+you together, and let Idernes beware lest he find himself at the very
+bottom of that pit.”
+
+“O Prince, I will beware,” said the humbled butler, “and whatever is
+written over the seal, that I will obey, like many others.”
+
+“You are wise,” answered Peroa; “I pray for his own sake that the
+Satrap Idernes may be as wise. Now begone, thanking whatever god you
+worship that your life is whole in you and that your right hand remains
+upon your wrist.”
+
+So the butler and those with him prostrated themselves before Peroa and
+bowed humbly to me and even to Bes because in their hearts now they
+believed that we were clothed by the Great King with terrible powers
+that might destroy them all, if so we chose. Then they went, the butler
+limping a little and with no pride left in him.
+
+“That was good work,” said Peroa to me afterwards when we were alone,
+“for now yonder knave is frightened and will frighten his master.”
+
+“Yes,” I answered, “you played that pipe well, Prince. Still, there is
+no time to lose, since before another moon this will all be reported in
+the East, whence a new light may arise and perchance a new signet.”
+
+“You say you stole the White Seal?” he asked.
+
+“Nay, Prince, the truth is that Bes bought it—in a certain fashion—and
+I used it. Perhaps it is well that you should know no more at present.”
+
+“Perhaps,” he answered, and we parted, for he had much to do.
+
+That afternoon the Council met again. At it I gave over the gold and by
+help of it all was arranged. Within a week ten thousand armed men would
+be in Memphis and a hundred ships with their crews upon the Nile; also
+a great army would be gathering in Upper Egypt, officered for the most
+part by Greeks skilled in war. The Greek cities too at the mouths of
+the Nile would be ready to revolt, or so some of their citizens
+declared, for they hated the Great King bitterly and longed to cast off
+his yoke.
+
+For my part, I received the command of the bodyguard of Peroa in which
+were many Greeks, and a generalship in the army; while to Bes, at my
+prayer, was given the freedom of the land which he accepted with a
+smile, he who was a king in his own country.
+
+At length all was finished and I went out into the palace garden to
+rest myself before I rode into the desert to see my great uncle, the
+holy Tanofir. I was alone, for Bes had gone to bring our horses on
+which we were to ride, and sat myself down beneath a palm-tree,
+thinking of the great adventure on which we had entered with a merry
+heart, for I loved adventures.
+
+Next I thought of Amada and was less merry. Then I looked up and lo!
+she stood before me, unaccompanied and wearing the dress, not of a
+priestess, but of an Egyptian lady with the little circlet of her rank
+upon her hair. I rose and bowed to her and we began to walk together
+beneath the palms, my heart beating hard within me, for I knew that my
+hour had come to speak.
+
+Yet it was she who spoke the first, saying,
+
+“I hear that you have been playing a high part, Shabaka, and doing
+great things for Egypt.”
+
+“For Egypt and for you who are Egypt,” I answered.
+
+“So I should have been called in the old days, Cousin, because of my
+blood and the rank it gives, though now I am but as any other lady of
+the land.”
+
+“And so you shall be called in days to come, Amada, if my sword and wit
+can win their way.”
+
+“How so, Cousin, seeing that you have promised certain things to my
+uncle Peroa and his son?”
+
+“I have promised those things, Amada, and I will abide by my promise;
+but the gods are above all, and who knows what they may decree?”
+
+“Yes, Cousin, the gods are above all, and in their hands we will let
+these matters rest, provoking them in no manner and least of all by
+treachery to our oaths.”
+
+We walked for a little way in silence. Then I spoke.
+
+“Amada, there are more things than thrones in the world.”
+
+“Yes, Cousin, there is that in which all thrones end—death, which it
+seems we court.”
+
+“And, Amada, there is that in which all thrones begin—love, which I
+court from you.”
+
+“I have known it long,” she said, considering me gravely, “and been
+grateful to you who are more to me than any man has been or ever will
+be. But, Shabaka, I am a priestess bound to set the holy One I serve
+above a mortal.”
+
+“That holy One was wed and bore a child, Amada, who avenged his father,
+as I trust that we shall avenge Egypt. Therefore she looks with a kind
+eye upon wives and mothers. Also you have not taken your final vows and
+can be absolved.”
+
+“Yes,” she said softly.
+
+“Then, Amada, will you give yourself into my keeping?”
+
+“I think so, Shabaka, though it has been in my mind for long, as you
+know well, to give myself only to learning and the service of the
+heavenly Lady. My heart calls me to you, it is true, day and night it
+calls, how loudly I will not tell; yet I would not yield myself to that
+alone. But Egypt calls me also, since I have been shown in a dream
+while I watched in the sanctuary, that you are the only man who can
+free her, and I think that this dream came from on high. Therefore I
+will give myself, but not yet.”
+
+“Not yet,” I said dismayed. “When?”
+
+“When I have been absolved from my vows, which must be done on the
+night of the next new moon, which is twenty-seven days from this. Then,
+if nothing comes between us during those twenty-seven days, it shall be
+announced that the Royal Lady of Egypt is to wed the noble Shabaka.”
+
+“Twenty-seven days! In such times much may happen in them, Amada.
+Still, except death, what can come between us?”
+
+“I know of nothing, Shabaka, whose past is shadowless as the noon.”
+
+“Or I either,” I replied.
+
+Now we were standing in the clear sunlight, but as I said the words a
+wind stirred the palm-trees and the shadow from one of them fell full
+upon me, and she who was very quick, noted it.
+
+“Some might take that for an omen,” she said with a little laugh,
+pointing to the line of the shadow. “Oh! Shabaka, if you have aught to
+confess, say it now and I will forgive it. But do not leave me to
+discover it afterwards when I may not forgive. Perchance during your
+journeyings in the East——”
+
+“Nothing, nothing,” I exclaimed joyfully, who during all that time had
+scarcely spoken to a youthful woman.
+
+“I am glad that nothing happened in the East that could separate us,
+Shabaka, though in truth my thought was not your own, for there are
+more things than women in the world. Only it seems strange to me that
+you should return to Egypt laden with such priceless gifts from him who
+is Egypt’s greatest enemy.”
+
+“Have I not told you that I put my country before myself? Those gifts
+were won fairly in a wager, Amada, whereof you heard the story but last
+night. Moreover you know the purpose to which they are to be put,” I
+replied indignantly.
+
+“Yes, I know and now I am sure. Be not angry, Shabaka, with her who
+loves you truly and hopes ere long to call you husband. But till that
+day take it not amiss if I keep somewhat aloof from you, who must break
+with the past and learn to face a future of which I did not dream.”
+
+For the rest she stretched out her hand and I kissed it, for while she
+was still a priestess her lips she would not suffer me to touch.
+Another moment and smiling happily, she had glided away, leaving me
+alone in the garden.
+
+Then it was for the first time that I bethought me of the warnings of
+Bes and remembered that it was I, not he, who had told the Great King
+the name of the most beautiful woman in Egypt, although in all
+innocence. Yes, I remembered, and felt as if all the shadows on the
+earth had wrapped me round. I thought of finding her, but she had gone
+whither I knew not in that great palace. So I determined that the next
+time we were alone I would tell her of the matter, explaining all, and
+with this thought I comforted myself who did not know that until many
+days were past we should be alone no more.
+
+After this I went home and told my mother all my joy, for in truth
+there was no happier man in Egypt. She listened, then answered, smiling
+a little.
+
+“When your father wished to take me to wife, Shabaka, it was not my
+hand that I gave him to kiss, and as you know, I too have the blood of
+kings in me. But then I was not a priestess of Isis, so doubtless all
+is well. Only in twenty-seven days much may happen, as you said to
+Amada. Now I wonder why did she——? Well, no matter, since priestesses
+are not like other women who only think of the man they have won and of
+naught before or after. The blessing of the gods and mine be on you
+both, my son,” and she went away to attend to her household matters.
+
+As we rode to Sekera to find the holy Tanofir I told Bes also, adding
+that I had forgotten to reveal that it was I who had spoken Amada’s
+name to the king, but that I intended to do so ere long.
+
+Bes rolled his eyes and answered,
+
+“If I were you, Master, as I had forgotten, I should continue to
+forget, for what is welcome in one hour is not always welcome in
+another. Why speak of the matter at all, which is one hard to explain
+to a woman, however wise and royal? I have already said that _I_ spoke
+the name to the King and that you were brought from the boat to say
+whether I was noted for my truthfulness. Is not that enough?”
+
+While I considered, Bes went on,
+
+“You may remember, Master, that when I told, well—the truth about this
+story, the lady Amada asked earnestly that I should be scourged, even
+to the bones. Now if you should tell another truth which will make mine
+dull as tarnished silver, she will not leave me even my bones, for I
+shall be proved a liar, and what will happen to you I am sure I do not
+know. And, Master, as I am no longer a slave here in Egypt, to say
+nothing of what I may be elsewhere, I have no fancy for scourgings, who
+may not kiss the hand that smites me as you can.”
+
+“But, Bes,” I said, “what is, is and may always be learned in this way
+or in that.”
+
+“Master, if what is were always learned, I think the world would fall
+to pieces, or at least there would be no men left on it. Why should
+this matter be learned? It is known to you and me alone, leaving out
+the Great King who probably has forgotten as he was drunk at the time.
+Oh! Master, when you have neither bow nor spear at hand, it is not wise
+to kick a sleeping lion in the stomach, for then he will remember its
+emptiness and sup off you. Beside, when first I told you that tale I
+made a mistake. I did tell the Great King, as I now remember quite
+clearly, that the beautiful lady was named Amada, and he only sent for
+you to ask if I spoke the truth.”
+
+“Bes,” I exclaimed, “you worshippers of the Grasshopper wear virtue
+easily.”
+
+“Easily as an old sandal, Master, or rather not at all, since the
+Grasshopper has need of none. For ages they have studied the ways of
+those who worship the gods of Egypt, and from them have learned——”
+
+“What?”
+
+“Amongst other things, Master, that woman, being modest, is shocked at
+the sight of the naked Truth.”
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+THE HOLY TANOFIR
+
+
+We entered the City of Graves that is called Sekera. In the centre
+towered pyramids that hid the bones of ancient and forgotten kings, and
+everywhere around upon the desert sands was street upon street of
+monuments, but save for a priest or two hurrying to patter his paid
+office in the funeral chapels of the departed, never a living man. Bes
+looked about him and sniffed with his wide nostrils.
+
+“Is there not death enough in the world, Master,” he asked, “that the
+living should wish to proclaim it in this fashion, rolling it on their
+tongues like a morsel they are loth to swallow, because it tastes so
+good? Oh! what a waste is here. All these have had their day and yet
+they need houses and pyramids and painted chambers in which to sleep,
+whereas if they believed the faith they practised, they would have been
+content to give their bones to feed the earth they fed on, and fill
+heaven with their souls.”
+
+“Do your people thus, Bes?”
+
+“For the most part, Master. Our dead kings and great ones we enclose in
+pillars of crystal, but we do this that they may serve a double
+purpose. One is that the pillars may support the roof of their
+successors, and the other, that those who inherit their goods may
+please themselves by reflecting how much handsomer they are than those
+who went before them. For no mummy looks really nice, Master, at least
+with its wrappings off, and our kings are put naked into the crystal.”
+
+“And what becomes of the rest, Bes?”
+
+“Their bodies go to the earth or the water and the Grasshopper carries
+off their souls to—where, Master?”
+
+“I do not know, Bes.”
+
+“No, Master, no one knows, except the lady Amada and perhaps the holy
+Tanofir. Here I think is the entrance to his hole,” and he pulled up
+his beast with a jerk at what looked like the doorway of a tomb.
+
+Apparently we were expected, for a tall and proud-looking girl clad in
+white and with extraordinarily dark eyes, appeared in the doorway and
+asked in a soft voice if we were the noble Shabaka and Bes, his slave.
+
+“I am Shabaka,” I answered, “and this is Bes, who is not my slave but a
+free citizen of Egypt.”
+
+The girl contemplated the dwarf with her big eyes, then said,
+
+“And other things, I think.”
+
+“What things?” inquired Bes with interest, as he stared at this
+beautiful lady.
+
+“A very brave and clever man and one perhaps who is more than he seems
+to be.”
+
+“Who has been telling you about me?” exclaimed Bes anxiously.
+
+“No one, O Bes, at least not that I can remember.”
+
+“Not that you can remember! Then who and what are you who learn things
+you know not how?”
+
+“I am named Karema and desert-bred, and my office is that of Cup to the
+holy Tanofir.”
+
+“If hermits drink from such a cup I shall turn hermit,” said Bes,
+laughing. “But how can a woman be a man’s cup and what kind of a wine
+does he drink from her?”
+
+“The wine of wisdom, O Bes,” she replied colouring a little, for like
+many Arabs of high blood she was very fair in hue.
+
+“Wine of wisdom,” said Bes. “From such cups most drink the wine of
+folly, or sometimes of madness.”
+
+“The holy Tanofir awaits you,” she interrupted, and turning, entered
+the doorway.
+
+A little way down the passage was a niche in which stood three lamps
+ready lighted. One of these she took and gave the others to us. Then we
+followed her down a steep incline of many steps, till at length we
+found ourselves in a hot and enormous hall hewn from the living rock
+and filled with blackness.
+
+“What is this place?” said Bes, who looked frightened, and although he
+spoke in a low whisper, our guide overheard him and turning, answered,
+
+“This is the burial place of the Apis bulls. See, here lies the last,
+not yet closed in,” and holding up her lamp she revealed a mighty
+sarcophagus of black granite set in a niche of the mausoleum.
+
+“So they make mummies of bulls as well as of men,” groaned Bes. “Oh!
+what a land. But when I have seen the holy Tanofir it was in a brick
+cell beneath the sky.”
+
+“Doubtless that was at night, O Bes,” answered Karema, “for in such a
+house he sleeps, spending his days in the Apis tomb, because of all the
+evil that is worked beneath the sun.”
+
+“Hump,” said Bes, “I should have thought that more was worked beneath
+the moon, but doubtless the holy Tanofir knows better, or being asleep
+does not mind.”
+
+Now in front of each of the walled-up niches was a little chapel, and
+at the fourth of these whence a light came, the maiden stopped, saying,
+
+“Enter. Here dwells the holy Tanofir. He tended this god during its
+life-days in his youth, and now that the god is dead he prays above its
+bones.”
+
+“Prays to the bones of a dead bull in the dark! Well, give me a live
+grasshopper in the light; he is more cheerful,” muttered Bes.
+
+“O Dwarf,” cried a deep and resounding voice from within the chapel,
+“talk no more of things you do not understand. I do not pray to the
+bones of a dead bull, as you in your ignorance suppose. I pray to the
+spirit whereof this sacred beast was but one of the fleshly symbols,
+which in this haunted place you will do well not to offend.”
+
+Then for once I saw Bes grow afraid, for his great jaw dropped and he
+trembled.
+
+“Master,” he said to me, “when next you visit tombs where maidens look
+into your heart and hermits hear your very thoughts, I pray you leave
+me behind. The holy Tanofir I love, if from afar, but I like not his
+house, or his——” Here he looked at Karema who was regarding him with a
+sweet smile over the lamp flame, and added, “There is something the
+matter with me, Master; I cannot even lie.”
+
+“Cease from talking follies, O Shabaka and Bes, and enter,” said the
+tremendous voice from within.
+
+So we entered and saw a strange sight. Against the back wall of the
+chapel which was lit with lamps, stood a life-sized statue of Maat,
+goddess of Law and Truth, fashioned of alabaster. On her head was a
+tall feather, her hair was covered with a wig, on her neck lay a collar
+of blue stones; on her arms and wrists were bracelets of gold. A tight
+robe draped her body. In her right hand that hung down by her side, she
+held the looped Cross of Life, and in her left which was advanced, a
+long, lotus-headed sceptre, while her painted eyes stared fixedly at
+the darkness. Crouched upon the ground, at the feet of the statue,
+scribe fashion, sat my great-uncle Tanofir, a very aged man with
+sightless eyes and long hands, so thin that one might see through them
+against the lamp-flame. His head was shaven, his beard was long and
+white; white too was his robe. In front of him was a low altar, on
+which stood a shallow silver vessel filled with pure water, and on
+either side of it a burning lamp.
+
+We knelt down before him, or rather I knelt, for Bes threw himself flat
+upon his face.
+
+“Am I the King of kings whom you have so lately visited, that you
+should prostrate yourselves before me?” said Tanofir in his great
+voice, which, coming from so frail and aged a man seemed most
+unnatural. “Or is it to the goddess of Truth beyond that you bow
+yourselves? If so, that is well, since one, if not both of you, greatly
+needs her pardon and her help. Or is it to the sleeping god beyond who
+holds the whole world on his horns? Or is it to the darkness of this
+hallowed place which causes you to remember the nearness of the
+awaiting tomb?”
+
+“Nay, my Uncle,” I said, “we would greet you, no more, who are so
+worthy of our veneration, seeing we believe, both of us, that you saved
+us yonder in the East, from that tomb of which you speak, or rather
+from the jaws of lions or a cruel death by torments.”
+
+“Perchance I did, I or the gods of which I am the instrument. At least
+I remember that I sent you certain messages in answer to a prayer for
+help that reached me, here in my darkness. For know that since we
+parted I have gone quite blind so that I must use this maiden’s eyes to
+read what is written in yonder divining-cup. Well, it makes the
+darkness of this sepulchre easier to bear and prepares me for my own.
+‘Tis full a hundred and twenty years since first I looked upon the
+light, and now the time of sleep draws near. Come hither, my nephew,
+and kiss me on the brow, remembering in your strength that a day will
+dawn when as I am, so shall you be, if the gods spare you so long.”
+
+So I kissed him, not without fear, for the old man was unearthly. Then
+he sent Karema from the place and bade me tell him my story, which I
+did. Why he did this I cannot say, since he seemed to know it already
+and once or twice corrected me in certain matters that I had forgotten,
+for instance as to the exact words that I had used to the Great King in
+my rage and as to the fashion in which I was tied in the boat. When I
+had done, he said,
+
+“So you gave the name of Amada to the Great King, did you? Well, you
+could have done nothing else if you wished to go on living, and
+therefore cannot be blamed. Yet before all is finished I think it will
+bring you into trouble, Shabaka, since among many gifts, the gods did
+not give that of reason to women. If so, bear it, since it is better to
+have trouble and be alive than to have none and be dead, that is, for
+those whose work is still to do in the world. And you, or rather Bes,
+stole the White Signet of signets of which, although it is so simple
+and ancient, there is not the like for power in the whole world. That
+was well done since it will be useful for a while. And now Peroa has
+determined to rebel against the King, which also is well done. Oh!
+trouble not to tell me of that business for I know all. But what would
+you learn of me, Shabaka?”
+
+“I am instructed to learn from you the end of these great matters, my
+Uncle.”
+
+“Are you mad, Shabaka, that you should think me a god who can read the
+future?”
+
+“Not at all, my Uncle, who know that you can if you will.”
+
+“Call the maiden,” he said.
+
+So Bes went out and brought her in.
+
+“Be seated, Karema, there in front of the altar, and look into my
+eyes.”
+
+She obeyed and presently seemed to go to sleep for her head nodded.
+Then he said,
+
+“Wake, woman, look into the water in the bowl upon the altar and tell
+me what you see.”
+
+She appeared to wake, though I perceived that this was not really so,
+for she seemed a different woman with a fixed face that frightened me,
+and wide and frozen eyes. She stared into the silver bowl, then spoke
+in a new voice, as though some spirit used her tongue.
+
+“I see myself crowned a queen in a land I hate,” she said coldly, a
+saying at which I gasped. “I am seated on a throne beside yonder
+dwarf,” a saying at which Bes gasped. “Although so hideous, this dwarf
+is a great man with a good heart, a cunning mind and the courage of a
+lion. Also his blood is royal.”
+
+Here Bes rolled his eyes and smiled, but Tanofir did not seem in the
+least astonished, and said,
+
+“Much of this is known to me and the rest can be guessed. Pass on to
+what will happen in Egypt, before the spirit leaves you.”
+
+“There will be war in Egypt,” she answered. “I see fightings; Shabaka
+and others lead the Egyptians. The Easterns are driven away or slain.
+Peroa rules as Pharaoh, I see him on his throne. Shabaka is driven away
+in his turn, I see him travelling south with the dwarf and with myself,
+looking very sad. Time passes. I see the moons float by; I see
+messengers reach Shabaka, sent by Peroa and you O holy Tanofir; they
+tell of trouble in Egypt. I see Shabaka and the dwarf coming north at
+the head of a great army of black men armed with bows. With them I come
+rejoicing, for my heart seems to shine. He reaches a temple on the Nile
+about which is camped another great army, a countless army of Easterns
+under the command of the King of kings. Shabaka and the dwarf give
+battle to that army and the fray is desperate. They destroy it, they
+drive it into the Nile; the Nile runs red with blood. The Great King
+falls, an arrow from the bow of Shabaka is in his heart. He enters the
+temple, a conqueror, and there lies Peroa, dying or dead. A veiled
+priestess is there before an image, I cannot see her face. Shabaka
+looks on her. She stretches out her arms to him, her eyes burn with
+woman’s love, her breast heaves, and above the image frowns and
+threatens. All is done, for Tanofir, Master of spirits, you die, yonder
+in the temple on the Nile, and therefore I can see no more. The power
+that comes through you, has left me.”
+
+Then once more she became as a woman asleep.
+
+“You have heard, Shabaka and Bes,” said Tanofir quietly and stroking
+his long white beard, “and what that maiden seemed to read in the water
+you may believe or disbelieve as you will.”
+
+“What do you believe, O holy Tanofir?” I asked.
+
+“The only part of the story whereof I am sure,” he replied, evading a
+direct answer, “is that which said that I shall die, and that when I am
+dead I shall no longer be able to cause the maiden Karema to see
+visions. For the rest I do not know. These things may happen or they
+may not. But,” he added with a note of warning in his voice, “whether
+they happen or not, my counsel to you both is that you say nothing of
+them beforehand.”
+
+“What then shall we report to those who bid me seek the oracle of your
+wisdom, O Tanofir?”
+
+“You can tell them that my wisdom declared that the omens were mixed
+with good and evil, but that time would show the truth. Hush now, the
+maiden is about to awake and must not be frightened. Also it is time
+for me to be led from this sepulchre to where I sleep, for I think that
+Ra has set and I am weary. Oh! Shabaka, why do you seek to peer into
+the future, which from day to day will unroll itself as does a scroll?
+Be content with the present, man, and take what Fate gives you of good
+or ill, not seeking to learn what offerings he hides beneath his robe
+in the days and the years and the centuries to come.”
+
+“Yet you have sought to learn those things, O Tanofir, and not in
+vain.”
+
+“Aye and what have they made of me? A blind old hermit weighed down
+with the weight of years and holding in my fingers but some few threads
+that with pain and grief I have plucked from the fringe of Wisdom’s
+robe. Be warned by me, Nephew. While you are a man, live the life of a
+man, and when you become a spirit, live the life of a spirit. But do
+not seek to mix the two together like oil and wine, and thus spoil
+both. I am glad to learn, O Bes, that you are going to make a king’s,
+or a slave’s wife, whichever it may be, of this maiden, seeing that I
+love her well and hold this trade unwholesome for her. She will be
+better bearing babes than reading visions in a diviner’s cup, and I
+will pray the gods that they may not be dwarfs as you are, but take on
+the likeness of their mother, who tells me that she is fair. Hush! she
+stirs.
+
+“Karema, are you awake? Good. Then lead me from the sepulchre, that I
+may make my evening prayer beneath the stars. Go, Shabaka and Bes, you
+are brave men, both of you, and I am glad to have the one for nephew
+and the other for pupil. My greetings to your mother, Tiu. She is a
+good woman and a true, one to whom you will do well to hearken. To the
+lady Amada also, and bid her study her beauteous face in a mirror and
+not be holy overmuch, since too great holiness often thwarts itself and
+ends in trouble for the unholy flesh. Still she loves pearls like other
+women, does she not, and even the statue of Isis likes to be adorned.
+As for you, Bes, though I think that is not your name, do not lie
+except when you are obliged, for jugglers who play with too many knives
+are apt to cut their fingers. Also give no more evil counsel to your
+Master on matters that have to do with woman. Now farewell. Let me hear
+how fortune favours you from time to time, Shabaka, for you take part
+in a great game, such as I loved in my youth before I became a holy
+hermit. Oh! if they had listened to me, things would have been
+different in Egypt to-day. But it was written otherwise, and as ever,
+women were the scribes. Good night, good night, good night! I am glad
+that my thought reached you yonder in the East, and taught you what to
+say and do. It is well to be wise sometimes, for others’ sake, but not
+for our own, oh! not for our own.”
+
+“Master,” said Bes as we ambled homewards beneath the stars, “the holy
+Tanofir is a man for thought to feed on, since having climbed to the
+topmost peak of holiness, he does not seem to like its cold air and
+warns off those who would follow in his footsteps.”
+
+“Then he might have spared himself the pains in your case, Bes, or in
+my own for that matter, since we shall never come so high.”
+
+“No, Master, and I am glad to have his leave to stay lower down, since
+that hot place of dead bulls is not one which I wish to inhabit in my
+age, making use of a maiden to stare into a pot of water, and there
+read marvels, which I could invent better for myself after a jug or two
+of wine. Oh! the holy Tanofir is quite right. If these things are going
+to happen let them happen, for we cannot change them by knowing of them
+beforehand. Who wishes to know, Master, if his throat will be cut?”
+
+“Or that he will be married,” I suggested.
+
+“Just so, Master, seeing that such prophecies end in becoming truths
+because we make them true, feeling that we must. Thus, now I must marry
+yonder Karema if she will marry me for fear lest I should prove the
+holy Tanofir to be what he called me—a liar.”
+
+I laughed and then asked Bes if he had taken note of what the seeress
+said of our flight south and our return thence with a great army of
+black men armed with bows.
+
+“Yes, Master,” he answered gravely, “and I think this army can be none
+other than that of the Ethiopians of whom by right I am the King. This
+very night I send messengers to tell those who rule in my place that I
+still live and am changing my mind on the matter of marriage. Also that
+if I do change it I may return to them, the wisest man who ever wore
+the crown of Ethiopia, having journeyed all about the world and
+collected much knowledge.”
+
+“Perhaps, Bes, those who rule in your place may not wish to give it up
+to you. Perhaps they will kill you.”
+
+“Have no fear, Master; as I have told you, the Ethiopians are a
+faithful people. Moreover they know that such a deed would bring the
+curse of the Grasshopper on them, since then the locusts would appear
+and eat up all their land, and when they were starving their enemies
+would attack them. Lastly they are a very tall folk and simple-minded
+and would not wish to miss the chance of being ruled over by the wisest
+dwarf in all the world, if only because it would be something new to
+them, Master.”
+
+Again I laughed thinking that Bes was jesting according to his fashion.
+But when that night, chancing to go round the corner of the house, I
+came upon him with a circlet of feathers round his head and his big bow
+in his hand, addressing three great black men who knelt before him as
+though he were a god, I changed my mind. As I withdrew he caught sight
+of me and said,
+
+“I pray you, my lord Shabaka, stay one moment.” Then he spoke to the
+three men in his own language, translating sentence by sentence to me
+what he said to them. Briefly it was this:—
+
+“Say to the Lords and Councillors of the Ancient Kingdom that I, the
+Karoon” (for such it seemed was his title) “have a friend named the
+lord Shabaka, he whom you see before you, who again and again has saved
+my life, nursing me in his arms as a mother nurses her babe, and who
+is, after me, the bravest and the wisest man in all the world. Say to
+them that if indeed I double myself by marriage and return having
+fulfilled the law, I will beg this mighty prince to accompany me, and
+that if he consents that will be the most joyful day which the
+Ethiopians have seen for a thousand years, since he will teach them
+wisdom and lead their armies in great and glorious battles. Let the
+priests of the Grasshopper pray therefore that he may consent to do so.
+Now salute the mighty lord Shabaka who can send one arrow through all
+three of you and two more behind, and depart, tarrying not day or night
+till you reach the land of Ethiopia. Then when you have delivered the
+message of Karoon to the Captains and the Councillors, return, or let
+others return and seek me out wherever I may be, bringing of the gold
+of Ethiopia and other gifts, together with their answer, seeing that I
+and the lord Shabaka who have the world beneath our feet, will not come
+to a land where we are not welcome.”
+
+So these great men saluted me as though I were the King of kings
+himself, after which they rubbed their foreheads in the dust before
+Bes, said something which I did not understand, leapt to their feet,
+crying “Karoon” and sprang away into the night.
+
+“It is good to have been a slave, Master,” said Bes when they had gone,
+“since it teaches one that it is even better to be a king, at least
+sometimes.”
+
+Here I may add that during the days which followed Bes was often
+absent. When I asked him where he had gone, he would answer, to drink
+in the wisdom of the holy Tanofir by help of a certain silver vessel
+that the maiden Karema held to his lips. From all of which I gathered
+that he was wooing the lady who had called herself the Cup of Tanofir,
+and wondered how the business went, though as he said no more I did not
+ask him.
+
+Indeed I had little time to talk with Bes about such light matters,
+since things moved apace in Memphis. Within six days all the great
+lords left in Upper Egypt were sworn to the revolt under the leadership
+of Peroa, and hour by hour their vassals or hired mercenaries flowed
+into the city. These it was my duty to weld into an army, and at this
+task I toiled without cease, separating them into regiments and
+drilling them, also arranging for the arming and victualling of the
+boats of war. Then news came that Idernes was advancing from Sais with
+a great force of Easterns, all the garrison of Lower Egypt indeed, as
+his messengers said, to answer the summons conveyed to him under the
+private Seal of seals.
+
+Of Amada during this time I saw little, only meeting her now and again
+at the table of Peroa, or elsewhere in public. For the rest it pleased
+her to keep away from me. Once or twice I tried to find her alone, only
+to discover that she was engaged in the service of the goddess. Once,
+too, as she left Peroa’s table, I whispered into her ear that I wished
+to speak with her. But she shook her head, saying,
+
+“After the new moon, Shabaka. Then you shall speak with me as much as
+you wish.”
+
+Thus it came about that never could I find opportunity to tell her of
+that matter of what had happened at the court of the Great King. Still
+every morning she sent me some token, flowers or trifling gifts, and
+once a ring that must have belonged to her forefathers, since on its
+bezel was engraved the royal _uræus_, together with the signs of long
+life and health, which ring I wore hung about my neck but not upon my
+finger, fearing lest that emblem of royalty might offend Peroa or some
+of his House, if they chanced to see it. So in answer I also sent her
+flowers and other gifts, and for the rest was content to wait.
+
+All of which things my mother noted with a smile, saying that the lady
+Amada showed a wonderful discretion, such as any man would value in a
+wife of so much beauty, which also must be most pleasing to her
+mistress, the goddess Isis. To this I answered that I valued it less as
+a lover than I might do as a husband. My mother smiled again and spoke
+of something else.
+
+Thus things went on while the storm-clouds gathered over Egypt.
+
+One night I could not sleep. It was that of the new moon and I knew
+that during those hours of darkness, before the solemn conclave of the
+high priests, with pomp and ceremony in the sanctuary of the temple,
+Amada had undergone absolution of her vows to Isis and been given
+liberty to wed as other women do. Indeed my mother, in virtue of her
+rank as a Singer of Amen, had been present at the rite, and returning,
+told me all that happened.
+
+She described how Amada had appeared, clad as a priestess, how she had
+put up her prayer to the four high priests seated in state, demanding
+to be loosed from her vow “for the sake of her heart and of Egypt.”
+
+Then one of the high priests, he of Amen, I think, as the chief of them
+all, had advanced to the statue of the goddess Isis and whispered the
+prayer to it, whereon after a pause the goddess nodded thrice in the
+sight of all present, thereby signifying her assent. This done the high
+priest returned and proclaimed the absolution in the ancient words “for
+the sake of the suppliant’s heart and of Egypt” and with it the
+blessing of the goddess on her union, adding, however, the formula, “at
+thy prayer, daughter and spouse, I, the goddess Isis, cut the rope that
+binds thee to me on earth. Yet if thou should’st tie it again, know
+that it may never more be severed, for if thou strivest so to do, it
+shall strangle thee in whatever shape thou livest on the earth
+throughout the generations, and with thee the man thou choosest and
+those who give thee to him. Thus saith Isis the Queen of Heaven.”
+
+“What does that mean?” I asked my mother.
+
+“It means, my son, that if, having broken her vows to Isis, a woman
+should repeat them and once more enter the service of the goddess, and
+then for the second time seek to break them, she and the man for whom
+she did this thing would be like flies in a spider’s web, and that not
+only in this life, but in any other that may be given to them in the
+world.”
+
+“It seems that Isis has a long arm,” I said.
+
+“Without doubt a very long arm, my son, since Isis, by whatever name
+she is called, is a power that does not die or forget.”
+
+“Well, Mother, in this case she can have no reason to remember, since
+never again will Amada be her priestess.”
+
+“I think not, Shabaka. Yet who can be sure of what a woman will or will
+not do, now or hereafter? For my part I am glad that I have served Amen
+and not Isis, and that after I was wed.”
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+THE SLAYING OF IDERNES
+
+
+Whilst I was still talking to my mother I received an urgent summons to
+the palace. I went and in a little ante-chamber met Amada alone, who, I
+could see, was waiting there for me. She was arrayed in her secular
+dress and wore the insignia of royalty, looking exceedingly beautiful.
+Moreover, her whole aspect had changed, for now she was no longer a
+priestess sworn to mysteries, but just a lovely and a loving woman.
+
+“It is done, Shabaka,” she whispered, “and thou art mine and I am
+thine.”
+
+Then I opened my arms and she sank upon my breast and for the first
+time I kissed her on the lips, kissed her many times and oh! my heart
+almost burst with joy. But all too fleeting was that sweet moment of
+love’s first fruits, whereon I had sown the seed so many years ago, for
+while we yet clung together, whispering sweet things into each other’s
+ears, I heard a voice calling me and was forced to go away before I had
+even time to ask when we might be wed.
+
+Within the Council was gathered. The news before it was that the Satrap
+Idernes lay camped upon the Nile with some ten thousand men, not far
+from the great pyramids, that is, within striking distance of Memphis.
+Moreover his messengers announced that he purposed to visit the Prince
+Peroa that day with a small guard only, to inquire into this matter of
+the Signet, for which visit he demanded a safe-conduct sworn in the
+name of the Great King and in those of the gods of Egypt and the East.
+Failing this he would at once attack Memphis notwithstanding any
+commands that might be given him under the Signet, which, until he
+beheld it with his own eyes, he believed to be a forgery.
+
+The question was—what answer should be sent to him? The debate that
+followed proved long and earnest. Some were in favour of attacking
+Idernes at once although his camp was reported to be strongly
+entrenched and flanked on one side by the Nile and on the other by the
+rising ground whereon stood the great sphinx and the pyramids. Others,
+among whom I was numbered, thought otherwise, for I hold that some evil
+god led me to give counsel that day which, if it were good for Egypt
+was most ill for my own fortunes. Perchance this god was Isis, angry at
+the loss of her votary.
+
+I pointed out that by receiving Idernes Peroa would gain time which
+would enable a body of three thousand men, if not more, who were
+advancing down the Nile, to join us before they were perhaps cut off
+from the city, and thus give us a force as large as his, or larger.
+Also I showed that having summoned Idernes under the Signet, we should
+put ourselves in the wrong if we refused to receive him and instead
+attacked him at once.
+
+A third party was in favour of allowing him to enter Memphis with his
+guard and then making him prisoner or killing him. As to this I pointed
+out again that not only would it involve the breaking of a solemn oath,
+which might bring the curse of the gods upon our cause and proclaim us
+traitors to the world, but it would also be foolish since Idernes was
+not the only general of the Easterns and if we cut off him and his
+escort, it would avail us little for then the rest of the Easterns
+would fight in a just cause.
+
+So in the end it was agreed that the safe-conduct should be sent and
+that Peroa should receive Idernes that very day at a great feast given
+in his honour. Accordingly it was sent in the ancient form, the oaths
+being taken before the messengers that neither he nor those with him
+who must not number more than twenty men, would be harmed in Memphis
+and that he would be guarded on the road back until he reached the
+outposts of his own camp.
+
+This done, I was despatched up the Nile bank in a chariot accompanied
+only by Bes, to hurry on the march of those troops of which I have
+spoken, so that they might reach Memphis by sundown. Before I went,
+however, I had some words alone with Peroa. He told me that my
+immediate marriage with the lady Amada would be announced at the feast
+that night. Thereon I prayed him to deliver to Amada the rope of
+priceless rose-hued pearls which was in his keeping, as my betrothal
+gift, with the prayer that she would wear them at the feast for my
+sake. There was no time for more.
+
+The journey up Nile proved long for the road was bad being covered with
+drifted sand in some places and deep in mud from the inundation waters
+in others. At length I found the troops just starting forward after
+their rest, and rejoiced to see that there were more of them than I had
+thought. I told the case to their captains, who promised to make a
+forced march and to be in Memphis two hours before midnight.
+
+As we drove back Bes said to me suddenly,
+
+“Do you know why you could not find me this morning?”
+
+I answered that I did not.
+
+“Because a good slave should always run a pace ahead of his master, to
+clear the road and tell him of its pitfalls. I was being married. The
+Cup of the holy Tanofir is now by law and right Queen of the
+Ethiopians. So when you meet her again you must treat her with great
+respect, as I do already.”
+
+“Indeed, Bes,” I said laughing, “and how did you manage that business?
+You must have wooed her well during these days which have been so full
+for both of us.”
+
+“I did not woo her over much, Master; indeed, the time was lacking. I
+wooed the holy Tanofir, which was more important.”
+
+“The holy Tanofir, Bes?” I exclaimed.
+
+“Yes, Master. You see this beautiful Cup of his is after all—his
+beautiful Cup. Her mind is the shadow of his mind and from her he pours
+out his wisdom. So I told him all the case. At first he was angry, for,
+notwithstanding the words he spoke to you and me, when it came to a
+point the holy Tanofir, being after all much like other men, did not
+wish to lose his Cup. Indeed had he been a few score of years younger I
+am not sure but that he would have forgotten some of his holiness
+because of her. Still he came to see matters in the true light at
+last—for your sake, Master, not for mine, since his wisdom told him it
+was needful that I should become King of the Ethiopians again, to do
+which I must be married. At any rate he worked upon the mind of that
+Cup of his—having first settled that she should procure a younger
+sister of her own to fill her place—in such fashion that when at length
+I spoke to her on the matter, she did not say no.”
+
+“No doubt because she was fond of you for yourself, Bes. A woman would
+not marry even to please the holy Tanofir.”
+
+“Oh! Master,” he replied in a new voice, a very sad voice, “I would
+that I could think so. But look at me, a misshapen dwarf, accursed from
+birth. Could a fair lady like this Karema wed such a one for his own
+sake?”
+
+“Well, Bes, there might be other reasons besides the holy Tanofir,” I
+said hurriedly.
+
+“Master, there were no other reasons, unless the Cup, when it is awake,
+remembers what it has held in trance, which I do not believe. I wooed
+her as I was, not telling her that I am also King of the Ethiopians, or
+any more than I seem to be. Moreover the holy Tanofir told her nothing,
+for he swore as much to me and he does not lie.”
+
+“And what did she say to you, Bes?” I asked, for I was curious.
+
+“She lied fast enough, Master. She said—well, what she said when first
+we met her, that there was more in me than the eye saw and that she who
+had lived so much with spirits looked to the spirit rather than to the
+flesh, and that dwarf or no she loved me and desired nothing better
+than to marry me and be my true and faithful wife and helpmeet. She
+lied so well that once or twice almost I believed her. At any rate I
+took her at her word, not altogether for myself, believe me, Master,
+but because without doubt what the holy Tanofir has shown us will come
+to pass, and it is necessary to you that I should be married.”
+
+“You married her to help me, Bes?”
+
+“That is so, Master—after all, but a little thing, seeing that she is
+beautiful, well born and very pleasant, and I am fond of her. Also I do
+her no wrong for she has bought more than she bargained for, and if she
+has any that are not dwarfs, her children may be kings. I do not
+think,” he added reflectively, “that even the faithful Ethiopians could
+accept a second dwarf as their king. One is very well for a change, but
+not two or three. The stomach of a tall people would turn against
+them.”
+
+I took Bes’s hand and pressed it, understanding the depth of his love
+and sacrifice. Also some spirit—doubtless it came from the holy
+Tanofir—moved me to say,
+
+“Be comforted, Bes, for I am sure of this. Your children will be strong
+and straight and tall, more so than any of their forefathers that went
+before them.”
+
+This indeed proved to be the case, for their father’s deformity was but
+an accident, not born in his blood.
+
+“Those are good-omened words, Master, for which I thank you, though the
+holy Tanofir said the like when he wed us with the sacred words this
+morning and gave us his blessing, endowing my wife with certain gifts
+of secret wisdom which he said would be of use to her and me.”
+
+“Where is she now, Bes?”
+
+“With the holy Tanofir, Master, until I fetch her, training her younger
+sister to be a diviner’s worthy Cup. Only perhaps I shall never send,
+seeing that I think there will be fighting soon.”
+
+“Yes, Bes, but being newly married you will do well to leave it to
+others.”
+
+“No, no, Master. Battle is better than wives. Moreover, could you think
+that I would leave you to stand alone in the fray? Why if I did and
+harm came to you I should die of shame or hang myself and then Karema
+would never be a queen. So both her trades would be gone, since after
+marriage she cannot be a Cup, and her heart would break. But here are
+the gates of Memphis, so we will forget love and think of war.”
+
+An hour later I and my mother, the lady Tiu, stood in the banqueting
+hall of the palace with many others, and learned that the Satrap
+Idernes and his escort had reached Memphis and would be present at the
+feast. A while later trumpets blew and a glittering procession entered
+the hall. At the head of it was Peroa who led Idernes by the hand. This
+Eastern was a big, strong man with tired and anxious eyes, such as I
+had noted were common among the servants of the Great King who from day
+to day never knew whether they would fill a Satrapy or a grave. He was
+clad in gorgeous silks and wore a cap upon his head in which shone a
+jewel, but beneath his robes I caught the glint of mail.
+
+As he came into the hall and noted the number and quality of the guests
+and the stir and the expectant look upon their faces, he started as
+though he were afraid, but recovering himself, murmured some courteous
+words to his host and advanced towards the seat of honour which was
+pointed out to him upon the Prince’s right. After these two followed
+the wife of Peroa with her son and daughters. Then, walking alone in
+token of her high rank, appeared Amada, the Royal Lady of Egypt,
+wonderfully arrayed. Now, however, she wore no emblems of royalty,
+either because it was not thought wise that these should be shown in
+the presence of the Satrap, or because she was about to be given in
+marriage to one who was not royal. Indeed, as I noted with joy, her
+only ornament was the rope of rose-hued pearls which were arranged in a
+double row upon her breast.
+
+She searched me out with her eyes, smiled, touching the pearls with her
+finger, and passed on to her place next to the daughters of Peroa, at
+one end of the head table which was shaped like a horse’s hoof.
+
+After her came the nobles who had accompanied Idernes, grave Eastern
+men. One of these, a tall captain with eyes like a hawk, seemed
+familiar to me. Nor was I mistaken, for Bes, who stood behind me and
+whose business it would be to wait on me at the feast, whispered in my
+ear,
+
+“Note that man. He was present when you were brought before the Great
+King from the boat and saw and heard all that passed.”
+
+“Then I wish he were absent now,” I whispered back, for at the words a
+sudden fear shot through me, of what I could not say.
+
+By degrees all were seated in their appointed places. Mine was by that
+of my mother at a long table that stood as it were across the ends of
+the high table but at a little distance from them, so that I was almost
+opposite to Peroa and Idernes and could see Amada, although she was too
+far away for me to be able to speak to her.
+
+The feast began and at first was somewhat heavy and silent, since, save
+for the talk of courtesy, none spoke much. At length wine, whereof I
+noted that Idernes drank a good deal, as did his escort, but Peroa and
+the Egyptians little, loosened men’s tongues and they grew merrier. For
+it was the custom of the people of the Great King to discuss both
+private and public business when full of strong drink, but of the
+Egyptians when they were quite sober. This was well known to Peroa and
+many of us, especially to myself who had been among them, which was one
+of the reasons why Idernes had been asked to meet us at a feast, where
+we might have the advantage of him in debate.
+
+Presently the Satrap noted the splendid cup from which he drank and
+asked some question concerning it of the hawk-eyed noble of whom I have
+spoken. When it had been answered he said in a voice loud enough for me
+to overhear,
+
+“Tell me, O Prince Peroa, was this cup ever that of the Great King
+which it so much resembles?”
+
+“So I understand, O Idernes,” answered Peroa. “That is, until it became
+mine by gift from the lord Shabaka, who received it from the Great
+King.”
+
+An expression of horror appeared upon the face of the Satrap and upon
+those of his nobles.
+
+“Surely,” he answered, “this Shabaka must hold the King’s favours
+lightly if he passes them on thus to the first-comer. At the least, let
+not the vessel which has been hallowed by the lips of the King of kings
+be dishonoured by the humblest of his servants. I pray you, O Prince,
+that I may be given another cup.”
+
+So a new goblet was brought to him, Peroa trying to pass the matter off
+as a jest by appealing to me to tell the story of the cup. Then I said
+while all listened,
+
+“O Prince, the most high Satrap is mistaken. The King of kings did not
+give me the cup, I bought it from him in exchange for a certain famous
+bow, and therefore held it not wrong to pass it on to you, my lord.”
+
+Idernes made no answer and seemed to forget the matter.
+
+A while later, however, his eye fell upon Amada and the rose-hued
+pearls she wore, and again he asked a question of the hawk-eyed
+captain, then said,
+
+“Think me not discourteous, O Prince, if I seem to look upon yonder
+lovely lady which in our country, where women do not appear in public,
+we should think it an insult to do. But on her fair breast I see
+certain pearls like to some that are known throughout the world, which
+for many years have been worn by those who sit upon the throne of the
+East. I would ask if they are the same, or others?”
+
+“I do not know, O Idernes,” answered Peroa; “I only know that the lord
+Shabaka brought them from the East. Inquire of him, if it be your
+pleasure.”
+
+“Shabaka again——” began Idernes, but I cut him short, saying,
+
+“Yes, O Satrap, Shabaka again. I won those pearls in a bet from the
+Great King, and with them a certain weight of gold. This I think you
+knew before, since your messenger of a while ago was whipped for trying
+to steal them, which under the rods he said he did by command, O
+Satrap.”
+
+To this bold speech Idernes made no answer. Only his captains frowned
+and many of the Egyptians murmured approval.
+
+After this the feast went on without further incident for a while, the
+Easterns always drinking more wine, till at length the tables were
+cleared and all of the meaner sort departed from the hall, save the
+butlers and the personal servants such as Bes, who stood behind the
+seats of their masters. There came a silence such as precedes the
+bursting of a storm, and in the midst of it Idernes spoke, somewhat
+thickly.
+
+“I did not come here, O Peroa,” he said, “from the seat of government
+at Sais to eat your meats and drink your wine. I came to speak of high
+matters with you.”
+
+“It is so, O Satrap,” answered Peroa. “And now what may be your will?
+Would you retire to discuss them with me and my Councillors?”
+
+“Where is the need, O Peroa, seeing that I have naught to say which may
+not be heard by all?”
+
+“As it pleases you. Speak on, O Satrap.”
+
+“I have been summoned here, Prince Peroa, by a writing under what seems
+to be the Signet of signets—the ancient White Seal that for generations
+unknown has been worn by the forefathers of the King of kings. Where is
+this Signet?”
+
+“Here,” said the Prince, opening his robe. “Look on it, Satrap, and let
+your lords look, but let none of you dare to touch it.”
+
+Idernes looked long and earnestly, and so did some of his people,
+especially the lord with the hawk eyes. Then they stared at each other
+bewildered and whispered together.
+
+“It seems to be the very Seal—the White Seal itself!” exclaimed Idernes
+at length. “Tell me now, Peroa. How came this sacred thing that dwells
+in the East hither into Egypt?”
+
+“The lord Shabaka brought it to me with certain letters from the Great
+King, O Satrap.”
+
+“Shabaka for the third time, by the holy Fire!” cried Idernes. “He
+brought the cup; he brought the famous pearls; he brought the gold, and
+he brought the Signet of signets. What is there then that he did not
+bring? Perchance he has the person of the King of kings himself in his
+keeping!”
+
+“Not that, O Satrap, only the commands of the King of kings which are
+prepared ready to deliver to you under the White Seal that you
+acknowledge.”
+
+“And what may they be, Egyptian?”
+
+“This, O Satrap: That you and all the army which you have brought with
+you retire to Sais and thence out of Egypt as quickly as you may, or
+pay for disobedience with your lives.”
+
+Now Idernes and his captains gasped.
+
+“Why this is rebellion!” he said.
+
+“No, O Satrap, only the command of the Great King given under the White
+Seal,” and drawing a roll from his breast, Peroa laid it on his brow
+and cast it down before Idernes, adding,
+
+“Obey the writing and the Signet, or by virtue of my commission, as
+soon as you are returned to your army and your safe-conduct is expired,
+I fall upon you and destroy you.”
+
+Idernes looked about him like a wolf in a trap, then asked,
+
+“Do you mean to murder me here?”
+
+“Not so,” answered Peroa, “for you have our safe-conduct and Egyptians
+are honourable men. But you are dismissed your office and ordered to
+leave Egypt.”
+
+Idernes thought a little while, then said,
+
+“If I leave Egypt, there is at least one whom I am commanded to take
+with me under orders and writings that you will not dispute, a maiden
+named Amada whom the Great King would number among his women. I am told
+it is she who sits yonder—a jewel indeed, fair as the pearls upon her
+breast which thus will return into the King’s keeping. Let her be
+handed over, for she rides with me at once.”
+
+Now in the midst of an intense silence Peroa answered,
+
+“Amada, the Royal Lady of Egypt, cannot be sent to dwell in the House
+of Women of the Great King without the consent of the lord Shabaka,
+whose she is.”
+
+“Shabaka for the fourth time!” said Idernes, glaring at me. “Then let
+Shabaka come too. Or his head in a basket will suffice, since that will
+save trouble afterwards, also some pain to Shabaka. Why, now I
+remember. It was this very Shabaka whom the Great King condemned to
+death by the boat for a crime against his Majesty, and who bought his
+life by promising to deliver to him the fairest and most learned woman
+in the world—the lady Amada of Egypt. And thus does the knave keep his
+oath!”
+
+Now I leapt to my feet, as did most of those present. Only Amada kept
+her seat and looked at me.
+
+“You lie!” I cried, “and were it not for your safe-conduct I would kill
+you for the lie.”
+
+“I lie, do I?” sneered Idernes. “Speak then, you who were present, and
+tell this noble company whether I lie,” and he pointed to the hawk-eyed
+lord.
+
+“He does not lie,” said the Captain. “I was in the Court of the Great
+King and heard yonder Shabaka purchase pardon by promising to hand over
+his cousin, the lady Amada, to the King. The pearls were entrusted to
+him as a gift to her and I see she wears them. The gold also of which
+mention has been made was to provide for her journey in state to the
+East, or so I heard. The cup was his guerdon, also a sum for his own
+purse.”
+
+“It is false,” I shouted. “The name of Amada slipped my lips by
+chance—no more.”
+
+“So it slipped your lips by chance, did it?” sneered Idernes. “Now, if
+you are wise, you will suffer the lady Amada to slip your hand, and not
+by chance. But let us have done with this cunning knave. Prince, will
+you hand over yonder fair woman, or will you not?”
+
+“Satrap, I will not,” answered Peroa. “The demand is an insult put
+forward to force us to rebellion, since there is no man in Egypt who
+will not be ready to die in defence of the Royal Lady of Egypt.”
+
+This statement was received with a shout of applause by every Egyptian
+in the hall. Idernes waited until it had died away, then said,
+
+“Prince Peroa and Egyptians, you have conveyed to me certain commands
+sealed with the Signet of signets, which I think was stolen by yonder
+Shabaka. Now hearken; until this matter is made clear I will obey those
+commands thus far. I will return with my army to Sais and there wait
+until I have received the orders of the Great King, after report made
+to him. If so much as an arrow is shot at us on our march, it will be
+open rebellion, as the price of which Egypt shall be crushed as she was
+never crushed before, and every one of you here present shall lose his
+head, save only the lady Amada who is the property of the Great King.
+Now I thank you for your hospitality and demand that you escort me and
+those with me back to my camp, since it seems that here we are in the
+midst of enemies.”
+
+“Before you go, Idernes,” I shouted, “know that you and your lying
+captain shall pay with your lives for your slander on me.”
+
+“Many will pay with their lives for this night’s work, O thief of
+pearls and seals,” answered the Satrap, and turning, left the hall with
+his company.
+
+Now I searched for Amada, but she also had gone with the ladies of
+Peroa’s household who feared lest the feast should end in blows and
+bloodshed, also lest she should be snatched away. Indeed of all the
+women in the hall, only my mother remained.
+
+“Search out the lady Amada,” I said to her, “and tell her the truth.”
+
+“Yes, my son,” she answered thoughtfully; “but what is the truth? I
+understood it was Bes who first gave the name of the lady Amada to the
+Great King. Now we learn from your own lips that it was you. Wise would
+you have been, my son, if you had bitten out your tongue before you
+said it, since this is a matter that any woman may well misunderstand.”
+
+“Her name was surprised out of me, Mother. It was Bes who spoke to the
+King of the beauty of a certain lady of Egypt.”
+
+“And I think, my son, it was Bes who told Peroa and his guests that he
+and not you had given the King her name, which you do not seem to have
+denied. Well, doubtless both of you are to blame for foolishness, no
+more, since well I know that you would have died ten times over rather
+than buy your life at the price of the honour of the Lady of Egypt.
+This I will say to her as soon as I may, praying that it may not be too
+late, and afterwards you shall tell me everything, which you would have
+done well to do at first, if Bes, as I think, had not been over cunning
+after the fashion of black people, and counselled you otherwise. See,
+Peroa calls you and I must go, for there are greater matters afoot than
+that of who let slip the name of the lady Amada to the King of kings.”
+
+So she went and there followed a swift council of war, the question
+being whether we were to strike at the Satrap’s army or to allow it to
+retreat to Sais. In my turn I was asked for my judgment of the issue,
+and answered,
+
+“Strike and at once, since we cannot hope to storm Sais, which is far
+away. Moreover such strength as we have is now gathered and if it is
+idle and perhaps unpaid, will disperse again. But if we can destroy
+Idernes and his army, it will be long before the King of kings, who is
+sending all his multitudes against the Greeks, can gather another, and
+during this time Egypt may again become a nation and able to protect
+herself under Peroa her own Pharaoh.”
+
+In the end I, and those who thought like me, prevailed, so that before
+the dawn I was sailing down the Nile with the fleet, having two
+thousand men under my command. Also I took with me the six hunters whom
+I had won from the Great King, since I knew them to be faithful, and
+thought that their knowledge of the Easterns and their ways might be of
+service. Our orders were to hold a certain neck of land between the
+river and the hills where the army of Idernes must pass, until Peroa
+and all his strength could attack him from behind.
+
+Four hours later, the wind being very favourable to us, we reached that
+place and there took up our station and having made all as ready as we
+could, rested.
+
+In the early afternoon Bes awakened me from the heavy sleep into which
+I had fallen, and pointed to the south. I looked and through the desert
+haze saw the chariots of Idernes advancing in ordered ranks, and after
+them the masses of his footmen.
+
+Now we had no chariots, only archers, and two regiments armed with long
+spears and swords. Also the sailors on the boats had their slings and
+throwing javelins. Lastly the ground was in our favour since it sloped
+upwards and the space between the river and the hills was narrow,
+somewhat boggy too after the inundation of the Nile, which meant that
+the chariots must advance in a column and could not gather sufficient
+speed to sweep over us.
+
+Idernes and his captains noted all this also, and halted. Then they
+sent a herald forward to ask who we were and to command us in the name
+of the Great King to make way for the army of the Great King.
+
+I answered that we were Egyptians, ordered by Peroa to hold the road
+against the Satrap who had done affront to Egypt by demanding that its
+Royal Lady should be given over to him to be sent to the East as a
+woman-slave, and that if the Satrap wished to clear a road, he could
+come and do so. Or if it pleased him he could go back towards Memphis,
+or stay where he was, since we did not wish to strike the first blow. I
+added this,
+
+“I who speak on behalf of the Prince Peroa, am the lord Shabaka, that
+same man whom but last night the Satrap and a certain captain of his
+named a liar. Now the Easterns are brave men and we of Egypt have
+always heard that among them none is braver than Idernes who gained his
+advancement through courage and skill in war. Let him therefore come
+out together with the lord who named me a liar, armed with swords only,
+and I, who being a liar must also be a coward, together with my
+servant, a black dwarf, will meet them man to man in the sight of both
+the armies, and fight them to the death. Or if it pleases Idernes
+better, let him not come and I will seek him and kill him in the
+battle, or by him be killed.”
+
+The herald, having taken stock of me and of Bes at whom he laughed,
+returned with the message.
+
+“Will he come, think you, Master?” asked Bes.
+
+“Mayhap,” I answered, “since it is a shame for an Eastern to refuse a
+challenge from any man whom he calls barbarian, and if he did so it
+might cost him his life afterwards at the hands of the Great King. Also
+if he should fall there are others to take his command, but none who
+can wipe away the stain upon his honour.”
+
+“Yes,” said Bes; “also they will think me a dwarf of no account, which
+makes the task of killing you easy. Well, they shall see.”
+
+Now when I sent this challenge I had more in my mind than a desire to
+avenge myself upon Idernes and his captain for the public shame they
+had put upon me. I wished to delay the attack of their host upon our
+little band and give time for the army of Peroa to come up behind.
+Moreover, if I fell it did not greatly matter, except as an omen,
+seeing that I had good officers under me who knew all my plans.
+
+We saw the herald reach the Satrap’s army and after a while return
+towards us again, which made us think my challenge had been refused,
+especially as with him was an officer who, I took it, was sent to spy
+out our strength. But this was not so, for the man said,
+
+“The Satrap Idernes has sworn by the Great King to kill the thief of
+the Signet and send his head to the Great King, and fears that if he
+waits to meet him in battle, he may slip away. Therefore he is minded
+to accept your challenge, O Shabaka, and put an end to you, and indeed
+under the laws of the East he may not refuse. But a noble of the Great
+King may not fight against a black slave save with a whip, so how can
+that noble accept the challenge of the dwarf Bes?”
+
+“Quite well,” answered Bes, “seeing that I am no slave but a free
+citizen of Egypt. Moreover, in my own country of Ethiopia I am of royal
+blood. Lastly, tell the man this, that if he does not come and
+afterwards falls into my hands or into those of the lord Shabaka, he
+who talks of whips shall be scourged with them till his life creeps out
+from between his bare bones.”
+
+Thus spoke Bes, rolling his great eyes and looking so terrible that the
+herald and the officer fell back a step or two. Then I told them that
+if my offer did not please them, I myself would fight, first Idernes
+and then the noble. So they returned.
+
+The end of it was that we saw Idernes and his captain advancing,
+followed by a guard of ten men. Then after I had explained all things
+to my officers, I also advanced with Bes, followed by a guard of ten
+picked men. We met between the armies on a little sandy plain at the
+foot of the rise and there followed talk between the captains of our
+guards as to arms and so forth, but we four said nothing to each other,
+since the time for words was past. Only Bes and I sat down upon the
+sand and spoke a little together of Amada and Karema and of how they
+would receive the news of our victory or deaths.
+
+“It does not much matter, Master,” said Bes at last, “seeing that if we
+die we shall never know, and if we live we shall learn for ourselves.”
+
+At length all was arranged and we stood up to face each other, the four
+of us being armed in the same way. For as did Idernes and the hawk-eyed
+lord, Bes and I wore shirts of mail and helms, those that we had
+brought with us from the East. For weapons we had short and heavy
+swords, small shields and knives at our girdles.
+
+“Look your last upon the sun, Thieves,” mocked Idernes, “for when you
+see it again, it shall be with blind eyes from the points of spears
+fastened to the gateway pillars of the Great King’s palace.”
+
+“Liars you have lived and liars you shall die,” shouted Bes, but I said
+nothing.
+
+Now the agreement was that when the word had been given Idernes and I,
+and the noble and Bes, should fight together, but if they killed one of
+us, or we killed one of them, the two who survived might fall together
+on the remaining man. Remembering this, as he told me afterwards, at
+the signal Bes leapt forward like a flash with working face and foam
+upon his lips, and before ever I could come to Idernes, how I know not,
+had received the blow of the Eastern lord upon his shield and without
+striking back, had gripped him in his long arms and wrapped him round
+with his bowed legs. In an instant they were on the ground, Bes
+uppermost, and I heard the sound of blow upon blow struck with knife or
+sword, I knew not which, upon the Eastern’s mail, followed by a shout
+of victory from the Egyptians which told me that Bes had slain him.
+
+Now Idernes and I were smiting at each other. He was a taller and a
+bigger man than myself, but older and one who had lived too well.
+Therefore I thought it wise to keep him at a distance and tire him,
+which I did by retreating and catching his sword-cuts on my shield,
+only smiting back now and again.
+
+“He runs! He runs!” shouted the Easterns. “O Idernes, beware the
+dwarf!”
+
+“Stand away, Bes,” I called; “this is my game,” and he obeyed, as often
+he had done when we were hunting together.
+
+Now a shrewd blow from Idernes cut through my helm and staggered me,
+and another before I could recover myself, shore the shield from my
+hand, whereat the Easterns shouted more loudly than before. Then fear
+of defeat entered into me and made me mad, for this Satrap was a great
+fighter. With a shout of “Egypt!” I went at him like a wounded lion and
+soon it was his turn to stagger back. But alas! I struck too hard, for
+my sword snapped upon his mail.
+
+“The knife!” screamed Bes; “the knife!”
+
+I hurled the sword hilt in the Satrap’s face and drew the dagger from
+my belt. Then I ran in beneath his guard and stabbed and stabbed and
+stabbed. He gripped me and we went down side by side, rolling over each
+other. The gods know how it ended, for things were growing dim to me
+when some thrust of mine found a rent in his mail made when the sword
+broke and he became weak. His spirit weakened also, for he gasped,
+
+“Spare my life, Egyptian, and my treasure is yours. I swear it by the
+Fire.”
+
+“Not for all the treasure in the world, Slanderer,” I panted back and
+drove the dagger home to the hilt thrice, until he died. Then I
+staggered to my feet, and when the armies saw that it was I who rose
+while Idernes lay still a roar of triumph went up from the Egyptians,
+answered by a roar of rage from the Easterns.
+
+With a cry of “Well done, Master!” Bes leapt upon the dead man and
+hewed his head from him, as already he had served the hawk-eyed noble.
+Then gripping one head in each hand he held them up for the Easterns to
+see.
+
+“Men of the Great King,” I said, “bear us witness that we have fought
+fairly, man to man, when we need not have done so.”
+
+The ten of the Satrap’s guard stood silent, but my own shouted,
+
+“Back, Shabaka! The Easterns charge!”
+
+I looked and saw them coming like waves of steel, then supported by my
+men and preceded by Bes who danced in front shaking the severed heads,
+I ran back to my own ranks where one gave me wine to drink and threw
+water over my hurts which were but slight. Scarcely was it done when
+the battle closed in and soon in it I forgot the deaths of Idernes and
+the Eastern liar.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+AMADA RETURNS TO ISIS
+
+
+We fought a very terrible fight that evening there by the banks of
+Nile. Our position was good, but we were outnumbered by four or five to
+one, and the Easterns and their mercenaries were mad at the death of
+the Satrap by my hand. Time upon time they came on furiously, charging
+up the slope like wild bulls. For the most part we relied upon our
+archers to drive them back, since our half-trained troops could
+scarcely hope to stand against the onset of veterans disciplined in
+war. So taking cover behind the rocks we rained arrows on them,
+shooting the horses in the chariots, and when these were down, pouring
+our shafts upon the footmen behind. Myself I took my great black bow
+and drew it thrice, and each time I saw a noble fall, for no mail could
+withstand the arrows which it sent, and of that art I was a master.
+None in Egypt could shoot so far or so straight as I did, save perhaps
+Peroa himself. I had no time to do more since always I must be moving
+up and down the line encouraging my men.
+
+Three times we drove them back, after which they grew cunning. Ceasing
+from a direct onslaught and keeping what remained of their chariots in
+reserve, they sent one body of men to climb along the slope of the hill
+where the rocks gave them cover from our arrows, and another to creep
+through the reeds and growing crops upon the bank of the river where we
+could not see to shoot them well, although the slingers in the ships
+did them some damage.
+
+Thus they attacked us on either flank, and while we were thus engaged
+their centre made a charge. Then came the bitterest of the fighting for
+now the bows were useless, and it was sword against sword and spear
+against spear. Once we broke and I thought that they were through. But
+I led a charge against them and drove them back a little way. Still the
+issue was doubtful till I saw Bes rush past me grinning and leaping,
+and with him a small body of Greeks whom we held in reserve, and I
+think that the sight of the terrible dwarf whom they thought a devil,
+frightened the Easterns more than did the Greeks.
+
+At any rate, shouting out something about an evil spirit whom the
+Egyptians worshipped, by which I suppose they meant that god after whom
+Bes was named, they retreated, leaving many dead but taking their
+wounded with them, for they were unbroken.
+
+At the foot of the slope they reformed and took counsel, then sat down
+out of bowshot as though to rest. Now I guessed their plan. It was to
+wait till night closed in, which would be soon for the sun was sinking,
+and then, when we could not see to shoot, either rush through us by the
+weight of numbers, or march back to where the cliffs were lower and
+climb them, thus passing us on the higher open land.
+
+Now we also took counsel, though little came of it, since we did not
+know what to do. We were too few to attack so great an army, nor if we
+climbed the cliffs could we hope to withstand them in the desert sands,
+or to hold our own against them if they charged in the dark. If this
+happened it seemed that all we could do would be to fight as long as we
+could, after which the survivors of us must take refuge on our boats.
+So it came to this, that we should lose the battle and the greater part
+of the Easterns would win back to Sais, unless indeed the main army
+under Peroa came to our aid.
+
+Whilst we talked I caused the wounded to be carried to the ships before
+it grew too dark to move them. Bes went with them. Presently he
+returned, running swiftly.
+
+“Master,” he said, “the evening wind is blowing strong and stirs the
+sand, but from a mast-head through it I caught sight of Peroa’s
+banners. The army comes round the bend of the river not four furlongs
+away. Now charge and those Easterns will be caught between the hammer
+and the stone, for while they are meeting us they will not look
+behind.”
+
+So I went down the lines of our little force telling them the good news
+and showing them my plan. They listened and understood. We formed up,
+those who were left of us, not more than a thousand men perhaps, and
+advanced. The Easterns laughed when they saw us coming down the slope,
+for they thought that we were mad and that they would kill us every
+one, believing as they did that Peroa had no other army. When we were
+within bowshot we began to shoot, though sparingly, for but few arrows
+were left. Galled by our archery they marshalled their ranks to charge
+us again. With a shout we leapt forward to meet them, for now from the
+higher ground I saw the chariots of Peroa rushing to our rescue.
+
+We met, we fought. Surely there had been no such fighting since the
+days of Thotmes and Rameses the Great. Still they drove us back till
+unseen and unsuspected the chariots and the footmen of Peroa broke on
+them from behind, broke on them like a desert storm. They gave, they
+fled this way and that, some to the banks of the Nile, some to the
+hills. By the light of the setting sun we finished it and ere the
+darkness closed in the Great King’s army was destroyed, save for the
+fugitives whom we hunted down next day.
+
+Yes, in that battle perished ten thousand of the Easterns and their
+mercenaries, and upon its field at dawn we crowned Peroa Pharaoh of
+Egypt, and he named me the chief general of his army. There, too, fell
+over a thousand of my men and among them those six hunters whom I had
+won in the wager with the Great King and brought with me from the East.
+Throughout the fray they served me as a bodyguard, fighting furiously,
+who knew that they could hope for no mercy from their own people. One
+by one they were slain, the last two of them in the charge at sunset.
+Well, they were brave and faithful to me, so peace be on their spirits.
+Better to die thus than in the den of lions.
+
+In triumph we returned to Memphis, I bringing in the rear-guard and the
+spoils. Before Pharaoh and I parted a messenger brought me more good
+news. Sure tidings had come that the King of kings had been driven by
+revolt in his dominions to embark upon a mighty war with Syria, Greece
+and Cyprus and other half-conquered countries, in which, doubtless by
+agreement, the fires of insurrection had suddenly burned up. Also
+already Peroa’s messengers had departed to tell them of what was
+passing on the Nile.
+
+“If this be true,” said Peroa when he had heard all, “the Great King
+will have no new army to spare for Egypt.”
+
+“It is so, Pharaoh,” I answered. “Yet I think he will conquer in this
+great war and that within two years you must be prepared to meet him
+face to face.”
+
+“Two years are long, Shabaka, and in them, by your help, much may be
+done.”
+
+But as it chanced he was destined to be robbed of that help, and this
+by the work of Woman the destroyer.
+
+It happened thus. Amidst great rejoicings Pharaoh reached Memphis and
+in the vast temple of Amen laid down our spoils in the presence of the
+god, thousands of right hands hewn from the fallen, thousands of swords
+and other weapons and tens of chariots, together with much treasure of
+which a portion was given to the god. The high priests blessed us in
+the name of Amen and of the other gods; the people blessed us and threw
+flowers in our path; all the land rejoiced because once more it was
+free.
+
+There too that day in the temple with ancient form and ceremonial Peroa
+was crowned Pharaoh of Egypt. Sceptres and jewels that had been hid for
+generations were brought out by those who knew the secret of their
+hiding-places; the crowns that had been worn by old Pharaohs, were set
+upon his head; yes, the double crown of the Upper and the Lower Land.
+Thus in a Memphis mad with joy at the casting off of the foreign yoke,
+he was anointed the first of a new dynasty, and with him his queen.
+
+I too received honours, for the story of the slaying of Idernes at my
+hands and of how I held the pass had gone abroad, so that next to
+Pharaoh, I was looked upon as the greatest man in Egypt. Nor was Bes
+forgotten, since many of the common people thought that he was a spirit
+in the form of a dwarf whom the gods had sent to aid us with his
+strength and cunning. Indeed at the close of the ceremony voices cried
+out in the multitude of watchers, demanding that I who was to marry the
+Royal Lady of Egypt should be named next in succession to the throne.
+
+The Pharaoh heard and glanced first at his son and then at me,
+doubtfully, whereon, covered with confusion, I slipped away.
+
+The portico of the temple was deserted, since all, even the guards, had
+crowded into the vast court to watch the coronation. Only in the
+shadow, seated against the pedestal of one of the two colossal statues
+in front of the outer pylon gate and looking very small beneath its
+greatness, was a man wrapped in a dark cloak whom noting vaguely I took
+to be a beggar. As I passed him, he plucked at my robe, and I stopped
+to search for something to give to him but could find naught.
+
+“I have nothing, Father,” I said laughing, “except the gold hilt of my
+sword.”
+
+“Do not part with that, Son,” answered a deep voice, “for I think you
+will need it before all is over.”
+
+Then while I stared at him he threw back his hood and I saw that
+beneath was the ancient withered face and the long white beard of my
+great-uncle, the holy Tanofir, the hermit and magician.
+
+“Great things happen yonder, Shabaka. So great that I have come from my
+sepulchre to see, or rather, being blind, to listen, who thrice in my
+life days have known the like before,” and he pointed to the glittering
+throng in the court within. “Yes,” he went on, “I have seen Pharaohs
+crowned and Pharaohs die—one of them at the hand of a conqueror. What
+will happen to this Pharaoh, think you, Shabaka?”
+
+“You should be better able to answer that question than I, who am no
+prophet, my Uncle.”
+
+“How, my Nephew, seeing that your dwarf has borne away my magic Cup? I
+do not grudge her to him for he is a brave dwarf and clever, who may
+yet prove a good prop to you, as he has done before, and to Egypt also.
+But she has gone and the new vessel is not yet shaped to my liking. So
+how can I answer?”
+
+“Out of the store of wisdom gathered in your breast.”
+
+“So! my Nephew. Well, my store of wisdom tells me that feasts are
+sometimes followed by want and rejoicings by sorrow and victories by
+defeat, and splendid sins by repentance and slow climbing back to good
+again. Also that you will soon take a long journey. Where is the Royal
+Lady Amada? I did not hear her step among those who passed in to the
+Crowning. But even my hearing has grown somewhat weak of late, except
+in the silence of the night, Shabaka.”
+
+“I do not know, my Uncle, who have only been in Memphis one hour. But
+what do you mean? Doubtless she prepares herself for the feast where I
+shall meet her.”
+
+“Doubtless. Tell me, what passes at the temple of Isis? As I crept past
+the pylon feeling my way with my beggar’s staff, I thought—but how can
+you know who have only been in Memphis an hour? Yet surely I heard
+voices just now calling out that you, Shabaka, should be named as the
+next successor to the throne of Egypt. Was it so?”
+
+“Yes, holy Tanofir. That is why I have left who was vexed and am sworn
+to seek no such honour, which indeed I do not desire.”
+
+“Just so, Nephew. Yet gifts have a way of coming to those who do not
+desire them and the last vision that I saw before my Cup left me, or
+rather that she saw, was of you wearing the Double Crown. She said that
+you looked very well in it, Shabaka. But now begone, for hark, here
+comes the procession with the new-anointed Pharaoh whose royal robe you
+won for him yonder in the pass, when you smote down Idernes and held
+his legions. Oh! it was well done and my new Cup, though faulty, was
+good enough to show me all. I felt proud of you, Shabaka, but begone,
+begone! ‘A gift for the poor old beggar! A gift, my lords, for the poor
+blind beggar who has had none since the last Pharaoh was crowned in
+Egypt and finds it hard to live on memories!’”
+
+At our house I found my mother just returned from the Coronation, but
+Bes I did not find and guessed that he had slipped away to meet his
+new-made wife, Karema. My mother embraced me and blessed me, making
+much of me and my deeds in the battle; also she doctored such small
+hurts as I had. I put the matter by as shortly as I could and asked her
+if she had seen aught of Amada. She answered that she had neither seen
+nor heard of her which I was sure she thought strange, as she began to
+talk quickly of other things. I said to her what I had said to the holy
+Tanofir, that doubtless she was making ready for the feast since I
+could not find her at the Crowning.
+
+“Or saying good-bye to the goddess,” answered my mother nodding, “since
+there are some who find it even harder to fall from heaven to earth
+than to climb from earth to heaven, and after all you are but a man, my
+son.”
+
+Then she slipped away to attire herself, leaving me wondering, because
+my mother was shrewd and never spoke at random.
+
+There was the holy Tanofir, too, with his talk about the temple of
+Isis, and he also did not speak at random. Oh! now I felt as I had done
+when the shadow of the palm-tree fell on me yonder in the palace
+garden.
+
+The mood passed for my blood still tingled with the glory of that great
+fight, and my heart shut its doors to sadness, knowing as I did, that I
+was the most praised man in Memphis that day. Indeed had I not, I
+should have learned it when with my mother I entered the great
+banqueting-hall of the palace somewhat late, for she was long in making
+ready.
+
+The first thing I saw there was Bes gorgeously arrayed in Eastern silks
+that he had plundered from the Satrap’s tent, standing on a table so
+that all might see and hear him, and holding aloft in one hand the
+grisly head of Idernes and in the other that of the hawk-eyed noble
+whom he had slain, while in his thick, guttural voice he told the tale
+of that great fray. Catching sight of me, he called aloud,
+
+“See! Here comes the man! Here comes the hero to whom Egypt owes its
+liberty and Pharaoh his crown.”
+
+Thereon all the company and the soldiers and servants who were gathered
+about the door began to shout and acclaim me, till I wished that I
+could vanish away as the holy Tanofir was said to be able to do. Since
+this was impossible I rushed at Bes who leapt from the table like a
+monkey and, still waving the heads and talking, slipped from the hall,
+I know not how, followed by the loud laughter of the guests.
+
+Then heralds announced the coming of Pharaoh and all grew silent. He
+and his company entered with pomp and we, his subjects, prostrated
+ourselves in the ancient fashion.
+
+“Rise, my guests,” he cried. “Rise, my people. Above all do you rise,
+Shabaka, my beloved cousin, to whom Egypt and I owe so much.”
+
+So we rose and I took my seat in a place of honour having my mother at
+my side, and looked about me for Amada, but in vain. There was the
+carven chair upon which she should have been among those of the
+princesses, but it was empty. At first I thought that she was late, but
+when time went by and she did not appear, I asked if she were ill, a
+question that none seemed able to answer.
+
+The feast went on with all the ancient ceremonies that attended the
+crowning of a Pharaoh of Egypt, since there were old men who remembered
+these, also the scribes and priests had them written in their books.
+
+I took no heed of them and will not set them down. At length Pharaoh
+pledged his subjects, and his subjects pledged Pharaoh. Then the doors
+were opened and through them came a company of white-robed, shaven
+priests bearing on a bier the body of a dead man wrapped in his
+mummy-cloths. At first some laughed for this rite had not been
+performed in Egypt since she passed into the hands of the Great Kings
+of the East and therefore was strange to them. Then they grew silent
+since after all it was solemn to see those death-bearing priests
+flitting in and out between the great columns, now seen and now lost in
+the shadows, and to listen to their funeral chants.
+
+In the hush my mother whispered to me that this body was that of the
+last Pharaoh of Egypt brought from his tomb, but whether this were so I
+cannot say for certain. At length they brought the mummy which was
+crowned with a snake-headed circlet of the royal _uræus_ and still
+draped with withered funeral wreaths, and stood it on its feet opposite
+to Peroa just behind and between my mother and me in such a fashion
+that it cut off the light from us.
+
+The faint and heavy smell of the embalmer’s spices struck upon my
+nostrils, a dead flower from the chaplets fell upon my head and,
+glancing over my shoulder, I saw the painted or enamelled eyes in the
+gilded mask staring at me. The thing filled me with fear, I knew not of
+what. Not of death, surely, for that I had faced a score of times of
+late and thought nothing of it. Indeed I am not sure that it was fear I
+felt, but rather a deep sense of the vanity of all things. It seemed to
+come home to me—Shabaka or Allan Quatermain, for in my dream the
+inspiration or whatever it might be, struck through the spirit that
+animated both of us—as it had never done before, that everything is
+_nothing_, that victory and love and even life itself have no meaning;
+that naught really exists save the soul of man and God, of whom
+perchance that soul is a part sent forth for a while to do His work
+through good and ill. The thought lifted me up and yet crushed me,
+since for a moment all that makes a man passed away, and I felt myself
+standing in utter loneliness, naked before the glory of God, watched
+only by the flaming stars that light his throne. Yes, and at that
+moment suddenly I learned that all the gods are but one God, having
+many shapes and called by many names.
+
+Then I heard the priests saying,
+
+“Pharaoh the Osiris greets Pharaoh the living on the Earth and sends to
+him this message—‘As I am, so shalt thou be, and where I am, there thou
+shalt dwell through all the ages of Eternity.’”
+
+Then Pharaoh the living rose and bowed to Pharaoh the dead and Pharaoh
+the dead was taken away back to his Eternal House and I wondered
+whether his _Ka_ or his spirit, or whatever is the part of him that
+lives on, were watching us and remembering the feasts whereof he had
+partaken in his pomp in this pillared hall, as his forefathers had done
+before him for hundreds or thousands of years.
+
+Not until the mummy had gone and the last sound of the chanting of the
+priests had died, did the hearts of the feasters grow light again. But
+soon they forgot, as men alive always forget death and those whom Time
+has devoured, for the wine was good and strong and the eyes of the
+women were bright and victory had crowned our spears, and for a while
+Egypt was once more free.
+
+So it went on till Pharaoh rose and departed, the great gold earrings
+in his ears jingling as he walked, and the trumpets sounding before and
+after him. I too rose to go with my mother when a messenger came and
+bade me wait upon Pharaoh, and with me the dwarf Bes. So we went,
+leaving an officer to conduct my mother to our home. As I passed her
+she caught me by the sleeve and whispered in my ear,
+
+“My son, whatever chances to you, be brave and remember that the world
+holds more than women.”
+
+“Yes,” I answered, “it holds death and God, or they hold it,” though
+what put the words into my mind I do not know, since I did not
+understand and had no time to ask her meaning.
+
+The messenger led us to the door of Peroa’s private chamber, the same
+in which I had seen him on my return from the East. Here he bade me
+enter, and Bes to wait without. I went in and found two men and a woman
+in the chamber, all standing very silent. The men were Pharaoh who
+still wore his glorious robe and Double Crown, and the high priest of
+Isis clothed in white; the other was the lady Amada also clothed in the
+snowy robes of Isis.
+
+At the sight of her thus arrayed my heart stopped and I stood silent
+because I could not speak. She too stood silent and I saw that beneath
+her thin veil her beautiful face was set and pale as that of an
+alabaster statue. Indeed she might have been not a lovely living woman,
+but the goddess Isis herself whose symbols she bore about her.
+
+“Shabaka,” said Pharaoh at length, “the Royal Lady of Egypt, Amada,
+priestess of Isis, has somewhat to say to you.”
+
+“Let the Royal Lady of Egypt speak on to her servant and affianced
+husband,” I answered.
+
+“Count Shabaka, General of the armies,” she began in a cold clear voice
+like to that of one who repeats a lesson, “learn that you are no more
+my affianced husband and that I who am gathered again to Isis the
+divine, am no more your affianced wife.”
+
+“I do not understand. Will it please you to be more plain?” I said
+faintly.
+
+“I will be more plain, Count Shabaka, more plain than you have been
+with me. Since we speak together for the last time it is well that I
+should be plain. Hear me. When first you returned from the East, in
+yonder hall you told us of certain things that happened to you there.
+Then the dwarf your servant took up the tale. He said that he gave my
+name to the Great King. I was wroth as well I might be, but even when I
+prayed that he should be scourged, you did not deny that it was he who
+gave my name to the King, although Pharaoh yonder said that if you had
+spoken the name it would have been another matter.”
+
+“I had no time,” I answered, “for just then the messengers came from
+Idernes and afterwards when I sought you you were gone.”
+
+“Had you then no time,” she asked coldly, “beneath the palms in the
+garden of the palace when we were affianced? Oh! there was time in
+plenty but it did not please you to tell me that you had bought safety
+and great gifts at the price of the honour of the Lady of Egypt whose
+love you stole.”
+
+“You do not understand!” I exclaimed wildly.
+
+“Forgive me, Shabaka, but I understand very well indeed, since from
+your own words I learned at the feast given to Idernes that ‘the name
+of Amada’ slipped your lips by chance and thus came to the ears of the
+Great King.”
+
+“The tale that Idernes and his captain told was false, Lady, and for it
+Bes and I took their lives with our own hands.”
+
+“It had perhaps been better, Shabaka, if you had kept them living that
+they might confess that it was false. But doubtless you thought them
+safer dead, since dead men cannot speak, and for this reason challenged
+them to single combat.”
+
+I gasped and could not answer for my mind seemed to leave me, and she
+went on in a gentler voice,
+
+“I do not wish to speak angrily to you, my cousin Shabaka, especially
+when you have just wrought such great deeds for Egypt. Moreover by the
+law I serve I may speak angrily to no man. Know then that on learning
+the truth, since I could love none but you according to the flesh and
+therefore can never give myself in marriage to another, I sought refuge
+in the arms of the goddess whom for your sake I had deserted. She was
+pleased to receive me, forgetting my treason. On this very day for the
+second time I took the oaths which may no more be broken, and that I
+may dwell where I shall never see you more, Pharaoh here has been
+pleased, at my request to name me high priestess and prophetess of Isis
+and to appoint me as a dwelling-place her temple at Amada where I was
+born far away in Upper Egypt. Now all is said and done, so farewell.”
+
+“All is not said and done,” I broke out in fury. “Pharaoh, I ask your
+leave to tell the full story of this business of the naming of the lady
+Amada to the King of kings, and that in the presence of the dwarf Bes.
+Even a slave is allowed to set out his tale before judgment is passed
+upon him.”
+
+Peroa glanced at Amada who made no sign, then said,
+
+“It is granted, General Shabaka.”
+
+So Bes was called into the chamber and having looked about him
+curiously, seated himself upon the ground.
+
+“Bes,” I said, “you have heard nothing of what has passed.” (Here I was
+mistaken, for as he told me afterwards he had heard everything through
+the door which was not quite closed.) “It is needful, Bes, that you
+should repeat truly all that happened at the court of the King of kings
+before and after I was brought from the boat.”
+
+Bes obeyed, telling the tale very well, so well that all listened
+earnestly, without error moreover. When he had finished I also told my
+story and how, shaken by all I had gone through and already weak from
+the torment of the boat, the name of Amada was surprised from me who
+never dreamed that the King would at once make demand of her, and who
+would have perished a thousand times rather than such a thing should
+happen. I added what I had learned afterwards from our escort, that
+this name was already well known to the Great King who meant to make
+use of it as a cause of quarrel with Egypt. Further, that he had let me
+escape from a death by horrible torments because of some dream that he
+had dreamed while he rested before the banquet, in which a god appeared
+and told him that it was an evil thing to slay a man because that man
+had bested him at a hunting match and one of which heaven would keep an
+account. Still because of the law of his land he must find a public
+pretext for loosing one whom he had once condemned, and therefore chose
+this matter of the lady Amada whom he pretended to send me to bring to
+him.
+
+When I had finished, as Amada still remained silent, Pharaoh asked of
+Bes how it came about that he told one story on the night of our return
+and another on this night.
+
+“Because, O Pharaoh,” answered Bes rolling his eyes, “for the first
+time in my life I have been just a little too clever and shot my arrow
+just a little too far. Hearken, Pharaoh, and Royal Lady, and High
+Priest. I knew that my master loves the lady Amada and knew also that
+she is quick of tongue and temper, one who readily takes offence even
+if thereby she breaks her own heart and so brings her life to ruin, and
+with it perchance her country. Therefore, knowing women whom I have
+studied in my own land, I saw in this matter just such a cause of
+offence as she would lay hold of, and counselled my master to keep
+silent as to the story of the naming of her before the King. Some evil
+spirit made him listen to this bad counsel, so far at least, that when
+I lied as to what had chanced, for which lie the lady Amada prayed that
+I might be scourged till my bones broke through the skin, he did not at
+once tell all the truth. Nor did he do so afterwards because he feared
+that if he did I should in fact be scourged, for my master and I love
+each other. Neither of us wishes to see the other scourged, though such
+is my lot to-night,” and he glanced at Amada. “I have said.”
+
+Then at last Amada spoke.
+
+“Had I known all this story from the first, perhaps I should not have
+done what I have done to-day and perhaps I should have forgiven and
+forgotten, for in truth even if the dwarf still lies, I believe your
+word, O Shabaka, and understand how all came about. But now it is too
+late to change. Say, O Priest of the Mother, is it not too late?”
+
+“It is too late,” said the priest solemnly, “seeing that if such vows
+as yours are broken for the second time, O Prophetess, the curse of the
+goddess will pursue you and him for whom they were broken, yes, through
+this life and all other lives that perchance may be given to you upon
+the earth or elsewhere.”
+
+“Pharaoh,” I cried in despair, “I made a bond with you. It is recorded
+in writing and sealed. I have kept my part of the bond; my treasure you
+have spent; your enemies I have slain; your army I have commanded not
+so ill. Will you not keep yours and bid the priests release this lady
+from her vow and give her to me to whom she was promised? Or must I
+believe that you refuse, not because of goddesses and vows, but because
+yonder is the Royal Lady of Egypt, the true heiress to the throne who
+might perchance bear children, which as prophetess of Isis she can
+never do. Yes, because of this and because of certain cries that came
+to your ears in the hour of your crowning before Amen-ra and all the
+gods?”
+
+Peroa flushed as he heard me and answered,
+
+“You speak roughly, Cousin, and were you any other man I might be
+tempted to answer roughly. But I know that you suffer and therefore I
+forgive. Nay, you must believe no such things. Rather must you remember
+that in this bond of which you speak, it was set down that I only
+promised you the lady Amada with her own consent, and this she has
+withdrawn.”
+
+“Then, Pharaoh, hearken! To-morrow I leave Egypt for another land,
+giving you back your generalship and sheathing the sword that I had
+hoped to wield in its defence and yours when the last great day of
+trial by battle comes, as come it will. I tell you that I go to return
+no more, unless the lady Amada yonder shall summon me back to fight for
+her and you, promising herself to me in guerdon.”
+
+“That can never be,” said Amada.
+
+Then I became aware of another presence in the room, though how and
+when it appeared I do not know, but I suppose that it had crept in
+while we were lost in talk. At least between me and Pharaoh, crouched
+upon the ground, was the figure of a man wrapped in a beggar’s cloak.
+It threw back the hood and there appeared the ashen face and snowy
+beard of the holy Tanofir.
+
+“You know me, Pharaoh,” he said in his deep, solemn voice. “I am
+Tanofir, the King’s son; Tanofir the hermit, Tanofir the seer. I have
+heard all that passes, it matters not how and I come to you with a
+message, I who read men’s hearts. Of vows and goddesses and women I say
+nothing. But this I say to you, that if you break the spirit of your
+bond and suffer yonder Shabaka to go hence with a bitter heart, trouble
+shall come on you. All the Great King’s armies did not die yonder by
+the banks of Nile, and mayhap one day he will journey to bury the bones
+of those who fell, and with them _yours_, O Pharaoh. I do not think
+that you will listen to me to-night, and I am sure that yonder lady,
+full of the new-fanned flame of the jealous goddess, will not listen.
+Still let her take counsel and remember my words: In the hour of
+desperate danger let her send to Shabaka and demand his help, promising
+in return what he has asked and remembering that if Isis loves her,
+that goddess was born upon the Nile and loves Egypt more.”
+
+“Too late, too late, _too late!_” wailed Amada.
+
+Then she burst into tears and turning fled away with the high priest.
+Pharaoh went also leaving me and Bes alone. I looked for the holy
+Tanofir to speak with him, but he too was gone.
+
+“It is time to sleep, Master,” said Bes, “for all this talk is more
+wearisome than any battle. Why! what is this that has your name upon
+it?” and he picked a silk-wrapped package from the floor and opened it.
+
+Within were the priceless rose-hued pearls!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV.
+SHABAKA FIGHTS THE CROCODILE
+
+
+“Where to?” I said to Bes when we were outside the palace, for I was so
+broken with grief that I scarcely knew what I did.
+
+“To the house of the lady Tiu, I think, Master, since there you must
+make preparations for your start on the morrow, also bid her farewell.
+Oh!” he went on in a kind of rapture which afterwards I knew was
+feigned though at the time I did not think about it, “Oh! how happy
+should you be who now are free from all this woman-coil, with life new
+and fresh before you. Reflect, Master, on the hunting we will have
+yonder in Ethiopia. No more cares, no more plannings for the welfare of
+Egypt, no more persuading of the doubtful to take up arms, no more
+desperate battle-ventures with your country’s honour on your
+sword-point. And if you must see women—well, there are plenty in
+Ethiopia who come and go lightly as an evening breeze laden with the
+odour of flowers, and never trouble in the morning.”
+
+“At any rate _you_ are not free from such coils, Bes,” I said and in
+the moonlight I saw his great face fall in.
+
+“No, Master, I am tying them about my throat. See, such is the way of
+the world, or of the gods that rule the world, I know not which. For
+years I have been happy and free, I have enjoyed adventures and visited
+strange countries and have gathered learning, till I think I am the
+wisest man upon the Nile, at the side of one whom I loved and holding
+nothing at risk, except my own life which mattered no more than that of
+a gnat dancing in the sun. Now all is changed. I have a wife whom I
+love also, more than I can tell you,” and he sighed, “but who still
+must be looked after and obeyed—yes, obeyed. Further, soon I shall have
+a people and a crown to wear, and councillors and affairs of state, and
+an ancient religion to support and the Grasshopper itself knows what
+besides. The burden has rolled from your back to mine, Master, making
+my heart which was so light, heavy, and oh! I wish it had stopped where
+it was.”
+
+Even then I laughed, sad as I was, for truth lived in the philosophy of
+Bes.
+
+“Master,” he went on in a changed voice, “I have been a fool and my
+folly has worked you ill. Forgive me since I acted for the best, only
+until the end no one ever knows what is the best. Now here is the house
+and I go to meet my wife and to make certain arrangements. By dawn
+perhaps you will be ready to start to Ethiopia.”
+
+“Do you really desire that I should accompany you there, Bes?”
+
+“Certainly, Master. That is unless you should desire that I accompany
+you somewhere else instead, by sea southward for instance. If so, I do
+not know that I would refuse, since Ethiopia will not run away and
+there is much of the world that I should still like to visit. Only then
+there is Karema to be thought about, who expects, or, when she learns
+all, soon will expect, to be a queen,” he added doubtfully.
+
+“No, Bes, I am too tired to make new plans, so let us go to Ethiopia
+and not disappoint Karema, who after holding a cup so long naturally
+would like to try a sceptre.”
+
+“I think that is wisest, Master; at any rate the holy Tanofir thinks it
+wisest, and he is the voice of Fate. Oh! why do we trouble who after
+all, every one of us, are nothing but pieces upon the board of Fate.”
+
+Then he turned and left me and I entered the house where I found my
+mother sitting, still in her festal robes, like one who waits. She
+looked at my face, then asked what troubled me. I sat down on a stool
+at her feet and told her everything.
+
+“Much as I thought,” she said when I had finished. “These over-learned
+women are strange fish to catch and hold, and too much soul is like too
+much sail upon a boat when the desert wind begins to blow across the
+Nile. Well, do not let us blame her or Bes, or Peroa who is already
+anxious for his dynasty and would rather that Amada were a priestess
+than your wife, or even the goddess Isis, who no doubt is anxious for
+her votaries. Let us rather blame the Power that is behind the veil, or
+to it bow our heads, seeing that we know nothing of the end for which
+it works. So Egypt shuts her doors on you, my Son, and whither away?
+Not to the East again, I trust, for there you would soon grow shorter
+by a head.”
+
+“I go to Ethiopia, my Mother, where it seems that Bes is a great man
+and can shelter me.”
+
+“So we go to Ethiopia, do we? Well, it is a long journey for an old
+woman, but I weary of Memphis where I have lived for so many years and
+doubtless the sands of the south make good burial grounds.”
+
+“We!” I exclaimed. “_We?_”
+
+“Surely, my Son, since in losing a wife you have again found a mother
+and until I die we part no more.”
+
+When I heard this my eyes filled with tears. My conscience smote me
+also because of late, and indeed for years past, I had thought so much
+of Amada and so little of my mother. And now it was Amada who had cast
+me out, unjustly, without waiting to learn the truth, because at the
+worst I, who worshipped her, had saved myself from death in slow
+torment by speaking her name, while my mother, forgetting all, took me
+to her bosom again as she had done when I was a babe. I knew not what
+to say, but remembering the pearls, I drew them out and placed them
+round my mother’s neck.
+
+She looked at the wonderful things and smiled, then said,
+
+“Such gems as these become white locks and withered breasts but ill.
+Yet, my Son, I will keep them for you till you find a wife, if not
+Amada, then another.”
+
+“If not Amada, I shall never find a wife,” I said bitterly, whereat she
+smiled.
+
+Then she left me to make ready before she slept a while.
+
+Work as we would noon had passed two hours, on the following day,
+before we were prepared to start, for there was much to do. Thus the
+house must be placed in charge of friends and the means of travel
+collected. Also a messenger came from Pharaoh praying me for his and
+Egypt’s sake to think again before I left them, and an answer sent that
+go I must, whither the holy Tanofir would know if at any time Pharaoh
+desired to learn. In reply to this came another messenger who brought
+me parting gifts from Pharaoh, a chain of honour, a title of higher
+nobility, a commission as his envoy to whatever land I wandered, and so
+forth, which I must acknowledge. Lastly as we were leaving the house to
+seek the boat which Bes had made ready on the Nile, there came yet
+another messenger at the sight of whom my heart leapt, for he was
+priest of Isis.
+
+He bowed and handed me a roll. I opened it with a trembling hand and
+read:
+
+“From the Prophetess of Isis whose house is at Amada, aforetime Royal
+Lady of Egypt, to the Count Shabaka,
+
+“I learn, O my Cousin, that you depart from Egypt and knowing the
+reason my heart is sore. Believe me, my Cousin, I love you well, better
+than any who lives upon the earth, nor will that love ever change,
+since the goddess who holds my future in her hands, knows of what we
+are made and is not jealous of the past. Therefore she will not be
+wroth at the earthly love of one who is gathered to her heavenly arms.
+Her blessing and mine be on you and if we see each other no more face
+to face in the world, may we meet again in the halls of Osiris.
+Farewell, beloved Shabaka. Oh! why did you suffer that black master of
+lies, the dwarf Bes, to persuade you to hide the truth from me?”
+
+
+So the writing ended and below it were two stains still wet, which I
+knew were caused by tears. Moreover, wrapped in a piece of silk and
+fastened to the scroll was a little gold ring graven with the royal
+_uræus_ that Amada had always worn from childhood. Only on the previous
+night I had noted it on the first finger of her right hand.
+
+I took my stylus and my waxen tablets and wrote on one of them:
+
+“Had you been a man, Amada, and not a woman, I think you would have
+judged me differently but, learned priestess and prophetess as you are,
+a woman you remain. Perchance a time may come when once more you will
+turn to me in the hour of your need; if so and I am living, I will
+come. Yea, if I am dead I think that I still shall come, since nothing
+can really part us. Meanwhile by day and by night I wear your ring and
+whenever I look on it I think of Amada the woman whose lips have
+pressed my own, and forget Amada the priestess who for her soul’s sake
+has been pleased to break the heart of the man who loved her and whom
+she misjudged so sorely in her pride and anger.”
+
+
+This tablet I wrapped up and sealed, using clay and her own ring to
+make the seal, and gave it for delivery to the priest.
+
+At length we drew near to the river and here, gathered on the open
+land, I found the most of those who had fought with me in the battle
+against the Easterns, and with them a great concourse of others from
+the city. These collected round me, some of them wounded and hobbling
+upon crutches, praying me not to go, as did the others who foresaw
+sorrow to Egypt from my loss. But I broke away from them almost in
+tears and with my mother hid myself beneath the canopy of the boat.
+Here Bes was waiting, also his beautiful wife who, although she seemed
+sad at leaving Egypt, smiled a greeting to us while the steersmen and
+rowers of the boat, tall Ethiopians every one of them, rose and gave me
+a General’s salute. Then, as the wind served, we hoisted the sail and
+glided away up Nile, till presently the temples and palm-groves of
+Memphis were lost to sight.
+
+Of that long, long journey there is no need to tell. Up the Nile we
+travelled slowly, dragging the boat past the cataracts till Egypt was
+far behind us. In the end, many days after we had passed the mouth of
+another river that was blue in colour which flowed from the northern
+mountain lands down into the Nile, we came to a place where the rapids
+were so long and steep that we must leave the boat and travel overland.
+Drawing near to it at sunset I saw a multitude of people gathered on
+the sand and beyond them a camp in which were set many beautiful
+pavilions that seemed to be broidered with silk and gold, as were the
+banners that floated above them whereon appeared the effigy of a
+grasshopper, also done in gold with silver legs.
+
+“It seems that my messengers travelled in safety,” said Bes to me, “for
+know, that yonder are some of my subjects who have come here to meet
+us. Now, Master, I must no longer call you master since I fear I am
+once more a king. And you must no longer call me Bes, but Karoon.
+Moreover, forgive me, but when you come into my presence you must bow,
+which I shall like less than you do, but it is the custom of the
+Ethiopians. Oh! I would that you were the king and that I were your
+friend, for henceforth good-bye to ease and jollity.”
+
+I laughed, but Bes did not laugh at all, only turned to his wife who
+already ruled him as though he were indeed a slave, and said, “Lady
+Karema, make yourself as beautiful as you can and forget that you have
+ever been a Cup or anything useful, since henceforth you must be a
+queen, that is if you please my people.”
+
+“And what happens if I do not please them, Husband?” asked Karema
+opening her fine eyes.
+
+“I do not quite know, Wife. Perhaps they may refuse to accept me, at
+which I shall not weep. Or perhaps they may refuse to accept you, at
+which of course I should weep very much, for you see you are so very
+white and, heretofore, all the queens of the Ethiopians have been
+black.”
+
+“And if they refuse to accept me because I am white, or rather brown,
+instead of black like oiled marble, what then, O Husband?”
+
+“Then—oh! then I cannot say, O Wife. Perhaps they will send you back to
+your own country. Or perhaps they will separate us and place you in a
+temple where you will live alone in all honour. I remember that once
+they did that to a white woman, making a goddess of her until she died
+of weariness. Or perhaps—well, I do not know.”
+
+Then Karema grew angry.
+
+“Now I wish I had remained a Cup,” she said, “and the servant of the
+holy Tanofir who at least taught me many secret things, instead of
+coming to dwell among black barbarians in the company of a dwarf who,
+even if he be a king, it seems has no power to protect the wife whom he
+has chosen.”
+
+“Why will women always grow wroth before there is need?” asked Bes
+humbly. “Surely it would be time to rate me when any of these things
+had happened.”
+
+“If any of them do happen, Husband, I shall say much worse things than
+that,” she replied, but the talk went no further, for at this moment
+our boat grounded and singing a wild song, many of those who waited
+rushed into the water to drag it to the bank.
+
+Then Bes stood up on the prow, waving his bow and there arose a mighty
+shout of, “_Karoon! Karoon!_ It is he, it is he returned after many
+years!”
+
+Twice they shouted thus and then, every one of them, threw themselves
+face downwards in the sand.
+
+“Yes, my people,” cried Bes, “it is I, Karoon, who having been
+miraculously preserved from many dangers in far lands by the help of
+the Grasshopper in heaven, and, as my messengers will have told you, of
+my beloved friend, lord Shabaka the Egyptian, who has deigned to come
+to dwell with us for a while, have at length returned to Ethiopia that
+I may shed my wisdom on you like the sun and pour it on your heads like
+melted honey. Moreover, mindful of our laws which aforetime I defied
+and therefore left you, I have searched the whole world through till I
+found the most beautiful woman that it contained, and made her my wife.
+She too has deigned to come to this far country to be your queen.
+Advance, fair Karema, and show yourself to these my Ethiopians.”
+
+So Karema stepped forward and stood on the prow of the boat by the side
+of Bes, and a strange couple they looked. The Ethiopians who had risen,
+considered her gravely, then one of them said,
+
+“Karoon called her beautiful, but in truth she is almost white and very
+ugly.”
+
+“At least she is a woman,” said another, “for her shape is female.”
+
+“Yes, and he has married her,” remarked a third, “and even a king may
+choose his own wife sometimes. For in such matters who can judge
+another’s taste?”
+
+“Cease,” said Bes in a lordly way. “If you do not think her beautiful
+to-night, you will to-morrow. And now let us land and rest.”
+
+So we landed and while I did so I took note of these Ethiopians. They
+were great men, black as charcoal with thick lips, white teeth and flat
+noses. Their eyes were large and the whites of them somewhat yellow,
+their hair curled like wool, their beards were short and on their faces
+they wore a continual smile. Of dress most of them had little, but
+their elders or leaders wore lion and leopard skins and some were clad
+in a kind of silken tunic belted about the middle. All were armed for
+war with long bows, short swords and small shields round in shape and
+made from the hide of the hippopotamus or of the unicorn. Gold was
+plentiful amongst them since even the humblest wore bracelets of that
+metal, while about the necks of the chieftains it was wound in great
+torques, also sometimes on their ankles. They wore sandals on their
+feet and some of them had ostrich feathers stuck in their hair, a few
+also had grasshoppers fashioned of gold bound on the top of their
+heads, and these I took to be the priests. There were no women in their
+number.
+
+As the sun was sinking we were led at once to a very beautiful tent
+made of woven flax and ornamented as I have described, where we found
+food made ready for us in plenty, milk in bowls and the flesh of sheep
+and oxen boiled and roasted. Bes, however, was taken to a place apart,
+which made Karema even more angry than she was before.
+
+Scarcely had we finished eating when a herald rushed into the tent
+crying, “Prostrate yourselves! Yea, be prostrated, the Grasshopper
+comes! Karoon comes.”
+
+Here I must say that I found that the title of Karoon meant “Great
+Grasshopper,” but Karema who did not know this, asked indignantly why
+she should prostrate herself to a grasshopper. Indeed she refused to do
+so even when Bes entered the pavilion wonderfully attired in a
+gorgeous-coloured robe of which the train was held by two huge men. So
+absurd did he look that my mother and I must bow very deeply to hide
+our laughter while Karema said,
+
+“It would be better, Husband, if you found children to carry your robe
+instead of two giants. Moreover, if it is meant to copy the colours of
+a grasshopper, ‘tis badly done, since grasshoppers are green and you
+are gold and scarlet. Also they do not wear feathers set awry upon
+their heads.”
+
+Bes rolled his eyes as though in agony, then turning, bade his
+attendants be gone. They obeyed, though doubtfully as though they did
+not like to leave him alone with us, whereon he let down the flap of
+the pavilion, threw off his gorgeous coverings and said,
+
+“You must learn to understand, Wife, that our customs are different
+from those of Egypt. There I was happy as a slave and you were held to
+be beautiful as the Cup of the holy Tanofir, also learned. Here I am
+wretched as a king and you are held to be ugly, also ignorant as a
+stranger. Oh! do not answer, I pray you, but learn that all goes well.
+For the time you are accepted as my wife, subject to the decision of a
+council of matrons, aged relatives of my family, who will decide when
+we reach the City of the Grasshopper whether or not you shall be
+acknowledged as the Queen of the Ethiopians. No, no, I pray you say
+nothing since I must go away at once, as according to the law of the
+Ethiopians the time has come for the Grasshopper to sleep, alone,
+Karema, as you are not yet acknowledged as my wife. You also can sleep
+with the lady Tiu and for Shabaka a tent is provided. Rest sweetly,
+Wife. Hark! They fetch me.”
+
+“Now, if I had my way,” said Karema, “I would rest in that boat going
+back to Egypt. What say you, lord Shabaka?”
+
+But I made no answer who followed Bes out of the tent, leaving her to
+talk the matter over with my mother. Here I found a crowd of his people
+waiting to convey him to sleep and watching, saw them place him in
+another tent round which they ranged themselves, playing upon musical
+instruments. After this someone came and led me to my own place where
+was a good bed in which I lay down to sleep. This however I could not
+do for a long while because of my own laughter and the noise of the
+drums and horns that were soothing Bes to his rest. For now I
+understood why he had preferred to be a slave in Egypt rather than a
+king in Ethiopia.
+
+In the morning I rose before the dawn and went out to the river-bank to
+bathe. While I was making ready to wash myself, who should appear but
+Bes, followed, but at a distance, by a number of his people.
+
+“Never have I spent such a night, Master,” he said, “at least not since
+you took me prisoner years ago, since by law I may not stop those horns
+and musical instruments. Now, however, also according to the law of the
+Ethiopians, I am my own lord until the sun rises. So I have come here
+to gather some of those blue lilies which she loves as a present for
+Karema, because I fear that she is angry and must be appeased.”
+
+“Certainly she is very angry,” I said, “or at least was so when I left
+her last night. Oh! Bes, why did you let your people tell her that she
+was ugly?”
+
+“How can I help it, Master? Have you not always heard that the
+Ethiopians are chiefly famous for one thing, namely that they speak
+nothing but the truth. To them she, being different, seems to be ugly.
+Therefore when they say that she is ugly, they speak the truth.”
+
+“If so, it is a truth that she does not like, Bes, as I have no doubt
+she will tell you by and by. Do they think me ugly also?”
+
+“Yes, they do, Master; but they think also that you look like a man who
+can draw a bow and use a sword, and that goes far with the Ethiopians.
+Of your mother they say nothing because she is old and they venerate
+the aged whom the Grasshopper is waiting to carry away.”
+
+Now I began to laugh again and went with Bes to gather the lilies.
+These grew at the end of a mass of reeds woven together by the pressure
+of the current and floating on the water. Bes lay down upon his stomach
+while his people watched from a distance on the bank amazed into
+silence, and stretched out his long arms to reach the blue lotus
+flowers. Suddenly the reeds gave way beneath him just as he had grasped
+two of the flowers and was dragging at them, so that he fell into the
+river.
+
+Next instant I saw a swirl in the brown water and perceived a huge
+crocodile. It rushed at Bes open-mouthed. Being a good swimmer he
+twisted his body in order to avoid it, but I heard the great teeth
+close with a snap on the short leathern garment which he wore about his
+middle.
+
+“The devil has me! Farewell!” he cried and vanished beneath the water.
+
+Now, as I have said, I was almost stripped for bathing, but had not yet
+taken off my short sword which was girded round me by a belt. In an
+instant I drew it and amidst the yells of horror of the Ethiopians who
+had seen all from the bank, I plunged into the river. There are few
+able to swim as I could and I had the art of diving with my eyes open
+and remaining long beneath the surface without drawing breath, for this
+I had practised from a child.
+
+Immediately I saw the great reptile sinking to the mud and dragging Bes
+with him to drown him there. But here the river was very deep and with
+a few swift strokes I was able to get under the crocodile. Then with
+all my strength I stabbed upwards, driving the sword far into the soft
+part of the throat. Feeling the pain of the sharp iron the beast let go
+of Bes and turned on me. How it happened I do not know but presently I
+found myself upon its back and was striking at its eyes. One thrust at
+least went home, for the blinded brute rose to the surface, bearing me
+with him, and oh! the sweetness of the air as I breathed again.
+
+Thus we appeared, I riding the crocodile like a horse and stabbing
+furiously, while close by was Bes rolling his yellow eyes but helpless,
+for he had no weapon. Still the devil was not dead although blood
+streamed from him, only mad with pain and rage. Nor could the shouting
+Ethiopians help me since they had only bows and dared not shoot lest
+their shafts should pierce me. The crocodile began to sink again,
+snapping furiously at my legs. Then I bethought me of a trick I had
+seen practised by natives on the Nile.
+
+Waiting till its huge jaws were open I thrust my arm between them,
+grasping the short sword in such fashion that the hilt rested on its
+tongue and the point against the roof of its mouth. It tried to close
+its jaws and lo! the good iron was fixed between them, holding them
+wide open. Then I withdrew my hand and floated upwards with nothing
+worse than a cut upon the wrist from one of its sharp fangs. I appeared
+upon the surface and after me the crocodile spouting blood and
+wallowing in its death agonies. I remembered no more till I found
+myself lying on the bank surrounded by a multitude with Bes standing
+over me. Also in the shallow water was the crocodile dead, my sword
+still fixed between its jaws.
+
+“Are you harmed, Master” cried Bes in a voice of agony.
+
+“Very little I think,” I answered, sitting up with the blood pouring
+from my arm.
+
+Bes thrust aside Karema who had come lightly clothed from her tent,
+saying,
+
+“All is well, Wife. I will bring you the lilies presently.”
+
+Then he flung his arms about me, kissed my hands and my brow and
+turning to the crowd, shouted,
+
+“Last night you were disputing as to whether this Egyptian lord should
+be allowed to dwell with me in the land of Ethiopia. Which of you
+disputes it now?”
+
+“No one!” they answered with a roar. “He is not a man but a god. No man
+could have done such a deed.”
+
+“So it seems,” answered Bes quietly. “At least none of you even tried
+to do it. Yet he is not a god but only that kind of man who is called a
+hero. Also he is my brother, and while I reign in Ethiopia either he
+shall reign at my side, or I go away with him.”
+
+“It shall be so, Karoon!” they shouted with one voice. And after this I
+was carried back to the tent.
+
+In front of it my mother waited and kissed me proudly before them all,
+whereat they shouted again.
+
+So ended this adventure of the crocodile, except that presently Bes
+went back and recovered the two lilies for Karema, this time from a
+boat, which caused the Ethiopians to call out that he must love her
+very much, though not as much as he did me.
+
+That afternoon, borne in litters, we set out for the City of the
+Grasshopper, which we reached on the fourth day. As we drew near the
+place regiments of men to the number of twelve thousand or more, came
+out to meet us, so that at last we arrived escorted by an army who sang
+their songs of triumph and played upon their musical instruments until
+my head ached with the noise.
+
+This city was a great place whereof the houses were built of mud and
+thatched with reeds. It stood upon a wide plain and in its centre rose
+a natural, rocky hill upon the crest of which, fashioned of blocks of
+gleaming marble and roofed with a metal that shone as gold, was the
+temple of the Grasshopper, a columned building very like to those of
+Egypt. Round it also were other public buildings, among them the palace
+of the Karoon, the whole being surrounded by triple marble walls as a
+protection from attack by foes. Never had I seen anything so beautiful
+as that hill with its edifices of shining white roofed with gold or
+copper and gleaming in the sun.
+
+Descending from my litter I walked to those of my mother and Karema,
+for Bes in his majesty might not be approached, and said as much to
+them.
+
+“Yes, Son,” answered my mother, “it is worth while to have travelled so
+far to see such a sight. I shall have a fine sepulchre, Son.”
+
+“I have seen it all before,” broke in Karema.
+
+“When?” I asked.
+
+“I do not know. I suppose it must have been when I was the Cup of the
+holy Tanofir. At least it is familiar to me. Already I weary of it, for
+who can care for a land or a city where they think white people hideous
+and scarcely allow a wife to go near her husband, save between midnight
+and dawn when they cease from their horrible music?”
+
+“It will be your part to change these customs, Karema.”
+
+“Yes,” she exclaimed, “certainly that will be my part,” after which I
+went back to my litter.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV.
+THE SUMMONS
+
+
+Now at the gates of the City of the Grasshopper we were royally
+received. The priests came out to meet us, pushing a colossal image of
+their god before them on a kind of flat chariot, and I remember
+wondering what would be the value of that huge golden locust, if it
+were melted down. Also the Council came, very ancient men all of them,
+since the Ethiopians for the most part lived more than a hundred years.
+Perhaps that is why they were so glad to welcome Bes since they were
+too old to care about retaining power in their own hands as they had
+done during his long absence. For save Bes there was no other man
+living of the true royal blood who could take the throne.
+
+Then there were thousands of women, broad-faced and smiling whose black
+skins shone with scented oils, for they wore little except a girdle
+about their waists and many ornaments of gold. Thus their earrings were
+sometimes a palm in breadth and many of them had great gold rings
+through their noses, such as in Egypt are put in those of bulls. My
+mother laughed at them, but Karema said that she thought them hideous
+and hateful.
+
+They were a strange people, these Ethiopians, like children, most of
+them, being merry and kind and never thinking of one thing for more
+than a minute. Thus one would see them weep and laugh almost in the
+same breath. But among them was an upper class who had great learning
+and much ancient knowledge. These men made their laws wherein there was
+always sense under what seemed to be folly, designed the temples,
+managed the mines of gold and other metals and followed the arts. They
+were the real masters of the land, the rest were but slaves content to
+live in plenty, for in that fertile soil want never came near them, and
+to do as they were bid.
+
+Thus they passed from the cradle to the grave amidst song and flowers,
+carrying out their light, allotted tasks, and for the rest, living as
+they would and loving those they would, especially their children, of
+whom they had many. By nature and tradition the men were warriors and
+hunters, being skilled in the use of the bow and always at war when
+they could find anyone to fight. Indeed when we came among them their
+trouble was that they had no enemies left, and at once they implored
+Bes to lead them out to battle since they were weary of herding kine
+and tilling fields.
+
+All of these things I found out by degrees, also that they were a great
+people who could send out an army of seventy thousand men and yet leave
+enough behind them to defend their land. Of the world beyond their
+borders the most of them knew little, but the learned men of whom I
+have spoken, a great deal, since they travelled to Egypt and elsewhere
+to study the customs of other countries. For the rest their only god
+was the Grasshopper and like that insect they skipped and chirruped
+through life and when the winter of death came sprang away to another
+of which they knew nothing, leaving their young behind them to bask in
+the sun of unborn summers. Such were the Ethiopians.
+
+Now of all the ceremonies of the reception of Bes and his re-crowning
+as Karoon, I knew little, for the reason that the tooth of the
+crocodile poisoned my blood and made me very ill, so that I remained
+for a moon or more lying in a fine room in the palace where gold seemed
+to be as plentiful as earthen pots are in Egypt, and all the vessels
+were of crystal. Had it not been for the skill of the Ethiopian leeches
+and above all for the nursing of my mother, I think that I must have
+died. She it was who withstood them when they wished to cut off my arm,
+and wisely, for it recovered and was as strong as it had ever been. In
+the end I grew well again and from the platform in front of the temple
+was presented to the people by Bes as his saviour and the next greatest
+to him in the kingdom, nor shall I ever forget the shoutings with which
+I was received.
+
+Karema also was presented as his wife, having passed the Ordeal of the
+Matrons, but only, I think, because it was found that she was in the
+way to give an heir to the throne. For to them her beauty was ugliness,
+nor could they understand how it came about that their king, who
+contrary to the general customs of the land, was only allowed one wife
+lest the children should quarrel, could have chosen a lady who was not
+black. So they received her in silence with many whisperings which made
+Karema very angry.
+
+When in due course, however, the child came and proved to be a son
+black as the best of them and of perfect shape, they relented towards
+her and after the birth of a second, grew to love her. But she never
+forgave and loved them not at all. Nor was she over-fond of these
+children of hers because they were so black which, she said, showed how
+poisonous was the blood of the Ethiopians. And indeed this is so, for
+often I have noticed that if an Ethiopian weds with one of another
+colour, their offspring is black down to the third or fourth
+generation. Therefore Karema longed for Egypt notwithstanding the
+splendour in which she dwelt.
+
+So greatly did she long that she had recourse to the magic lore which
+she had learned from the holy Tanofir, and would sit for hours gazing
+into water in a crystal bowl, or sometimes into a ball of crystal
+without the water, trying to see visions therein that had to do with
+what passed in Egypt. Moreover in time much of her gift returned to her
+and she did see many things which she repeated to me, for she would
+tell no one else of them, not even her husband.
+
+Thus she saw Amada kneeling in a shrine before the statue of Isis and
+weeping: a picture that made me sad. Also she saw the holy Tanofir
+brooding in the darkness of the Cave of the Bulls, and read in his mind
+that he was thinking of us, though what he thought she could not read.
+Again she saw Eastern messengers delivering letters to Pharaoh and knew
+from his face that he was disturbed and that Egypt was threatened with
+calamities. And so forth.
+
+Soon the news of her powers of divination spread abroad, so that all
+the Ethiopians grew to fear her as a seeress and thenceforth, whatever
+they may have thought, none of them dared to say that she was ugly.
+Further, her gift was real, since if she told me of a certain thing
+such as that messengers were approaching, in due course they would
+arrive and make clear much that she had not been able to understand in
+her visions.
+
+Now from the time that I grew strong again and as soon as Bes was
+firmly seated on his throne, he and I set to work to train and drill
+the army of the Ethiopians, which hitherto had been little more than a
+mob of men carrying bows and swords. We divided it into phalanxes after
+the Greek fashion, and armed these bodies with long lances, swords, and
+large shields in the place of the small ones they had carried before.
+Also we trained the archers, teaching them to advance in open order and
+shoot from cover, and lastly chose the best soldiers to be captains and
+generals. So it came about that at the end of the two years that I
+spent in Ethiopia there was a force of sixty thousand men or more whom
+I should not have been afraid to match against any troops in the world,
+since they were of great strength and courage, and, as I have said, by
+nature lovers of war. Also their bows being longer and more powerful,
+they could shoot arrows farther than the Easterns or the Egyptians.
+
+The Ethiopian lords wondered why their King and I did these things,
+since they saw no enemy against which so great an army could be led to
+battle. On that matter Bes and I kept our own counsel, telling them
+only that it was good for the men to be trained to war, since, hearing
+of their wealth, one day the King of kings might attempt to invade
+their country. So month by month I laboured at this task, leading
+armies into distant regions to accustom them to travelling far afield,
+carrying with them what was necessary for their sustenance.
+
+So it went on until a sad thing happened, since on returning from one
+of these forays in which I had punished a tribe that had murdered some
+Ethiopian hunters and we had taken many thousands of their cattle, I
+found my mother dying. She had been smitten by a fever which was common
+at that season of the year, and being old and weak had no strength to
+throw it off.
+
+As medicine did not help her, the priests of the Grasshopper prayed day
+and night in their temple for her recovery. Yes, there they prayed to a
+golden locust standing on an altar in a sanctuary that was surrounded
+by crystal coffins wherein rested the flesh of former kings of the
+land. To me the sight was pitiful, but Bes asked me what was the
+difference between praying to a locust and praying to images with the
+heads of beasts, or to a dwarf shaped as he was like we did in Egypt,
+and I could not answer him.
+
+“The truth is, Brother,” he said, for so he called me now, “that all
+peoples in the world do not offer petitions to what they see and have
+been taught to revere, but to something beyond of which to them it is a
+sign. But why the Ethiopians should have chosen a grasshopper as a
+symbol of God who is everywhere, is more than I can tell. Still they
+have done so for thousands of years.”
+
+When I came to my mother’s bedside she was wandering and I saw that she
+could not live long. In a little while, however, her mind cleared so
+that she knew me and tears of joy ran down her pale cheeks because I
+had returned before she died. She reminded me that she had always said
+that she would find a grave in Ethiopia, and asked to be buried and not
+kept above ground in crystal, as was the custom there. Then she said
+that she had been dreaming of my father and of me; also that she did
+not think that I need fret myself overmuch about Amada, since she was
+sure that before long I should kiss her on the lips.
+
+I asked if she meant that I should marry her and that we should be
+happy and fortunate. She replied that she supposed that I should marry
+her, but of the rest would say nothing. Indeed her face grew troubled,
+as though some thought hurt her, and leaving the matter of Amada she
+bade Karema bring me the rose-hued pearls, blessed me, prayed for our
+reunion in the halls of Osiris, and straightway died.
+
+So I caused her to be embalmed after the Egyptian fashion and enclosed
+in a coffin of crystal with a scarab on her heart that Karema had
+discovered somewhere in the city, for always she was searching for
+things that reminded her of Egypt, whereof many were to be found
+brought from time to time by travellers or strangers. Then with such
+ceremony as we could without the services of the priests of Osiris,
+Karema and I buried her in a tomb that Bes had caused to be made near
+to the steps of the temple of the Grasshopper, while Bes and his nobles
+watched from a distance.
+
+And so farewell to my beloved mother, the lady Tiu.
+
+After she was gone I grew very sad and lonely. While she lived I had a
+home, but now I was an exile, a stranger in a strange land with no one
+of my own people to talk to except Karema, with whom, as there were
+gossips even in Ethiopia, I thought it well not to talk too much. There
+was Bes it was true, but now he was a great king and the time of kings
+is not their own. Moreover Bes was Bes and an Ethiopian and I was I and
+an Egyptian, and therefore notwithstanding our love and brotherhood, we
+could never be like men of the same blood and country.
+
+I grew weary of Ethiopia with its useless gold and damp eternal green
+and heat, and longed for the sand and the keen desert air. Bes noted it
+and offered me wives, but I shrank from these black women however buxom
+and kindly, and wished for no offspring of their race whom afterwards I
+could never leave. To Egypt I had sworn not to return unless one voice
+called me and it remained silent. What then was I to do, being no
+longer content to discipline and command an army that I might not lead
+into battle?
+
+At length I made up my mind. By nature I was a hunter as much as a
+soldier; I would beg from Bes a band of brave men whom I knew, lovers
+of adventure who sought new things, and with them strike down south,
+following the path of the elephants to wherever the gods might lead us.
+Doubtless in the end it would be to death, but what matter when there
+is nothing for which one cares to live?
+
+While I was brooding over these plans Karema read my mind, perhaps
+because it was her own, perhaps by help of her strange arts, which I do
+not know. At least one day when I was sitting alone looking at the city
+beneath from one of the palace window-places, she came to me looking
+very beautiful and very mystic in the white robes she always loved to
+wear, and said,
+
+“My lord Shabaka, you tire of this land of honey and sweetness and soft
+airs and flowers and gold and crystal and black people who grin and
+chatter and are not pleasant to be near, is it not so?”
+
+“Yes, Queen,” I answered.
+
+“Do not call me queen, my lord Shabaka, for I weary of that name, as we
+both do of the rest. Call me Karema the Arab, or Karema the Cup, which
+you will, but by the name of Thoth, god of learning, do _not_ call me
+queen.”
+
+“Karema then,” I said. “Well, how do you know that I tire of all this,
+Karema?”
+
+“How could you do otherwise who are not a barbarian and who have Egypt
+in your heart, and Egypt’s fate and——” here she looked me straight in
+the eyes, “Egypt’s Lady. Besides, I measure you by myself.”
+
+“You at least should be happy, Karema, who are great and rich and
+beloved, and the wife of a King who is one of the best of men, and the
+mother of children.”
+
+“Yes, Shabaka, I should be but I am not, for who can live on sweetmeats
+only, especially when they like what is sour? See now how strangely we
+are made. When I was a girl, the daughter of an Arab chief, well bred
+and well taught as it chanced, I tired of the hard life of the desert
+and the narrow minds about me, I who longed for wisdom and to know
+great men. Then I became the Cup of the holy Tanofir and wisdom was all
+about me, strange wisdom from another world, rough, sharp wisdom from
+Tanofir, and the quiet wisdom of the dead among whom I dwelt. I wearied
+of that also, Shabaka. I was beautiful and knew it and I longed to
+shine in a Court, to be admired among men, to be envied of women, to
+rule. My husband came my way. He was clever with a great heart. He was
+your friend and therefore I was sure that he must be loyal and true. He
+was, or might be, a king, as I knew, though he thought that I did not.
+I married him and the holy Tanofir laughed but he did not say me nay,
+and I became a queen. And now I wish sometimes that I were dead, or
+back holding the cup of the holy Tanofir with the wisdom of the heavens
+flowing round me and the soft darkness of the tombs about me. It seems
+that in this world we never can be content, Shabaka.”
+
+“No, Karema, we only think that we should be if things were otherwise
+than they are. But how can I help you, Karema?”
+
+“Least of all by going away and leaving me alone,” she answered with
+the tears starting to her eyes.
+
+Looking at her, I began to think that the best thing I could do would
+be to go away and at once, but as ever she read my thought, shook her
+head and laughed.
+
+“No, no, I have put on my yoke and will carry it to the end. Have I not
+two black children and a husband who is a hero, a wit and a mountebank
+in one, and a throne and more gold and crystal than I ever wish to see
+again even in a dream, and shall I not cling to these good things? If
+you went I should only be a little more unhappy than before, that is
+all. Not for my sake do I ask you to stay, but for your own.”
+
+“How for my own, Karema? I have done all that I can do here. I have
+built the army afresh from cook-boys to generals. Bes needs me no
+longer who has you, his children and his country, and I die of
+weariness.”
+
+“You can stop to make use of that army you have built afresh, Shabaka.”
+
+“Against whom? There are none to fight.”
+
+“Against the Great King of the East. Listen. My gift of vision has
+grown strong and clear of late. Only to-day I have seen a meeting
+between Pharaoh, the holy Tanofir and the lady Amada. They were all
+disturbed, I know not at what, and the end of it was that Amada wrote
+in a roll and gave the writing to messengers, who I think even now are
+speeding southward—to you, Shabaka. Nay, do not look doubtfully on me,
+it is true.”
+
+“Then you did well to tell me, Karema, for within a moon of this day I
+should have been where perhaps no messengers would have found me. Now I
+will wait and let it be your part to prepare the mind of Bes. Do you
+think that he would give me an army to lead to Egypt, if there were
+need?”
+
+She nodded and answered,
+
+“He would do so for three reasons. The first is because he loves you,
+the second because he too wearies of Ethiopia and this rich, fat life
+of peace, and the third, because I shall tell him that he must.”
+
+“Then why trouble to speak of the other two?” I said laughing.
+
+So I stayed on in the City of the Grasshopper, and busied myself with
+the questions of how to transport and feed a great army that must hold
+the field for six months or a year; also with the setting of hundreds
+of skilled men to the making of bows, arrows, swords and shields. Nor
+did Bes say me no in these matters. Indeed he helped them forward by
+issuing the orders as his own, wherein I saw the hand of Karema.
+
+Three months went by and I began to think that Karema’s power had been
+at fault, or that her vision was one that came from her lips and not
+from her heart, to keep me in Ethiopia. But again she read my mind and
+smiled.
+
+“Not so, Shabaka,” she said. “Those messengers have come to trouble and
+are detained by a petty tribe beyond our borders over some matter of a
+woman. Ten days ago the frontier guards marched to set them free.”
+
+So again I waited and at length the messengers came, three of them
+Egyptians and three men of Ethiopia who dwelt in Egypt to learn its
+wisdom, reporting that as Karema had said, through the foolishness of a
+servant they had been held prisoner by an Arab chief and thus delayed.
+Then they delivered the writings which they had kept safe. One was from
+Pharaoh to the Karoon of Ethiopia; one from the holy Tanofir to Karema;
+and one from the lady Amada to myself.
+
+With a trembling hand I broke the silk and seals and read. It ran thus:
+
+“Shabaka, my Cousin,
+
+“You departed from Egypt saying that never would you return unless I,
+Amada the priestess, called you, and I told you that I should never
+call. You said, moreover, that if you came at my call you would demand
+me in guerdon, and I told you that never would I give myself to you who
+was doubly sworn to Isis. Yet now I call and now I say that if you come
+and conquer and I yet live, then, if you still will it, I am yours.
+Thus stands the case: The Great King advances upon Egypt with an army
+countless as the sands, nor can Egypt hope to battle against him
+unaided and alone. He comes to make of her a slave, to kill her
+children, to burn her temples, to sack her cities and to defile her
+gods with blasphemies. Moreover he comes to seize me and to drag me
+away to shame in his House of Women.
+
+“Therefore for the sake of the gods, for Egypt’s sake and for my own, I
+pray you come and save us. Moreover I still love you, Shabaka, yes,
+more a thousand times, than ever I did, though whether you still love
+me I know not. For that love’s sake, therefore, I am ready to break my
+vows to Isis and to dare her vengeance, if she should desire to be
+avenged upon me who would save her and her worship, praying that it may
+fall on my head and not on yours. This will I do by the counsel of the
+holy Tanofir, by command of Pharaoh, and with the consent of the high
+priests of Egypt.
+
+“Now I, Amada, have written. Choose, Shabaka, beloved of my heart.”
+
+Such was the letter that caused my head to swim and set my soul on
+fire. Still I said nothing, but thrust it into my robe and waited.
+Presently Bes, who had been reading in his roll, looked up and spoke,
+saying,
+
+“Are you minded to see arrows fly and swords shine in war, Brother? If
+so, here is opportunity. Pharaoh writes to me above his own seal,
+seeking an alliance between Egypt and Ethiopia. He says that the King
+of kings invades him and that if he conquers Egypt he has sworn to
+travel on and conquer Ethiopia also, since he learns that it is now
+ruled by a certain dwarf who once stole his White Signet, and by a
+certain Egyptian who once killed his Satrap, Idernes.”
+
+“What says the Karoon?” I asked.
+
+Bes rolled his eyes and turning to Karema, asked,
+
+“What says the Karoon’s wife?”
+
+Karema laid down the roll she had been studying and answered,
+
+“She says that she has received a command from her master the holy
+Tanofir to wait upon him forthwith, for reasons that he will explain
+when she arrives, or to brave his curse upon her, her children, her
+country and her husband, and not only his but that of the spirits who
+serve him.”
+
+“The curse of the holy Tanofir is not a thing to mock at,” said Bes,
+“as I who revere him, know as well as any man.”
+
+“No, Husband, and therefore I leave for Egypt as soon as may be. It
+seems that my sister is dead, this year past, and the holy Tanofir has
+no one to hold his cup.”
+
+“And what shall I do?” asked Bes.
+
+“That is for you to say, Husband. But if you will, you can stay here
+and guard our children, giving the command of your army to the lord
+Shabaka.”
+
+Now, for we were alone, Bes twisted himself about, rolling his eyes and
+laughing as he used to do before he became Karoon of Ethiopia.
+
+“O-ho-ho! Wife,” he said, “so you are to go to Egypt, leaving me to
+play the nurse to babes, and my brother here is to command my armies,
+leaving me to look after the old men and the women. Nay, I think
+otherwise. I think that I shall come also, that is if my brother wishes
+it. Did he not save my life and is it not his and with it all I have?
+Oh! have done. Once more we will stand side by side in the battle,
+Brother, and afterwards let Fate do as it will with us. Tell me now,
+what is the tale of archers and of swordsmen with which we can march
+against the Great King with whom, like you, I have a score to settle?”
+
+“Seventy and five thousand,” I answered.
+
+“Good! On the fifth day from now the army marches for Egypt.”
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI.
+TANOFIR FINDS HIS BROKEN CUP
+
+
+March we did, but on the fifteenth day, not the fifth, since there was
+much to make ready. First the Council of the Ethiopians must be
+consulted and through them the people. In the beginning there was
+trouble over the matter, since many were against a distant war, and
+this even after Bes had urged that it was better to attack than wait to
+be attacked. For they answered, and justly, that here in Ethiopia
+distance and the desert were their shields, since the King of kings,
+however great his strength, would be weary and famished before he set
+foot within their borders.
+
+In the end the knot was cut with a sword, for when the army came to
+learn of the dispute, from the generals down to the common soldiers,
+every man clamoured to be led to war, since, as I have said, these
+Ethiopians were fighters all of them, and near at hand there were none
+left with whom they could fight. So when the Council came to see that
+they must choose between war abroad and revolt at home, they gave way,
+bargaining only that the children of the Karoon should not leave the
+land so that if aught befell him, there would be some of the true blood
+left to succeed.
+
+Also the Grasshopper was consulted by the priests who found the omens
+favourable. Indeed I was told that this great golden locust sat up upon
+its hind legs upon the altar and waved its feelers in the air, which
+only happened when wonderful fortune was about to bless the land. The
+tale reminded me of the nodding of the statues of our own gods in Egypt
+when a new Pharaoh was presented to them, and of that of Isis when
+Amada put up her prayer to the divine Mother. To tell the truth, I
+suspected Karema of having some hand in the business. However, so it
+happened.
+
+At length we set forth, a mighty host, Bes commanding the swordsmen and
+I, under him, the archers, of whom there were more than thirty thousand
+men, and glad was I when all the farewells were said and we were free
+of the weeping crowds of women. At first Bes and Karema were somewhat
+sad at parting from their children, but in a little while they grew gay
+again since the one longed for battle and the other for the sands of
+Egypt.
+
+Now of our advance I need say little, except that it was slow, though
+none dared to bar the road of so mighty an array. Since we must go on
+foot, we were not able to cover more than five leagues a day, for even
+after we reached the river boats could not be found for so many, though
+Karema travelled in one with her ladies. Also cattle and corn must
+always be sent forward for food. Still we crept on to Egypt without
+sickness, accident, or revolt.
+
+When we drew near to its frontiers messengers met us from Pharaoh
+bearing letters in answer to those which we had sent with the tidings
+of our coming. These contained little but ill news. It seemed that the
+Great King with a countless host had taken all the cities of the Delta
+and, after a long siege, had captured Memphis and put it to the sack,
+and that the army of Egypt, fighting desperately by land and upon the
+Nile was being driven southwards towards Thebes. Pharaoh added that he
+proposed to make his last stand at the strong city of Amada, since he
+doubted whether the troops from Lower Egypt would not rather surrender
+to the Easterns than retreat further up the Nile. He thanked and
+blessed us for our promised aid and prayed that it might come in time
+to save Egypt from slavery and himself from death.
+
+Also there was a letter for me from Amada in which she said,
+
+“Oh! come quickly. Come quickly, beloved Shabaka, lest of me you should
+find but bones for never will I fall living into the hands of the Great
+King. We are sore pressed and although Amada has been made very strong,
+it can stand but a little while against such a countless multitude
+armed with all the engines of war.”
+
+
+For Karema, too, there were messages from the holy Tanofir of the same
+meaning, saying that unless we appeared within a moon of their receipt,
+all was lost.
+
+We read and took counsel. Then we pressed forward by double marches,
+sending swift runners forward to bid Pharaoh and his army hold on to
+the last spear and arrow.
+
+On the twenty-fifth day from the receipt of this news we came to the
+great frontier city which we found in tumult for its citizens were mad
+with fear. Here we rested one night and ate of the food that was
+gathered there in plenty. Then leaving a small rear-guard of five
+thousand men who were tired out, to hold the place, we pressed onwards,
+for Amada was still four days’ march away. On the morning of the fourth
+day we were told that it was falling, or had fallen, and when at length
+we came in sight of the place we saw that it was beleaguered by an
+innumerable host of Easterns, while on the Nile was a great fleet of
+Grecian and Cyprian mercenaries. Moreover, heralds from the King of
+kings reached us, saying:
+
+“Surrender, Barbarians, or before the second day dawns you shall sleep
+sound, every one of you.”
+
+To these we answered that we would take counsel on the matter and that
+perhaps on the morrow we would surrender, since when we had marched
+from Ethiopia, we did not know how great was the King’s strength,
+having been deceived as to it by the letters of the Pharaoh. Meanwhile
+that the King of kings would do well to let us alone, since we were
+brave men and meant to die hard, and it would be better for him to
+leave us to march back to Ethiopia, rather than lose an army in trying
+to kill us.
+
+With these words which were spoken by Bes himself, the messengers
+departed. One of them however, who seemed to be a great lord, called in
+a loud voice to his companions, saying it was hard that nobles should
+have to do the errands, not of a man but of an ape who would look
+better hanging to a pole. Bes made no answer, only rolled his yellow
+eyes and said when the lord was out of hearing,
+
+“Now by the Grasshopper and all the gods of Egypt I swear that in
+payment for this insult I will choke the Nile with the army of the
+Great King, and hang that knave to a pole from the prow of the royal
+ship.” Which last thing I hope he did.
+
+When the embassy had gone Bes gave orders that the whole army should
+eat and lie down to sleep.
+
+“I am sure,” said he, “that the Great King will not attack us at once,
+since he will hope that we shall flee away during the night, having
+seen his strength.”
+
+So the Ethiopians filled themselves and then lay down to sleep, which
+these people can do at any time, even if not tired as they were. But
+while they rested Bes and I and Karema, with some of the generals
+consulted together long and earnestly. For in truth we knew not what to
+do. But a league away lay the town of Amada beset by hundreds of
+thousands of the Easterns so that none could come in or out, and within
+its walls were the remains of Pharaoh’s army, not more than twenty
+thousand men, all told, if what we heard were true. On the Nile also
+was the great Grecian and Cyprian fleet, two hundred vessels and more,
+though as we could see by the light of the setting sun the most of
+these were made fast to the western bank where the Egyptians could not
+come at them.
+
+For the rest our position was good, being on high desert beyond the
+cultivated land which bordered the eastern bank. But in front of us,
+separating us from the southern army of the King, stretched a swamp
+hard to cross, so that we could not hope to make an attack by night as
+there was no moon. Lastly, the main Eastern strength, to the number of
+two hundred thousand or more, lay to the north beyond Amada.
+
+All these things we considered, talking low and earnestly there in the
+tent, till it grew so dark that we could not see each other’s faces
+while behind us slumbered our army that now numbered some seventy
+thousand men.
+
+“We are in a trap,” said Bes at length. “If we await attack they will
+weigh us down with numbers. If we flee they have camels and horses and
+will overtake us; also ships of which we have none. If we attack it
+must be without cover through swamp where we shall be bogged.
+
+“Meanwhile Pharaoh is perishing within yonder walls of Amada which the
+engines batter down. By the Grasshopper! I know not what to do. It
+seems that our journey is vain and that few of us will see Ethiopia
+more; also that Egypt is sped.”
+
+I made no answer, for here my generalship failed me and I had nothing
+to say. The captains, too, were silent, only woman-like, Karema wept a
+little, and I too went near to weeping who thought of Amada penned in
+yonder temple like a lamb that awaits the butcher’s knife.
+
+Suddenly, coming from the door of the tent which I thought was closed,
+I heard a deep voice say,
+
+“I have ever noted that those of Ethiopian blood are melancholy after
+sundown, though of Egyptians I had thought better things.”
+
+Now about this voice there was something familiar to me, still I said
+nothing, nor did the others, for to speak the truth, all of us were
+frightened and thought that we must dream. For how could any thing that
+breathed approach this tent through a triple line of sentries? So we
+sat still, staring at the darkness, till presently in that darkness
+appeared a glow of light, such as comes from the fire-flies of
+Ethiopia. It grew and grew while we gasped with fear, till presently it
+took shape, and the shape it took was that of the ancient withered
+face, the sightless eyes, and the white beard of the holy Tanofir. Yes,
+there not two feet from the ground seemed to float the head of the holy
+Tanofir, limned in faint flame, which I suppose must have been
+reflected on to it from the light of some camp-fire without.
+
+“O my beloved master!” cried Karema, and threw herself towards him.
+
+“O my beloved Cup!” answered Tanofir. “Glad am I to know you well and
+unshattered.”
+
+Then a torch was lit and lo! there before us, wrapped in his dark cloak
+sat the holy Tanofir.
+
+“Whence come you, my Great-uncle?” I asked amazed.
+
+“From less far than you do, Nephew,” he answered. “Namely out of Amada
+yonder. Oh! ask me not how. It is easy if you are a blind old beggar
+who knows the path. And by the way, if you have aught to eat I should
+be glad of a bite and a sup, since in Amada food has been scarce for
+this last month, and to-night there is little left.”
+
+Karema sped from the tent and presently returned with bread and wine of
+which Tanofir partook almost greedily.
+
+“This is the first strong drink that I have tasted for many a year,” he
+said as he drained the goblet; “but better a broken vow than broken
+wits when one has much to plan and do. At least I hope the gods will
+think so when I meet them presently. There—I am strong again. Now, say,
+what is your force?”
+
+We told him.
+
+“Good. And what is your plan?”
+
+We shook our heads, having none.
+
+“Bes,” he said sternly, “I think you grow dull since you became a
+king—or perhaps it is marriage that makes you so. Why, in bygone years
+schemes would have come so fast that they would have choked each other
+between those thick lips of yours. And Shabaka, tell me, have you lost
+all your generalship whereof once you had plenty, in the soft air of
+Ethiopia? Or is it that even the shadow of marriage makes _you_ dull?
+Well, I must turn to the woman, for that is always the lot of man. Your
+plan, Karema, and quickly for there is no time to lose.”
+
+Now the face of Karema grew fixed and her eyes dreamy as she spoke in a
+slow, measured voice like one who knows not what she says.
+
+“My plan is to destroy the armies of the Great King and to relieve the
+city of Amada.”
+
+“A very good plan,” said holy Tanofir, “but the question is, how?”
+
+“I think,” went on Karema, “that about a league above this place there
+is a spot where at this season the Nile can be forded by tall men
+without the wetting of their shoulders. First then, I would send five
+thousand swordsmen across that ford and let them creep down on the navy
+of the Great King where the sailors revel in safety, or sleep sound,
+and fire the ships. The wind blows strongly from the south and the
+flames will leap fast from one of them to the other. Most of their
+crews will be burned and the rest can be slain by our five thousand.”
+
+“Good, very good,” said the holy Tanofir, “but not enough, seeing that
+on the eastern bank is gathered the host of over two hundred thousand
+men. Now how will you deal with _them_, Karema?”
+
+“I seem to see a road yonder beyond the swamp. It runs on the edge of
+the desert but behind the sand-hills. I would send the archers of whom
+there are more than thirty thousand, under the command of Shabaka along
+that road which leads them past Amada. On its farther side are low
+hills strewn with rocks. Here I would let the archers take cover and
+wait for the breaking of the dawn. Then beneath them they will see the
+most of the Eastern host and with such bows as ours they can sweep the
+plain from the hills almost to the Nile, and having a hundred arrows to
+a man, should slaughter the Easterns by the ten thousand, for when
+these turn to charge a shaft should pierce through two together.”
+
+“Good again,” said Tanofir. “But what of the army of the Great King
+which lies upon this side of Amada?”
+
+“I think that before the dawn, believing us so few, it will advance and
+with the first light begin to thread the swamp, and therefore we must
+keep five thousand archers to gall it as it comes. Still it will win
+through, though with loss, and find us waiting for it here shoulder to
+shoulder, rank upon rank with locked shields, against which horse and
+foot shall break in vain, for who shall drive a wedge through the
+Ethiopian squares that Shabaka has trained and that Bes, the Karoon,
+commands? I say that they shall roll back like waves from a cliff; yes,
+again and again, growing ever fewer till the clamour of battle and the
+shouts of fear and agony reach their ears from beyond Amada where
+Shabaka and the archers do their work and the sight of the burning
+ships strikes terror in them and they fly.”
+
+“Good again,” said the holy Tanofir. “But still many on both fronts
+will be left, for this army of Easterns is very vast. And how will you
+deal with these, O Karema?”
+
+“On these I would have Pharaoh with all his remaining strength pour
+from the northern and the southern gates of Amada, for so shall they be
+caught like wounded lions between two wild bulls and torn and trampled
+and utterly destroyed. Only I know not how to tell Pharaoh what he must
+do, and when.”
+
+“Good again,” said the holy Tanofir, “very good. And as for the telling
+of Pharaoh, well, I shall see him presently. It is strange, my chipped
+Cup which I had almost thrown away as useless, that although broken,
+you still hold so much wisdom. For know, wonderful though it may seem,
+that just such plans as you have spoken have grown up in my own mind,
+only I wished to learn if you thought them wise.”
+
+Then he laughed a little and Karema stretched her arms as one does who
+awakes from sleep, rubbed her eyes and asked if he would not eat more
+food.
+
+In an instant Tanofir was speaking again in a quick, clear voice.
+
+“Bes, or King,” he said, “doubtless you will do your wife’s will.
+Therefore let the host be aroused and stand to its arms. As it chances
+I have four men without who can be trusted. Two of these will guide the
+five thousand to the ford and across it; also down upon the ships. The
+other two will guide Shabaka and the archers along the road which
+Karema remembers so well; perhaps she trod it as a child. For my part I
+return to Amada to make sure that Pharaoh does his share and at the
+right time. For mark, unless all this is carried through to-night Amada
+will fall to-morrow, a certain priestess will die, and you, Bes, and
+your soldiers will never look on Ethiopia again. Is it agreed?”
+
+I nodded who did not wish to waste time in words, and Bes rolled his
+eyes and answered,
+
+“When one can think of nothing, it is best to follow the counsel of
+those who can think of something; also to hunt rather than to be
+hunted. Especially is this so if that something comes from the holy
+Tanofir or his broken Cup. Generals, you have heard. Rouse the host and
+bid them stand to their arms company by company!”
+
+The generals leapt away into the darkness like arrows from a bow, and
+presently we heard the noise of gathering men.
+
+“Where are these guides of yours, holy Tanofir?” asked Bes.
+
+Tanofir beckoned over his shoulder, and out of the gloom, one by one,
+four men stole into the tent. They were strange, quiet men, but I can
+say no more of them since their faces were veiled, nor as it chances,
+did I ever see any of them after the battle, in which I suppose that
+they were killed. Or perhaps they appeared after—well, never mind!
+
+“You have heard,” said Tanofir, whereupon all four of them bowed their
+mysterious veiled heads.
+
+“Now, my Brother,” whispered Bes into my ear, “tell me, I pray you, how
+did four men who were not in the tent, hear what was said in this tent,
+and how did they come through the guards who have orders to kill anyone
+who does not know the countersign, especially men whose faces are
+wrapped in napkins?”
+
+“I do not know,” I answered, whereon Bes groaned, only Karema smiled a
+little as though to herself.
+
+“Then, having heard, obey,” said the holy Tanofir, whereon the four
+veiled ones bowed again.
+
+“Will you not give them their orders, O most Venerable?” inquired Bes
+doubtfully.
+
+“I think it is needless,” said Tanofir in a dry voice. “Why try to
+teach those who know?”
+
+“Will you not offer them something to eat, since they also must be
+hungry?” I asked of Karema.
+
+“Fool, be silent,” she replied, looking on me with contempt. “Do
+the—friends—of Tanofir need to eat?”
+
+“I should have thought so after being beleaguered for a month in a
+starving town. If the master wants to eat, why should not his men?” I
+murmured.
+
+Then a thought struck me and I was silent.
+
+A general returned and reported that the orders had been executed and
+that all the army was afoot.
+
+“Good,” said Bes. “Then start forthwith with five thousand men, and
+burn those ships, according to the plan laid down by the Queen Karema,
+which you heard her speak but now,” and he named certain regiments that
+he should take with him, those of the general’s own command, adding:
+“Save some of the ships if you can, and afterwards cross the Nile in
+them with your men, and join yourself either to my force or to that of
+the lord Shabaka, according to what you see. May the Grasshopper give
+you victory and wisdom.”
+
+The general saluted and asked,
+
+“Who guides us to and across the ford of the great river?”
+
+Two of the veiled men stepped forward whereon the general muttered into
+my ear,
+
+“I like not the look of them. I pray the Grasshopper they do not guide
+us across the River of Death.”
+
+“Have no fear, General,” said the holy Tanofir from the other end of
+the tent. “If you and your men play their parts as well as the guides
+will play theirs, the ships are already burned together with their
+companies. Only take fire with you.”
+
+So that general departed with the two guides, looking somewhat
+frightened, and soon was marching up Nile at the head of five thousand
+swordsmen.
+
+Now Bes looked at me and said,
+
+“It seems that you had better be gone also, my Brother, with the
+archers. Perchance the holy Tanofir will show you whither.”
+
+“No, no,” answered Tanofir, “my guides will show him. Look not so
+doubtful, Shabaka. Did I fail you when you were in the grip of the King
+of kings in the East, and only your own life and that of Bes were at
+stake?”
+
+“I do not know,” I answered.
+
+“You do not know, but I know, as I think do Bes and Karema, since the
+one received the messages which the other sent. Well, if I did not fail
+you then, shall I fail you now when Egypt is at stake? Follow these
+guides I give you, and——” here he took hold of the quiver of arrows
+that lay beside me on the ground, and as certainly as though he could
+see it with his blind eyes, touched one of them, on the shaft of which
+were two black and a white feather, “remember my words after you have
+loosed this arrow from your great black bow and noted where it
+strikes.”
+
+Then I turned to Bes and asked,
+
+“Where do we meet again?”
+
+“I cannot say, Brother,” he answered. “In Amada if that may be. If not,
+at the Table of Osiris, or in the fields of the Grasshopper, or in the
+blackness which swallows all, gods and men together.”
+
+“Does Karema come with me or bide with you?” I asked again.
+
+“She does neither,” interrupted Tanofir, “she accompanies me to Amada,
+where I have need of her and she will be more safe. Oh! fear nothing,
+for every hermit however poor, still carries his staff and his cup,
+even if it be cracked.”
+
+Then I shook Bes by the hand and went my way, wondering if I were awake
+or dreaming, and the last thing I saw in that tent was the beautiful
+face of Karema smiling at me. This I took to be a good omen, since I
+knew that it was the heart of the holy Tanofir which smiled, and that
+her eyes were but its mirror.
+
+Already my thirty thousand archers were marshalling, and having made
+sure that there was ample store of arrows and that all their gourds
+were filled with water, I set myself at their head while in front of me
+walked the two veiled guides. I looked upon them doubtfully, since it
+seemed dangerous to trust an army to unknown men who for aught I knew,
+might lead us into the midst of our foes. Then I remembered that they
+were vouched for by the holy Tanofir, my own great-uncle whom I trusted
+above any man on earth, and took heart again.
+
+How had he come into our tent, I wondered, and how, blind as he was,
+would he get back into Amada with Karema, if he took her? Well, who
+could account for the goings or the comings of the holy Tanofir, who
+was more of a spirit than a man? Perhaps it was not really he whom we
+had seen, but what we Egyptians called his _Ka_ or Double which can
+pass to and fro at will. Only do _Kas_ eat? Of this matter I knew only
+that offerings of food and drink are made to them in tombs. So leaving
+the holy Tanofir to guard himself, I turned my mind to our own
+business, which was to surprise the army of the Great King.
+
+Skirting the swamp we came to rough and higher ground and though I
+could see little in that darkness, I knew that we were walking up a
+hill. Presently we crossed its crest and descending for three bowshots
+or so, I felt that my feet were on a road. Now the guides turned to the
+left and after them in a long line came my army of thirty thousand
+archers. In utter silence we went since we had no beasts with us and
+our sandalled feet made little noise; moreover orders had been passed
+down the line that the man who made a sound should die.
+
+For two hours or more we marched thus, then bore to the left again and
+climbed a slope, by which time I judged we must be well past the town
+of Amada. Here suddenly the guides halted and we after them at
+whispered words of command. One of them took me by the cloak, led me
+forward a little way to the crest of the ridge, and pointed with his
+white-sleeved arm. I looked and there beneath me, well within bowshot,
+were thousands of the watchfires of the King’s army, flaring, some of
+them, in the strong wind. For a full league those fires burned and we
+were opposite to the midmost of them.
+
+“See now, General Shabaka,” said the guide, speaking for the first time
+in a curious hissing whisper such as might come from a man who had no
+lips, “beneath you sleeps the Eastern host, which being so great, has
+not thought it needful to guard this ridge. Now marshal your archers in
+a fourfold line in such fashion that at the first break of dawn they
+can take cover behind the rocks and shoot, every man of them without
+piercing his fellow. Do you bide here with the centre where your
+standard can be seen by all to north and south. I and my companion will
+lead your vanguard farther on to where the ridge draws nearer to the
+Nile, so that with their arrows they can hold back and slay any who
+strive to escape down stream. The rest is in your hands, for we are
+guides, not generals. Summon your captains and issue your commands.”
+
+So we went back again and I called the officers together and told them
+what they were to do, then despatched them to their regiments.
+
+Presently the vanguard of ten thousand men drew away and vanished, and
+with them the white-robed guides on whom I never looked again. Then I
+marshalled my centre as well as I could in the gloom, and bade them lie
+down to rest and sleep if they were able; also, within thirty minutes
+of the sunrise, to eat and drink a little of the food they carried, to
+see that every bow was ready and that the arrows were loosened in every
+quiver. This done, with a few whom I trusted to serve me as messengers
+and guard, I crept up to the brow of the hill or slope, and there we
+laid us down and watched.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII.
+THE BATTLE—AND AFTER
+
+
+Two hours went by and I knew by the stars that the dawn could not be
+far away. My eyes were fixed upon the Nile and on the lights that hung
+to the prows of the Great King’s ships. Where were those who had been
+sent to fire them, I wondered, for of them I saw nothing. Well, their
+journey would be long as they must wade the river. Perhaps they had not
+yet arrived, or perhaps they had miscarried. At least the fleet seemed
+very quiet. None were alarmed there and no sentry challenged.
+
+At length it grew near to dawn and behind me I heard the gentle stir of
+the Ethiopians arising and eating as they had been bidden, whereon I
+too ate and drank a little, though never had I less wished for food.
+The East brightened and far up the Nile of a sudden there appeared what
+at first I took to be a meteor or a lantern waving in the wind that now
+was blowing its strongest, as it does at this season of the year just
+at the time of dawn. Yet that lantern seemed to travel fast and lo! now
+I saw that it was fire running up the rigging of a ship.
+
+It leapt from rope to rope and from sail to sail till they blazed
+fiercely, and in other ships also nearer to us, flame appeared that
+grew to a great red sheet. Our men had not failed; the navy of the King
+of kings was burning! Oh! how it burned fanned by the breath of that
+strong wind. From vessel to vessel leapt the fire like a thing alive,
+for all of them were drawn up on the bank with prows fastened in such
+fashion that they could not readily be made loose. Some broke away
+indeed, but they were aflame and only served to spread the fire more
+quickly. Before the rim of the sun appeared for a league or more there
+was nothing but blazing ships from which rose a hideous crying, and
+still more and more took fire lower down the line.
+
+I had no time to watch for now I must be up and doing. The sky grew
+grey, there was light enough to see though faintly. I cast my eyes
+about me and perceived that no place in the world could have been
+better for archery. In front the hill was steep for a hundred paces or
+more and scattered over with thousands of large stones behind which
+bowmen might take shelter. Then came a gentle slope of loose sand up
+which attackers would find it hard to climb. Then the long flat plain
+whereon the Easterns were camped, and beyond it, scarce two furlongs
+away, the banks of Nile.
+
+Indeed the place was ill-chosen for so great an army, nor could it have
+held them all, had not the camping ground been a full league in length,
+and even so they were crowded. Out of the mist their tents appeared,
+thousands of them, farther than my eye could reach, and almost opposite
+to me, near to the banks of the river, was a great pavilion of silk and
+gold that I guessed must shelter the majesty of the King of kings.
+Indeed this was certain since now I saw that over it floated his royal
+banner which I knew so well, I who had stolen the little White Signet
+of signets from which it was taken. Truly the holy Tanofir, or his Cup,
+Karema, or his messengers, or the spirits with whom he dwelt, I know
+not which, had a general’s eye and knew how to plan an ambuscade.
+
+So thought I to myself as I ran back to my army to meet the gathered
+captains and set all things in order. It was soon done for they were
+ready, as were the fierce Ethiopians fresh from their rest and food,
+and stringing their bows, every one of them, or loosening the arrows in
+their quivers. As I came they lifted their hands in salute, for speak
+they dared not and I sent a whisper down their ranks, that this day
+they must fight and conquer, or fall for the glory of Ethiopia and
+their king. Then I gave my orders and before the sun rose and revealed
+them they crept forward in a fourfold line and took shelter behind the
+stones, lying there invisible on their bellies until the moment came.
+
+The red rim of Ra appeared glorious in the East, and I, from behind the
+rocks that I had chosen, sat down and watched. Oh! truly Tanofir or the
+gods of Egypt were ordering things aright for us. The huge camp was
+awake now and aware of what was happening on the Nile. They could not
+see well because of the tall reeds upon the river’s rim and therefore,
+without order or discipline, by the thousand and the ten thousand, for
+their numbers were countless, some with arms and some without, they ran
+to the slope of sand beneath our station and began to climb it to have
+a better view of the burning ships.
+
+The sun leapt up swiftly as it does in Egypt. His glowing edge appeared
+over the crest of the hill though the hollows beneath were still filled
+with shadow. The moment was at hand. I waited till I had counted ten,
+glancing to the right and left of me to see that all were ready and to
+suffer the crowd to thicken on the slope, but not to reach the lowest
+rocks, whither they were climbing. Then I gave the double signal that
+had been agreed.
+
+Behind me the banner of the golden Grasshopper was raised upon a tall
+pole and broke upon the breeze. That was the first signal whereat every
+man rose to his knees and set shaft on string. Next I lifted my bow,
+the black bow, the ancient bow that few save I could bend, and drew it
+to my ear.
+
+Far away, out of arrow-reach as most would have said, floated the Great
+King’s standard over his pavilion. At this I aimed, making allowance
+for the wind, and shot. The shaft leapt forward, seen in the sunlight,
+lost in the shadow, seen in the sunlight again and lastly seen once
+more, pinning that golden standard against its pole!
+
+At the sight of the omen a roar went up that rolled to right and left
+of us, a roar from thirty thousand throats. Now it was lost in a sound
+like to the hissing of thunder rain in Ethiopia, the sound of thirty
+thousand arrows rushing through the wind. Oh! they were well aimed,
+those arrows for I had not taught the Ethiopians archery in vain.
+
+How many went down before them? The gods of Egypt know alone. I do not.
+All I know is that the long slope of sand which had been crowded with
+standing men, was now thick with fallen men, many of whom lay as though
+they were asleep. For what mail could resist the iron-pointed shafts
+driven by the strong bows of the Ethiopians?
+
+And this was but a beginning, for, flight after flight, those arrows
+sped till the air grew dark with them. Soon there were no more to shoot
+at on the slope, for these were down, and the order went to lift the
+bows and draw upon the camp, and especially upon the parks of baggage
+beasts. Presently these were down also, or rushing maddened to and fro.
+
+At last the Eastern generals saw and understood. Orders were shouted
+and in a mad confusion the scores of thousands who were unharmed,
+rushed back towards the banks of Nile where our shafts could not reach
+them. Here they formed up in their companies and took counsel. It was
+soon ended, for all the vast mass of them, preceded by a cloud of
+archers, began to advance upon the hill.
+
+Now I passed a command to the Ethiopians, of whom so far not one had
+fallen, to lie low and wait. On came the glittering multitude of
+Easterns, gay with purple and gold, their mail and swords shining in
+the risen sun. On they came by squadron and by company, more than the
+eye could number. They reached the sand slope thick with their own dead
+and wounded and paused a little because they could see no man, since
+the black bodies of the Ethiopians were hid behind the black stones and
+the black bows did not catch the light.
+
+Then from a gorgeous group that I guessed hid the person of the Great
+King surrounded by his regiment of guards, ten thousand of them who
+were called Immortals, messengers sprang forth screaming the order to
+charge. The host began to climb the slippery sand slope but still I
+held my hand till their endless lines were within fifty paces of us and
+their arrows rattled harmlessly against our stones. Then I caused the
+banner of the Grasshopper that had been lowered, to be lifted thrice,
+and at the third lifting once more thirty thousand arrows rushed forth
+to kill.
+
+They went down, they went down in lines and heaps, riddled through and
+through. But still others came on for they fought under the eye of the
+Great King, and to fly meant death with shame and torture. We could not
+kill them all, they were too many. We could not kill the half of them.
+Now their foremost were within ten paces of us and since we must stand
+up to shoot, our men began to fall, also pierced with arrows. I caused
+the blast of retreat to be sounded on the ivory horn and step by step
+we drew back to the crest of the ridge, shooting as we went. On the
+crest we re-formed rapidly in a double line standing as close as we
+could together and my example was followed all down the ranks to right
+and left. Then I bethought me of a plan that I had taught these archers
+again and again in Ethiopia.
+
+With the flag I signalled a command to stop shooting and also passed
+the word down the line, so that presently no more arrows flew. The
+Easterns hesitated, wondering whether this were a trap, or if we lacked
+shafts, and meanwhile I sent messengers with certain orders to the
+vanguard, who sped away at speed behind the hill, running as they never
+ran before. Presently I heard a voice below cry out,
+
+“The Great King commands that the barbarians be destroyed. Let the
+barbarians be destroyed!”
+
+Now with a roar they came on like a flood. I waited till they were
+within twenty paces of us, and shouted, “Shoot and fall!”
+
+The first line shot and oh! fearful was its work, for not a shaft
+missed those crowded hosts and many pinned two together. My archers
+shot and fell down, setting new arrows to the string as they fell,
+whereon the second line also shot over them. Then up we sprang and
+loosed again, and again fell down, whereon the second line once more
+poured in its deadly hail.
+
+Now the Easterns stayed their advance, for their front ranks lay prone,
+and those behind must climb over them if they could. Yes, standing
+there in glittering groups they rocked and hesitated although their
+officers struck them with swords and lances to drive them forward. Once
+more our front rank rose and loosed, and once more we dropped and let
+the shafts of the second speed over us. It was too much, flesh and
+blood could not bear more of those arrows. Thousands upon thousands
+were down and the rest began to flee in confusion.
+
+Then at my command the ivory horns sounded the charge. Every man slung
+his bow upon his back and drew his short sword.
+
+“On to them!” I cried and leapt forward.
+
+Like a black torrent we rushed down the hill, leaping over the dead and
+wounded. The retreat became a rout since before these ebon, great-eyed
+warriors the soft Easterns did not care to stand. They fled screaming,
+
+“These are devils! These are devils!”
+
+We were among them now, hacking and stabbing with the short swords upon
+their heads and backs. There was no need to aim the blow, they were so
+many. Like a huddled mob of cattle they turned and fled down Nile. But
+my orders had reached the vanguard and these, hidden in the growing
+crops on the narrow neck of swampy land between the hills and the Nile,
+met them with arrows as they came, also raked them from the steep cliff
+side. Their chariot wheels sank into the mud till the horses were
+slain; their footmen were piled in heaps about them, till soon there
+was a mighty wall of dead and dying. And our centre and rearguard came
+up behind. Oh! we slew and slew, till before the sun was an hour high
+over half the army of the Great King was no more. Then we re-formed,
+having suffered but little loss, and drank of the water of the Nile.
+
+“All is not done,” I cried.
+
+For the Immortals still remained behind us, gathered in massed ranks
+about their king. Also there were many thousands of others between
+these and the walls of Amada, and to the south of the city yet a second
+army, that with which Bes had been left to deal, with what success I
+knew not.
+
+“Ethiopians,” I shouted, “cease crying Victory, since the battle is
+about to begin. Strike, and at once before the Easterns find their
+heart again.”
+
+So we advanced upon the Immortals, all of us, for now the vanguard had
+joined our strength.
+
+In long lines we advanced over that blood-soaked plain, and as we came
+the Great King loosed his remaining chariots against us. It availed him
+nothing, since the horses could not face our arrows whereof, thanks be
+to the gods! I had prepared so ample a store, carried in bundles by
+lads. Scarce a chariot reached our lines, and those that did were
+destroyed, leaving us unbroken.
+
+The chariots were done with and their drivers dead, but there still
+frowned the squares of the Immortals. We shot at them till nearly all
+our shafts were spent, and, galled to madness, they charged. We did not
+wait for the points of those long spears, but ran in beneath them
+striking with our short swords, and oh! grim and desperate was that
+battle, since the Easterns were clad in mail and the Ethiopians had but
+short jerkins of bull’s hide.
+
+Fight as we would we were driven back. The fray turned against us and
+we fell by hundreds. I bethought me of flight to the hills, since now
+we were outnumbered and very weary. But behold! when all seemed lost a
+great shouting rose from Amada and through her opened gates poured
+forth all that remained of the army of Pharaoh, perhaps eighteen or
+twenty thousand men. I saw, and my heart rose again.
+
+“Stand firm!” I cried. “Stand firm!” and lo! we stood.
+
+The Egyptians were on them now and in their midst I saw Pharaoh’s
+banner. By degrees the battle swayed towards the banks of Nile, we to
+the north, the Egyptians to the south and the Easterns between us. They
+were trying to turn our flank; yes, and would have done it, had there
+not suddenly appeared upon the Nile a fleet of ships. At first I
+thought that we were lost, for these ships were from Greece and Cyprus,
+till I saw the banner of the Grasshopper wave from a prow, and knew
+that they were manned by our five thousand who had gone out to burn the
+fleet, and had saved these vessels. They beached and from their crowded
+holds poured the five thousand, or those that were left of them, and
+ranging themselves upon the bank, raised their war-shout and attacked
+the ends of the Easterns’ lines.
+
+Now we charged for the last time and the Egyptians charged from the
+south. Ha-ha! the ranks of the Immortals were broken at length. We were
+among them. I saw Pharaoh, his _uræus_ circlet on his helm. He was
+wounded and sore beset. A tall Immortal rushed at him with a spear and
+drove it home.
+
+Pharaoh fell.
+
+I leapt over him and killed that Eastern with a blow upon the neck, but
+my sword shattered on his armour. The tide of battle rolled up and
+swept us apart and I saw Pharaoh being carried away. Look! yonder was
+the Great King himself standing in a golden chariot, the Great King in
+all his glory whom last I had seen far away in the East. He knew me and
+shot at me with a bow, the bow he thought my own, shouting, “Die, dog
+of an Egyptian!”
+
+His arrow pierced my helm but missed my head. I strove to come at him
+but could not.
+
+The real rout began. The Immortals were broken like an earthen jar.
+They retreated in groups fighting desperately and of these the thickest
+was around the Great King. He whom I hated was about to escape me. He
+still had horses; he would fly down Nile, gain his reserves and so away
+back to the East, where he would gather new and yet larger armies,
+since men in millions were at his command. Then he would return and
+destroy Egypt when perchance there were no Ethiopians to help her, and
+perhaps after all drag Amada to his House of Women. See, they were
+breaking through and already I was far away with a wound in my breast,
+a hurt leg and a shattered sword.
+
+What could I do? My arrows were spent and the bearers had none left to
+give me. No, there was one still in the quiver. I drew it out. On its
+shaft were two black feathers and one white. Who had spoken of that
+arrow? I remembered, Tanofir. I was to think of certain things that he
+had said when I noted what it pierced. I unslung my bow, strung it and
+set that arrow on the string.
+
+By now the Great King was far away, out of reach for most archers. His
+chariot forging ahead amidst the remnant of his guards and the nobles
+who attended on his sacred person, travelled over a little rise where
+doubtless once there had been a village, long since rotted down to its
+parent clay. The sunlight glinted on his shining armour and silken
+robe, whereof the back was toward me.
+
+I aimed, I drew, I loosed! Swift and far the shaft sped forward. By
+Osiris! it struck him full between the shoulders, and lo! the King of
+kings, the Monarch of the World, lurched forward, fell on to the rail
+of his chariot, and rolled to the ground. Next instant there arose a
+roar of, “The King is dead! The Great King is dead! _Fly, fly, fly!_”
+
+So they fled and after them thundered the pursuers slaying and slaying
+till they could lift their arms no more. Oh! yes, some escaped though
+the men of Thebes and country folk murdered many of them and but a few
+ever won back to the East to tell the tale of the blotting out of the
+mighty army of the King of kings and of the doom dealt to him by the
+great black bow of Shabaka the Egyptian.
+
+I stood there gasping, when suddenly I heard a voice at my side. It
+said,
+
+“You seem to have done very well, Brother, even better than we did
+yonder on the other side of the town, though some might think that fray
+a thing whereof to make a song. Also that last shot of yours was worthy
+of a good archer, for I marked it, I marked it. A great lord was laid
+low thereby. Let us go and see who it was.”
+
+I threw my arm round the bull neck of Bes and leaning on him, advanced
+to where the King lay alone save for the fallen about him.
+
+“This man is not yet sped,” said Bes. “Let us look upon his face,” and
+he turned him over, and stretched him there upon the sand with the
+arrow standing two spans beyond his corselet.
+
+“Why,” said Bes, “this is a certain High one with whom we had dealings
+in the East!” and he laughed thickly.
+
+Then the Great King opened his eyes and knew us and on his dying
+features came a look of hate.
+
+“So you have conquered, Egyptian,” he said. “Oh! if only I had you
+again in the East, whence in my folly I let you go——”
+
+“You would set me in your boat, would you not, whence by the wisdom of
+Bes I escaped.”
+
+“More than that,” he gasped.
+
+“I shall not serve you so,” I went on. “I shall leave you to die as a
+warrior should upon a fair fought field. But learn, tyrant and
+murderer, that the shaft which overthrew you came from the black bow
+you coveted and thought you had received, and that this hand loosed
+it—not at hazard.”
+
+“I guessed it,” he whispered.
+
+“Know, too, King, that the lady Amada whom you also coveted, waits to
+be my wife; that your mighty army is destroyed, and that Egypt is free
+by the hands of Shabaka the Egyptian and Bes the dwarf.”
+
+“Shabaka the Egyptian,” he muttered, “whom I held and let go because of
+a dream and for policy. So, Shabaka, you will wed Amada whom I desired
+because I could not take her, and doubtless you will rule in Egypt, for
+Pharaoh, I think, is as I am to-day. O Shabaka, you are strong and a
+great warrior, but there is something stronger than you in the
+world—that which men call Fate. Such success as yours offends the gods.
+Look on me, Shabaka, look on the King of kings, the Ruler of the earth,
+lying shamed in the dust before you, and, accursed Shabaka! do not call
+yourself happy until you see death as near as I do now.”
+
+Then he threw his arms wide and died.
+
+We called to soldiers to bear his body and having set the pursuit, with
+that royal clay entered into Amada in triumph. It was not a very great
+town and the temple was its finest building and thither we wended. In
+the outer court we found Pharaoh lying at the point of death, for from
+many wounds his life drained out with his flowing blood, nor could the
+leeches help him.
+
+“Greeting, Shabaka,” he said, “you and the Ethiopians have saved Egypt.
+My son is slain in the battle and I too am slain, and who remains to
+rule her save you, you and Amada? Would that you had married her at
+once, and never left my side. But she was foolish and headstrong and
+I—was jealous of you, Shabaka. Forgive me, and farewell.”
+
+He spoke no more although he lived a little while.
+
+Karema came from the inner court. She greeted her husband, then turned
+and said,
+
+“Lord Shabaka, one waits to welcome you.”
+
+I rested myself upon her shoulder, for I could not walk alone.
+
+“What happened to the army of the Karoon?” I asked as we went slowly.
+
+“That happened, Lord, which the holy Tanofir foretold. The Easterns
+attacked across the swamp, thinking to bear us down by numbers. But the
+paths were too narrow and their columns were bogged in the mud. Still
+they struggled on against the arrows to its edge and there the
+Ethiopians fell on them and being lighter-footed and without armour,
+had the mastery of them, who were encumbered by their very multitude.
+Oh! I saw it all from the temple top. Bes did well and I am proud of
+him, as I am proud of you.”
+
+“It is of the Ethiopians that you should be proud, Karema, since with
+one to five they have won a great battle.”
+
+We came to the end of the second court where was a sanctuary.
+
+“Enter,” said Karema and fell back.
+
+I did so and though the cedar door was left a little ajar, at first
+could see nothing because of the gloom of the place. By degrees my eyes
+grew accustomed to the darkness and I perceived an alabaster statue of
+the goddess Isis of the size of life, who held in her arms an ivory
+child, also lifesize. Then I heard a sigh and, looking down, saw a
+woman clad in white kneeling at the feet of the statue, lost in prayer.
+Suddenly she rose and turned and the ray of light from the door ajar
+fell upon her. It was Amada draped only in the transparent robe of a
+priestess, and oh! she was beautiful beyond imagining, so beautiful
+that my heart stood still.
+
+She saw me in my battered mail and the blood flowed up to her breast
+and brow and in her eyes there came a light such as I had never known
+in them before, the light that is lit only by the torch of woman’s
+love. Yes, no longer were hers the eyes of a priestess; they were the
+eyes of a woman who burns with mortal passion.
+
+“Amada,” I whispered, “Amada found at last.”
+
+“Shabaka,” she whispered back, “returned at last, to me, your home,”
+and she stretched out her arms toward me.
+
+But before I could take her into mine, she uttered a little cry and
+shrank away.
+
+“Oh! not here,” she said, “not here in the presence of this Holy One
+who watches all that passes in heaven and earth.”
+
+“Then perchance, Amada, she has watched the freeing of Egypt on yonder
+field to-day, and knows for whose sake it was done.”
+
+“Hearken, Shabaka. I am your guerdon. Moreover as a woman I am yours.
+There is naught I desire so much as to feel your kiss upon me. For it
+and it alone I am ready to risk my spirit’s death and torment. But for
+you I fear. Twice have I sworn myself to this goddess and she is very
+jealous of those who rob her of her votaries. I fear that her curse
+will fall not only on me, but on you also, and not only for this life
+but for all lives that may be given to us. For your own sake, I pray
+you leave me. I hear that Pharaoh my uncle is dead or dying, and
+doubtless they will offer you the throne. Take it, Shabaka, for in it I
+ask no share. Take it and leave me to serve the goddess till my death.”
+
+“I too serve a goddess,” I answered hoarsely, “and she is named Love,
+and you are her priestess. Little I care for Isis who serve the goddess
+Love. Come, kiss me here and now, ere perchance I die. Kiss me who have
+waited long enough, and so let us be wed.”
+
+One moment she paused, swaying in the wind of passion, like a tall reed
+on the banks of Nile, and then, ah! then she sank upon my breast and
+pressed her lips against my own.
+
+AND AFTER
+
+
+For a few moments I, Shabaka, seemed to be lost in a kind of delirium
+and surrounded by a rose-hued mist. Then I, Allan Quatermain, heard a
+sharp quick sound as of a clock striking, and looked up. It was a
+clock, a beautiful old clock on a mantelpiece opposite to me and the
+hands showed that it had just struck the hour of ten.
+
+Now I remembered that centuries ago, as I was dropping asleep, I did
+not know why, I had seen that clock and those hands in the same
+position and known that it was striking the second stroke of ten. Oh!
+what did it all mean? Had thousands of years gone by or—only eight
+seconds?
+
+There was a weight upon my shoulder. I glanced round to see what it was
+and discovered the beautiful head of Lady Ragnall who was sweetly
+sleeping there. Lady Ragnall! and in that very strange dream which I
+had dreamed she was the priestess called Amada. Look, there was the
+mark of the new moon above her breast. And not a second ago I had been
+in a shrine with Amada dressed as Lady Ragnall was to-night, in
+circumstances so intimate that it made me blush to think of them. Lady
+Ragnall! Amada!—Amada! Lady Ragnall! A shrine! A boudoir! Oh! I must be
+going mad!
+
+I could not disturb her, it would have been—well, unseemly. So I,
+Shabaka, or Allan Quatermain, just sat still feeling curiously
+comfortable, and tried to piece things together, when suddenly Amada—I
+mean Lady Ragnall woke.
+
+“I wonder,” she said without lifting her head from my shoulder, “what
+happened to the holy Tanofir. I think that I heard him outside the
+shine giving directions for the digging of Pharaoh’s grave at that
+spot, and saying that he must do so at once as his time was very short.
+Yes, and I wished that he would go away. Oh! my goodness!” she
+exclaimed, and suddenly sprang up.
+
+I too rose and we stood facing each other.
+
+Between us, in front of the fire stood the tripod and the bowl of black
+stone at the bottom of which lay a pinch of white ashes, the remains of
+the _Taduki_. We stared at it and at each other.
+
+“Oh! where have we been, Shaba—I mean, Mr. Quatermain?” she gasped,
+looking at me round-eyed.
+
+“I don’t know,” I answered confusedly. “To the East I suppose. That
+is—it was all a dream.”
+
+“A dream!” she said. “What nonsense! Tell me, were you or were you not
+in a sanctuary just now with me before the statue of Isis, the same
+that fell on George two years ago and killed him, and did you or did
+you not give me a necklace of wonderful rosy pearls which we put upon
+the neck of the statue as a peace-offering because I had broken my vows
+to the goddess—those that you won from the Great King?”
+
+“No,” I answered triumphantly, “I did nothing of the sort. Is it likely
+that I should have taken those priceless pearls into battle? I gave
+them to Karema to keep after my mother returned them to me on her
+death-bed; I remember it distinctly.”
+
+“Yes, and Karema handed them to me again as your love-token when she
+appeared in the city with the holy Tanofir, and what was more welcome
+at the moment—something to eat. For we were near starving, you know.
+Well, I threw them over your neck and my own in the shrine to be the
+symbol of our eternal union. But afterwards we thought that it might be
+wise to offer them to the goddess—to appease her, you know. Oh! how
+dared we plight our mortal troth there in her very shrine and presence,
+and I her twice-sworn servant? It was insult heaped on sacrilege.”
+
+“At a guess, because love is stronger than fear,” I replied. “But it
+seems that you dreamed a little longer than I did. So perhaps you can
+tell me what happened afterwards. I only got as far as—well, I forget
+how far I got,” I added, for at that moment full memory returned and I
+could not go on.
+
+She blushed to her eyes and grew disturbed.
+
+“It is all mixed up in my mind too,” she exclaimed. “I can only
+remember something rather absurd—and affectionate. You know what
+strange things dreams are.”
+
+“I thought you said it wasn’t a dream.”
+
+“Really I don’t know what it was. But—your wound doesn’t hurt you, does
+it? You were bleeding a good deal. It stained me here,” and she touched
+her breast and looked down wonderingly at her sacred, ancient robe as
+though she expected to see that it was red.
+
+“As there is no stain now it _must_ have been a dream. But my word!
+that was a battle,” I answered.
+
+“Yes, I watched it from the pylon top, and oh! it was glorious. Do you
+remember the charge of the Ethiopians against the Immortals? Why of
+course you must as you led it. And then the fall of Pharaoh Peroa—he
+was George, you know. And the death of the Great King, killed by your
+black bow; you were a wonderful shot even then, you see. And the
+burning of the ships, how they blazed! And—a hundred other things.”
+
+“Yes,” I said, “it came off. The holy Tanofir was a good strategist—or
+his Cup was, I don’t know which.”
+
+“And you were a good general, and so for the matter of that was Bes.
+Oh! what agonies I went through while the fight hung doubtful. My heart
+was on fire, yes, I seemed to burn for——” and she stopped.
+
+“For whom?” I asked.
+
+“For Egypt of course, and when, reflected in the alabaster, I saw you
+enter that shrine, where you remember I was praying for your
+success—and safety, I nearly died of joy. For you know I had been,
+well, attached to you—to Shabaka, I mean—all the time—that’s my part of
+the story which I daresay you did not see. Although I seemed so cold
+and wayward I could love, yes, in that life I knew how to love. And
+Shabaka looked, oh! a hero with his rent mail and the glory of triumph
+in his eyes. He was very handsome, too, in his way. But what nonsense I
+am talking.”
+
+“Yes, great nonsense. Still, I wish we were sure how it ended. It is a
+pity that you forget, for I am crazed with curiosity. I suppose there
+is no more _Taduki_, is there?”
+
+“Not a scrap,” she answered firmly, “and if there were it would be
+fatal to take it twice on the same day. We have learned all there is to
+learn. Perhaps it is as well, though I should like to know what
+happened after our—our marriage.”
+
+“So we _were_ married, were we?”
+
+“I mean,” she went on ignoring my remark, “whether you ruled long in
+Egypt. For you, or rather Shabaka, did rule. Also whether the Easterns
+returned and drove us out, or what. You see the Ivory Child went away
+somehow, for we found it again in Kendah Land only a few years ago.”
+
+“Perhaps we retired to Ethiopia,” I suggested, “and the worship of the
+Child continued in some part of that country after the Ethiopian
+kingdom passed away.”
+
+“Perhaps, only I don’t think Karema would ever have gone back to
+Ethiopia unless she was obliged. You remember how she hated the place.
+No, not even to see those black children of hers. Well, as we can never
+tell, it is no use speculating.”
+
+“I thought there _was_ more _Taduki_,” I remarked sadly. “I am sure I
+saw some in the coffer.”
+
+“Not one bit,” she answered still more firmly than before, and,
+stretching out her hand, she shut down the lid of the coffer before I
+could look into it. “It may be best so, for as it stands the story had
+a happy ending and I don’t want to learn, oh! I don’t want to learn how
+the curse of Isis fell on you and me.”
+
+“So you believe in that?”
+
+“Yes, I do,” she answered with passion, “and what is more, I believe it
+is working still, which perhaps is why we have all come down in the
+world, you and I and George and Hans, yes, and even old Harût whom we
+knew in Kendah Land, who, I think, was the holy Tanofir. For as surely
+as I live I _know_ beyond possibility of doubt that whatever we may be
+called to-day, you were the General Shabaka and I was the priestess
+Amada, Royal Lady of Egypt, and between us and about us the curse of
+Isis wavers like a sword. That is why George was killed and that is
+why—but I feel very tired, I think I had better go to bed.”
+
+As I recall that I have explained, I was obliged to leave Ragnall
+Castle early the next morning to keep a shooting engagement. O heavens!
+to keep a shooting engagement!
+
+But whatever Amada, I mean Lady Ragnall, said, there _was_ plenty more
+_Taduki_, as I have good reason to know.
+
+ALLAN QUATERMAIN.
+
+
+
+
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+<div style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Title: The Ancient Allan</div>
+<div style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Author: H. Rider Haggard</div>
+<div style='display:block;margin:1em 0'>Release Date: August 22, 2002 [eBook #5746]<br />
+[Most recently updated: March 12, 2021]</div>
+<div style='display:block;margin:1em 0'>Language: English</div>
+<div style='display:block;margin:1em 0'>Character set encoding: UTF-8</div>
+<div style='display:block; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Produced by: John Bickers, Dagny and David Widger</div>
+<div style='margin-top:2em;margin-bottom:4em'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ANCIENT ALLAN ***</div>
+
+<div class="fig" style="width:55%;">
+<img src="images/cover.jpg" style="width:100%;" alt="[Illustration]" />
+</div>
+
+<h1>The Ancient Allan</h1>
+
+<h2 class="no-break">by H. Rider Haggard</h2>
+
+<h3>First Published 1920.</h3>
+
+<hr />
+
+<h2>Contents</h2>
+
+<table summary="" style="">
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#chap01">CHAPTER I. AN OLD FRIEND</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#chap02">CHAPTER II. RAGNALL CASTLE</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#chap03">CHAPTER III. ALLAN GIVES HIS WORD</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#chap04">CHAPTER IV. THROUGH THE GATES </a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#chap05">CHAPTER V. THE WAGER</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#chap06">CHAPTER VI. THE DOOM OF THE BOAT</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#chap07">CHAPTER VII. BES STEALS THE SIGNET</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#chap08">CHAPTER VIII. THE LADY AMADA</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#chap09">CHAPTER IX. THE MESSENGERS</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#chap10">CHAPTER X. SHABAKA PLIGHTS HIS TROTH</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#chap11">CHAPTER XI.  THE HOLY TANOFIR</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#chap12">CHAPTER XII. THE SLAYING OF IDERNES</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#chap13">CHAPTER XIII. AMADA RETURNS TO ISIS</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#chap14">CHAPTER XIV. SHABAKA FIGHTS THE CROCODILE</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#chap15">CHAPTER XV. THE SUMMONS</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#chap16">CHAPTER XVI. TANOFIR FINDS HIS BROKEN CUP</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#chap17">CHAPTER XVII. THE BATTLE&mdash;AND AFTER</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+</table>
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2><a name="chap01"></a>CHAPTER I.<br />AN OLD FRIEND</h2>
+
+<p>
+Now I, Allan Quatermain, come to the weirdest (with one or two exceptions
+perhaps) of all the experiences which it has amused me to employ my idle hours
+in recording here in a strange land, for after all England is strange to me. I
+grow elderly. I have, as I suppose, passed the period of enterprise and
+adventure and I should be well satisfied with the lot that Fate has given to my
+unworthy self.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+To begin with, I am still alive and in health when by all the rules I should
+have been dead many times over. I suppose I ought to be thankful for that but,
+before expressing an opinion on the point, I should have to be quite sure
+whether it is better to be alive or dead. The religious plump for the latter,
+though I have never observed that the religious are more eager to die than the
+rest of us poor mortals.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+For instance, if they are told that their holy hearts are wrong, they spend
+time and much money in rushing to a place called Nauheim in Germany, to put
+them right by means of water-drinking, thereby shortening their hours of
+heavenly bliss and depriving their heirs of a certain amount of cash. The same
+thing applies to Buxton in my own neighbourhood and gout, especially when it
+threatens the stomach or the throat. Even archbishops will do these things, to
+say nothing of such small fry as deans, or stout and prominent lay figures of
+the Church.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+From common sinners like myself such conduct might be expected, but in the case
+of those who are obviously poised on the topmost rungs of the Jacobean&mdash;I
+mean, the heavenly&mdash;ladder, it is legitimate to inquire why they show such
+reluctance in jumping off. As a matter of fact the only persons that,
+individually, I have seen quite willing to die, except now and again to save
+somebody else whom they were so foolish as to care for more than they did for
+themselves, have been not those &ldquo;upon whom the light has shined&rdquo; to
+quote an earnest paper I chanced to read this morning, but, to quote again,
+&ldquo;the sinful heathen wandering in their native blackness,&rdquo; by which
+I understand the writer to refer to their moral state and not to their sable
+skins wherein for the most part they are also condemned to wander, that is if
+they happen to have been born south of a certain degree of latitude.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+To come to facts, the staff of Faith which each must shape for himself, is
+often hewn from unsuitable kinds of wood, yes, even by the very best among us.
+Willow, for instance, is pretty and easy to cut, but try to support yourself
+with it on the edge of a precipice and see where you are. Then of a truth you
+will long for ironbark, or even homely oak. I might carry my parable further,
+some allusions to the proper material of which to fashion the helmet of
+Salvation suggest themselves to me for example, but I won&rsquo;t.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The truth is that we fear to die because all the religions are full of
+uncomfortable hints as to what may happen to us afterwards as a reward for our
+deviations from their laws and we half believe in something, whereas often the
+savage, not being troubled with religion, fears less, because he half believes
+in nothing. For very few inhabitants of this earth can attain either to
+complete belief or to its absolute opposite. They can seldom lay their hands
+upon their hearts, and say they <i>know</i> that they will live for ever, or
+sleep for ever; there remains in the case of most honest men an element of
+doubt in either hypothesis.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+That is what makes this story of mine so interesting, at any rate to me, since
+it does seem to suggest that whether or no I have a future, as personally I
+hold to be the case and not altogether without evidence, certainly I have had a
+past, though, so far as I know, in this world only; a fact, if it be a fact,
+from which can be deduced all kinds of arguments according to the taste of the
+reasoner.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And now for my experience, which it is only fair to add, may after all have
+been no more than a long and connected dream. Yet how was I to dream of lands,
+events and people whereof I have only the vaguest knowledge, or none at all,
+unless indeed, as some say, being a part of this world, we have hidden away
+somewhere in ourselves an acquaintance with everything that has ever happened
+in the world. However, it does not much matter and it is useless to discuss
+that which we cannot prove.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Here at any rate is the story.
+</p>
+
+<p class="p2">
+In a book or a record which I have written down and put away with others under
+the title of &ldquo;The Ivory Child,&rdquo; I have told the tale of a certain
+expedition I made in company with Lord Ragnall. Its object was to search for
+his wife who was stolen away while travelling in Egypt in a state of mental
+incapacity resulting from shock caused by the loss of her child under tragic
+and terrible circumstances. The thieves were the priests of a certain bastard
+Arab tribe who, on account of a birthmark shaped like the young moon which was
+visible above her breast, believed her to be the priestess or oracle of their
+worship. This worship evidently had its origin in Ancient Egypt since, although
+they did not seem to know it, the priestess was nothing less than a
+personification of the great goddess Isis, and the Ivory Child, their fetish,
+was a statue of the infant Horus, the fabled son of Isis and Osiris whom the
+Egyptians looked upon as the overcomer of Set or the Devil, the murderer of
+Osiris before his resurrection and ascent to Heaven to be the god of the dead.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I need not set down afresh all that happened to us on this remarkable
+adventure. Suffice it to say that in the end we recovered the lady and that her
+mind was restored to her. Before she left the Kendah country, however, the
+priesthood presented her with two ancient rolls of papyrus, also with a
+quantity of a certain herb, not unlike tobacco in appearance, which by the
+Kendah was called <i>Taduki</i>. Once, before we took our great homeward
+journey across the desert, Lady Ragnall and I had a curious conversation about
+this herb whereof the property is to cause the person who inhales its fumes to
+become clairvoyant, or to dream dreams, whichever the truth may be. It was used
+for this purpose in the mystical ceremonies of the Kendah religion when under
+its influence the priestess or oracle of the Ivory Child was wont to announce
+divine revelations. During her tenure of this office Lady Ragnall was
+frequently subjected to the spell of the <i>Taduki</i> vapour, and said strange
+things, some of which I heard with my own ears. Also myself once I experienced
+its effects and saw a curious vision, whereof many of the particulars were
+afterwards translated into facts.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Now the conversation which I have mentioned was shortly to the effect, that
+she, Lady Ragnall, believed a time would come when she or I or both of us, were
+destined to imbibe these <i>Taduki</i> fumes and see wonderful pictures of some
+past or future existence in which we were both concerned. This knowledge, she
+declared, had come to her while she was officiating in an apparently mindless
+condition as the priestess of the Kendah god called the Ivory Child.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At the time I did not think it wise to pursue so exciting a subject with a
+woman whose mind had been recently unbalanced, and afterwards in the stress of
+new experiences, I forgot all about the matter, or at any rate only thought of
+it very rarely.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Once, however, it did recur to me with some force. Shortly after I came to
+England to spend my remaining days far from the temptations of adventure, I was
+beguiled into becoming a steward of a Charity dinner and, what was worse, into
+attending the said dinner. Although its objects were admirable, it proved one
+of the most dreadful functions in which I was ever called upon to share. There
+was a vast number of people, some of them highly distinguished, who had come to
+support the Charity or to show off their Orders, I don&rsquo;t know which, and
+others like myself, not at all distinguished, just common subscribers, who had
+no Orders and stood about the crowded room like waiters looking for a job.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At the dinner, which was very bad, I sat at a table so remote that I could hear
+but little of the interminable speeches, which was perhaps fortunate for me. In
+these circumstances I drifted into conversation with my neighbour, a queer,
+wizened, black-bearded man who somehow or other had found out that I was
+acquainted with the wilder parts of Africa. He proved to be a wealthy scientist
+whose passion it was to study the properties of herbs, especially of such as
+grow in the interior of South America where he had been travelling for some
+years.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Presently he mentioned a root named Yagé, known to the Indians which, when
+pounded up into a paste and taken in the form of pills, had the effect of
+enabling the patient to see events that were passing at a distance. Indeed he
+alleged that a vision thus produced had caused him to return home, since in it
+he saw that some relative of his, I think a twin-sister, was dangerously ill.
+In fact, however, he might as well have stayed away, as he only arrived in
+London on the day after her funeral.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+As I saw that he was really interested in the subject and observed that he was
+a very temperate man who did not seem to be romancing, I told him something of
+my experiences with <i>Taduki</i>, to which he listened with a kind of rapt but
+suppressed excitement. When I affected disbelief in the whole business, he
+differed from me almost rudely, asking why I rejected phenomena simply because
+I was too dense to understand them. I answered perhaps because such phenomena
+were inconvenient and upset one&rsquo;s ideas. To this he replied that all
+progress involved the upsetting of existent ideas. Moreover he implored me, if
+the chance should ever come my way, to pursue experiments with <i>Taduki</i>
+fumes and let him know the results.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Here our conversation came to an end for suddenly a band that was braying near
+by, struck up &ldquo;God save the Queen,&rdquo; and we hastily exchanged cards
+and parted. I only mention it because, had it not occurred, I think it probable
+that I should never have been in a position to write this history.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The remarks of my acquaintance remained in my mind and influenced it so much
+that when the occasion came, I did as a kind of duty what, however much I was
+pressed, I am almost sure I should never have done for any other reason, just
+because I thought that I ought to take an opportunity of trying to discover
+what was the truth of the matter. As it chanced it was quick in coming.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Here I should explain that I attended the dinner of which I have spoken not
+very long after a very lengthy absence from England, whither I had come to live
+when King Solomon&rsquo;s Mines had made me rich. Therefore it happened that
+between the conclusion of my Kendah adventure some years before and this time I
+saw nothing and heard little of Lord and Lady Ragnall. Once a rumour did reach
+me, however, I think through Sir Henry Curtis or Captain Good, that the former
+had died as a result of an accident. What the accident was my informant did not
+know and as I was just starting on a far journey at the time, I had no
+opportunity of making inquiries. My talk with the botanical scientist
+determined me to do so; indeed a few days later I discovered from a book of
+reference that Lord Ragnall was dead, leaving no heir; also that his wife
+survived him.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I was working myself up to write to her when one morning the postman brought me
+here at the Grange a letter which had &ldquo;Ragnall Castle&rdquo; printed on
+the flap of the envelope. I did not know the writing which was very clear and
+firm, for as it chanced, to the best of my recollection, I had never seen that
+of Lady Ragnall. Here is a copy of the letter it contained:
+</p>
+
+<p class="p2">
+&ldquo;M<small>Y DEAR</small> M<small>R</small>.
+Q<small>UATERMAIN</small>,&mdash;Very strangely I have just seen at a meeting
+of the Horticultural Society, a gentleman who declares that a few days ago he
+sat next to you at some public dinner. Indeed I do not think there can be any
+doubt for he showed me your card which he had in his purse with a Yorkshire
+address upon it.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;A dispute had arisen as to whether a certain variety of Crinum lily was
+first found in Africa, or Southern America. This gentleman, an authority upon
+South American flora, made a speech saying that he had never met with it there,
+but that an acquaintance of his, Mr. Quatermain, to whom he had spoken on the
+subject, said that he had seen something of the sort in the interior of
+Africa.&rdquo; (This was quite true for I remembered the incident.) &ldquo;At
+the tea which followed the meeting I spoke to this gentleman whose name I never
+caught, and to my astonishment learnt that he must have been referring to you
+whom I believed to be dead, for so we were told a long time ago. This seemed
+certain, for in addition to the evidence of the name, he described your
+personal appearance and told me that you had come to live in England.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;My dear friend, I can assure you it is long since I heard anything which
+rejoiced me so much. Oh! as I write all the past comes back, flowing in upon me
+like a pent-up flood of water, but I trust that of this I shall soon have an
+opportunity of talking to you. So let it be for a while.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Alas! my friend, since we parted on the shores of the Red Sea, tragedy
+has pursued me. As you will know, for both my husband and I wrote to you,
+although you did not answer the letters&rdquo; (I never received them),
+&ldquo;we reached England safely and took up our old life again, though to tell
+you the truth, after my African experiences things could never be quite the
+same to me, or for the matter of that to George either. To a great extent he
+changed his pursuits and certain political ambitions which he once cherished,
+seemed no longer to appeal to him. He became a student of past history and
+especially of Egyptology, which under all the circumstances you may think
+strange, as I did. However it suited me well enough, since I also have tastes
+that way. So we worked together and I can now read hieroglyphics as well as
+most people. One year he said that he would like to go to Egypt again, if I
+were not afraid. I answered that it had not been a very lucky place for us, but
+that personally I was not in the least afraid and longed to return there. For
+as you know, I have, or think I have, ties with Egypt and indeed with all
+Africa. Well, we went and had a very happy time, although I was always
+expecting to see old Harût come round the corner.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;After this it became a custom with us who, since George practically gave
+up shooting and attending the House of Lords, had nothing to keep us in
+England, to winter in Egypt. We did this for five years in succession, living
+in a bungalow which we built at a place in the desert, not far from the banks
+of the Nile, about half way between Luxor which was the ancient Thebes, and
+Assouan. George took a great fancy to this spot when first he saw it, and so in
+truth did I, for, like Memphis, it attracted me so much that I used to laugh
+and say I believed that once I had something to do with it.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Now near to our villa that we called &lsquo;Ragnall&rsquo; after this
+house, are the remains of a temple which were almost buried in the sand. This
+temple George obtained permission to excavate. It proved to be a long and
+costly business, but as he did not mind spending the money, that was no
+obstacle. For four winters we worked at it, employing several hundred men. As
+we went on we discovered that although not one of the largest, the temple,
+owing to its having been buried by the sand during, or shortly after the Roman
+epoch, remained much more perfect than we had expected, because the early
+Christians had never got at it with their chisels and hammers. Before long I
+hope to show you pictures and photographs of the various courts, etc., so I
+will not attempt to describe them now.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;It is a temple to Isis&mdash;built, or rather rebuilt over the remains
+of an older temple on a site that seems to have been called Amada, at any rate
+in the later days, and so named after a city in Nubia, apparently by one of the
+Amen-hetep Pharaohs who had conquered it. Its style is beautiful, being of the
+best period of the Egyptian Renaissance under the last native dynasties.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;At the beginning of the fifth winter, at length we approached the
+sanctuary, a difficult business because of the retaining walls that had to be
+built to keep the sand from flowing down as fast as it was removed, and the
+great quantities of stuff that must be carried off by the tramway. In so doing
+we came upon a shallow grave which appeared to have been hastily filled in and
+roughly covered over with paving stones like the rest of the court, as though
+to conceal its existence. In this grave lay the skeleton of a large man,
+together with the rusted blade of an iron sword and some fragments of armour.
+Evidently he had never been mummified, for there were no wrappings, canopic
+jars, <i>ushapti</i> figures or funeral offerings. The state of the bones
+showed us why, for the right forearm was cut through and the skull smashed in;
+also an iron arrow-head lay among the ribs. The man had been buried hurriedly
+after a battle in which he had met his death. Searching in the dust beneath the
+bones we found a gold ring still on one of the fingers. On its bezel was
+engraved the cartouche of &lsquo;Peroa, beloved of Ra.&rsquo; Now Peroa
+probably means Pharaoh and perhaps he was Khabasha who revolted against the
+Persians and ruled for a year or two, after which he is supposed to have been
+defeated and killed, though of his end and place of burial there is no record.
+Whether these were the remnants of Khabasha himself, or of one of his high
+ministers or generals who wore the King&rsquo;s cartouche upon his ring in
+token of his office, of course I cannot say.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;When George had read the cartouche he handed me the ring which I slipped
+upon the first finger of my left hand, where I still wear it. Then leaving the
+grave open for further examination, we went on with the work, for we were
+greatly excited. At length, this was towards evening, we had cleared enough of
+the sanctuary, which was small, to uncover the shrine that, if not a monolith,
+was made of four pieces of granite so wonderfully put together that one could
+not see the joints. On the curved architrave as I think it is called, was
+carved the symbol of a winged disc, and beneath in hieroglyphics as fresh as
+though they had only been cut yesterday, an inscription to the effect that
+Peroa, Royal Son of the Sun, gave this shrine as an &lsquo;excellent eternal
+work,&rsquo; together with the statues of the Holy Mother and the Holy Child to
+the &lsquo;emanations of the great Goddess Isis and the god Horus,&rsquo;
+Amada, Royal Lady, being votaress or high-priestess.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;We only read the hieroglyphics very hurriedly, being anxious to see what
+was within the shrine that, the cedar door having rotted away, was filled with
+fine, drifted sand. Basketful by basketful we got it out and then, my friend,
+there appeared the most beautiful life-sized statue of Isis carved in alabaster
+that ever I have seen. She was seated on a throne-like chair and wore the
+vulture cap on which traces of colour remained. Her arms were held forward as
+though to support a child, which perhaps she was suckling as one of the breasts
+was bare. But if so, the child had gone. The execution of the statue was
+exquisite and its tender and mystic face extraordinarily beautiful, so
+life-like also that I think it must have been copied from a living model. Oh!
+my friend, when I looked upon it, which we did by the light of the candles, for
+the sun was sinking and shadows gathered in that excavated hole, I
+felt&mdash;never mind what I felt&mdash;perhaps <i>you</i> can guess who know
+my history.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;While we stared and stared, I longing to go upon my knees, I knew not
+why, suddenly I felt a faint trembling of the ground. At the same moment, the
+head overseer of the works, a man called Achmet, rushed up to us, shouting
+out&mdash;&lsquo;Back! Back! The wall has burst. The sand runs!&rsquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;He seized me by the arm and dragged me away beside of and behind the
+grave, George turning to follow. Next instant I saw a kind of wave of sand, on
+the crest of which appeared the stones of the wall, curl over and break. It
+struck the shrine, overturned and shattered it, which makes me think it was
+made of four pieces, and shattered also the alabaster statue within, for I saw
+its head strike George upon the back and throw him forward. He reeled and fell
+into the open grave which in another moment was filled and covered with the
+débris that seemed to grip me to my middle in its flow. After this I remembered
+nothing more until hours later I found myself lying in our house.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Achmet and his Egyptians had done nothing; indeed none of them could be
+persuaded to approach the place till the sun rose because, as they said, the
+old gods of the land whom they looked upon as devils, were angry at being
+disturbed and would kill them as they had killed the Bey, meaning George. Then,
+distracted as I was, I went myself for there was no other European there, to
+find that the whole site of the sanctuary was buried beneath hundreds of tons
+of sand, that, beginning at the gap in the broken wall, had flowed from every
+side. Indeed it would have taken weeks to dig it out, since to sink a shaft was
+impracticable and so dangerous that the local officials refused to allow it to
+be attempted. The end of it was that an English bishop came up from Cairo and
+consecrated the ground by special arrangement with the Government, which of
+course makes it impossible that this part of the temple should be further
+disturbed. After this he read the Burial Service over my dear husband.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;So there is the end of a very terrible story which I have written down
+because I do not wish to have to talk about it more than is necessary when we
+meet. For, dear Mr. Quatermain, we shall meet, as I always knew that we
+should&mdash;yes, even after I heard that you were dead. You will remember that
+I told you so years ago in Kendah Land and that it would happen after a great
+change in my life, though what that change might be I could not say....&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p class="p2">
+This is the end of the letter except for certain suggested dates for the visit
+which she took for granted I should make to Ragnall.
+</p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2><a name="chap02"></a>CHAPTER II.<br />RAGNALL CASTLE</h2>
+
+<p>
+When I had finished reading this amazing document I lit my pipe and set to work
+to think it over. The hypothetical inquirer might ask why I thought it amazing.
+There was nothing odd in a dilettante Englishman of highly cultivated mind
+taking to Egyptology and, being, as it chanced, one of the richest men in the
+kingdom, spending a fraction of his wealth in excavating temples. Nor was it
+strange that he should have happened to die by accident when engaged in that
+pursuit, which I can imagine to be very fascinating in the delightful winter
+climate of Egypt. He was not the first person to be buried by a fall of sand.
+Why, only a little while ago the same fate overtook a nursery-governess and the
+child in her charge who were trying to dig out a martin&rsquo;s nest in a pit
+in this very parish. Their operations brought down a huge mass of the
+overhanging bank beneath which the sand-vein had been hollowed by workmen who
+deserted the pit when they saw that it had become unsafe. Next day I and my
+gardeners helped to recover their bodies, for their whereabouts was not
+discovered until the following morning, and a sad business it was.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Yet, taken in conjunction with the history of this couple, the whole Ragnall
+affair was very strange. When but a child Lady Ragnall, then the Hon. Miss
+Holmes, had been identified by the priests of a remote African tribe as the
+oracle of their peculiar faith, which we afterwards proved to be derived from
+old Egypt, in short the worship of Isis and Horus. Subsequently they tried to
+steal her away and through the accident of my intervention, failed. Later on,
+after her marriage when shock had deprived her of her mind, these priests
+renewed the attempt, this time in Egypt, and succeeded. In the end we rescued
+her in Central Africa, where she was playing the part of the Mother-goddess
+Isis and even wearing her ancient robes. Next she and her husband came home
+with their minds turned towards a branch of study that took them back to Egypt.
+Here they devote themselves to unearthing a temple and find out that among all
+the gods of Egypt, who seem to have been extremely numerous, it was dedicated
+to Isis and Horus, the very divinities with whom they recently they had been so
+intimately concerned if in traditional and degenerate forms.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Moreover that was not the finish of it. They come to the sanctuary. They
+discover the statue of the goddess with the child gone, as their child was
+gone. A disaster occurs and both destroys and buries Ragnall so effectually
+that nothing of him is ever seen again: he just vanishes into another
+man&rsquo;s grave and remains there.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+A common sort of catastrophe enough, it is true, though people of superstitious
+mind might have thought that it looked as though the goddess, or whatever force
+was behind the goddess, was working vengeance on the man who desecrated her
+ancient shrine. And, by the way, though I cannot remember whether or no I
+mentioned it in &ldquo;The Ivory Child,&rdquo; I recall that the old priest of
+the Kendah, Harût, once told me he was sure Ragnall would meet with a violent
+death. This seemed likely enough in that country under our circumstances there,
+still I asked him why. He answered,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Because he has laid hands on that which is holy and not meant for
+man,&rdquo; and he looked at Lady Ragnall.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I remarked that all women were holy, whereon he replied that he did not think
+so and changed the subject.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Well, Ragnall, who had married the lady who once served as the last priestess
+of Isis upon earth, was killed, whereas she, the priestess, was almost
+miraculously preserved from harm. And&mdash;oh! the whole story was deuced odd
+and that is all. Poor Ragnall! He was a great English gentleman and one whom
+when first I knew him, I held to be the most fortunate person I ever met,
+endowed as he was with every advantage of mind, body and estate. Yet in the end
+this did not prove to be the case. Well, while he lived he was a good friend
+and a good fellow and none can hope for a better epitaph in a world where all
+things are soon forgotten.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And now, what was I to do? To tell the truth I did not altogether desire to
+reopen this chapter in past history, or to have to listen to painful
+reminiscences from the lips of a bereaved woman. Moreover, beautiful as she had
+been, for doubtless she was <i>passée</i> now, and charming as of course she
+remained&mdash;I do not think I ever knew anyone who was quite so
+charming&mdash;there was something about Lady Ragnall which alarmed me. She did
+not resemble any other woman. Of course no woman is ever quite like another,
+but in her case the separateness, if I may so call it, was very marked. It was
+as though she had walked out of a different age, or even world, and been but
+superficially clothed with the attributes of our own. I felt that from the
+first moment I set eyes upon her and while reading her letter the sensation
+returned with added force.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Also for me she had a peculiar attraction and not one of the ordinary kind. It
+is curious to find oneself strangely intimate with a person of whom after all
+one does not know much, just as if one really knew a great deal that was shut
+off by a thin but quite impassable door. If so, I did not want to open that
+door for who could tell what might be on the other side of it? And intimate
+conversations with a lady in whose company one has shared very strange
+experiences, not infrequently lead to the opening of every kind of door.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Further I had made up my mind some time ago to have no more friendships with
+women who are so full of surprises, but to live out the rest of my life in a
+kind of monastery of men who have few surprises, being creatures whose thoughts
+are nearly always open and whose actions can always be foretold.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Lastly there was that <i>Taduki</i> business. Well, there at any rate I was
+clear and decided. No earthly power would induce me to have anything more to do
+with <i>Taduki</i> smoke. Of course I remembered that Lady Ragnall once told me
+kindly but firmly that I would if she wished. But that was just where she made
+a mistake. For the rest it seemed unkind to refuse her invitation now when she
+was in trouble, especially as I had once promised that if ever I could be of
+help, she had only to command me. No, I must go. But if that
+word&mdash;<i>Taduki</i>&mdash;were so much as mentioned I would leave again in
+a hurry. Moreover it would not be, for doubtless she had forgotten all about
+the stuff by now, even if it were not lost.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The end of it was that as I did not wish to write a long letter entering into
+all that Lady Ragnall had told me, I sent her a telegram, saying that if
+convenient to her, I would arrive at the Castle on the following Saturday
+evening and adding that I must be back here on the Tuesday afternoon, as I had
+guests coming to stay with me on that day. This was perfectly true as the
+season was mid-November and I was to begin shooting my coverts on the Wednesday
+morning, a function that once fixed, cannot be postponed.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In due course an answer arrived&mdash;&ldquo;Delighted, but hoped that you
+would have been able to stay longer.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p class="p2">
+Behold me then about six o&rsquo;clock on the said Saturday evening being once
+more whirled by a splendid pair of horses through the gateway arch of Ragnall
+Castle. The carriage stopped beneath the portico, the great doors flew open
+revealing the glow of the hall fire and lights within, the footman sprang down
+from the box and two other footmen descended the steps to assist me and my
+belongings out of the carriage. These, I remember, consisted of a handbag with
+my dress clothes and a yellow-backed novel.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+So one of them took the handbag and the other had to content himself with the
+novel, which made me wish I had brought a portmanteau as well, if only for the
+look of the thing. The pair thus burdened, escorted me up the steps and
+delivered me over to the butler who scanned me with a critical eye. I scanned
+him also and perceived that he was a very fine specimen of his class. Indeed
+his stately presence so overcame me that I remarked nervously, as he helped me
+off with my coat, that when last I was here another had filled his office.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Indeed, Sir,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;and what was his name, Sir?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Savage,&rdquo; I replied.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;And where might he be now, Sir?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Inside a snake!&rdquo; I answered. &ldquo;At least he was inside a snake
+but now I hope he is waiting upon his master in Heaven.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The man recoiled a little, pulling off my coat with a jerk. Then he coughed,
+rubbed his bald head, stared and recovering himself with an effort, said,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Indeed, Sir! I only came to this place after the death of his late
+lordship, when her ladyship changed all the household. Alfred, show this
+gentleman up to her ladyship&rsquo;s boudoir, and William, take
+his&mdash;baggage&mdash;to the blue room. Her ladyship wishes to see you at
+once, Sir, before the others come.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+So I went up the big staircase to a part of the Castle that I did not remember,
+wondering who &ldquo;the others&rdquo; might be. Almost could I have sworn that
+the shade of Savage accompanied me up those stairs; I could feel him at my
+side.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Presently a door was thrown open and I was ushered into a room somewhat dimly
+lit and full of the scent of flowers. By the fire near a tea-table, stood a
+lady clad in some dark dress with the light glinting on her rich-hued hair. She
+turned and I saw that she still wore the necklace of red stones, and beneath it
+on her breast a single red flower. For this was Lady Ragnall; about that there
+was no doubt at all, so little doubt indeed that I was amazed. I had expected
+to see a stout, elderly woman whom I should only know by the colour of her eyes
+and her voice, and perhaps certain tricks of manner. But, this was the mischief
+of it, I could not perceive any change, at any rate in that light. She was just
+the same! Perhaps a little fuller in figure, which was an advantage; perhaps a
+little more considered in her movements, perhaps a little taller or at any rate
+more stately, and that was all.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+These things I learned in a flash. Then with a murmured &ldquo;Mr. Quatermain,
+my Lady,&rdquo; the footman closed the door and she saw me.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Moving quickly towards me with both her hands outstretched, she exclaimed in
+that honey-soft voice of hers,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Oh! my dear friend&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo; stopped and added, &ldquo;Why,
+you haven&rsquo;t changed a bit.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Fossils wear well,&rdquo; I replied, &ldquo;but that is just what I was
+thinking of you.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Then it is very rude of you to call me a fossil when I am only
+approaching that stage. Oh! I am glad to see you. I <i>am</i> glad!&rdquo; and
+she gave me both the outstretched hands.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Upon my word I felt inclined to kiss her and have wondered ever since if she
+would have been very angry. I am not certain that she did not divine the
+inclination. At any rate after a little pause she dropped my hands and laughed.
+Then she said,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I must tell you at once. A most terrible catastrophe has
+happened&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Instantly it occurred to me that she had forgotten having informed me by letter
+of all the details of her husband&rsquo;s death. Such things chance to people
+who have once lost their memory. So I tried to look as sympathetic as I felt,
+sighed and waited.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;It&rsquo;s not so bad as all that,&rdquo; she said with a little shake
+of her head, reading my thought as she always had the power to do from the
+first moment we met. &ldquo;We can talk about <i>that</i> afterwards.
+It&rsquo;s only that I hoped we were going to have a quiet two days, and now
+the Atterby-Smiths are coming, yes, in half an hour. Five of them!&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;The Atterby-Smiths!&rdquo; I exclaimed, for somehow I too felt
+disappointed. &ldquo;Who are the Atterby-Smiths?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Cousins of George&rsquo;s, his nearest relatives. They think he ought to
+have left them everything. But he didn&rsquo;t, because he could never bear the
+sight of them. You see his property was unentailed and he left it all to me.
+Now the entire family is advancing to suggest that I should leave it to them,
+as perhaps I might have done if they had not chosen to come just now.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Why didn&rsquo;t you put them off?&rdquo; I asked.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Because I couldn&rsquo;t,&rdquo; she answered with a little stamp of her
+foot, &ldquo;otherwise do you suppose they would have been here? They were far
+too clever. They telegraphed after lunch giving the train by which they were to
+arrive, but no address save Charing Cross. I thought of moving up to the
+Berkeley Square house, but it was impossible in the time, also I didn&rsquo;t
+know how to catch you. Oh! it&rsquo;s <i>most</i> vexatious.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Perhaps they are very nice,&rdquo; I suggested feebly.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Nice! Wait till you have seen them. Besides if they had been angels I
+did not want them just now. But how selfish I am! Come and have some tea. And
+you can stop longer, that is if you live through the Atterby-Smiths who are
+worse than both the Kendah tribes put together. Indeed I wish old Harût were
+coming instead. I should like to see Harût again, wouldn&rsquo;t you?&rdquo;
+and suddenly the mystical look I knew so well, gathered on her face.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Yes, perhaps I should,&rdquo; I replied doubtfully. &ldquo;But I must
+leave by the first train on Tuesday morning; it goes at eight o&rsquo;clock. I
+looked it up.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Then the Atterby-Smiths leave on Monday if I have to turn them out of
+the house. So we shall get one evening clear at any rate. Stop a minute,&rdquo;
+and she rang the bell.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The footman appeared as suddenly as though he had been listening at the door.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Alfred,&rdquo; she said, &ldquo;tell Moxley&rdquo; (he, I discovered,
+was the butler) &ldquo;that when Mr. and Mrs. Atterby-Smith, the two Misses
+Atterby-Smith and the young Mr. Atterby-Smith arrive, they are to be shown to
+their rooms. Tell the cook also to put off dinner till half-past eight, and if
+Mr. and Mrs. Scroope arrive earlier, tell Moxley to tell them that I am sorry
+to be a little late, but that I was delayed by some parish business. Now do you
+understand?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Yes, my Lady,&rdquo; said Alfred and vanished.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;He doesn&rsquo;t understand in the least,&rdquo; remarked Lady Ragnall,
+&ldquo;but so long as he doesn&rsquo;t show the Atterby-Smiths up here, in
+which case he can go away with them on Monday, I don&rsquo;t care. It will all
+work out somehow. Now sit down by the fire and let&rsquo;s talk. We&rsquo;ve
+got nearly an hour and twenty minutes and you can smoke if you like. I learnt
+to in Egypt,&rdquo; and she took a cigarette from the mantelpiece and lit it.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+That hour and twenty minutes went like a flash, for we had so much to say to
+each other that we never even got to the things we wanted to say. For instance,
+I began to tell her about King Solomon&rsquo;s Mines, which was a long story;
+and she to tell me what happened after we parted on the shores of the Red Sea.
+At least the first hour and a quarter went, when suddenly the door opened and
+Alfred in a somewhat frightened voice announced&mdash;&ldquo;Mr. and Mrs.
+Atterby-Smith, the Misses Atterby-Smith and Mr. Atterby-Smith junior.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then he caught sight of his mistress&rsquo;s eye and fled.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I looked and felt inclined to do likewise if only there had been another door.
+But there wasn&rsquo;t and that which existed was quite full. In the forefront
+came A.-S. senior, like a bull leading the herd. Indeed his appearance was
+bull-like as my eye, travelling from the expanse of white shirt-front (they
+were all dressed for dinner) to his red and massive countenance surmounted by
+two horn-like tufts of carroty hair, informed me at a glance. Followed Mrs.
+A.-S., the British matron incarnate. Literally there seemed to be acres of her;
+black silk below and white skin above on which set in filigree floated big
+green stones, like islands in an ocean. Her countenance too, though stupid was
+very stern and frightened me. Followed the progeny of this formidable pair.
+They were tall and thin, also red haired. The girls, whose age I could not
+guess in the least, were exactly like each other, which was not strange as
+afterwards I discovered that they were twins. They had pale blue eyes and
+somehow reminded me of fish. Both of them were dressed in green and wore topaz
+necklaces. The young man who seemed to be about one or two and twenty, had also
+pale blue eyes, in one of which he wore an eye-glass, but his hair was sandy as
+though it had been bleached, parted in the middle and oiled down flat.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+For a moment there was a silence which I felt to be dreadful. Then in a big,
+pompous voice A.-S. <i>père</i> said,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;How do you do, my dear Luna? As I ascertained from the footman that you
+had not yet gone to dress, I insisted upon his leading us here for a little
+private conversation after we have been parted for so many years. We wished to
+offer you our condolences in person on your and our still recent loss.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Thank you,&rdquo; said Lady Ragnall, &ldquo;but I think we have
+corresponded on the subject which is painful to me.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I fear that we are interrupting a smoking party, Thomas,&rdquo; said
+Mrs. A.-S. in a cold voice, sniffing at the air for all the world like a
+suspicious animal, whereon the five of them stared at Lady Ragnall&rsquo;s
+cigarette which she held between her fingers.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; said Lady Ragnall. &ldquo;Won&rsquo;t you have one? Mr.
+Quatermain, hand Mrs. Smith the box, please.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I obeyed automatically, proffering it to the lady who nearly withered me with a
+glance, and then to each to each in turn. To my relief the young man took one.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Archibald,&rdquo; said his mother, &ldquo;you are surely not going to
+make your sisters&rsquo; dresses smell of tobacco just before dinner.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Archibald sniggered and replied,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;A little more smoke will not make any difference in this room,
+Ma.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;That is true, darling,&rdquo; said Mrs. A.-S. and was straightway seized
+with a fit of asthma.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+After this I am sure I don&rsquo;t know what happened, for muttering something
+about its being time to dress, I rushed from the room and wandered about until
+I could find someone to conduct me to my own where I lingered until I heard the
+dinner-bell ring. But even this retreat was not without disaster, for in my
+hurry I trod upon one of the young lady&rsquo;s dresses; I don&rsquo;t know
+whether it was Dolly&rsquo;s or Polly&rsquo;s (they were named Dolly and Polly)
+and heard a dreadful crack about her middle as though she were breaking in two.
+Thereon Archibald giggled again and Dolly and Polly remarked with one
+voice&mdash;they always spoke together,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Oh! clumsy!&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+To complete my misfortunes I missed my way going downstairs and strayed to and
+fro like a lost lamb until I found myself confronted by a green baize door
+which reminded me of something. I stood staring at it till suddenly a vision
+arose before me of myself following a bell wire through that very door in the
+darkness of the night when in search for the late Mr. Savage upon a certain
+urgent occasion. Yes, there could be no doubt about it, for look! there was the
+wire, and strange it seemed to me that I should live to behold it again.
+Curiosity led me to push the door open just to ascertain if my memory served me
+aright about the exact locality of the room. Next moment I regretted it for I
+fell straight into the arms of either Polly or Dolly.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Oh!&rdquo; said she, &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve just been sewn up.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I reflected that this was my case also in another sense, but asked feebly if
+she knew the way downstairs.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She didn&rsquo;t; neither of us did, till at length we met Mrs. Smith coming to
+look for her.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+If I had been a burglar she could not have regarded me with graver suspicions.
+But at any rate <i>she</i> knew the way downstairs. And there to my joy I found
+my old friend Scroope and his wife, both of them grown stout and elderly, but
+as jolly as ever, after which the Smith family ceased to trouble me.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Also there was the rector of the parish, Dr. Jeffreys and an absurdly young
+wife whom he had recently married, a fluffy-headed little thing with round eyes
+and a cheerful, perky manner. The two of them together looked exactly like a
+turkey-cock and a chicken. I remembered him well enough and to my astonishment
+he remembered me, perhaps because Lady Ragnall, when she had hastily invited
+him to meet the Smith family, mentioned that I was coming. Lastly there was the
+curate, a dark, young man who seemed to be always brooding over the secrets of
+time and eternity, though perhaps he was only thinking about his dinner or the
+next day&rsquo;s services.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Well, there we stood in that well-remembered drawing-room in which first I had
+made the acquaintance of Harût and Marût; also of the beautiful Miss Holmes as
+Lady Ragnall was then called. The Scroopes, the Jeffreys and I gathered in one
+group and the Atterby-Smiths in another like a force about to attack, while
+between the two, brooding and indeterminate, stood the curate, a neutral
+observer.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Presently Lady Ragnall arrived, apologizing for being late. For some reason
+best known to herself she had chosen to dress as though for a great party. I
+believe it was out of mischief and in order to show Mrs. Atterby-Smith some of
+the diamonds she was firmly determined that family should never inherit. At any
+rate there she stood glittering and lovely, and smiled upon us.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then came dinner and once more I marched to the great hall in her company; Dr.
+Jeffreys got Mrs. Smith; Papa Smith got Mrs. Jeffreys who looked like a Grecian
+maiden walking into dinner with the Minotaur; Scroope got one of the Miss
+Smiths, she who wore a pink bow, the gloomy curate got the other with a blue
+bow, and Archibald got Mrs. Scroope who departed making faces at us over his
+shoulder.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;You look very grand and nice,&rdquo; I said to Lady Ragnall as we
+followed the others at a discreet distance.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I am glad,&rdquo; she answered, &ldquo;as to the nice, I mean. As for
+the grand, that dreadful woman is always writing to me about the Ragnall
+diamonds, so I thought that she should see some of them for the first and last
+time. Do you know I haven&rsquo;t worn these things since George and I went to
+Court together, and I daresay shall never wear them again, for there is only
+one ornament I care for and I have got <i>that</i> on under my dress.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I stared and her and with a laugh said that she was very mischievous.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I suppose so,&rdquo; she replied, &ldquo;but I detest those people who
+are pompous and rude and have spoiled my party. Do you know I had half a mind
+to come down in the dress that I wore as Isis in Kendah Land. I have got it
+upstairs and you shall see me in it before you go, for old time&rsquo;s sake.
+Only it occurred to me that they might think me mad, so I didn&rsquo;t. Dr.
+Jeffreys, will you say grace, please?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Well, it was a most agreeable dinner so far as I was concerned, for I sat
+between my hostess and Mrs. Scroope and the rest were too far off for
+conversation. Moreover as Archibald developed an unexpected quantity of small
+talk, and Scroope on the other side amused himself by filling pink-bow Miss
+Smith&rsquo;s innocent mind with preposterous stories about Africa, as had
+happened to me once before at this table, Lady Ragnall and I were practically
+left undisturbed.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Isn&rsquo;t it strange that we should find ourselves sitting here again
+after all these years, except that you are in my poor mother&rsquo;s place? Oh!
+when that scientific gentleman convinced me the other day that you whom I had
+heard were dead, were not only alive and well but actually in England, really I
+could have embraced him.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I thought of an answer but did not make it, though as usual she read my mind
+for I saw her smile.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;The truth is,&rdquo; she went on, &ldquo;I am an only child and really
+have no friends, though of course being&mdash;well, you know,&rdquo; and she
+glanced at the jewels on her breast, &ldquo;I have plenty of
+acquaintances.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;And suitors,&rdquo; I suggested.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; she replied blushing, &ldquo;as many as Penelope, not one of
+whom cares twopence about me any more than I care for them. The truth is, Mr.
+Quatermain, that nobody and nothing interest me, except a spot in the
+churchyard yonder and another amid ruins in Egypt.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;You have had sad bereavements,&rdquo; I said looking the other way.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Very sad and they have left life empty. Still I should not complain for
+I have had my share of good. Also it isn&rsquo;t true to say that nothing
+interests me. Egypt interests me, though after what has happened I do not feel
+as though I could return there. All Africa interests me and,&rdquo; she added
+dropping her voice, &ldquo;I can say it because I know you will not
+misunderstand, you interest me, as you have always done since the first moment
+I saw you.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;<i>I!</i>&rdquo; I exclaimed, staring at my own reflection in a silver
+plate which made me look&mdash;well, more unattractive than usual.
+&ldquo;It&rsquo;s very kind of you to say so, but I can&rsquo;t understand why
+I should. You have seen very little of me, Lady Ragnall, except in that long
+journey across the desert when we did not talk much, since you were otherwise
+engaged.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I know. That&rsquo;s the odd part of it, for I feel as though I had seen
+you for years and years and knew everything about you that one human being can
+know of another. Of course, too, I do know a good lot of your life through
+George and Harût.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Harût was a great liar,&rdquo; I said uneasily.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Was he? I always thought him painfully truthful, though how he got at
+the truth I do not know. Anyhow,&rdquo; she added with meaning,
+&ldquo;don&rsquo;t suppose I think the worse of you because others have thought
+so well. Women who seem to be all different, generally, I notice, have this in
+common. If one or two of them like a man, the rest like him also because
+something in him appeals to the universal feminine instinct, and the same
+applies to their dislike. Now men, I think, are different in that
+respect.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Perhaps because they are more catholic and charitable,&rdquo; I
+suggested, &ldquo;or perhaps because they like those who like them.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She laughed in her charming way, and said,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;However these remarks do not apply to you and me, for as I think I told
+you once before in that cedar wood in Kendah Land where you feared lest I
+should catch a chill, or become&mdash;odd again, it is another you with whom
+something in me seems to be so intimate.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;That&rsquo;s fortunate for your sake,&rdquo; I muttered, still staring
+at and pointing to the silver plate.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Again she laughed. &ldquo;Do you remember the <i>Taduki</i> herb?&rdquo; she
+asked. &ldquo;I have plenty of it safe upstairs, and not long ago I took a
+whiff of it, only a whiff because you know it had to be saved.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;And what did you see?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Never mind. The question is what shall we <i>both</i> see?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Nothing,&rdquo; I said firmly. &ldquo;No earthly power will make me
+breathe that unholy drug again.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Except me,&rdquo; she murmured with sweet decision. &ldquo;No,
+don&rsquo;t think about leaving the house. You can&rsquo;t, there are no Sunday
+trains. Besides you won&rsquo;t if I ask you not.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;&lsquo;In vain is the net spread in the sight of any bird,&rsquo;&rdquo;
+I replied, firm as a mountain.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Is it? Then why are so many caught?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At that moment the Bull of Bashan&mdash;I mean Smith, began to bellow something
+at his hostess from the other end of the table and our conversation came to an
+end.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I say, old chap,&rdquo; whispered Scroope in my ear when we stood up to
+see the ladies out. &ldquo;I suppose you are thinking of marrying again. Well,
+you might do worse,&rdquo; and he glanced at the glittering form of Lady
+Ragnall vanishing through the doorway behind her guests.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Shut up, you idiot!&rdquo; I replied indignantly.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Why?&rdquo; he asked with innocence. &ldquo;Marriage is an honourable
+estate, especially when there is lots of the latter. I remember saying
+something of the sort to you years ago and at this table, when as it happened
+you also took in her ladyship. Only there was George in the wind then; now it
+has carried him away.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Without deigning any reply I seized my glass and went to sit down between the
+canon and the Bull of Bashan.
+</p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2><a name="chap03"></a>CHAPTER III.<br />ALLAN GIVES HIS WORD</h2>
+
+<p>
+Mr. Atterby-Smith proved on acquaintance to be even worse than unfond fancy
+painted him. He was a gentleman in a way and of good family whereof the real
+name was Atterby, the Smith having been added to secure a moderate fortune left
+to him on that condition. His connection with Lord Ragnall was not close and
+through the mother&rsquo;s side. For the rest he lived in some south-coast
+watering-place and fancied himself a sportsman because he had on various
+occasions hired a Scottish moor or deer forest. Evidently he had never done
+anything nor earned a shilling during all his life and was bringing his family
+up to follow in his useless footsteps. The chief note of his character was that
+intolerable vanity which so often marks men who have nothing whatsoever about
+which to be vain. Also he had a great idea of his rights and what was due to
+him, which he appeared to consider included, upon what ground I could not in
+the least understand, the reversal of all the Ragnall properties and wealth. I
+do not think I need say any more about him, except that he bored me to
+extinction, especially after his fourth glass of port.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Perhaps, however, the son was worse, for he asked questions without number and
+when at last I was reduced to silence, lectured me about shooting. Yes, this
+callow youth who was at Sandhurst, instructed me, Allan Quatermain, how to kill
+elephants, he who had never seen an elephant except when he fed it with buns at
+the Zoo. At last Mr. Smith, who to Scroope&rsquo;s great amusement had taken
+the end of the table and assumed the position of host, gave the signal to move
+and we adjourned to the drawing-room.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I don&rsquo;t know what had happened but there we found the atmosphere
+distinctly stormy. The ample Mrs. Smith sat in a chair fanning herself, which
+caused the barbaric ornaments she wore to clank upon her fat arm. Upon either
+side of her, pale and indeterminate, stood Polly and Dolly each pretending to
+read a book. Somehow the three of them reminded me of a coat-of-arms seen in a
+nightmare, British Matron <i>sejant</i> with Modesty and Virtue as supporters.
+Opposite, on the other side of the fire and evidently very angry, stood Lady
+Ragnall, <i>regardant</i>.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Do I understand you to say, Luna,&rdquo; I heard Mrs. A.-S. ask in
+resonant tones as I entered the room, &ldquo;that you actually played the part
+of a heathen goddess among these savages, clad in a transparent
+bed-robe?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Yes, Mrs. Atterby-Smith,&rdquo; replied Lady Ragnall, &ldquo;and a
+nightcap of feathers. I will put it on for you if you won&rsquo;t be shocked.
+Or perhaps one of your daughters&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Oh!&rdquo; said both the young ladies together, &ldquo;please be quiet.
+Here come the gentlemen.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+After this there was a heavy silence broken only by the stifled giggles in the
+background of Mrs. Scroope and the canon&rsquo;s fluffy-headed wife, who to do
+her justice had some fun in her. Thank goodness the evening, or rather that
+part of it did not last long, since presently Mrs. Atterby-Smith, after
+studying me for a long while with a cold eye, rose majestically and swept off
+to bed followed by her offspring.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Afterwards I ascertained from Mrs. Scroope that Lady Ragnall had been amusing
+herself by taking away my character in every possible manner for the benefit of
+her connections, who were left with a general impression that I was the chief
+of a native tribe somewhere in Central Africa where I dwelt in light attire
+surrounded by the usual accessories. No wonder, therefore, that Mrs. A.-S.
+thought it best to remove her &ldquo;Twin Pets,&rdquo; as she called them, out
+of my ravening reach.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then the Scroopes went away, having arranged for me to lunch with them on the
+morrow, an invitation that I hastily accepted, though I heard Lady Ragnall
+mutter&mdash;&ldquo;Mean!&rdquo; beneath her breath. With them departed the
+canon and his wife and the curate, being, as they said, &ldquo;early birds with
+duties to perform.&rdquo; After this Lady Ragnall paid me out by going to bed,
+having instructed Moxley to show us to the smoking room, &ldquo;where,&rdquo;
+she whispered as she said good night, &ldquo;I hope you will enjoy
+yourself.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Over the rest of the night I draw a veil. For a solid hour and three-quarters
+did I sit in that room between this dreadful pair, being alternately questioned
+and lectured. At length I could stand it no longer and while pretending to help
+myself to whiskey and soda, slipped through the door and fled upstairs.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I arrived late to breakfast purposely and found that I was wise, for Lady
+Ragnall was absent upstairs, recovering from &ldquo;a headache.&rdquo; Mr.
+A.-Smith was also suffering from a headache downstairs, the result of
+champagne, port and whisky mixed, and all his family seemed to have pains in
+their tempers. Having ascertained that they were going to the church in the
+park, I departed to one two miles away and thence walked straight on to the
+Scroopes&rsquo; where I had a very pleasant time, remaining till five in the
+afternoon. I returned to tea at the Castle where I found Lady Ragnall so cross
+that I went to church again, to the six o&rsquo;clock service this time, only
+getting back in time to dress for dinner. Here I was paid out for I had to take
+in Mrs. Atterby-Smith. Oh! what a meal was that. We sat for the most part in
+solemn silence broken only by requests to pass the salt. I observed with
+satisfaction, however, that things were growing lively at the other end of the
+table where A.-Smith <i>père</i> was drinking a good deal too much wine. At
+last I heard him say,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;We had hoped to spend a few days with you, my dear Luna. But as you tell
+us that your engagements make this impossible&rdquo;&mdash;and he paused to
+drink some port, whereon Lady Ragnall remarked inconsequently,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I assure you the ten o&rsquo;clock train is far the best and I have
+ordered the carriage at half-past nine, which is not very early.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;As your engagements make this impossible,&rdquo; he repeated, &ldquo;we
+would ask for the opportunity of a little family conclave with you
+to-night.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Here all of them turned and glowered at me.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Certainly,&rdquo; said Lady Ragnall, &ldquo;&lsquo;the sooner &lsquo;tis
+over the sooner to sleep.&rsquo; Mr. Quatermain, I am sure, will excuse us,
+will you not? I have had the museum lit up for you, Mr. Quatermain. You may
+find some Egyptian things there that will interest you.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Oh, with pleasure!&rdquo; I murmured, and fled away.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I spent a very instructive two hours in the museum, studying various Egyptian
+antiquities including a couple of mummies which rather terrified me. They
+looked so very corpse-like standing there in their wrappings. One was that of a
+lady who was a &ldquo;Singer of Amen,&rdquo; I remember. I wondered where she
+was singing now and what song. Presently I came to a glass case which riveted
+my attention, for above it was a label bearing the following words: &ldquo;Two
+Papyri given to Lady Ragnall by the priests of the Kendah Tribe in
+Africa.&rdquo; Within were the papyri unrolled and beneath each of the
+documents, its translation, so far as they could be translated for they were
+somewhat broken. No. 1, which was dated, &ldquo;In the first year of
+Peroa,&rdquo; appeared to be the official appointment of the Royal Lady Amada,
+to be the prophetess to the temple of Isis and Horus the Child, which was also
+called Amada, and situated on the east bank of the Nile above Thebes. Evidently
+this was the same temple of which Lady Ragnall had written to me in her letter,
+where her husband had met his death by accident, a coincidence which made me
+start when I remembered how and where the document had come into her hands and
+what kind of office she filled at the time.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The second papyrus, or rather its translation, contained a most comprehensive
+curse upon any man who ventured to interfere with the personal sanctity of this
+same Royal Lady of Amada, who, apparently in virtue of her office, was doomed
+to perpetual celibacy like the vestal virgins. I do not remember all the terms
+of the curse, but I know that it invoked the vengeance of Isis the Mother, Lady
+of the Moon, and Horus the Child upon anyone who should dare such a
+desecration, and in so many words doomed him to death by violence &ldquo;far
+from his own country where first he had looked on Ra,&rdquo; (i.e. the sun) and
+also to certain spiritual sufferings afterwards.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The document gave me the idea that it was composed in troubled days to protect
+that particularly sacred person, the Prophetess of Isis whose cult, as I have
+since learned, was rising in Egypt at the time, from threatened danger, perhaps
+at the hands of some foreign man. It occurred to me even that this Princess,
+for evidently she was a descendant of kings, had been appointed to a most
+sacred office for that very purpose. Men who shrink from little will often fear
+to incur the direct curse of widely venerated gods in order to obtain their
+desires, even if they be not their own gods. Such were my conclusions about
+this curious and ancient writing which I regret I cannot give in full as I
+neglected to copy it at the time.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I may add that it seemed extremely strange to me that it and the other which
+dealt with a particular temple in Egypt should have passed into Lady
+Ragnall&rsquo;s hands over two thousand years later in a distant part of
+Africa, and that subsequently her husband should have been killed in her
+presence whilst excavating the very temple to which they referred, whence too
+in all probability they were taken. Moreover, oddly enough Lady Ragnall had
+herself for a while filled the rôle of Isis in a shrine whereof these two
+papyri had been part of the sacred appurtenances for unknown ages, and one of
+her official titles there was Prophetess and Lady of the Moon, whose symbol she
+wore upon her breast.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Although I have always recognized that there are a great many more things in
+the world than are dreamt of in our philosophy, I say with truth and confidence
+that I am not a superstitious man. Yet I confess that these papers and the
+circumstances connected with them, made me feel afraid.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Also they made me wish that I had not come to Ragnall Castle.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Well, the Atterby-Smiths had so far effectually put a stop to any talk of such
+matters and even if Lady Ragnall should succeed in getting rid of them by that
+morning train, as to which I was doubtful, there remained but a single day of
+my visit during which it ought not to be hard to stave off the subject. Thus I
+reflected, standing face to face with those mummies, till presently I observed
+that the Singer of Amen who wore a staring, gold mask, seemed to be watching me
+with her oblong painted eyes. To my fancy a sardonic smile gathered in them and
+spread to the mouth.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;That&rsquo;s what <i>you</i> think,&rdquo; this smile seemed to say,
+&ldquo;as once before you thought that Fate could be escaped. Wait and see, my
+friend. Wait and see!&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Not in this room any way,&rdquo; I remarked aloud, and departed in a
+hurry down the passage which led to the main staircase.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Before I reached its end a remarkable sight caused me to halt in the shadow.
+The Atterby-Smith family were going to bed <i>en bloc</i>. They marched in
+single file up the great stair, each of them carrying a hand candle. Papa led
+and young Hopeful brought up the rear. Their countenances were full of war,
+even the twins looked like angry lambs, but something written on them informed
+me that they had suffered defeat recent and grievous. So they vanished up the
+stairway and out of my ken for ever.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When they had gone I started again and ran straight into Lady Ragnall. If her
+guests had been angry, it was clear that <i>she</i> was furious, almost weeping
+with rage, indeed. Moreover, she turned and rent me.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;You are a wretch,&rdquo; she said, &ldquo;to run away and leave me all
+day long with those horrible people. Well, they will never come here again, for
+I have told them that if they do the servants have orders to shut the door in
+their faces.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Not knowing what to say I remarked that I had spent a most instructive evening
+in the museum, which seemed to make her angrier than ever. At any rate she
+whisked off without even saying &ldquo;good night&rdquo; and left me standing
+there. Afterwards I learned that the A.-S.&lsquo;s had calmly informed Lady
+Ragnall that she had stolen their property and demanded that &ldquo;as an act
+of justice&rdquo; she should make a will leaving everything she possessed to
+them, and meanwhile furnish them with an allowance of £4,000 a year. What I did
+not learn were the exact terms of her answer.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Next morning Alfred, when he called me, brought me a note from his mistress
+which I fully expected would contain a request that I should depart by the same
+train as her other guests. Its real contents, however, were very different.
+</p>
+
+<p class="p2">
+&ldquo;M<small>Y DEAR</small> F<small>RIEND</small>,&rdquo; it ran, &ldquo;I am
+so ashamed of myself and so sorry for my rudeness last night, for which I
+deeply apologise. If you knew all that I had gone through at the hands of those
+dreadful mendicants, you would forgive me.&mdash;L.R.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;P.S.&mdash;I have ordered breakfast at 10. Don&rsquo;t go down much
+before, for your own sake.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p class="p2">
+Somewhat relieved in my mind, for I thought she was really angry with me, not
+altogether without cause, I rose, dressed and set to work to write some
+letters. While I was doing so I heard the wheels of a carriage beneath and
+opening my window, saw the Atterby-Smith family in the act of departing in the
+Castle bus. Smith himself seemed to be still enraged, but the others looked
+depressed. Indeed I heard the wife of his bosom say to him,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Calm yourself, my dear. Remember that Providence knows what is best for
+us and that beggars on horseback are always unjust and ungrateful.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+To which her spouse replied,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Hold your infernal tongue, will you,&rdquo; and then began to rate the
+servants about the luggage.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Well, off they went. Glaring through the door of the bus, Mr. Smith caught
+sight of me leaning out of the window, seeing which I waved my hand to him in
+adieu. His only reply to this courtesy was to shake his fist, though whether at
+me or at the Castle and its inhabitants in general, I neither know nor care.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When I was quite sure that they had gone and were not coming back again to find
+something they had forgotten, I went downstairs and surprised a conclave
+between the butler, Moxley, and his satellites, reinforced by Lady
+Ragnall&rsquo;s maid and two other female servants.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Gratuities!&rdquo; Moxley was exclaiming, which I thought a fine word
+for tips, &ldquo;not a smell of them! His gratuities were&mdash;&lsquo;Damn
+your eyes, you fat bottle-washer,&rsquo; being his name for butler. <i>My</i>
+eyes, mind you, Ann, not Alfred&rsquo;s or William&rsquo;s, and that because he
+had tumbled over his own rugs. Gentleman! Why, I name him a hog with his
+litter.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Hogs don&rsquo;t have litters, Mr. Moxley,&rdquo; observed Ann smartly.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Well, young woman, if there weren&rsquo;t no hogs, there&rsquo;d be no
+litters, so there! However, he won&rsquo;t root about in this castle no more,
+for I happened to catch a word or two of what passed between him and her
+Ladyship last night. He said straight out that she was making love to that
+little Mr. Quatermain who wanted her money, and probably not for the first time
+as they had forgathered in Africa. A gentleman, mind you, Ann, who although
+peculiar, I like, and who, the keeper Charles tells me, is the best shot in the
+whole world.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;And what did she say to that?&rdquo; asked Ann.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;What did she say? What didn&rsquo;t she say, that&rsquo;s the question.
+It was just as though all the furniture in the room got up and went for them
+Smiths. Well, having heard enough, and more than I wanted, I stepped off with
+the tray and next minute out they all come and grab the bedroom candlesticks.
+That&rsquo;s all and there&rsquo;s her Ladyship&rsquo;s bell. Alfred,
+don&rsquo;t stand gaping there but go and light the hot-plates.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+So they melted away and I descended from the landing, indignant but laughing.
+No wonder that Lady Ragnall lost her temper!
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Ten minutes later she arrived in the dining-room, waving a lighted ribbon that
+disseminated perfume.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;What on earth are you doing?&rdquo; I asked.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Fumigating the house,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;It is unnecessary as I
+don&rsquo;t think they were infectious, but the ceremony has a moral
+significance&mdash;like incense. Anyway it relieves my feelings.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then she laughed and threw the remains of the ribbon into the fire, adding,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;If you say a word about those people I&rsquo;ll leave the room.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I think we had one of the jolliest breakfasts I ever remember. To begin with we
+were both hungry since our miseries of the night before had prevented us from
+eating any dinner. Indeed she swore that she had scarcely tasted food since
+Saturday. Then we had such a lot to talk about. With short intervals we talked
+all that day, either in the house or while walking through the gardens and
+grounds. Passing through the latter I came to the spot on the back drive where
+once I had saved her from being abducted by Harût and Marût, and as I
+recognized it, uttered an exclamation. She asked me why and the end of it was
+that I told her all that story which to this moment she had never heard, for
+Ragnall had thought well to keep it from her.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She listened intently, then said,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;So I owe you more than I knew. Yet, I&rsquo;m not sure, for you see I
+was abducted after all. Also if I had been taken there, probably George would
+never have married me or seen me again, and that might have been better for
+him.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Why?&rdquo; I asked. &ldquo;You were all the world to him.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Is any woman ever all the world to a man, Mr. Quatermain?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I hesitated, expecting some attack.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Don&rsquo;t answer,&rdquo; she went on, &ldquo;it would be too long and
+you wouldn&rsquo;t convince me who have been in the East. However, he was all
+the world to me. Therefore his welfare was what I wished and wish, and I think
+he would have had more of it if he had never married me.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Why?&rdquo; I asked again.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Because I brought him no good luck, did I? I needn&rsquo;t go through
+all the story as you know it. And in the end it was through me that he was
+killed in Egypt.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Or through the goddess Isis,&rdquo; I broke in rather nervously.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Yes, the goddess Isis, a part I have played in my time, or something
+like it. And he was killed in the temple of the goddess Isis. And those papyri
+of which you read the translations in the museum, which were given to me in
+Kendah Land, seem to have come from that same temple. And&mdash;how about the
+Ivory Child? Isis in the temple evidently held a child in her arms, but when we
+found her it had gone. Supposing this child was the same as that of which I was
+guardian! It might have been, since the papyri came from that temple. What do
+you think?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think anything,&rdquo; I answered, &ldquo;except that it
+is all very odd. I don&rsquo;t even understand what Isis and the child Horus
+represent. They were not mere images either in Egypt or Kendah Land. There must
+be an idea behind them somewhere.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Oh! there was. Isis was the universal Mother, Nature herself with all
+the powers, seen and unseen, that are hidden in Nature; Love personified also,
+although not actually the queen of Love like Hathor, her sister goddess. The
+Horus child, whom the old Egyptians called Heru-Hennu, signified eternal
+regeneration, eternal youth, eternal strength and beauty. Also he was the
+Avenger who overthrew Set, the Prince of Darkness, and thus in a way opened the
+Door of Life to men.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;It seems to me that all religions have much in common,&rdquo; I said.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Yes, a great deal. It was easy for the old Egyptians to become
+Christian, since for many of them it only meant worshipping Isis and Horus
+under new and holier names. But come in, it grows cold.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+We had tea in Lady Ragnall&rsquo;s boudoir and after it had been taken away our
+conversation died. She sat there on the other side of the fire with a cigarette
+between her lips, looking at me through the perfumed smoke till I began to grow
+uncomfortable and to feel that a crisis of some sort was at hand. This proved
+perfectly correct, for it was. Presently she said,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;We took a long journey once together, Mr. Quatermain, did we not?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Undoubtedly,&rdquo; I answered, and began to talk of it until she cut me
+short with a wave of her hand, and went on,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Well, we are going to take a longer one together after dinner
+to-night.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;What! Where! How!&rdquo; I exclaimed much alarmed.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know where, but as for how&mdash;look in that box,&rdquo;
+and she pointed to a little carved Eastern chest made of rose or sandal wood,
+that stood upon a table between us.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+With a groan I rose and opened it. Inside was another box made of silver. This
+I opened also and perceived that within lay bundles of dried leaves that looked
+like tobacco, from which floated an enervating and well-remembered scent that
+clouded my brain for a moment. Then I shut down the lids and returned to my
+seat.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;<i>Taduki</i>,&rdquo; I murmured.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Yes, <i>Taduki</i>, and I believe in perfect order with all its virtue
+intact.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Virtue!&rdquo; I exclaimed. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think there is any
+virtue about that hateful and magical herb which I believe grew in the
+devil&rsquo;s garden. Moreover, Lady Ragnall, although there are few things in
+the world that I would refuse you, I tell you at once that nothing will induce
+me to have anything more to do with it.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She laughed softly and asked why not.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Because I find life so full of perplexities and memories that I have no
+wish to make acquaintance with any more, such as I am sure lie hid by the
+thousand in that box.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;If so, don&rsquo;t you think that they might clear up some of those
+which surround you to-day?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;No, for in such things there is no finality, since whatever one saw
+would also require explanation.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Don&rsquo;t let us argue,&rdquo; she replied. &ldquo;It is tiring and I
+daresay we shall need all our strength to-night.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I looked at her speechless. Why could she not take No for an answer? As usual
+she read my thought and replied to it.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Why did not Adam refuse the apple that Eve offered him?&rdquo; she
+inquired musingly. &ldquo;Or rather why did he eat it after many refusals and
+learn the secret of good and evil, to the great gain of the world which
+thenceforward became acquainted with the dignity of labour?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Because the woman tempted him,&rdquo; I snapped.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Quite so. It has always been her business in life and always will be.
+Well, I am tempting you now, and not in vain.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Do you remember who was tempting the woman?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Certainly. Also that he was a good school-master since he caused the
+thirst for knowledge to overcome fear and thus laid the foundation-stone of all
+human progress. That allegory may be read two ways, as one of a rise from
+ignorance instead of a fall from innocence.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;You are too clever for me with your perverted notions. Also, you said we
+were not to argue. I have therefore only to repeat that I will not eat your
+apple, or rather, breathe your <i>Taduki</i>.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Adam over again,&rdquo; she replied, shaking her head. &ldquo;The same
+old beginning and the same old end, because you see at last you will do exactly
+what Adam did.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Here she rose and standing over me, looked me straight in the eyes with the
+curious result that all my will power seemed to evaporate. Then she sat down
+again, laughing softly, and remarked as though to herself,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Who would have thought that Allan Quatermain was a moral coward!&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Coward,&rdquo; I repeated. &ldquo;Coward!&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Yes, that&rsquo;s the right word. At least you were a minute ago. Now
+courage has come back to you. Why, it&rsquo;s almost time to dress for dinner,
+but before you go, listen. I have some power over you, my friend, as you have
+some power over me, for I tell you frankly if you wished me very much to do
+anything, I should have to do it; and the same applies conversely. Now,
+to-night we are, as I believe, going to open a great gate and to see wonderful
+things, glorious things that will thrill us for the rest of our lives, and
+perhaps suggest to us what is coming after death. You will not fail me, will
+you?&rdquo; she continued in a pleading voice. &ldquo;If you do I must try
+alone since no one else will serve, and then I <i>know</i>&mdash;how I cannot
+say&mdash;that I shall be exposed to great danger. Yes, I think that I shall
+lose my mind once more and never find it again this side the grave. You would
+not have that happen to me, would you, just because you shrink from digging up
+old memories?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Of course not,&rdquo; I stammered. &ldquo;I should never forgive
+myself.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Yes, of course not. There was really no need for me to ask you. Then you
+promise you will do all I wish?&rdquo; and once more she looked at me, adding,
+&ldquo;Don&rsquo;t be ashamed, for you remember that I have been in touch with
+hidden things and am not quite as other women are. You will recollect I told
+you that which I have never breathed to any other living soul, years ago on
+that night when first we met.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I promise,&rdquo; I answered and was about to add something, I forget
+what, when she cut me short, saying,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;That&rsquo;s enough, for I know your word is rather better than your
+bond. Now dress as quickly as you can or the dinner will be spoiled.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2><a name="chap04"></a>CHAPTER IV.<br />THROUGH THE GATES</h2>
+
+<p>
+Short as was the time at my disposal before the dinner-gong sounded, it proved
+ample for reflection. With every article of attire that I discarded went some
+of that boudoir glamour till its last traces vanished with my walking-boots. I
+was fallen indeed. I who had come to this place so full of virtuous
+resolutions, could now only reflect upon the true and universal meaning of our
+daily prayer that we might be kept from temptation. And yet what had tempted
+me? For my life&rsquo;s sake I could not say. The desire to please a most
+charming woman and to keep her from making solitary experiments of a dangerous
+nature, I suppose, though whether they should be less dangerous carried out
+jointly remained to be seen. Certainly it was not any wish to eat of her
+proffered apple of Knowledge, for already I knew a great deal more than I cared
+for about things in general. Oh! the truth was that woman is the mightiest
+force in the world, at any rate where the majority of us poor men is concerned.
+She commanded and I must obey.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I grew desperate and wondered if I could escape. Perhaps I might slip out of
+the back door and run for it, without my great coat or hat although the night
+was so cold and I should probably be taken up as a lunatic. No, it was
+impossible for I had forged a chain that might not be broken. I had passed my
+word of honour. Well, I was in for it and after all what was there of which I
+need be afraid that I should tremble and shrink back as though I were about to
+run away with somebody&rsquo;s wife, or rather to be run away with quite
+contrary to my own inclination? Nothing at all. A mere nonsensical ordeal much
+less serious than a visit to the dentist.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Probably that stuff had lost its strength by now&mdash;that is, unless it had
+grown more powerful by keeping, as is the case with certain sorts of
+explosives. And if it had not, the worst to be expected was a silly dream,
+followed perhaps by headache. That is, unless I did not chance to wake up again
+at all in this world, which was a most unpleasant possibility. Another thing,
+suppose I woke and she didn&rsquo;t! What should I say then? Of a certainty I
+should find myself in the dock. Yes, and there were further dreadful
+eventualities, quite conceivable, every one of them, the very thought of which
+plunged me into a cold perspiration and made me feel so weak that I was obliged
+to sit down.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then I heard the gong; to me it sounded like the execution bell to a prisoner
+under sentence of death. I crept downstairs feebly and found Lady Ragnall
+waiting for me in the drawing-room, clothed with gaiety as with a garment. I
+remember that it made me most indignant that she could be so happy in such
+circumstances, but I said nothing. She looked me up and down and remarked,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Really from your appearance you might have seen the Ragnall ghost, or be
+going to be married against your will, or&mdash;I don&rsquo;t know what. Also
+you have forgotten to fasten your tie.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I looked in the glass. It was true, for there hung the ends down my shirt
+front. Then I struggled with the wretched thing until at last she had to help
+me, which she did laughing softly. Somehow her touch gave me confidence again
+and enabled me to say quite boldly that I only wanted my dinner.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; she replied, &ldquo;but you are not to eat much and you must
+only drink water. The priestesses in Kendah Land told me that this was
+necessary before taking <i>Taduki</i> in its strongest form, as we are going to
+do to-night. You know the prophet Harût only gave us the merest whiff in this
+room years ago.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I groaned and she laughed again.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+That dinner with nothing to drink, although to avoid suspicion I let Moxley
+fill my glass once or twice, and little to eat for my appetite had vanished,
+went by like a bad dream. I recall no more about it until I heard Lady Ragnall
+tell Moxley to see that there was a good fire in the museum where we were going
+to study that night and must not be disturbed.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Another minute and I was automatically opening the door for her. As she passed
+she paused to do something to her dress and whispered,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Come in a quarter of an hour. Mind&mdash;no port which clouds the
+intellect.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I have none left to cloud,&rdquo; I remarked after her.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then I went back and sat by the fire feeling most miserable and staring at the
+decanters, for never in my life do I remember wanting a bottle of wine more.
+The big clock ticked and ticked and at last chimed the quarter, jarring on my
+nerves in that great lonely banqueting hall. Then I rose and crept upstairs
+like an evil-doer and it seemed to me that the servants in the hall looked on
+me with suspicion, as well they might.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I reached the museum and found it brilliantly lit, but empty except for the
+cheerful company of the two mummies who also appeared to regard me with
+gleaming but doubtful eyes. So I sat down there in front of the fire, not even
+daring to smoke lest tobacco should complicate <i>Taduki</i>.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Presently I heard a low sound of laughter, looked up and nearly fell backwards,
+that is, metaphorically, for the chair prevented such a physical collapse.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It was not wonderful since before me, like a bride of ancient days adorned for
+her husband, stood the goddess Isis&mdash;white robes, feathered headdress,
+ancient bracelets, gold-studded sandals on bare feet, scented hair, ruby
+necklace and all the rest. I stared, then there burst from me words which were
+the last I meant to say,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Great Heavens! how beautiful you are.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Am I?&rdquo; she asked. &ldquo;I am glad,&rdquo; and she glided across
+the room and locked the door.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Now,&rdquo; she said, returning, &ldquo;we had better get to business,
+that is unless you would like to worship the goddess Isis a little first, to
+bring yourself into a proper frame of mind, you know.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;No,&rdquo; I replied, my dignity returning to me. &ldquo;I do not wish
+to worship any goddess, especially when she isn&rsquo;t a goddess. It was not a
+part of the bargain.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Quite so,&rdquo; she said, nodding, &ldquo;but who knows what you will
+be worshipping before an hour is over? Oh! forgive me for laughing at you, but
+I can&rsquo;t help it. You are so evidently frightened.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Who wouldn&rsquo;t be frightened?&rdquo; I answered, looking with gloomy
+apprehension at the sandal-wood box which had appeared upon a case full of
+scarabs. &ldquo;Look here, Lady Ragnall,&rdquo; I added, &ldquo;why can&rsquo;t
+you leave all this unholy business alone and let us spend a pleasant evening
+talking, now that those Smith people have gone? I have lots of stories about my
+African adventures which would interest you.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Because I want to hear my own African adventures, and perhaps yours too,
+which I am sure will interest me a great deal more,&rdquo; she exclaimed
+earnestly. &ldquo;You think it is all foolishness, but it is not. Those Kendah
+priestesses told me much when I seemed to be out of my mind. For a long time I
+did not remember what they said, but of late years, especially since George and
+I began to excavate that temple, plenty has come back to me bit by bit,
+fragments, you know, that make me desire to learn the rest as I never desired
+anything else on earth. And the worst of it has always been that from the
+beginning I have known&mdash;and know&mdash;that this can only happen with you
+and through you, why I cannot say, or have forgotten. That&rsquo;s what sent me
+nearly wild with joy when I heard that you were not only alive, but in this
+country. You won&rsquo;t disappoint me, will you? There is nothing I can offer
+you which would have any value for you, so I can only beg you not to disappoint
+me&mdash;well, because I am your friend.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I turned away my head, hesitating, and when I looked up again I saw that her
+beautiful eyes were full of tears. Naturally that settled the matter, so I only
+said,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Let us get on with the affair. What am I to do? Stop a bit. I may as
+well provide against eventualities,&rdquo; and going to a table I took a sheet
+of notepaper and wrote:
+</p>
+
+<p class="letter">
+&ldquo;Lady Ragnall and I, Allan Quatermain, are about to make an experiment
+with an herb which we discovered some years ago in Africa. If by any chance
+this should result in accident to either or both of us, the Coroner is
+requested to understand that it is not a case of murder or of suicide, but
+merely of unfortunate scientific research.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+This I dated, adding the hour, 9.47 P.M., and signed, requesting her to do the
+same.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She obeyed with a smile, saying it was strange that one who had lived a life of
+such constant danger as myself, should be so afraid to die.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Look here, young lady,&rdquo; I replied with irritation,
+&ldquo;doesn&rsquo;t it occur to you that <i>I</i> may be afraid lest
+<i>you</i> should die&mdash;and <i>I</i> be hanged for it,&rdquo; I added by an
+afterthought.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Oh! I see,&rdquo; she answered, &ldquo;that is really very nice of you.
+But, of course, you would think like that; it is your nature.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; I replied. &ldquo;Nature, not merit.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She went to a cupboard which formed the bottom of one of the mahogany museum
+cases, and extracted from it first of all a bowl of ancient appearance made of
+some black stone with projecting knobs for handles that were carved with the
+heads of women wearing ceremonial wigs; and next a low tripod of ebony or some
+other black wood. I looked at these articles and recognized them. They had
+stood in front of the sanctuary in the temple in Kendah Land, and over them I
+had once seen this very woman dressed as she was to-night, bend her head in the
+magic smoke before she had uttered the prophecy of the passing of the Kendah
+god.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;So you brought these away too,&rdquo; I said.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; she replied with solemnity, &ldquo;that they might be ready
+at the appointed hour when we needed them.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then she spoke no more for a while, but busied herself with certain rather
+eerie preparations. First she set the tripod and its bowl in an open space
+which I was glad to note was at some distance from the fire, since if either of
+us fell into that who would there be to take us off before cremation ensued?
+Then she drew up a curved settee with a back and arms, a comfortable-looking
+article having a seat that sloped backwards like those in clubs, and motioned
+to me to sit down. This I did with much the same sensations that are evoked by
+taking one&rsquo;s place upon an operation-table.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Next she brought that accursed <i>Taduki</i> box, I mean the inner silver one,
+the contents of which I heartily wished I had thrown upon the fire, and set it
+down, open, near the tripod. Lastly she lifted some glowing embers of wood from
+the grate with tongs, and dropped them into the stone bowl.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I think that&rsquo;s all. Now for the great adventure,&rdquo; she said
+in a voice that was at once rapt and dreamy.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;What am I to do?&rdquo; I asked feebly.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;That is quite simple,&rdquo; she replied, as she sat herself down beside
+me well within reach of the <i>Taduki</i> box, the brazier being between us
+with its tripod stand pressed against the edge of the couch, and in its curve,
+so that we were really upon each side of it. &ldquo;When the smoke begins to
+rise thickly you have only to bend your head a little forward, with your
+shoulders still resting against the settee, and inhale until you find your
+senses leaving you, though I don&rsquo;t know that this is necessary for the
+stuff is subtle. Then throw your head back, go to sleep and dream.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;What am I to dream about?&rdquo; I inquired in a vacuous way, for my
+senses were leaving me already.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;You will dream, I think, of past events in which both of us played a
+part, at least I hope so. I dreamt of them before in Kendah Land, but then I
+was not myself, and for the most part they are forgotten. Moreover, I learned
+that we can only see them all when we are together. Now speak no more.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+This command, by the way, at once produced in me an intense desire for
+prolonged conversation. It was not to be gratified, however, for at that moment
+she stood up again facing the tripod and me, and began to sing in a rich and
+thrilling voice. What she sang I do not know for I could not understand the
+language, but I presume it was some ancient chant that she learned in Kendah
+Land. At any rate, there she stood, a lovely and inspired priestess clad in her
+sacerdotal robes, and sang, waving her arms and fixing her eyes upon mine.
+Presently she bent down, took a little of the <i>Taduki</i> weed and with words
+of incantation, dropped it upon the embers in the bowl. Twice she did this,
+then sat herself upon the couch and waited.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+A clear flame sprang up and burned for thirty seconds or so, I suppose while it
+consumed the volatile oils in the weed. Then it died down and smoke began to
+come, white, rich and billowy, with a very pleasant odour resembling that of
+hot-house flowers. It spread out between us like a fan, and though its veil I
+heard her say,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;The gates are wide. Enter!&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I knew what she meant well enough, and though for a moment I thought of
+cheating, there is no other word for it, knew also that she had detected the
+thought and was scorning me in her mind. At any rate I felt that I must obey
+and thrust my head forward into the smoke, as a green ham is thrust into a
+chimney. The warm vapour struck against my face like fog, or rather steam, but
+without causing me to choke or my eyes to smart. I drew it down my throat with
+a deep inhalation&mdash;once, twice, thrice, then as my brain began to swim,
+threw myself back as I had been instructed to do. A deep and happy drowsiness
+stole over me, and the last thing I remember was hearing the clock strike the
+first two strokes of the hour of ten. The third stroke I heard also, but it
+sounded like to that of the richest-throated bell that ever boomed in all the
+world. I remember becoming aware that it was the signal for the rolling up of
+some vast proscenium, revealing behind it a stage that was the
+world&mdash;nothing less.
+</p>
+
+<p class="p2">
+What did I see? What did I see? Let me try to recall and record.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+First of all something chaotic. Great rushes of vapour driven by mighty winds;
+great seas, for the most part calm. Then upheavals and volcanoes spouting fire.
+Then tropic scenes of infinite luxuriance. Terrific reptiles feeding on the
+brinks of marshes, and huge elephant-like animals moving between palms beyond.
+Then, in a glade, rough huts and about them a jabbering crowd of creatures that
+were only half human, for sometimes they stood upright and sometimes ran on
+their hands and feet. Also they were almost covered with hair which was all
+they had in the way of clothes, and at the moment that I met them, were
+terribly frightened by the appearance of a huge mammoth, if that is the right
+name for it, which walked into the glade and looked at us. At any rate it was a
+beast of the elephant tribe which I judged to be nearly twenty feet high, with
+enormous curving tusks.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The point of the vision was that I recognized myself among those hairy
+jabberers, not by anything outward and visible, but by something inward and
+spiritual. Moreover, I was being urged by a female of the race, I can scarcely
+call her a woman, to justify my existence by tackling the mammoth in her
+particular interest, or to give her up to someone who would. In the end I
+tackled it, rushing forward with a weapon, I think it was a sharp stone tied to
+a stick, though how I could expect to hurt a beast twenty feet high with such a
+thing is more than I can understand, unless perhaps the stone was poisoned.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At any rate the end was sudden. I threw the stone, whereat a great trunk shot
+out from between the tusks and caught me. Round and round I went in the air,
+reflecting as I did so, for I suppose at the time my normal consciousness had
+not quite left me, that this was my first encounter with the elephant Jana,
+also that it was very foolish to try to oblige a female regardless of personal
+risk....
+</p>
+
+<p>
+All became dark, as no doubt it would have done, but presently, that is after a
+lapse of a great many thousands of years, or so it appeared to me, light grew
+again. This time I was a black man living in something not unlike a Kaffir
+kraal on the top of a hill.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+There was shouting below and enemies attacked us; a woman rushed out of a hut
+and gave me a spear and a shield, the latter made of wood with white spots on
+it, and pointed to the path of duty which ran down the hill. I followed in
+company with others, though without enthusiasm, and presently met a roaring
+giant of a man at the bottom. I stuck my spear into him and he stuck his into
+me, through the stomach, which hurt me most abominably. After this I retired up
+the hill where the woman pulled the spear out and gave it to another man. I
+remember no more.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then followed a whole maze of visions, but really I cannot disentangle them.
+Nor is it worth while doing so since after all they were only of the nature of
+an overture, jumbled incidents of former lives, real or imaginary, or so I
+suppose, having to do, all of them, with elementary things, such as hunger and
+wounds and women and death.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At length these broken fragments of the past were swept away out of my
+consciousness and I found myself face to face with something connected and
+tangible, not too remote or unfamiliar for understanding. It was the beginning
+of the real story.
+</p>
+
+<p class="p2">
+I, please remember always that I knew it was I, Allan, and no one else, that
+is, the same personality or whatever it may be which makes each man different
+from any other man, saw myself in a chariot drawn by two horses with arched
+necks and driven by a charioteer who sat on a little seat in front. It was a
+highly ornamented, springless vehicle of wood and gilded, something like a
+packing-case with a pole, or as we should call it in South Africa, a
+disselboom, to which the horses were harnessed. In this cart I stood arrayed in
+flowing robes fastened round my middle by a studded belt, with strips of
+coloured cloth wound round my legs and sandals on my feet. To my mind the
+general effect of the attire was distinctly feminine and I did not like it at
+all.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I was glad to observe, however, that the I of those days was anything but
+feminine. Indeed I could never have believed that once I was so good-looking,
+even over two thousand years ago. I was not very tall but extremely stalwart,
+burly almost, with an arm that as I could observe, since it projected from the
+sleeve of my lady&rsquo;s gown, would have done no discredit to a
+prize-fighter, and a chest like a bull.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The face also I admired very much. The brow was broad; the black eyes were full
+and proud-looking, the features somewhat massive but well-cut and highly
+intelligent; the mouth firm and shapely, with lips that were perhaps a trifle
+too thick; the hair&mdash;well, there was rather a failure in the hair, at
+least according to modern ideas, for it curled so beautifully as to suggest
+that one of my ancestors might have fallen in love with a person of negroid
+origin. However there was lots of it, hanging down almost to the shoulders and
+bound about the brow by a very neat fillet of blue cloth with silver studs. The
+colour of my skin, I was glad to note, was by no means black, only a light and
+pleasing brown such as might have been produced by sunburn. My age, I might
+add, was anywhere between five and twenty and five and thirty, perhaps nearer
+the latter than the former, at any rate, the very prime of life.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+For the rest, I held in my left hand a very stout, long bow of black wood which
+seemed to have seen much service, with a string of what looked like catgut, on
+which was set a broad-feathered, barbed arrow. This I kept in place with the
+fingers of my right hand, on one of which I observed a handsome gold ring with
+strange characters carved upon the bezel.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Now for the charioteer.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He was black as night, black as a Sunday hat, with yellow rolling eyes set in a
+countenance of extraordinary ugliness and I may add, extraordinary humour. His
+big, wide mouth with thick lips ran up the left side of his face towards an ear
+that was also big and projecting. His hair, that had a feather stuck in it, was
+real nigger wool covering a skull like a cannon ball and I should imagine as
+hard. This head, by the way, was set plumb upon the shoulders, as though it had
+been driven down between them by a pile hammer. They were very broad shoulders
+suggesting enormous strength, but the gaily-clad body beneath, which was
+supported by two bowed legs and large, flat feet, was that of a dwarf who by
+the proportions of his limbs Nature first intended for a giant; yes, an
+Ethiopian dwarf.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Looking through this remarkable exterior, as it were, I recognized that inside
+of it was the soul, or animating principle, of&mdash;whom do you think? None
+other than my beloved old servant and companion, the Hottentot Hans whose loss
+I had mourned for years! Hans himself who died for me, slaying the great
+elephant, Jana, in Kendah Land, the elephant I could not hit, and thereby
+saving my life. Oh! although I had been obliged to go back to the days of I
+knew not what ancient empire to do so in my trance, or whatever it was, I could
+have wept with joy at finding him again, especially as I knew by instinct that
+as he loved the Allan Quatermain of to-day, so he loved this Egyptian in a
+wheeled packing-case, for I may as well say at once that such was my
+nationality in the dream.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Now I looked about me and perceived that my chariot was the second of a
+cavalcade. Immediately in front of it was one infinitely more gorgeous in which
+stood a person who even if I had not known it, I should have guessed to be a
+king, and who, as a matter of fact, was none other than the King of kings, at
+that time the absolute master of most of the known world, though what his name
+may have been, I have no notion. He wore a long flowing robe of purple silk
+embroidered with gold and bound in at the waist by a jewelled girdle from which
+hung the private, sacred seal; the little &ldquo;White Seal&rdquo; that, as I
+learned afterwards, was famous throughout the earth.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+On his head was a stiff cloth cap, also purple in colour, round which was
+fastened a fillet of light blue stuff spotted with white. The best idea that I
+can give of its general appearance is to liken it to a tall hat of fashionable
+shape, without a brim, slightly squashed in so that it bulged at the top, and
+surrounded by a rather sporting necktie. Really, however, it was the
+<i>kitaris</i> or headdress of these monarchs worn by them alone. If anyone
+else had put on that hat, even by mistake in the dark, well, his head would
+have come off with it, that is all.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+This king held a bow in his hand with an arrow set upon its string, just as I
+did, for we were out hunting, and as I shall have to narrate presently, lions
+are no respecters of persons. By his side, leaning against the back of the
+chariot, was a tall, sharp-pointed wand of cedar wood with a knob of some green
+precious stone, probably an emerald, fashioned to the likeness of an apple.
+This was the royal sceptre. Immediately behind the chariot walked several great
+nobles. One of them carried a golden footstool, another a parasol, furled at
+the moment; another a spare bow and a quiver of arrows, and another a jewelled
+fly-whisk made of palm fibre.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The king, I should add, was young, handsome with a curled beard and clear-cut,
+high-bred looking features; his face, however, was bad, cruel and stamped with
+an air of weariness, or rather, satiety, which was emphasized by the black
+circles beneath his fine dark eyes. Moreover pride seemed to emanate from him
+and yet there was something in his bearing and glances which suggested fear. He
+was a god who knows that he is mortal and is therefore afraid lest at any
+moment he may be called upon to lose his godship in his mortality.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Not that he dreaded the perils of the chase; he was too much of a man for that.
+But how could he tell lest among all that crowd of crawling nobles, there was
+not one who had a dagger ready for his back, or a phial of poison to mix with
+his wine or water? He with all the world in the hollow of his hand, was filled
+with secret terrors which as I learned since first I seemed to see him thus,
+fulfilled themselves at the appointed time. For this man of blood was destined
+to die in blood, though not by murder.
+</p>
+
+<p class="p2">
+The cavalcade halted. Presently a fat eunuch glittering in his gold-wrought
+garments like some bronzed beetle in the sunlight, came waddling back towards
+me. He was odious and I knew that we hated each other.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Greeting, Egyptian,&rdquo; he said, mopping his brow with his sleeve for
+the sun was hot. &ldquo;An honour for you! A great honour! The King of kings
+commands your presence. Yes, he would speak with you with his own lips, and
+with that abortion of a servant of yours also. Come! Come swiftly!&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Swift as an arrow, Houman,&rdquo; I answered laughing, &ldquo;seeing
+that for three moons I, like an arrow, have rested upon the string and flown no
+nearer to his Majesty.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Three moons!&rdquo; screeched the eunuch. &ldquo;Why, many wait three
+years and many go to the grave still waiting; bigger men than you, Egyptian,
+though I hear you do claim to be of royal blood yonder on the Nile. But talk
+not of arrows flying towards the most High, for surely it is ill-omened and
+might earn you another honour, that of the string,&rdquo; and he made a motion
+suggestive of a cord encircling his throat. &ldquo;Man, leave your bow behind!
+Would you appear before the King armed? Yes, and your dagger also.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Perchance a lion might appear before the King and he does not leave his
+claws and teeth behind,&rdquo; I answered drily as I divested myself of my
+weapons.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then we started, the three of us, leaving the chariot in charge of a soldier.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Draw your sleeves over your hands,&rdquo; said the eunuch. &ldquo;None
+must appear before the King showing his hands, and, dwarf, since you have no
+sleeves, thrust yours into your robe.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;What am I to do with my feet?&rdquo; he answered in a thick, guttural
+voice. &ldquo;Will it offend the King of kings to see my feet, most noble
+eunuch?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Certainly, certainly,&rdquo; answered Houman, &ldquo;since they are ugly
+enough to offend even me. Hide them as much as possible. Now we are near, down
+on your faces and crawl forward slowly on your knees and elbows, as I do. Down,
+I say!&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+So down I went, though with anger in my heart, for be it remembered that I, the
+modern Allan Quatermain, knew every thought and feeling that passed through the
+mind of my prototype.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It was as though I were a spectator at a play, with this difference. I could
+read the motives and reflections of this former <i>ego</i> as well as observe
+his actions. Also I could rejoice when he rejoiced, weep when he wept and
+generally feel all that he felt, though at the same time I retained the power
+of studying him from my own modern standpoint and with my own existing
+intelligence. Being two we still were one, or being one we still were two,
+whichever way you like to put it. Lastly I lacked these powers with reference
+to the other actors in the piece. Of these I knew just as much, or as little as
+my former self knew, that is if he ever really existed. There was nothing
+unnatural in my faculties where they were concerned. I had no insight into
+their souls any more than I have into those of the people about me to-day. Now
+I hope that I have made clear my somewhat uncommon position with reference to
+these pages from the Book of the Past.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Well, preceded by the eunuch and followed by the dwarf, I crawled though the
+sand in which grew some thorny plants that pricked my knees and fingers,
+towards the person of the Monarch of the World. He had descended from his
+chariot by help of a footstool, and was engaged in drinking from a golden cup,
+while his attendants stood around in various attitudes of adoration, he who had
+handed him the cup being upon his knees. Presently he looked up and saw us.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Who are these?&rdquo; he asked in a high voice that yet was not
+unmusical, &ldquo;and why do you bring them into my presence?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;May it please the King,&rdquo; answered our guide, knocking his head
+upon the ground in a very agony of humiliation, &ldquo;may it please the
+King&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;It would please me better, dog, if you answered my question. Who are
+they?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;May it please the King, this is the Egyptian hunter and noble,
+Shabaka.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I hear,&rdquo; said his Majesty with a gleam of interest in his tired
+eyes, &ldquo;and what does this Egyptian here?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;May it please the King, the King bade me bring him to the presence, but
+now when the chariots halted.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I forgot; you are forgiven. But who is that with him? Is it a man or an
+ape?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Here I screwed my head round and saw that my slave in his efforts to obey the
+eunuch&rsquo;s instructions and hide his feet, had made himself into a kind of
+ball, much as a hedgehog does, except that his big head appeared in front of
+the ball.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;O King, that I understand is the Egyptian&rsquo;s servant and
+charioteer.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Again he looked interested, and exclaimed,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Is it so? Then Egypt must be a stranger country than I thought if such
+ape-men live there. Stand up, Egyptian, and bid your ape stand up also, for I
+cannot hear men who speak with their mouths in the dust.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+So I rose and saluted by lifting both my hands and bowing as I had observed
+others do, trying, however, to keep them covered by my sleeves. The King looked
+me up and down, then said briefly,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Set out your name and the business that brought you to my city.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;May the King live for ever,&rdquo; I replied. &ldquo;As this lord
+said,&rdquo; and I pointed to the eunuch&mdash;&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;He is not a lord but a dog,&rdquo; interrupted the Monarch, &ldquo;who
+wears the robe of women. But continue.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;As this dog who wears the robe of women said&rdquo;&mdash;here the King
+laughed, but the eunuch, Houman, turned green with rage and glowered at
+me&mdash;&ldquo;my name is Shabaka. I am a descendant of the Ethiopian king of
+Egypt of that same name.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;It seems from all I hear that there are too many descendants of kings in
+Egypt. When I visit that land which perhaps soon I must do with an army at my
+back,&rdquo; here he stared at me coldly, &ldquo;it may be well to lessen their
+number. There is a certain Peroa for instance.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He paused, but I made no answer, since Peroa was my father&rsquo;s cousin and
+of the fallen Royal House; also the protector of my youth.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Well, Shabaka,&rdquo; he went on, &ldquo;in Persia royal blood is common
+also, though some of us think it looks best when it is shed. What else are
+you?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;A slayer of royal beasts, O King of kings, a hunter of lions and of
+elephants,&rdquo; (this statement interested me, Allan Quatermain, intensely,
+showing me as it did that our tastes are very persistent); &ldquo;also when I
+am at home, a breeder of cattle and a grower of grain.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Good trades, all of them, Shabaka. But why came you here?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Idernes the satrap of Egypt, servant of the King of kings, sought for
+one who would travel to the East because the King of kings desired to hear of
+the hunting of lions in the lands that lie to the south of Egypt towards the
+beginnings of the great river. Then I, who desired to see new countries, said,
+&lsquo;Here am I. Send me.&rsquo; So I came and for three moons have dwelt in
+the royal city, but till this hour have scarcely so much as seen the face of
+the great King, although by many messengers I have announced my presence,
+showing them the letters of Idernes giving me safe-conduct. Therefore I propose
+to-morrow or the next day to return to Egypt.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The King said a word and a scribe appeared whom he commanded to take note of my
+words and let the matter be inquired of, since some should suffer for this
+neglect, a saying at which I saw Houman and certain of the nobles turn pale and
+whisper to each other.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Now I remember,&rdquo; he exclaimed, &ldquo;that I did desire Idernes to
+send me an Egyptian hunter. Well, you are here and we are about to hunt the
+lion of which there are many in yonder reeds, hungry and fierce beasts, since
+for three days they have been herded in so that they can kill no food. How many
+lions have you slain, Shabaka?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Fifty and three in all, O King, not counting the cubs.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He stared at me, answering with a sneer,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;You Egyptians have large mouths. I have always heard it of you. Well,
+to-day we will see whether you can kill a fifty-fourth. In an hour when the sun
+begins to sink, the hounds will be loosed in yonder reeds and since the water
+is behind them, the lions will come out, and then we shall see.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Now I saw that the King thought me to be a liar and the blood rose to my head.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Why wait till the sun begins to sink, O King of kings?&rdquo; I said.
+&ldquo;Why not enter the reeds, as is our fashion in the Land of Kush, and
+rouse the lions from sleep in their own lair?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Now the King laughed outright and called in a loud voice to his courtiers,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Do ye hear this boasting Egyptian, who talks of entering the reeds and
+facing the lions in their lair, a thing that no man dare do where none can see
+to shoot? What say ye now? Shall we ask him to prove his words?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Some great lord stepped forward, one who was a hunter though he looked little
+like it, for the scent on his hair reached me from four paces away and there
+was paint upon his face.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Yes, O King,&rdquo; he said in a mincing voice, &ldquo;let him enter and
+kill a lion. But if he fail, then let a lion kill him. There are some hungry in
+the palace den and it is not fit that the King&rsquo;s ears should be filled
+with empty words by foreigners from Egypt.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;So be it,&rdquo; said the King. &ldquo;Egyptian, you have brought it on
+your own head. Prove that you can do what you say and I will give you great
+honour. Fail, and to the lions with him who lies of lions. Still,&rdquo; he
+added, &ldquo;it is not right that you should go alone. Choose therefore one of
+these lords to keep you company; he who would put you to the test, if you
+will.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Now I looked at the scented noble who turned pale beneath his paint. Then I
+looked at the fat eunuch, Houman, who opened his mouth and gasped like a fish,
+and when I had looked, I shook my head and said as though to myself,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Not so, no woman and no eunuch shall be my companion on this
+quest,&rdquo; whereat the King and all the rest laughed out loud. &ldquo;The
+dwarf and I will go alone.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;The dwarf!&rdquo; said the King. &ldquo;Can he hunt lions also?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;No, O King, but perchance he can smell them, for otherwise how shall I
+find them in that thicket within an hour?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Perchance they can smell him. How is the ape-man named?&rdquo; asked the
+King.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Bes, O King, after the god of the Egyptians whom he resembles.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Dare you accompany your master on this hunt, O Bes?&rdquo; inquired the
+King.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then Bes looked up, rolling his yellow eyes, and answered in his thick and
+guttural voice,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I am my master&rsquo;s slave and dare I refuse to accompany him? If I
+did he might kill me, as the King of kings kills his slaves. It is better to
+die with honour by the teeth of a lion, than with dishonour beneath the whip of
+a master. So at least we think in Ethiopia.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Well spoken, dwarf Bes!&rdquo; exclaimed the King. &ldquo;So would I
+have all men think throughout the East. Let the words of this Ethiop be written
+down and copies of them sent to the satraps of all the provinces that they may
+be read to the peoples of the earth. I the King have decreed it.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2><a name="chap05"></a>CHAPTER V.<br />THE WAGER</h2>
+
+<p>
+While the scribes were at their work I bowed before the King and prayed his
+leave that I and the dwarf Bes might get to ours.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Go,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;and return here within an hour. If you do not
+return tidings of your death shall be sent to the satrap of Egypt to be told to
+your wives.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I thank the King, but it is needless, for I have no wives, which are ill
+company for a hunter.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Strange,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;since many women would be glad to name
+such a man their husband, at least here among us Easterns.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Walking backwards and bowing as we went, Bes and I returned to our chariot.
+There we stripped off our outer garments till Bes was naked save for his
+waistcloth and I was clad only in a jerkin. Then I took my bow, my arrows and
+my knife, and Bes took two spears, one light for throwing and the other short,
+broad and heavy for stabbing. Thus armed we passed back before the Easterns who
+stared at us, and advanced to the edge of the thicket of tall reeds that was
+full of lions.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Here Bes took dust and threw it into the air that we might learn from which
+quarter the light wind blew.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;We will go against the breeze, Lord,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;that I may
+smell the lions before they smell us.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I nodded, and answered,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Hearken, Bes. Well may it be that we kill no lions in this place where
+it is hard to shoot. Yet I would not return to be thrown to wild beasts by
+yonder evil king. Therefore if we fail in this or in any other way, do you kill
+me, if you still live.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He rolled his eyes and grinned.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Not so, Master. Then we will win through the reeds and lie hid in their
+edge till darkness comes, for in them those half-men will never dare to seek
+for us. Afterwards we will swim the water and disguise ourselves as jugglers
+and try to reach the coast, and so back to Egypt, having learned much. Never
+stretch out your hand to Death till he stretches out his to you, which he will
+do soon enough, Master.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Again I nodded and said,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;And if a lion should kill me, Bes, what then?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Then, Master, I will kill that lion if I can and go report the matter to
+the King.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;And if he should wish to throw you to the beasts, Bes, what then?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Then, first I will drag him down to the greatest of all beasts, he who
+waits to devour evil-doers in the Under-world, be they kings or slaves,&rdquo;
+and he stretched out his long arms and made a motion as of clutching a man by
+the throat. &ldquo;Oh! have no fear, Master, I can break him like a stick, and
+afterwards we will talk the matter over among the dead, for I shall swallow my
+tongue and die also. It is a good trick, Master, which I wish you would
+learn.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then he took my hand and kissed it and we entered the reeds, I, who was a
+hunter, feeling more happy than I had done since we set foot in the East.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Yet the quest was desperate for the reeds were tall and often I could not see
+more than a bow&rsquo;s length in front of me. Presently, however, we found a
+path made perchance by game coming down to drink, or by crocodiles coming up to
+sleep, and followed it, I with an arrow on my string and Bes with the throwing
+spear in his right hand and the stabbing spear in his left, half a pace ahead
+of me. On we crept, Bes drawing in the air through his great nostrils as a
+hound might do, till suddenly he stopped and sniffed towards the north.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I smell lion near,&rdquo; he whispered, searching among the reed stems
+with his eyes. &ldquo;I see lion,&rdquo; he whispered again, and pointed, but I
+could see nothing save the stems of the reeds.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Rouse him,&rdquo; I whispered back, &ldquo;and I will shoot as he
+bounds.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then Bes poised the spear, shook it till it quivered, and threw. There was a
+roar and a lioness appeared with the spear fast in her flank. I loosed the
+arrow but it cut into the thick reeds and stuck there.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Forward!&rdquo; whispered Bes, &ldquo;for where woman is, there look for
+man. The lion will be near.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+We crept on, Bes stopping to cut the arrow from a reed and set it back in the
+quiver, for it was a good arrow made by himself. But now he shifted the broad
+spear to his right hand and in his left held his knife. We heard the wounded
+lioness roar not far away.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;She calls her man to help her,&rdquo; whispered Bes, and as the words
+left his lips the reeds down wind began to sway, for we were smelt.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+They swayed, they parted and, half seen, half hid between their stems, appeared
+the head of a great, black-maned lion. I drew the string and shot, this time
+not in vain, for I heard the arrow thud upon his hide. Then before I could set
+another he was on us, reared upon his hind legs and roaring. As I drew my
+dagger he struck at me, but I bent down and his paw went over my head. Then his
+weight came against me and I fell beneath him, stabbing him in the belly as I
+fell. I saw his mighty jaws open to crush my head. Then they shut again and
+through them burst a whine like that of a hurt dog.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Bes had driven his spear into the lion&rsquo;s breast, so deep that the point
+of it came out through the back. Still he was not dead, only now it was Bes he
+sought. The dwarf ran at him as he reared up again, and casting his great arms
+about the brute&rsquo;s body, wrestled with him as man with man.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then it was, for the first time I think, that I learned all the
+Ethiopian&rsquo;s strength. For he, a dwarf, threw that lion on its back and
+thrusting his big head beneath the jaws, struggled with it madly. I was up, the
+knife still in my hand, and oh! I too was strong. Into the throat I drove it,
+dragging it this way and that, and lo! the lion moaned and died and his blood
+gushed out over both of us. Then Bes sat up and laughed, and I too laughed,
+since neither of us had more than scratches and we had done what men could
+scarcely do.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Do you remember, Master,&rdquo; said Bes when he had finished laughing,
+as he wiped his brow with some damp moss, &ldquo;how, once far away up the Nile
+you charged a mad elephant with a spear and saved me who had fallen, from being
+trampled to death?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I, Shabaka, answered that I did. (And I, Allan Quatermain, observing all these
+things in my psychic trance in the museum of Ragnall Castle, reflected that I
+also remembered how a certain Hans had saved me from a certain mad elephant, to
+wit, Jana, not so long before, which just shows how things come round.)
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; went on Bes, &ldquo;you saved me from that elephant, though
+it seemed death to you. And, Master, I will tell you something now. That very
+morning I had tried to poison you, only you would not wait to eat because the
+elephants were near.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Did you?&rdquo; I asked idly. &ldquo;Why?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Because two years before you captured me in battle with some of my
+people, and as I was misshapen, or for pity&rsquo;s sake, spared my life and
+made me your slave. Well, I who had been a chief, a very great chief, Master,
+did not wish to remain a slave and did wish to avenge my people&rsquo;s blood.
+Therefore I tried to poison you, and that very day you saved my life, offering
+for it your own.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I think it was because I wanted the tusks of the elephant, Bes.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Perhaps, Master, only you will remember that this elephant was a young
+cow and had no tusks worth anything. Still had it carried tusks, it might have
+been so, since one white tusk is worth many black dwarfs. Well, to-day I have
+paid you back. I say it lest you should forget that had it not been for me,
+that lion would have eaten you.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Yes, Bes, you have paid me back and I thank you.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Master, hitherto I always thought you one who worshipped Maat, goddess
+of Truth. Now I see that you worship the god of Lies, whoever he may be, that
+god who dwells in the breasts of women and most men, but has no name. For,
+Master, it was <i>you</i> who saved <i>me</i> from the lion and not I you,
+since you cut its throat at the last. So that debt of mine is still to pay and
+by the great Grasshopper which we worship in my country, who is much better
+than all the gods of the Egyptians put together, I swear that I will pay it
+soon, or mayhap ten thousand years hence. At the last it shall be paid.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Why do you worship a grasshopper and why is he better than the gods of
+the Egyptians?&rdquo; I asked carelessly, for I was tired and his talk amused
+me while we rested.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;We worship the Grasshopper, Master, because he jumps with men&rsquo;s
+spirits from one life to another, or from this world to the next, yes, right
+through the blue sky. And he is better than your Egyptian gods because they
+leave you to find your own way there, and then eat you alive, that is if you
+have tried to poison people, as of course we have all done. But, Master, we are
+fresh again now, so let us be going, for the hour will soon be finished. Also
+when she has eaten the spear handle, that lioness may return.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; I said; &ldquo;let us go and report to the King of kings
+that we have killed a lion.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Master, it is not enough. Even common kings believe little that they do
+not see, wherefore it is certain that a King of kings will believe nothing and
+still more certain that he will not come here to look. So as we cannot carry
+the lion, we must take a bit of it,&rdquo; and straightway he cut off the end
+of the brute&rsquo;s tail.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Following the crocodile path, presently we reached the edge of the reeds
+opposite to the camp where the King now sat in state beneath a purple pavilion
+that had been reared, eating a meal, with his courtiers standing at a distance
+and looking very hungry.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Out of the reeds bounded Bes, naked and bloody, waving the lion&rsquo;s tail
+and singing some wild Ethiopian chant, while I, also bloody and half naked, for
+the lion&rsquo;s claws had torn my jerkin off me, followed with bow unstrung.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The King looked up and saw us.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;What! Do you live, Egyptian?&rdquo; he asked. &ldquo;Of a surety I
+thought that by now you would be dead.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;It was the lion that died, O King,&rdquo; I answered, pointing to Bes
+who, having ceased from his song, was jumping about carrying the beast&rsquo;s
+tail in his mouth as a dog carries a bone.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;It seems that this Egyptian has killed a lion,&rdquo; said the King to
+one of his lords, him of the painted face and scented hair.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;May it please the King,&rdquo; he answered, bowing, &ldquo;a tail is not
+the whole beast and may have been taken thither, or cut from a lion lying dead
+already. The King knows that the Egyptians are great liars.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+So he spoke because he was jealous of the deed.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;These men look as though they had met a live one, not one that is
+dead,&rdquo; said the King, scanning our blood-stained shapes. &ldquo;Still, as
+you doubt it, you will wish to put the matter to the proof. Therefore, Cousin,
+take six men with you, enter the reeds and search. In that soft ground it will
+be easy to follow their footmarks.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;It is dangerous, O King,&rdquo; began the prince, for such he was, no
+less.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;And therefore the task will be the more to your taste, Cousin. Go now,
+and be swift.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+So six hunters were called and the prince went, cursing me beneath his breath
+as he passed us. For he was terribly afraid, and with reason. Suddenly Bes
+ceased from his antics and prostrating himself, cried,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;A boon, O King. This noble lord throws doubt upon my master&rsquo;s
+word. Suffer that I may lead him to where the lion lies dead, since otherwise
+wandering in those reeds the great King&rsquo;s cousin might come to harm and
+the great King be grieved.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I have many cousins,&rdquo; said the King. &ldquo;Still go if you wish,
+Dwarf.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+So Bes ran after the prince and catching him up, tapped him on the shoulder
+with the lion&rsquo;s tail to point out the way. Then they vanished into the
+reeds and I went to the chariot to wash off the blood from my body and clothes.
+As I fastened my robe I heard a sound of roaring, then one scream, after which
+all grew still. Now I drew near to the reeds and stood between them and the
+King&rsquo;s camp.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Presently on their edge appeared Bes dancing and singing as before, but this
+time he held a lion&rsquo;s tail in either hand. After him came the six hunters
+dragging between them the body of the lion we had killed. They staggered with
+it towards the King, and I followed.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I see the dwarf,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I see the dead lion and I see
+the hunters. But where is my cousin? Make report, O Bes.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;O King of kings,&rdquo; replied Bes, &ldquo;the mighty prince your
+cousin lies flat yonder beneath the body of that lion&rsquo;s wife. She sprang
+upon him and killed him, and I sprang upon her and killed her with my spear.
+Here is her tail, O King of kings.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Is this true?&rdquo; he asked of the hunters.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;It is true, O King,&rdquo; answered their captain. &ldquo;The lioness,
+which was wounded, leapt upon the prince, choosing him although he was behind
+us all. Then this dwarf leapt upon the lioness, being behind the prince and
+nearest to him, and drove his spear through her shoulders to her heart. So we
+brought the first lion as the King commanded us, since we could carry no
+more.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The face of the King grew red with rage.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Seven of my people and one black dwarf!&rdquo; he exclaimed. &ldquo;Yet
+the lioness kills my cousin and the dwarf kills the lioness. Such is the tale
+that will go to Egypt concerning the hunters of the King of the world. Seize
+those men, Guards, and let them be fed to the wild beasts in the palace
+dens.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At once the unfortunates were seized and led away. Then the King called Bes to
+him, and taking the gold chain he wore about his neck, threw it over his head,
+thereby, though I knew nothing of it at the time, conferring upon him some
+noble rank. Next he called to me and said,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;It would seem that you are skilled in the use of the bow and in the
+hunting of lions, Egyptian. Therefore I will honour you, for this afternoon
+your chariot shall drive with my chariot, and we will hunt side by side.
+Moreover, I will lay you a wager as to which of us will kill the most lions,
+for know, Shabaka, that I also am skilled in the use of the bow, more skilled
+than any among the millions of my subjects.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Then, O King, it is of little use for me to match myself against you,
+seeing that I have met men who can shoot better than I do, or, since in the
+East all must speak nothing but the truth, not being liars as the dead prince
+said we Egyptians are, one man.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Who was that man, Shabaka?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;The Prince Peroa, O King.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The King frowned as though the name displeased him, then answered,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Am I not greater than this Peroa and cannot I therefore shoot
+better?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Doubtless, O King of kings, and therefore how can I who shoot worse than
+Peroa, match myself against you?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;For which reason I will give you odds, Shabaka. Behold this rope of
+rose-hued pearls I wear. They are unequalled in the whole world, for twenty
+years the merchants sought them in the days of my father; half of them would
+buy a satrapy. I wager them&rdquo;&mdash;here the listening nobles gasped and
+the fat eunuch, Houman, held up his hands in horror.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Against what, O King?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Your slave Bes, to whom I have taken a fancy.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Now I trembled and Bes rolled his yellow eyes.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Your pardon, O King of kings,&rdquo; I said, &ldquo;but it is not
+enough. I am a hunter and to such, priceless pearls are of little use. But to
+me that dwarf is of much use in my hunting.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;So be it, Shabaka, then I will add to the wager. If you win, together
+with the pearls I will give you the dwarf&rsquo;s weight in solid gold.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;The King is bountiful,&rdquo; I answered, &ldquo;but it is not enough,
+for even if I win against one who can shoot better than Peroa, which is
+impossible, what should I do with so much gold? Surely for the sake of it I
+should be murdered or ever I saw the coasts of Egypt.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;What shall I add then?&rdquo; asked the King. &ldquo;The most beauteous
+maiden in the House of Women?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I shook my head. &ldquo;Not so, O King, for then I must marry who would remain
+single.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;There is no need, you might sell her to your friend, Peroa. A
+satrapy?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Not so, O King, for then I must govern it, which would keep me from my
+hunting, until it pleased the King to take my head.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;By the name of the holy ones I worship what then do you ask added to the
+pearls and the pure gold?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Now I tried to bethink me of something that the King could not grant, since I
+had no wish for this match which my heart warned me would end in trouble. As no
+thought came to me I looked at Bes and saw that he was rolling his eyes towards
+the six doomed hunters who were being led away, also in pretence of driving off
+a fly, pointing to them with one of the lion tails. Then I remembered that a
+decree once uttered by the King of the East could not be altered, and saw a
+road of escape.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;O King,&rdquo; I said, &ldquo;together with the pearls and the gold I
+ask that the lives of those six hunters be added to the wager, to be spared if
+by chance I should win.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Why?&rdquo; asked the King amazed.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Because they are brave men, O King, and I would not see the bones of
+such cracked by tame beasts in a cage.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Is my judgment registered?&rdquo; asked the King.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Not yet, O King,&rdquo; answered the head scribe.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Then it has no weight and can be suspended without the breaking of the
+law. Shabaka, thus stands our wager. If I kill more lions than you do this day,
+or, should but two be slain, I kill the first, or should none be slain, I plant
+more arrows in their bodies, I take your slave, Bes the dwarf, to be my slave.
+But should you have the better of me in any of these ways, then I give to you
+this girdle of rose pearls and the weight of the dwarf Bes in gold and the six
+hunters free of harm, to do with what you will. Let it be recorded, and to the
+hunt.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p class="p2">
+Soon Bes and I were in our chariot which by command took place in line with
+that of the King, but at a distance of some thirty steps. Bending over the
+dwarf who drove, I spoke with him, saying,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Our luck is ill to-day, Bes, seeing that before the end of it we may
+well be parted.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Not so, Master, our luck is good to-day seeing that before the end of it
+you will be the richer by the finest pearls in the whole world, by my weight in
+pure gold (and Master, I am twice as heavy as the king thought and will stuff
+myself with twenty pounds of meat before the weighing, if I have the chance, or
+at least with water, though in this hot place that will not last for long), and
+by six picked huntsmen, brave men as you thought, who will serve to escort us
+and our treasure to the coast.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;First I must win the match, Bes.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Which you could do with one eye blinded, Master, and a sore finger.
+Kings think that they can shoot because all the worms that crawl about them and
+are named men, dare not show themselves their betters. Oh! I have heard tales
+in yonder city. There have been days when this Lord of the world has missed six
+lions with as many arrows, and they seated smiling in his face, being but tamed
+brutes brought from far in cages of wood, yes, smiling like cats in the sun.
+Look you, Master, he drinks too much wine and sits up too late in his
+Women&rsquo;s house&mdash;there are three hundred of them there,
+Master&mdash;to shoot as you and I can. If you doubt it, look at his eyes and
+hands. Oh! the pearls and the gold and the men are yours, and that painted
+prince who mocked us is where he ought to be&mdash;dead in the mud.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Did I tell you how I managed that, Master? As you know better than I do,
+lions hate those that have on them the smell of their own blood. Therefore,
+while I pointed out the way to him, I touched the painted prince with the
+bleeding tail of that which we killed, pretending that it was by chance, for
+which he cursed me, as well he might. So when we came to the dead lion and, as
+I had expected, met there the lioness you had wounded, she charged through the
+hunters at him who smelt of her husband, and bit his head off.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;But, Bes, you smelt of him also, and worse.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Yes, Master, but that painted cousin of the King came first. I kept well
+behind him, pretending to be afraid,&rdquo; and he chuckled quietly, adding,
+&ldquo;I expect that he is now telling an angry tale about me to Osiris, or to
+the Grasshopper that takes him there, as it may happen.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;These Easterns worship neither Osiris, nor your Grasshopper, Bes, but a
+flame of fire.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Then he is telling the tale to the fire, and I hope that it will get
+tired and burn him.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+So we talked merrily enough because we had done great deeds and thought that we
+had outwitted the Easterns and the King, not knowing all their craft. For none
+had told us that that man who hunted with the King and yet dared to draw arrow
+upon the quarry before the King should be put to death as one who had done
+insult to his Majesty. This that royal fox remembered and therefore was sure
+that he would win the wager.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Now the chariots turned and passing down a path came to an open space that was
+cleared of reeds. Here they halted, that of the King and my own side by side
+with ten paces between them, and those of the court behind. Meanwhile huntsmen
+with dogs entered the great brake far away to the right and left of us, also in
+front, so that the lions might be driven backwards and forwards across the open
+space.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Soon we heard the hounds baying on all sides. Then Bes made a sucking noise
+with his great lips and pointed to the edge of the reeds in front of us some
+sixty paces away. Looking, I saw a yellow shape creeping along between their
+dark stems, and although the shot was far, forgetting all things save I was a
+hunter and there was my game, I drew the arrow to my ear, aimed and loosed,
+making allowance for its fall and for the wind.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Oh! that shot was good. It struck the lion in the body and pierced him through.
+Out he came, roaring, rolling, and tearing at the ground. But by now I had
+another arrow on the string, and although the King lifted his bow, I loosed
+first. Again it struck, this time in the throat, and that lion groaned and
+died.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The King looked at me angrily, and from the court behind rose a murmur of
+wonder mingled with wrath, wonder at my marksmanship, and wrath because I had
+dared to shoot before the King.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;The wager looks well for us,&rdquo; muttered Bes, but I bade him be
+silent, for more lions were stirring.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Now one leapt across the open space, passing in front of the King and within
+thirty paces of us. He shot and missed it, sending his shaft two spans above
+its back. Then I shot and drove the arrow through it just where the head joins
+the neck, cutting the spine, so that it died at once.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Again that murmur went up and the King struck the charioteer on the head with
+his clenched fist, crying out that he had suffered the horses to move and
+should be scourged for causing his hand to shake.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+This charioteer, although he was a lord&mdash;since in the East men of high
+rank waited on the King like slaves and even clipped his nails and
+beard&mdash;craved pardon humbly, admitting his fault.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;It is a lie,&rdquo; whispered Bes. &ldquo;The horses never stirred. How
+could they with those grooms holding their heads? Nevertheless, Master, the
+pearls are as good as round your neck.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Silence,&rdquo; I answered. &ldquo;As we have heard, in the East all men
+speak the truth; it is only Egyptians who lie. Also in the East men&rsquo;s
+necks are encircled with bowstrings as well as pearls, and ears are
+long.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The hounds continued to bay, drawing nearer to us. A lioness bounded out of the
+reeds, ran towards the King&rsquo;s chariot and as though amazed, sat down like
+a dog, so near that a man might have hit it with a stone. The King shot short,
+striking it in the fore-paw only, whereon it shook out the arrow and rushed
+back into the reeds, while the court behind cried,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;May the King live for ever! The beast is dead.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;We shall see if it is dead presently,&rdquo; said Bes, and I nodded.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Another lion appeared to the right of the King. Again he shot and missed it,
+whereon he began to curse and to swear in his own royal oaths, and the
+charioteer trembled. Then came the end.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+One of the hounds drew quite close and roused the lioness that had been pricked
+in the foot. She turned and killed it with a blow of her paw, then, being mad,
+charged straight at the King&rsquo;s chariot. The horses reared, lifting the
+grooms off their feet. The King shot wildly and fell backwards out of the
+chariot, as even Kings of the world must do when they have nothing left to
+stand on. The lioness saw that he was down and leapt at him, straight over the
+chariot. As she leapt I shot at her in the air and pierced her through the
+loins, paralysing her, so that although she fell down near the King, she could
+not come at him to kill him.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I sprang from my chariot, but before I could reach the lioness hunters had run
+up with spears and stabbed her, which was easy as she could not move.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The King rose from the ground, for he was unharmed, and said in a loud voice,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Had not that shaft of mine gone home, I think that the East would have
+bowed to another lord to-night.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Now, forgetting that I was speaking to the King of the earth, forgetting the
+wager and all besides, I exclaimed,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Nay, your shaft missed; mine went home,&rdquo; whereon one of the
+courtiers cried,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;This Egyptian is a liar, and calls the King one!&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;A liar?&rdquo; I said astonished. &ldquo;Look at the arrow and see from
+whose quiver it came,&rdquo; and I drew one from my own of the Egyptian make
+and marked with my mark.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then a tumult broke out, all the courtiers and eunuchs talking at once, yet all
+bowing to the mud-stained person of the King, like ears of wheat to a tree in a
+storm. Not wishing to urge my claims further, for my part I returned to the
+chariot and the hunting being done, as I supposed, unstrung my bow which I
+prized above all things, and set it in its case.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+While I was thus employed the eunuch Houman approached me with a sickly smile,
+saying,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;The King commands your presence, Egyptian, that you may receive your
+reward.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I nodded, saying that I would come, and he returned.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Bes,&rdquo; I said when he was out of hearing, &ldquo;my heart sinks. I
+do not trust that King who I think means mischief.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;So do I, Master. Oh! we have been great fools. When a god and a man
+climb a tree together, the man should allow the god to come first to the top,
+and thence tell the world that he is a god.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; I answered, &ldquo;but who ever sees Wisdom until she is
+flying away? Now perhaps, the god being the stronger, will cast down the
+man.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then both together we advanced towards the King, leaving the chariot in charge
+of soldiers. He was seated on a gilded chair which served him as a throne, and
+behind him were his officers, eunuchs and attendants, though not all of them,
+since at a little distance some of them were engaged in beating the lord who
+had served as his charioteer upon the feet with rods. We prostrated ourselves
+before him and waited till he spoke. At length he said,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Shabaka the Egyptian, we made a wager with you, of which you will
+remember the terms. It seems that you have won the wager, since you slew two
+lions, whereas we, the King, slew but one, that which leapt upon us in the
+chariot.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Here Bes groaned at my side and I looked up.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Fear nothing,&rdquo; he went on, &ldquo;it shall be paid.&rdquo; Here he
+snatched off the girdle of priceless, rose-hued pearls and threw it in my face.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;At the palace too,&rdquo; he went on, &ldquo;the dwarf shall be set in
+the scales and his full weight in pure gold shall be given to you. Moreover,
+the lives of the six hunters are yours, and with them the men
+themselves.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;May the King live for ever!&rdquo; I exclaimed, feeling that I must say
+something.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I hope so,&rdquo; he answered cruelly, &ldquo;but, Egyptian, you shall
+not, who have broken the laws of the land.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;In what way, O King?&rdquo; I asked.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;By shooting at the lions before the King had time to draw his bow, and
+by telling the King that he lied to his face, for both of which things the
+punishment is death.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Now my heart swelled till I thought it would burst with rage. Then of a sudden,
+a certain spirit entered into me and I rose to my feet and said,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;O King, you have declared that I must die and as this is so, I will
+kneel to you no more who soon shall sup at the table of Osiris, and there be
+far greater than any king, going before him with clean hands. Is it not your
+law that he who is condemned to die has first the right to set out his case for
+the honour of his name?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;It is,&rdquo; said the King, I think because he was curious to hear what
+I had to say. &ldquo;Speak on.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;O King, although my blood is as high as your own, of that I say nothing,
+for at the wish of your satrap I came to the East from Egypt as a hunter, to
+show you how we of Egypt kill lions and other beasts. For three months I have
+waited in the royal city seeking admission to the presence of the King, and in
+vain. At length I was bidden to this hunt when I was about to depart to my own
+land, and being taunted by your servants, entered the reeds with my slave, and
+there slew a lion. Then it pleased you to thrust a wager upon me which I did
+not wish to take, as to which of us would shoot the most lions; a wager as I
+now understand you did not mean that I should win, whatever might be my skill,
+since you thought I knew that I must shoot at nothing till you had first shot
+and killed the beasts or scared them away.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;So I matched myself against you, as hunter against hunter, for in the
+field, as before the gods, all are equal, not as a slave against a king who is
+determined to avenge defeat by death. We were posted and the lions came. I shot
+at those which appeared opposite to me, or upon my side, leaving those that
+appeared opposite to you, or on your side unshot at, as is the custom of
+hunters. My skill, or my fortune, was better than yours and I killed, whereas
+you missed or only wounded. In the end a lioness sprang at you and I shot it
+lest it should kill you; as could easily be proved by the arrow in its body.
+Now you say that I must die because I have broken some laws of yours which men
+should be ashamed to make, and to save your honour, pay me what I have won,
+knowing that pearls and gold and slaves are of no value to a dying man and can
+be taken back again. That is all the story.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Yet I would add one word. You Easterns have two sayings which you teach
+to your children; that they should learn to shoot with the bow, and to tell the
+truth. O King, they are my last lessons to you. Learn to shoot with the
+bow&mdash;which you cannot do, and to tell the truth which you have not done.
+Now I have spoken and am ready to die and I thank you for the patience with
+which you have heard my words, that, as the King does <i>not</i> live for ever,
+I hope one day to repeat to you more fully beyond the grave.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Now at this bold speech of mine all those nobles and attendants gasped, for
+never had they heard such words addressed to his Majesty. The King turned red
+as though with shame, but made no answer, only he asked of those about him.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;What fate for this man?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Death, O King!&rdquo; they cried with one voice.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;What death?&rdquo; he asked again.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then his Councillors consulted together and one of them answered,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;The slowest known to our law, <i>death by the boat</i>.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Hearing this and not knowing what was meant, it came into my mind that I was to
+be turned adrift in a boat and there left to starve.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Behold the reward of good hunting!&rdquo; I mocked in my rage. &ldquo;O
+King, because of this deed of shame I call upon you the curse of all the gods
+of all the peoples. Henceforth may your sleep be ever haunted by evil dreams of
+what shall follow the last sleep, and in the end may you also die in
+blood.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The King opened his mouth as though to answer, but from it came nothing but a
+low cry of fear. Then guards rushed up and seized me.
+</p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2><a name="chap06"></a>CHAPTER VI.<br />THE DOOM OF THE BOAT</h2>
+
+<p>
+The guards led me to my chariot and thrust me into it, and with me Bes. I asked
+them if they would murder him also, to which the eunuch, Houman, answered No,
+since he had committed no crime, but that he must go with me to be weighed.
+Then soldiers took the horses by the bridles and led them, while others, having
+first snatched away my bow and all our other weapons, surrounded the chariot
+lest we should escape. So Bes and I were able to talk together in a Libyan
+tongue that none of them understood, even if they heard our words.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Your life is spared,&rdquo; I said to him, &ldquo;that the King may take
+you as a slave.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Then he will take an ill slave, Master, since I swear by the Grasshopper
+that within a moon I will find means to kill him, and afterwards come to join
+you in a land where men hunt fair.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I smiled and Bes went on,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Now I wish I had time to teach you that trick of swallowing your own
+tongue, since perhaps you will need it in this boat of which they talk.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Did you not say to me an hour or two ago, Bes, that we are fools to
+stretch out our hands to Death until he stretches out his to us? I will not die
+until I must&mdash;now.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Why &lsquo;now,&rsquo; Master, seeing that only this afternoon you bade
+me kill you rather than let you be thrown to the wild beasts?&rdquo; he asked
+peering at me curiously.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Do you remember the old hermit, the holy Tanofir, who dwells in a cell
+over the sepulchre of the Apis bulls in the burial ground of the desert near to
+Memphis, Bes?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;The magician and prophet who is the brother of your grandfather, Master,
+and the son of a king; he who brought you up before he became a hermit? Yes, I
+know him well, though I have seldom been very near to him because his eyes
+frighten me, as they frightened Cambyses the Persian when Tanofir cursed him
+and foretold his doom after he had stabbed the holy Apis, saying that by a
+wound from that same sword in his own body he should die himself, which thing
+came to pass. As they have frightened many another man also.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Well, Bes, when yonder king told me that I must die, fear filled me who
+did not wish to die thus, and after the fear came a blackness in my mind. Then
+of a sudden in that blackness I saw a picture of Tanofir, my great uncle,
+seated in a sepulchre looking towards the East. Moreover I heard him speak, and
+to me, saying, &lsquo;Shabaka, my foster-son, fear nothing. You are in great
+danger but it will pass. Speak to the great King all that rises in your heart,
+for the gods of Vengeance make use of your tongue and whatever you prophesy to
+him shall be fulfilled.&rsquo; So I spoke the words you heard and I feared
+nothing.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Is it so, Master? Then I think that the holy Tanofir must have entered
+my heart also. Know that I was minded to leap upon that king and break his
+neck, so that all three of us might end together. But of a sudden something
+seemed to tell me to leave him alone and let things go as they are fated. But
+how can the holy Tanofir who grows blind with age, see so far?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I do not know, Bes, save that he is not as are other men, for in him is
+gathered all the ancient wisdom of Egypt. Moreover he lives with the gods while
+still upon earth, and like the gods can send his <i>Ka</i>, as we Egyptians
+call the spirit, or invisible self which companions all from the cradle to the
+grave and afterwards, whither he will. So doubtless to-day he sent it hither to
+me whom he loves more than anything on earth. Also I remember that before I
+entered on this journey he told me that I should return safe and sound.
+Therefore, Bes, I say I fear nothing.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Nor do I, Master. Yet if you see me do strange things, or hear me speak
+strange words, take no note of them, since I shall be but playing a part as I
+think wisest.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+After this we talked of that day&rsquo;s adventure with the lions, and of
+others that we had shared together, laughing merrily all the while, till the
+soldiers stared at us as though we were mad. Also the fat eunuch, Houman, who
+was mounted on an ass, rode up and said,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;What, Egyptian who dared to twist the beard of the Great King, you
+laugh, do you? Well, you will sing a different song in the boat to that which
+you sing in the chariot. Think of my words on the eighth day from this.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I will think of them, Eunuch,&rdquo; I answered, looking at him fiercely
+in the eyes, &ldquo;but who knows what kind of a song you will be singing
+before the eighth day from this?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;What I do is done under the authority of the ancient and holy Seal of
+Seals,&rdquo; he answered in a quavering voice, touching the little cylinder of
+white shell which I had noted upon the person of the King, but that now hung
+from a gold chain about the eunuch&rsquo;s neck.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then he made the sign which Easterns use to avert evil and rode off again,
+looking very frightened.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+So we came to the royal city and went up to a wonderful palace. Here we were
+taken from the chariot and led into a room where food and drink in plenty were
+given to me as though I were an honoured guest, which caused me to wonder. Bes
+also, seated on the ground at a distance, ate and drank, for his own reasons
+filling himself to the throat as though he were a wineskin, until the serving
+slaves mocked at him for a glutton.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When we had finished eating, slaves appeared bearing a wooden framework from
+which hung a great pair of scales. Also there appeared officers of the
+King&rsquo;s Treasury, carrying leather bags which they opened, breaking the
+seals to show that the contents were pure gold coin. They set a number of these
+bags on one of the scales, and then ordered Bes to seat himself in the other.
+So much heavier did he prove than they expected him to be, that they were
+obliged to send back to the Treasury to fetch more bags of gold, for although
+Bes was so short in height, his weight was that of a large man. One of the
+treasurers grumbled, saying he should have been weighed before he had eaten and
+drunk. But the officer to whom he spoke grinned and answered that it mattered
+little, since the King was heir to criminals and that these bags would soon
+return to the Treasury, only they would need washing first, a remark that made
+me wonder.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At length, when the scales were even, the six hunters whose lives I had won and
+who had been given to me as slaves, were brought in and ordered to shoulder the
+bags of gold. I too was seized and my hands were bound behind me. Then I was
+led out in charge of the eunuch Houman, who informed me with a leer that it
+would be his duty to attend to my comfort till the end. With him were four
+black men all dressed in the same way. These, he said, were the executioners.
+Lastly came Bes watched by three of the king&rsquo;s guards armed with spears,
+lest he should attempt to rescue me or to do anyone a mischief.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Now my heart began to sink and I asked Houman what was to happen to me.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;This, O Egyptian slayer of lions. You will be laid upon a bed in a
+little boat upon the river and another boat will be placed over you, for these
+boats are called the Twins, Egyptian, in such a fashion that your head and your
+hands will project at one end and your feet at the other. There you will be
+left, comfortable as a baby in its cradle, and twice every day the best of food
+and drink will be brought to you. Should your appetite fail, moreover, it will
+be my duty to revive it by pricking your eyes with the point of a knife until
+it returns. Also after each meal I shall wash your face, your hands and your
+feet with milk and honey, lest the flies that buzz about them should suffer
+hunger, and to preserve your skin from burning by the sun. Thus slowly you will
+grow weaker and at length fall asleep. The last one who went into the
+boat&mdash;he, unlucky man, had by accident wandered into the court of the
+House of Women and seen some of the ladies there unveiled&mdash;only lived for
+twelve days, but you, being so strong, may hope to last for eighteen. Is there
+anything more that I can tell you? If so, ask it quickly for we draw near to
+the river.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Now when I heard this and understood all the horror of my fate, I forgot the
+vision of my great uncle, the holy Tanofir, and his comfortable prophecies, and
+my heart failed me altogether, so that I stood stock still.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;What, Lion-hunter and Bearder of kings, do you think it is too early to
+go to bed?&rdquo; mocked this devilish eunuch. &ldquo;On with you!&rdquo; and
+he began to beat me about the face with the handle of his fly-whisk.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then my manhood came back to me.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;When did the King tell you to touch me, you fatted swine?&rdquo; I
+roared, and turning, since I could not reach him with my bound hands, kicked
+him in the body with all my strength, so that he fell down, writhing and
+screaming with agony. Indeed, had not the executioners leapt upon me, I would
+have trampled the life out of him where he lay. But they held me fast and
+presently, after he had been sick, Houman recovered enough to come forward
+leaning on the shoulders of two guards. Only now he mocked me no more.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+We reached a quay just as the sun was setting. There in charge of a one-eyed
+black slave, a little square-ended boat floated at the river&rsquo;s edge,
+while on the quay itself lay a similar but somewhat shorter boat, bottom
+uppermost. Now the hunters whom I had won in the wager, with many glances of
+compassion, for they were brave men and knew that it was I who had saved their
+lives, placed the bags of gold in the bottom of the floating boat, and on the
+top of these a mattress stuffed with straw. Then the girdle of rose-hued pearls
+was made fast about my middle, my hands were untied, I was seized by the
+executioners and laid on my back on the mattress, and my wrists and ankles were
+fixed by cords to iron rings that were screwed to the thwarts of the boat.
+After this the other, shorter boat was laid over me in such a manner that it
+did not touch me, leaving my head, my hands and my feet exposed as the eunuch
+had said.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+While this wicked work was going forward Bes sat on the quay, watching, till
+presently, after I had been made fast and covered up, he burst into shouts of
+laughter, clapped his hands and began to dance about as though with joy, till
+the eunuch, who had now recovered somewhat from my kick, grew curious and asked
+him why he behaved thus.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;O noble Eunuch,&rdquo; he answered, &ldquo;once I was free and that man
+made me a slave, so that for many years I have been obliged to toil for him
+whom I hate. Moreover, often he has beaten me and starved me, which was why you
+saw me eat so much not long ago, and threatened to kill me, and now at last I
+have my revenge upon him who is about to die miserably. That is why I laugh and
+sing and dance and clap my hands, O most noble Eunuch, I who shall become the
+follower and servant of the glorious King of all the earth, and perhaps your
+friend, too, O Eunuch of eunuchs, whose sacred person my brutal master dared to
+kick.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I understand,&rdquo; said Houman smiling, though with a twisted face,
+&ldquo;and will make report of all you say to the King, and ask him to grant
+that you shall sometimes prick this Egyptian in the eye. Now go spit in his
+face and tell him what you think of him.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+So Bes waded into the water which was quite shallow here, and spat into my
+face, or pretended to, while amid a torrent of vile language, he interpolated
+certain words in the Libyan tongue, which meant,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;O my most beloved father, mother, and other relatives, have no fear.
+Though things look very black, remember the vision of the holy Tanofir, who
+doubtless allows these things to happen to you to try your faith by direct
+order of the gods. Be sure that I will not leave you to perish, or if there
+should be no escape, that I will find a way to put you out of your misery and
+to avenge you. Yes, yes, I will yet see that accursed swine, Houman, take your
+place in this boat. Now I go to the Court to which it seems that this gold
+chain gives me a right of entry, or so the eunuch says, but soon I will be back
+again.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then followed another stream of most horrible abuse and more spitting, after
+which he waded back to land and embraced Houman, calling him his best friend.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+They went, leaving me alone in the boat save for the guard upon the quay who,
+now that darkness had come, soon grew silent. It was lonely, very lonely, lying
+there staring at the empty sky with only the stinging gnats for company, and
+soon my limbs began to ache. I thought of the poor wretches who had suffered in
+this same boat and wondered if their lot would be my lot.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Bes was faithful and clever, but what could a single dwarf do among all these
+black-hearted fiends? And if he could do nothing, oh! if he could do nothing!
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The seconds seemed minutes, the minutes seemed hours, and the hours seemed
+years. What then would the days be, passed in torture and agony while waiting
+for a filthy death? Where now were the gods I had worshipped and&mdash;was
+there any god? Or was man but a self-deceiver who created gods instead of the
+gods creating him, because he did not love to think of an eternal blackness in
+which he would soon be swallowed up and lost? Well, at least that would mean
+sleep, and sleep is better than torment of mind or body.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It came to me, I think, who was so weary. At any rate I opened my eyes to see
+that the low moon had vanished and that some of the stars which I knew as a
+hunter who had often steered his way by them, had moved a little. While I was
+wondering idly why they moved, I heard the tramp of soldiers on the quay and
+the voice of an officer giving a command. Then I felt the boat being drawn in
+by the cord with which it was attached to the quay. Next the other boat that
+lay over me was lifted off, the ropes that bound me were undone and I was set
+upon my feet, for already I was so stiff that I could scarcely stand. A voice
+which I recognised as that of the eunuch Houman, addressed me in respectful
+tones, which made me think I must be dreaming.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Noble Shabaka,&rdquo; said the voice, &ldquo;the Great King commands
+your presence at his feast.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Is it so?&rdquo; I answered in my dream. &ldquo;Then my absence from
+their feast will vex the gnats of the river,&rdquo; a saying at which Houman
+and others with him laughed obsequiously.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Next I heard the bags of gold being removed from the boat, after which we
+walked away, guards supporting me by either elbow until I found my strength
+again, and Houman following just behind, perhaps because he feared my foot if
+he went in front.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;What has chanced, Eunuch,&rdquo; I asked presently, &ldquo;that I am
+disturbed from the bed where I was sleeping so well?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I do not know, Lord,&rdquo; he answered. &ldquo;I only know that the
+King of kings has suddenly commanded that you should be brought before him as a
+guest clothed in a robe of honour, even if to do so, you must be awakened from
+your rest, yes, to his own royal table, for he holds a feast this night.
+Lord,&rdquo; he went on in a whining voice, &ldquo;if perchance fortune should
+have changed her face to you, I pray you bear no malice to those who, when she
+frowned, were forced, yes, under the private Seal of Seals, against their will
+to carry out the commands of the King. Be just, O Lord Shabaka.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Say no more. I will try to be just,&rdquo; I answered. &ldquo;But what
+is justice in the East? I only know of it in Egypt.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Now we reached one of the doors of the palace and I was taken to a chamber
+where slaves who were waiting, washed and anointed me with scents, after which
+they clad me in a beautiful robe of silk, setting the girdle of rose-hued
+pearls about me.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When they had finished, preceded by Houman I was led to a great pillared hall
+closed in with silk hangings, where many feasted. Through them I went to a dais
+at the head of the hall where between half-drawn curtains surrounded by
+cup-bearers and other officers, the King sat in all his glory upon a cushioned
+golden throne. He had a glittering wine-cup in his hand and at a glance I saw
+that he was drunk, as it is the fashion for these Easterns to be at their great
+feasts, for he looked happy and human which he did not do when he was sober. Or
+perchance, as sometimes I thought afterwards, he only pretended to be drunk.
+Also I saw something else, namely, Bes, wondrously attired with the gold chain
+about his neck and wearing a red headdress. He was seated on the carpet before
+the throne, and saying things that made the King laugh and even caused the
+grave officers behind to smile.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I came to the dais and at a little sign from Bes who yet did not seem to see
+me, such a sign as he often made when he caught sight of game before I did, I
+prostrated myself. The King looked at me, then asked,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Who is this?&rdquo; adding, &ldquo;Oh, I remember, the Egyptian whose
+arrows do not miss, the wonderful hunter whom Idernes sent to me from Memphis,
+which I hope to visit ere long. We quarrelled, did we not, Egyptian, something
+about a lion?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Not so, King,&rdquo; I answered. &ldquo;The King was angry and with
+justice, because I could not kill a lion before it frightened his
+horses.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+This I said because my hours in the boat had made me humble, also because the
+words came to my lips.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Yes, yes, something like that, or at least you lie well. Whatever it may
+have been, it is done with now, a mere hunters&rsquo; difference,&rdquo; and
+taking from his side his long sceptre that was headed with the great emerald,
+he stretched it out for me to touch in token of pardon.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then I knew that I was safe for he to whom the King has extended his sceptre is
+forgiven all crimes, yes, even if he had attempted the royal life. The Court
+knew it also, for every man who saw bowed towards me, yes, even the officers
+behind the King. One of the cup-bearers too brought me a goblet of the
+King&rsquo;s own wine, which I drank thankfully, calling down health on the
+King.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;That was a wonderful shot of yours, Egyptian,&rdquo; he said,
+&ldquo;when you sent an arrow through the lioness that dared to attack my
+Majesty. Yes, the King owes his life to you and he is grateful as you shall
+learn. This slave of yours,&rdquo; and he pointed to Bes in his gaudy attire,
+&ldquo;has brought the whole matter to my mind whence it had fallen, and,
+Shabaka,&rdquo; here he hiccupped, &ldquo;you may have noted how differently
+things look to the naked eye and when seen through a wine goblet. He has told
+me a wonderful story&mdash;what was the story, Dwarf?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;May it please the great King,&rdquo; answered Bes, rolling his big eyes,
+&ldquo;only a little tale of another king of my own country whom I used to
+think great until I came to the East and learned what kings could be. That king
+had a servant with whom he used to hunt, indeed he was my own father. One day
+they were out together seeking a certain elephant whose tusks were bigger than
+those of any other. Then the elephant charged the king and my father, at the
+risk of his life, killed it and claimed the tusks, as is the custom among the
+Ethiopians. But the king who greatly desired those tusks, caused my father to
+be poisoned that he might take them as his heir. Only before he died, my
+father, who could talk the elephant language, told all the other elephants of
+this wickedness, at which they were very angry, because they knew well that
+from the beginning of time their tusks have belonged to him who killed them,
+and the elephants are a people who do not like ancient laws to be altered. So
+the elephants made a league together and when the king next went out hunting,
+taking heed of nothing else they rushed at the king and tore him into pieces no
+bigger than a finger, and then killed the prince his son, who was behind him.
+That is the tale of the elephants who love Law, O King.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Yes, yes,&rdquo; said his Majesty, waking up from a little doze,
+&ldquo;but what became of the great tusks? I should like to have them.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I inherited them as my father&rsquo;s son, O King, and gave them to my
+master, who doubtless will send them to you when he gets back to Egypt.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;A strange tale,&rdquo; said the King. &ldquo;A very strange tale which
+seems to remind me of something that happened not long ago. What was it? Well,
+it does not matter. Egyptian, do you seek any reward for that shot of yours at
+the lioness? If so, it shall be given to you. Have you a grudge against anyone,
+for instance?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;O King,&rdquo; I answered, &ldquo;I do seek justice against a certain
+man. This evening I was led to the bank of the river in charge of the eunuch
+Houman, who desired to take me for a row in a boat. On the road, for no offence
+he struck me on the head with the handle of his fly-whip. See, here are the
+marks of it, O King. Unless the King commanded him to strike me which I do not
+remember, I seek justice against this eunuch.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Now the King grew very angry and cried,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;What! Did the dog dare to strike a freeborn noble Egyptian?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Here Houman threw himself upon his face in terror and began to babble out I
+know not what about the punishment of the boat, which was unlucky for him, for
+it put the matter into the King&rsquo;s mind.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;The boat!&rdquo; he cried. &ldquo;Ah! yes, the boat; being so fat you
+will fit it well, Eunuch. To the boat with him, and before he enters it a
+hundred blows upon the feet with the rods,&rdquo; and he pointed at him with
+his sceptre.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then guards sprang upon Houman and dragged him away. As he went he clutched at
+Bes, but hissing something into his ear, the dwarf bit him through the hand
+till he let go. So Houman departed and the King&rsquo;s guests laughed at the
+sight, for he had worked mischief to many.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When he had gone the King stared at me and asked,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;But why did I disturb you from your sleep, Egyptian? Oh! I remember.
+This dwarf says that he has seen the fairest woman in the whole world, and the
+most learned, some lady of Egypt, but that he does not know her name, that you
+alone know her name. I disturbed you that you might tell it to me but if you
+have forgotten it, you can go back to your bed and rest there till it returns
+to you. There are plenty of boats in the river, Egyptian.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;The fairest and most learned woman in the world?&rdquo; I said
+astonished. &ldquo;Who can that be, unless he means the lady Amada?&rdquo; and
+I paused, wishing I had bitten out my tongue before I spoke, for I smelt a
+trap.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Yes, Master,&rdquo; said Bes in a clear voice. &ldquo;That was the name,
+the lady Amada.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Who is this lady Amada?&rdquo; asked the King, seeming to grow suddenly
+sober. &ldquo;And what is she like?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I can tell you that, O King,&rdquo; said Bes. &ldquo;She is like a
+willow shaken in the wind for slenderness and grace. She has eyes like those of
+a buck at gaze; she has lips like rosebuds; she has hair black as the night and
+soft as silk, the odour of which floats round her like that of flowers. She has
+a voice that whispers like the evening wind, and yet is rich as honey. Oh! she
+is beautiful as a goddess and when men see her their hearts melt like wax in
+the sun and for a long while they can look upon no other woman, not till the
+next day indeed if they meet her in the evening,&rdquo; and Bes smacked his
+thick lips and gazed upwards.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;By the holy Fire,&rdquo; laughed the King, &ldquo;I feel my heart
+melting already. Say, Shabaka, what do you know of this Amada? Is she married
+or a maiden?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Now I answered because I must, for after all that boat was not far away, nor
+did I dare to lie.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;She is married, O King of kings, to the goddess Isis whom she loves
+alone.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;A woman married to a woman, or rather to the Queen of women,&rdquo; he
+answered laughing, &ldquo;well, that matters little.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Nay, O King, it matters much since she is under the protection of Isis
+and inviolate.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;That remains to be seen, Shabaka. I think that I would dare the wrath of
+every false goddess in heaven to win such a prize. Learned also, you say,
+Shabaka.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Aye, O King, full of learning to the finger tips, a prophetess also, one
+in whom the divine fire burns like a lamp in a vase of alabaster, one to whom
+visions come and who can read the future and the past.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Still better,&rdquo; said the King. &ldquo;One, then, who would be a
+fitting consort for the King of kings, who wearies of fat, round-eyed,
+sweetmeat-sucking fools whereof there are hundreds yonder,&rdquo; and he
+pointed towards the House of Women. &ldquo;Who is this maid&rsquo;s
+father?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;He is dead but she is the niece of the Prince Peroa, and by birth the
+Royal Lady of Egypt, O King.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Good, then she is well born also. Hearken, O Shabaka, to-morrow you
+start back to Egypt, bearing letters from me to my vassal Peroa, and to my
+Satrap Idernes, bidding Peroa to hand over this lady Amada to Idernes and
+bidding Idernes to send her to the East with all honour and without delay, that
+she may enter my household as one of my wives.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Now I was filled with rage and horror, and about to refuse this mission when
+Bes broke in swiftly,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Will the King of kings be pleased to give command as to my
+master&rsquo;s safe and honourable escort to Egypt?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;It is commanded with all things necessary for Shabaka the Egyptian and
+the dwarf his servant, with the gold and gems and slaves he won from me in a
+wager, and everything else that is his. Let it be recorded.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Scribes sprang forward and wrote the King&rsquo;s words down, while like one in
+a dream I thought to myself that they could not now be altered. The King
+watched them sleepily for a while, then seemed to wake up and grow clear-minded
+again. At least he said to me,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Fortune has shown you smiles and frowns to-day, Egyptian, and the smiles
+last. Yet remember that she has teeth behind her lips wherewith to tear out the
+throat of the faithless. Man, if you play me false or fail in your mission, be
+sure that you shall die and in such a fashion that will make you think of
+yonder boat as a pleasant bed, and with you this woman Amada and her uncle
+Peroa, and all your kin and hers; yes,&rdquo; he added with a burst of
+shrewdness, &ldquo;and even that abortion of a dwarf to whom I have listened
+because he amused me, but who perhaps is more cunning than he seems.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;O King of kings,&rdquo; I said, &ldquo;I will not be false.&rdquo; But I
+did not add to whom I would be true.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Good. Ere long I shall visit Egypt, as I have told you, and there I
+shall pass judgment on you and others. Till then, farewell. Fear nothing, for
+you have my safe-conduct. Begone, both of you, for you weary me. But first
+drink and keep the cup, and in exchange, give me that bow of yours which shoots
+so far and straight.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;It is the King&rsquo;s,&rdquo; I answered as I pledged him in the
+golden, jewelled cup which a butler had handed to me.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then the curtain fell in front of the throne and chamberlains came forward to
+lead me and Bes back to our lodging, one of whom took the cup and bore it in
+front of us. Down the hall we went between the feasting nobles who all bowed to
+one to whom the Great King had shown favour, and so out of the palace through
+the quiet night back to the house where I had dwelt while waiting audience of
+the King. Here the chamberlains bade me farewell, giving the cup to Bes to
+carry, and saying that on the morrow early my gold should be brought to me
+together with all that was needed for my journey, also one who would receive
+the bow I had promised to the King, which had already been returned to my
+lodgings with everything that was ours. Then they bowed and went.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+We entered the house, climbing a stair to an upper chamber. Here Bes barred the
+door and the shutters, making sure that none could see or hear us.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then he turned, threw his arms about me, kissed my hand and burst into tears.
+</p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2><a name="chap07"></a>CHAPTER VII.<br />BES STEALS THE SIGNET</h2>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Oh! my Master,&rdquo; gulped Bes, &ldquo;I weep because I am tired, so
+take no notice. The day was long and during it twice at least there has been
+but the twinkling of an eyelid, but the thickness of a finger nail, but the
+weight of a hair between you and death.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; I said, &ldquo;and you were the eyelid, the finger nail and
+the hair.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;No, Master, not I, but something beyond me. The tool carves the statue
+and the hand holds the tool but the spirit guides the hand. Not once only since
+the sun rose has my mind been empty as a drum. Then something struck on it,
+perhaps the holy Tanofir, perhaps another, and it knew what note to sound. So
+it was when I cursed you in the boat. So it was when I walked back with the
+eunuch, meaning to kill him on the road, and then remembered that the death of
+one vile eunuch would not help you at all, whereas alive he could bring me to
+the presence of the King, if I paid him, as I did out of the gold in your purse
+which I carried. Moreover he earned his hire, for when the King grew dull, wine
+not yet having taken a hold on him, it was he who brought me to his mind as one
+who might amuse him, being so ugly and different from others, if only for a few
+minutes, after the women dancers had failed to do so.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;And what happened then, Bes?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Then I was fetched and did my juggling tricks with that snake I caught
+and tamed, which is in my pouch now. You should not hate it any more, Master,
+for it played your game well. After this the King began to talk to me and I saw
+that his mind was ill at ease about you whom he knew that he had wronged. So I
+told him that story of an elephant that my father killed to save a
+king&mdash;it grew up in my mind like a toadstool in the night, Master, did
+this story of an ungrateful king and what befell him. Then the King became
+still more unquiet in his heart about you and asked the eunuch, Houman, where
+you were, to which he answered that by his order you were sleeping in a boat
+and might not be disturbed. So that arrow of mine missed its mark because the
+King did not like to eat his own words and cause you to be brought from out the
+boat, whither he had sent you. Now when everything seemed lost, some god, or
+perhaps the holy Tanofir who is ever present with me to see that I have not
+forgotten him, put it into the King&rsquo;s mouth to begin to talk about women
+and to ask me if I had ever seen any fairer than those dancers whom I met going
+out as I came in. I answered that I had not noticed them much because they were
+so ugly, as indeed all women had seemed to me since once upon the banks of Nile
+I had looked upon one who was as Hathor herself for beauty. The King asked me
+who this might be and I answered that I did not know since I had never dared to
+ask the name of one whom even my master held to be as a goddess, although as
+boy and girl they had been brought up together.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Then the King saw his opportunity to ease his conscience and inquired of
+an old councillor if there were not a law which gave the king power to alter
+his decree if thereby he could satisfy his soul and acquire knowledge. The
+councillor answered that there was such a law and began to give examples of its
+working, till the King cut him short and said that by virtue of it he commanded
+that you should be brought out of your bed in the boat and led before him to
+answer a question.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;So you were sent for, Master, but I did not go with the messengers,
+fearing lest if I did the King would forget all about the matter before you
+came. Therefore I stayed and amused him with tales of hunting, till I could not
+think of any more, for you were long in coming. Indeed I began to fear lest he
+should declare the feast at an end. But at the last, just as he was yawning and
+spoke to one of his councillors, bidding him send to the House of Women that
+they might make ready to receive him there, you came, and the rest you
+know.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Now I looked at Bes and said,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;May the blessing of all the gods of all the lands be on your head, since
+had it not been for you I should now lie in torment in that boat. Hearken,
+friend: If ever we reach Egypt again, you will set foot on it, not as a slave
+but as a free man. You will be rich also, Bes, that is, if we can take the gold
+I won with us, since half of it is yours.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Bes squatted down upon the floor and looked up at me with a strange smile on
+his ugly face.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;You have given me three things, Master,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Gold,
+which I do not want at present; freedom, which I do not want at present and
+mayhap, never shall while you live and love me; and the title of friend. This I
+do want, though why I should care to hear it from your lips I am not sure,
+seeing that for a long while I have known that it was spoken in your heart.
+Since you have said it, however, I will tell you something which hitherto I
+have hid even from you. I have a right to that name, for if your blood is high,
+O Shabaka, so is mine. Know that this poor dwarf whom you took captive and
+saved long years ago was more than the petty chief which he declared himself to
+be. He was and is by right the King of the Ethiopians and that throne with all
+its wealth and power he could claim to-morrow if he would.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;The King of the Ethiopians!&rdquo; I said. &ldquo;Oh! friend Bes, I pray
+you to remember that we no longer stand in yonder court lying for our
+lives.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I speak no lie, O Shabaka, I before you am King of the Ethiopians.
+Moreover, I laid that kingship down of my own will and should I so desire, can
+take it up again when I will, since the Ethiopians are faithful to their
+kings.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Why?&rdquo; I asked, astonished.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Master, for so I will still call you who am not yet upon the land of
+Egypt where you have promised me freedom, do you remember anything strange
+about the people of that tribe from among whom you and the Egyptian soldiers
+captured me by surprise, because they wished to drive you and your following
+from their country?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Now I thought and answered,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Yes, one thing. I saw no women in their camp, nor any sign of children.
+This I know because I gave orders that such were to be spared and it was
+reported to me that there were none, so I supposed that they had fled
+away.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;There were none to fly, Master. That tribe was a brotherhood which had
+abjured women. Look on me now. I am misshapen, hideous, am I not? Born thus, it
+is said, because before my birth my mother was frightened by a dwarf. Yet the
+law of the Ethiopians is that their kings must marry within a year of their
+crowning. Therefore I chose a woman to be the queen whom I had long desired in
+secret. She scorned me, vowing that not for all the thrones of all the world
+would she be mated to a monster, and that if it were done by force she would
+kill herself, a saying that went abroad throughout the land. I said that she
+had spoken well and sent her in safety from the country, after which I too laid
+down my crown and departed with some who loved me, to form a brotherhood of
+women-haters further down the Nile, beyond the borders of Ethiopia. There the
+Egyptian force of which you were in command, attacked us unprepared, and you
+made me your slave. That is all.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;But why did you do this, Bes, seeing that maidens are many and all would
+not have thought thus?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Because I wished for that one only, Master; also I feared lest I should
+become the father of a breed of twisted dwarfs. So I who was a king am now a
+slave, and yet, who knows which way the Grasshopper will jump? One day from a
+slave I may again grow into a king. And now let us seek that wherein kings are
+as slaves and slaves as kings&mdash;sleep.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+So we lay down and slept, I thanking the gods that my bed was not yonder in the
+boat upon the great river.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When I woke refreshed, though after all I had gone through on the yesterday my
+brain still swam a little, the light was pouring through the carved work of the
+shuttered windows. By it I saw Bes seated on the floor engaged in doing
+something to his bow, which, as I have said, had been restored to us with our
+other weapons, and asked him sleepily what it was.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Master,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;yonder King demanded your bow and
+therefore a bow must be sent to him. But there is no need for it to be that
+with which you shot the lions, which, too, you value above anything you have,
+seeing that it came down to you from your forefather who was a Pharaoh of
+Egypt, and has been your companion from boyhood ever since you were strong
+enough to draw it. As you may remember I copied that bow out of a somewhat
+lighter wood, which I could bend with ease, and it is the copy that we will
+give to the King. Only first I must set your string upon it, for that may have
+been noted; also make one or two marks that are on your bow which I am
+finishing now, having begun the task with the dawn.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;You are clever,&rdquo; I said laughing, &ldquo;and I am glad. The holy
+Tanofir, looking on my bow, once had a vision. It was that an arrow loosed from
+it would drink the blood of a great king and save Egypt. But what king and
+when, he did not see.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The dwarf nodded and answered,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I have heard that tale and so have others. Therefore I play this trick
+since it is better that yonder palace dweller should get the arrow than the
+bow. There, it is finished to the last scratch, and none, save you and I, would
+know them apart. Till we are clear of this cursed land your bow is mine,
+Master, and you must find you another of the Eastern make.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Master,&rdquo; I repeated after him. &ldquo;Say, Bes, did I dream or did
+you in truth tell me last night that you are by birth and right the king of a
+great country?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I told you that, Master and it is true, no dream, since joy and
+suffering mixed unseal the lips and from them comes that at times which the
+heart would hide. Now I ask a favour of you, that you will speak no more of
+this matter either to me or to any other, man or woman, unless I should speak
+of it first. Let it be as though it were indeed a dream.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;It is granted,&rdquo; I said as I rose and clothed myself, not in my own
+garments which had been taken from me in the palace, but in the splendid silken
+robes that had been set upon me after I was loosed from the boat. When this was
+done and I had washed and combed my long, curling hair, we descended to a lower
+chamber and called for the woman of the house to bring us food, of which I ate
+heartily. As we finished our meal we heard shouts in the street outside of,
+&ldquo;Make way for the servants of the King!&rdquo; and looking through the
+window-place, saw a great cavalcade approaching, headed by two princes on
+horseback.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Now I pray that yonder Tyrant has not changed his mind and that these do
+not come to take me back to the boat,&rdquo; I said in a low voice.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Have no fear, Master,&rdquo; answered Bes, &ldquo;seeing that you have
+touched his sceptre and drunk from his cup which he gave to you. After these
+things no harm can happen to you in any land he rules. Therefore be at ease and
+deal with these fellows proudly.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+A minute later two princes entered followed by slaves who bore many things,
+among them those hide bags filled with gold that had been set beneath me in the
+boat. The elder of them bowed, greeting me with the title of
+&ldquo;Lord,&rdquo; and I bowed back to him. Then he handed me certain rolls
+tied up with silk and sealed, which he said I was to deliver as the King had
+commanded to the King&rsquo;s Satrap in Egypt, and to the Prince Peroa. Also he
+gave me other letters addressed to the King&rsquo;s servants on the road and
+written on tablets of clay in a writing I could not read, with all of which I
+touched my forehead in the Eastern fashion.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+After this he told me that by noon all would be ready for my journey which I
+should make with the rank of the King&rsquo;s Envoy, duly provisioned and
+escorted by his servants, with liberty to use the royal horses from post to
+post. Then he ordered the slaves to bring in the gifts which the King sent to
+me, and these were many, including even suits of flexible armour that would
+turn any sword-thrust or arrow.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I thanked him, saying that I would be ready to start by noon, and asked whether
+the King wished to see me before I rode. He replied that he had so wished, but
+that as he was suffering in his head from the effects of the sun, he could not.
+He bade me, however, remember all that he had said to me and to be sure that
+the beauteous lady Amada, of whom I had spoken, was sent to him without delay.
+In that case my reward should be great; but if I failed to fulfil his commands,
+then his wrath would be greater and I should perish miserably as he had
+promised.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I bowed and made no answer, after which he and his companions opened the bags
+of gold to show me that it was there, offering to weigh it again against my
+servant, the dwarf, so that I could see that nothing had been taken away.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I replied that the King&rsquo;s word was truer than any scale, whereon the bags
+were tied up again and sealed. Then I produced the bow, or rather its
+counterfeit, and having shown it to the princes, wrapped it and six of my own
+arrows in a linen cloth, to be taken to the King, with a message that though
+hard to draw it was the deadliest weapon in the world. The elder of them took
+it, bowed and bade me farewell, saying that perhaps we should meet again ere
+long in Egypt, if my gods gave me a safe journey. So we parted and I was glad
+to see the last of them.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Scarcely had they gone when the six hunters whom I had won in the wager and
+thereby saved from death, entered the chamber and fell upon their knees before
+me, asking for orders as to making ready my gear for the journey. I inquired of
+them if they were coming also, to which their spokesman replied that they were
+my slaves to do what I commanded.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Do you desire to come?&rdquo; I inquired.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;O Lord Shabaka,&rdquo; answered their spokesman, &ldquo;we do, though
+some of us must leave wives and children behind us.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Why?&rdquo; I asked.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;For two reasons, Lord. Here we are men disgraced, though through no
+fault of our own and if you were to leave us in this land, soon the anger of
+the King would find us out and we should lose not only our wives and children,
+but with them our lives. Whereas in another land we may get other wives and
+more children, but never shall we get another life. Therefore we would leave
+those dear ones to our friends, knowing that soon the women will forget and
+find other husbands, and that the children will grow up to whatever fate is
+appointed them, thinking of us, their fathers, as dead. Secondly we are hunters
+by trade, and we have seen that you are a great hunter, one whom we shall
+always be proud to serve in the chase or in war, one, too, who went out of his
+path to save our lives, because he saw that we had been unjustly doomed to a
+cruel death. Therefore we desire nothing better than to be your slaves, hoping
+that perchance we may earn our liberty from you in days to come by our good
+service.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Is that the wish of all of you?&rdquo; I asked.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Speaking one by one, they said that it was, though tears rose in the eyes of
+some of them who were married at the thought of parting from their women and
+their little ones, who, it seemed might not be brought with them because they
+were the people of the King and had not been named in the bet. Moreover, horses
+could not be found for so many, nor could they travel fast.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Come then,&rdquo; I said, &ldquo;and know that while you are faithful to
+me, I will be good to you, men of my own trade, and perhaps in the end set you
+free in a land where brave fellows are not given to be torn to pieces by wild
+beasts at the word of any king. But if you fail me or betray me, then either I
+will kill you, or sell you to those who deal in slaves, to work at the oar, or
+in the mines till you die.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Henceforth we have no lord but you, O Shabaka,&rdquo; they said, and one
+after another took my hand and pressed it to their foreheads, vowing to be true
+to me in all things while we lived.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+So I bade them begone to bid farewell to those they loved and return again
+within half an hour of noon, never expecting, to tell the truth, that they
+would come. Indeed I did this to give them the opportunity of escaping if they
+saw fit, and hiding themselves where they would. But as I have often noted, the
+trade of hunting breeds honesty in the blood and at the hour appointed all of
+these men appeared, one of them with a woman who carried a child in her arms,
+clinging to him and weeping bitterly. When her veil slipped aside I saw that
+she was young and very fair to look on.
+</p>
+
+<p class="p2">
+So at noon we left the city of the Great King in the charge of two of his
+officers who brought me his thanks for the bow I had sent him, which he said he
+should treasure above everything he possessed, a saying at which Bes rolled his
+yellow eyes and grinned. We were mounted on splendid stallions from the royal
+stables and clad in the shirts of mail that had been presented to us, though
+when we were clear of the city we took these off because of the heat, also
+because that which Bes wore chafed him, being too long for his squat shape. Our
+goods together with the bags of gold were laden on sumpter horses which were
+led by my six hunter slaves. Four picked soldiers brought up the rear, mighty
+men from the King&rsquo;s own bodyguard, and two of the royal postmen who
+served us as guides. Also there were cooks and grooms with spare horses.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Thus we started in state and a great crowd watched us go. Our road ran by the
+river which we must cross in barges lower down, so that in a few minutes we
+came to that quay whither I had been led on the previous night to die. Yes,
+there were the watching guards, and there floated the hateful double boat, at
+the prow of which appeared the tortured face of the eunuch Houman, who rolled
+his head from side to side to rid himself of the torment of the flies. He
+caught sight of us and began to scream for pity and forgiveness, whereat Bes
+smiled. The officers halted our cavalcade and one of them approaching me said,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;It is the King&rsquo;s command, O Lord Shabaka, that you should look
+upon this villain who traduced you to the King and afterwards dared to strike
+you. If you will, enter the water and blind him, that your face may be the last
+thing he sees before he passes into darkness.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I shook my head, but Bes into whose mind some thought had come, whispered to
+me,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I wish to speak with yonder eunuch, so give me leave and fear nothing. I
+will do him no hurt, only good, if I find the chance.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then I said to the officer,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;It is not for great lords to avenge themselves upon the fallen. Yet my
+slave here was also wronged and would say a word to yonder Houman.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;So be it,&rdquo; said the officer, &ldquo;only let him be careful not to
+hurt him too sorely, lest he should die before the time and escape his
+punishment.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then Bes tucked up his robes and waded into the river, flourishing a great
+knife, while seeing him come, Houman began to scream with fear. He reached the
+boat and bent over the eunuch, talking to him in a low voice. What he did there
+I could not see because his cloak was spread out on either side of the
+man&rsquo;s head. Presently, however, I caught sight of the flash of a knife
+and heard yells of agony followed by groans, whereat I called to him to return
+and let the fellow be. For when I remembered that his fate was near to being my
+own, those sounds made me sick at heart and I grew angry with Bes, though the
+cruel Easterns only laughed.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At length he came back grinning and washing the blade of his knife in the
+water. I spoke fiercely to him in my own language, and still he grinned on,
+making no answer. When we were mounted again and riding away from that horrible
+boat with its groaning prisoner, watching Bes whose behaviour and silence I
+could not understand, I saw him sweep his hand across his great mouth and
+thrust it swiftly into his bosom. After this he spoke readily enough, though in
+a low voice lest someone who understood Egyptian should overhear him.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;You are a fool, Master,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;to think that I should
+wish to waste time in torturing that fat knave.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Then why did you torture him?&rdquo; I asked.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Because my god, the Grasshopper, when he fashioned me a dwarf, gave me a
+big mouth and good teeth,&rdquo; he answered, whereon I stared at him, thinking
+that he had gone mad.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Listen, Master. I did not hurt Houman. All I did was to cut his cords
+nearly through from the under side, so that when night comes he can break them
+and escape, if he has the wit. Now, Master, you may not have noticed, but I
+did, that before the King doomed you to death by the boat yesterday, he took a
+certain round, white seal, a cylinder with gods and signs cut on it, which hung
+by a gold chain from his girdle, and gave it to Houman to be his warrant for
+all he did. This seal Houman showed to the Treasurer whereon they produced the
+gold that was weighed in the scales against me, and to others when he ordered
+the boat to be prepared for you to lie in. Moreover he forgot to return it, for
+when he himself was dragged off to the boat by direct command of the King, I
+caught sight of the chain beneath his robe. Can you guess the rest?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Not quite,&rdquo; I answered, for I wished to hear the tale in his own
+words.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Well, Master, when I was walking with Houman after he had put you in the
+boat, I asked him about this seal. He showed it to me and said that he who bore
+it was for the time the king of all the Empire of the East. It seems that there
+is but one such seal which has descended from ancient days from king to king,
+and that of it every officer, great or small, has an impress in all lands. If
+the seal is produced to him, he compares it with the impress and should the two
+agree, he obeys the order that is brought as though the King had given it in
+person. When we reached the Court doubtless Houman would have returned the
+seal, but seeing that the King was, or feigned to be drunk, waited for fear
+lest it should be lost, and with it his life. Then he was seized as you saw,
+and in his terror forgot all about the seal, as did the King and his
+officers.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;But, surely, Bes, those who took Houman to the boat would have removed
+it.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Master, even the most clear-sighted do not see well at night. At any
+rate my hope was that they had not done so, and that is why I waded out to
+prick the eyes of Houman. Moreover, as I had hoped, so it was; there beneath
+his robe I saw the chain. Then I spoke to him, saying,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;&lsquo;I am come to put out your eyes, as you deserve, seeing how you
+have treated my master. Still I will spare you at a price. Give me the
+King&rsquo;s ancient white seal that opens all doors, and I will only make a
+pretence of blinding you. Moreover I will cut your cords nearly through, so
+that when the night comes you can break them, roll into the river and
+escape.&rsquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;&lsquo;Take it if you can,&rsquo; he said, &lsquo;and use it to injure
+or destroy that accursed one.&rsquo;&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;So you took it, Bes.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Yes, Master, but not easily. Remember, it was on a chain about the
+man&rsquo;s neck, and I could not draw it over his head, for, like his hands,
+his throat was tied by a cord, as you remember yours was.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I remember very well,&rdquo; I said, &ldquo;for my throat is still sore
+from the rope that ran to the same staples to which my hands were
+fastened.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Yes, Master, and therefore if I drew the chain off his neck, it would
+still have been on the ropes. I thought of trying to cut it with the knife, but
+this was not easy because it is thick, and if I had dragged it up on the blade
+of the knife it would have been seen, for many eyes were watching me, Master.
+Then I took another counsel. While I pretended to be putting out the eyes of
+Houman, I bent down and getting the chain between my teeth I bit it through.
+One tooth broke&mdash;see, but the next finished the business. I ate through
+the soft gold, Master, and then sucked up the chain and the round white seal
+into my mouth, and that is why I could not answer you just now, because my
+cheeks were full of chain. So we have the King&rsquo;s seal that all the
+subject countries know and obey. It may be useful, yonder in Egypt, and at
+least the gold is of value.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Clever!&rdquo; I exclaimed, &ldquo;very clever. But you have forgotten
+something, Bes. When that knave escapes, he will tell the whole story and the
+King will send after us and kill us who have stolen his royal seal.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think so, Master. First, it is not likely that Houman will
+escape. He is very fat and soft and already suffers much. After a day in the
+sun also he will be weak. Moreover I do not think that he can swim, for eunuchs
+hate the water. So if he gets out of the boat it is probable that he will drown
+in the river, since he dare not wade to the quay where the guards will be
+waiting. But if he does escape by swimming across the river, he will hide for
+his life&rsquo;s sake and never be seen again, and if by chance he is caught,
+he will say that the seal fell into the water when he was taken to the boat, or
+that one of the guards had stolen it. What he will not say is that he had
+bargained it away with someone who in return, cut his cords, since for that
+crime he must die by worse tortures than those of the boat. Lastly we shall
+ride so fast that with six hours&rsquo; start none will catch us. Or if they do
+I can throw away the chain and swallow the seal.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+As Bes said, so it happened. The fate of Houman I never learned, and of the
+theft of the seal I heard no more until a proclamation was issued to all the
+kingdoms that a new one was in use. But this was not until long afterwards when
+it had served my turn and that of Egypt.
+</p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2><a name="chap08"></a>CHAPTER VIII.<br />THE LADY AMADA</h2>
+
+<p>
+Now day by day, hour by hour and minute by minute every detail of that journey
+appeared before me, but to set it all down is needless. As I, Allan Quatermain,
+write the record of my vision, still I seem to hear the thunder of our
+horses&rsquo; hoofs while we rushed forward at full gallop over the plains,
+over the mountain passes and by the banks of rivers. The speed at which we
+travelled was wonderful, for at intervals of about forty miles were post-houses
+and at these, whatever might be the hour of day or night, we found fresh horses
+from the King&rsquo;s stud awaiting us. Moreover, the postmasters knew that we
+were coming, which astonished me until we discovered that they had been warned
+of our arrival by two King&rsquo;s messengers who travelled ahead of us.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+These men, it would seem, although our officers and guides professed ignorance
+of the matter, must have left the King&rsquo;s palace at dawn on the day of our
+departure, whereas we did not mount in the city till a little after noon.
+Therefore they had six hours good start of us, and what is more, travelled
+lighter than we did, having no sumpter beasts with them, and no cooks or
+servants. Moreover, always they had the pick of the horses and chose the three
+swiftest beasts, leading the third in case one of their own should founder or
+meet with accident. Thus it came about that we never caught them up although we
+covered quite a hundred miles a day. Only once did I see them, far off upon the
+skyline of a mountain range which we had to climb, but by the time we had
+reached its crest they were gone.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At length we came to the desert without accident and crossed it, though more
+slowly. But even here the King had his posts which were in charge of Arabs who
+lived in tents by wells of water, or sometimes where there was none save what
+was brought to them. So still we galloped on, parched by the burning sand
+beneath and the burning sand above, and reached the borders of Egypt.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Here, upon the very boundary line, the two officers halted the cavalcade saying
+that their orders were to return thence and make report to the King. There then
+we parted, Bes and I with the six hunters who still chose to cling to me, going
+forward and the officers of the King with the guides and servants going back.
+The good horses that we rode from the last post they gave to us by the
+King&rsquo;s command, together with the sumpter beasts, since horses broken to
+the saddle were hard to come by in Egypt where they were trained to draw
+chariots. These we took, sending back my thanks to the King, and started on
+once more, Bes leading that beast which bore the gold and the hunters serving
+as a guard.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Indeed I was glad to see the last of those Easterns although they had brought
+us safely and treated us well, for all the while I was never sure but that they
+had some orders to lead us into a trap, or perhaps to make away with us in our
+sleep and take back the gold and the priceless, rose-hued pearls, any two of
+which were worth it all. But such was not their command nor did they dare to
+steal them on their own account, since then, even if they escaped the vengeance
+of the King, their wives and all their families would have paid the price.
+</p>
+
+<p class="p2">
+Now we entered Egypt near the Salt Lakes that are not far from the head of the
+Gulf, crossing the canal that the old Pharaohs had dug, which proved easy for
+it was silted up. Before we reached it we found some peasant folk labouring in
+their gardens and I heard one of them call to another,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Here come more of the Easterns. What is toward, think you,
+neighbour?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I do not know,&rdquo; answered the other, &ldquo;but when I passed down
+the canal this morning, I saw a body of the Great King&rsquo;s guards gathering
+from the fort. Doubtless it is to meet these men of whose coming the other two
+who went by fifty hours ago, have warned the officers.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Now what does that mean?&rdquo; I asked of Bes.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Neither more nor less than we have heard, Master. The two King&rsquo;s
+messengers who have gone ahead of us all the way from the city, have told the
+officer of the frontier fort that we are coming, so he has advanced to the ford
+to meet us, for what purpose I do not know.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Nor do I,&rdquo; I said, &ldquo;but I wish we could take another road,
+if there were one.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;There is none, Master, for above and below the canal is full of water
+and the banks are too steep for horses to climb. Also we must show no doubt or
+fear.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He thought a while, then added,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Take the royal seal, Master. It may be useful.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He gave it to me, and I examined it more closely than I had done before. It was
+a cylinder of plain white shell hung on a gold chain, that which Bes had bitten
+through, but now mended again by taking out the broken link. On this cylinder
+were cut figures; as I think of a priest presenting a noble to a god, over whom
+was the crescent of the moon, while behind the god stood a man or demon with a
+tall spear. Also between the figures were mystic signs, meaning I know not
+what. The workmanship of the carving was grown shallow with time and use for
+the cylinder seemed to be very ancient, a sacred thing that had descended from
+generation to generation and was threaded through with a bar of silver on which
+it turned.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I put the seal which was like no other that I had seen, being the work of an
+early and simpler age, round my neck beneath my mail and we went on.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Descending the steep bank of the canal we came to the ford where the sand that
+had silted in was covered by not more than a foot of water. As we entered it,
+on the top of the further bank appeared a body of about thirty armed and
+mounted men, one of whom carried the Great King&rsquo;s banner, on which I
+noted was blazoned the very figures that were cut upon the cylinder. Now it was
+too late to retreat, so we rode through the water and met the soldiers. Their
+officer advanced, crying,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;In the name of the Great King, greeting, my lord Shabaka!
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;In the name of the Great King, greeting!&rdquo; I answered. &ldquo;What
+would you with Shabaka, Officer of the King?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Only to do him honour. The word of the King has reached us and we come
+to escort you to the Court of Idernes, the Satrap of the King and Governor of
+Egypt who sits at Sais.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;That is not my road, Officer. I travel to Memphis to deliver the
+commands of the King to my cousin, Peroa, the ruler of Egypt under the King.
+Afterwards, perchance, I shall visit the high Idernes.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;To whom our commands are to take you now, my lord Shabaka, not
+afterwards,&rdquo; said the officer sternly, glancing round at his armed
+escort.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I come to give commands, not to receive them, Captain of the
+King.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Seize Shabaka and his servants,&rdquo; said the officer briefly, whereon
+the soldiers rode forward to surround us.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I waited till they were near at hand. Then suddenly I plunged my hand beneath
+my robe and drew out the small, white seal which I held before the eyes of the
+officer, saying,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Who is it that dares to lay a finger upon the holder of the King&rsquo;s
+White Seal? Surely that man is ready for death.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The officer stared at it, then leapt from his horse and flung himself face
+downwards on the ground, crying,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;It is the ancient signet of the Kings of the East, given to their first
+forefather by Samas the Sungod, on which hangs the fortunes of the Great House!
+Pardon, my lord Shabaka.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;It is granted,&rdquo; I answered, &ldquo;because what you did you did in
+ignorance. Now go to the Satrap Idernes and say to him that if he would have
+speech with the bearer of the King&rsquo;s seal which all must obey, he will
+find him at Memphis. Farewell,&rdquo; and with Bes and the six hunters I rode
+through the guards, none striving to hinder me.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;That was well done, Master,&rdquo; said Bes.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; I said. &ldquo;Those two messengers who went ahead of us
+brought orders to the frontier guard of Idernes that I should be taken to him
+as a prisoner. I do not know why, but I think because things are passing in
+Egypt of which we know nothing and the King did not desire that I should see
+the Prince Peroa and give him news that I might have gathered. Mayhap we have
+been outwitted, Bes, and the business of the lady Amada is but a pretext to
+pick a quarrel suddenly before Peroa can strike the first blow.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Perhaps, Master, for these Easterns are very crafty. But, Master, what
+happens to those who make a false use of the King&rsquo;s ancient, sacred
+signet? I think they have cut the ropes which tie them to earth,&rdquo; and he
+looked upwards to the sky rolling his yellow eyes.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;They must find new ropes, Bes, and quickly, before they are caught.
+Hearken. You have sat upon a throne and I can speak out to you. Think you that
+my cousin, the Prince Peroa, loves to be the servant of this distant, Eastern
+king, he who by right is Pharaoh of Egypt? Peroa must strike or lose his niece
+and perchance his life. Forward, that we may warn him.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;And if he will not strike, Master, knowing the King&rsquo;s might and
+being somewhat slow to move?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Then, Bes, I think that you and I had best go hunting far away in those
+lands you know, where even the Great King cannot follow us.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;And where, if only I can find a woman who does not make me ill to look
+on, and whom I do not make ill, I too can once more be a king, Master, and the
+lord of many thousand brave armed men. I must speak of that matter to the holy
+Tanofir.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Who doubtless will know what to advise you, Bes; or, if he does not, I
+shall.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+For a while we rode on in silence, each thinking his own thoughts. Then Bes
+said,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Master, before so very long we shall reach the Nile, and having with us
+gold in plenty can buy boats and hire crews. It comes into my mind that we
+should do well for our own safety and comfort to start at once on a hunting
+journey far from Egypt; in the land of the Ethiopians, Master. There perchance
+I could gather together some of the wise men in whose hands I left the rule of
+my kingdom, and submit to them this question of a woman to marry me. The
+Ethiopians are a faithful people, Master, and will not reject me because I have
+spent some years seeing the world afar, that I might learn how to rule them
+better.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I have remembered that it cannot be, Bes,&rdquo; I said.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Why not, Master?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;For this reason. You left your country because of a woman? I cannot
+leave mine again because of a woman.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Bes rolled his eyes around as though he thought to see that woman in the
+desert. Not discovering her, he stared upwards and there found light.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Is she perchance named the lady Amada, Master?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I nodded.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;So. The lady Amada who you told the Great King is the most beautiful one
+in the whole world, causing the fire of Love to burn up in his royal heart, and
+with it many other things of which we do not know at present.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;<i>You</i> told him, Bes,&rdquo; I said angrily.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I told him of a beautiful one; I did not tell him her name, Master, and
+although I never thought of it at the time, perhaps she will be angry with him
+who told her name.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Now fear took hold of me, and Bes saw it in my face.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Do not be afraid, Master. If there is trouble I will swear that I told
+the Great King that lady&rsquo;s name.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Yes, Bes, but how would that fit in with the story, seeing that I was
+brought out of the boat for this very purpose?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Quite easily, Master, since I will say that you were led from the boat
+to confirm my tale. Oh! she will be angry with me, no doubt, but in Egypt even
+a dwarf cannot be killed because he has declared a certain lady to be the most
+beautiful in the world. But, Master, tell me, when did you learn to love
+her?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;When we were boy and girl, Bes. We used to play together, being cousins,
+and I used to hold her hand. Then suddenly she refused to let me hold her hand
+any more, and I being quite grown up then, though she was younger, understood
+that I had better go away.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I should have stopped where I was, Master.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;No, Bes. She was studying to be a priestess and my great uncle, the holy
+Tanofir, told me that I had better go away. So I went down south hunting and
+fighting in command of the troops, and met you, Bes.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Which perhaps was better for you, Master, than to stop to watch the lady
+Amada acquire learning. Still, I wonder whether the holy Tanofir is
+<i>always</i> right. You see, Master, he thinks a great deal of priests and
+priestesses, and is so very old that he has forgotten all about love and that
+without it there never would have been a holy Tanofir.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;The holy Tanofir thinks of souls, not of bodies, Bes.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Yes, Master. Still, oil is of no use without a lamp, or a soul without a
+body, at least here underneath the sun, or so we were taught who worship the
+Grasshopper. But, Master, when you came back from all your hunting, what
+happened then?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Then I found, Bes, that the lady Amada, having acquired all the learning
+possible, had taken her first vows to Isis, which she said she would not break
+for any man on earth although she might have done so without crime. Therefore,
+although I was dear to her, as a brother would have been had she had one, and
+she swore that she had never even thought of another man, she refused so much
+as to think of marrying who dreamed only of the heavenly perfections of the
+lady Isis.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Ump!&rdquo; said Bes. &ldquo;We Ethiopians have Priestesses of the
+Grasshopper, or the Grasshopper&rsquo;s wife, but they do not think of her like
+that. I hope that one day something stronger than herself will not cause the
+lady Amada to break her vows to the heavenly Isis. Only then, perhaps, it may
+be for the sake of another man who did not go off to the East on account of
+such fool&rsquo;s talk. But here is a village and the horses are spent. Let us
+stop and eat, as I suppose even the lady Amada does sometimes.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p class="p2">
+On the following afternoon we crossed the Nile, and towards sunset entered the
+vast and ancient city of Memphis. On its white walls floated the banners of the
+Great King which Bes pointed out to me, saying that wherever we went in the
+whole world, it seemed that we could never be free from those accursed symbols.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;May I live to spit upon them and cast them into the moat,&rdquo; I
+answered savagely, for as I drew near to Amada they grew ten times more hateful
+to me than they had been before.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In truth I was nearer to Amada than I thought, for after we had passed the
+enclosure of the temple of Ptah, the most wonderful and the mightiest in the
+whole world, we came to the temple of Isis. There near to the pylon gate we met
+a procession of her priests and priestesses advancing to offer the evening
+sacrifice of song and flowers, clad, all of them, in robes of purest white. It
+was a day of festival, so singers went with them. After the singers came a band
+of priestesses bearing flowers, in front of whom walked another priestess
+shaking a <i>sistrum</i> that made a little tinkling music.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Even at a distance there was something about the tall and slender shape of this
+priestess that stirred me. When we came nearer I saw why, for it was Amada
+herself. Through the thin veil she wore I could see her dark and tender eyes
+set beneath the broad brow that was so full of thought, and the sweet, curved
+mouth that was like no other woman&rsquo;s. Moreover there could be no doubt
+since the veil parting above her breast showed the birth-mark for which she was
+famous, the mark of the young moon, the sign of Isis.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I sprang from my horse and ran towards her. She looked up and saw me. At first
+she frowned, then her face grew wondering, then tender, and I thought that her
+red lips shaped my name. Moreover in her confusion she let the <i>sistrum</i>
+fall.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I muttered &ldquo;Amada!&rdquo; and stepped forward, but priests ran between us
+and thrust me away. Next moment she had recovered the <i>sistrum</i> and passed
+on with her head bowed. Nor did she lift her eyes to look back.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Begone, man!&rdquo; cried a priest, &ldquo;Begone, whoever you may be.
+Because you wear Eastern armour do you think that you can dare the curse of
+Isis?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then I fell back, the holy image of the goddess passed and the procession
+vanished through the pylon gate. I, Shabaka the Egyptian, stood by my horse and
+watched it depart. I was happy because the lady Amada was alive, well, and more
+beautiful than ever; also because she had shown signs of joy and confusion at
+seeing me again. Yet I was unhappy because I met her still filling a holy
+office which built a wall between us, also because it seemed to me an evil omen
+that I should have been repelled from her by a priest of Isis who talked of the
+curse of the goddess. Moreover the sacred statue, I suppose by accident, turned
+towards me as it passed and perhaps by the chance of light, seemed to frown
+upon me.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Thus I thought as Shabaka hundreds of years before the Christian era, but as
+Allan Quatermain the modern man, to whom it was given so marvellously to behold
+all these things and who in beholding them, yet never quite lost the sense of
+his own identity of to-day, I was amazed. For I knew that this lady Amada was
+the same being though clad in different flesh, as that other lady with whom I
+had breathed the magical <i>Taduki</i> fumes which had power to rend the
+curtain of the past, or, perhaps, only to breed dreams of what it might have
+been.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+To the outward eye, indeed she was different, as I was different, taller, more
+slender, larger-eyed, with longer and slimmer hands than those of any Western
+woman, and on the whole even more beautiful and alluring. Moreover that
+mysterious look which from time to time I had seen on Lady Ragnall&rsquo;s
+face, was more constant on that of the lady Amada. It brooded in the deep eyes
+and settled in a curious smile about the curves of the lips, a smile that was
+not altogether human, such a smile as one might wear who had looked on hidden
+things and heard voices that spoke beyond the limits of the world.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Somehow neither then nor at any other time during all my dream, could I imagine
+this Amada, this daughter of a hundred kings, whose blood might be traced back
+through dynasty on dynasty, as nothing but a woman who nurses children upon her
+breast. It was as though something of our common nature had been bred out of
+her and something of another nature whereof we have no ken, had entered to fill
+its place. And yet these two women were the same, that I <i>knew</i>, or at any
+rate, much of them was the same, for who can say what part of us we leave
+behind as we flit from life to life, to find it again elsewhere in the abysms
+of Time and Change? One thing too was quite identical&mdash;the birthmark of
+the new moon above the breast which the priests of the Kendah had declared was
+always the seal that marked their prophetess, the guardian of the Holy Child.
+</p>
+
+<p class="p2">
+When the procession had quite departed and I could no longer hear the sound of
+singing, I remounted and rode on to my house, or rather to that of my mother,
+the great lady Tiu, which was situated beneath the wall of the old palace
+facing towards the Nile. Indeed my heart was full of this mother of mine whom I
+loved and who loved me, for I was her only child, and my father had been long
+dead; so long that I could not remember him. Eight months had gone by since I
+saw her face and in eight months who knew what might have happened? The thought
+made me cold for she, who was aged and not too strong, perhaps had been
+gathered to Osiris. Oh! if that were so!
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I shook my tired horse to a canter, Bes riding ahead of me to clear a road
+through the crowded street in which, at this hour of sundown, all the idlers of
+Memphis seemed to have gathered. They stared at me because it was not common to
+see men riding in Memphis, and with little love, since from my dress and escort
+they took me to be some envoy from their hated master, the Great King of the
+East. Some even threatened to bar the way; but we thrust through and presently
+turned into a thoroughfare of private houses standing in their own gardens.
+Ours was the third of these. At its gate I leapt from my horse, pushed open the
+closed door and hastened in to seek and learn.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I had not far to go for, there in the courtyard, standing at the head of our
+modest household and dressed in her festal robes, was my mother, the stately
+and white-haired lady Tiu, as one stands who awaits the coming of an honoured
+guest. I ran to her and kneeling, kissed her hand, saying,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;My mother! My mother, I have come safe home and greet you.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I greet you also, my son,&rdquo; she answered, bending down and kissing
+me on the brow, &ldquo;who have been in far lands and passed so many dangers. I
+greet you and thank the guardian gods who have brought you safe home again.
+Rise, my son.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I rose and kissed her on the face, then looked at the servants who were bowing
+their welcome to me, and said,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;How comes it, Lady of the House, that all are gathered here? Did you
+await some guest?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;We awaited you, my son. For an hour have we stood here listening for the
+sound of your feet.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Me!&rdquo; I exclaimed. &ldquo;That is strange, seeing that I have
+ridden fast and hard from the East, tarrying only a few minutes, and those
+since I entered Memphis, when I met&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo; and I stopped.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Met whom, Shabaka?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;The lady Amada walking in the procession of Isis.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Ah! the lady Amada. The mother waits that the son may stop to greet the
+lady Amada!&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;But <i>why</i> did you wait, my mother? Who but a spirit or a bird of
+the air could have told you that I was coming, seeing that I sent no messenger
+before me?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;You must have done so, Shabaka, since yesterday one came from the holy
+Tanofir, our relative who dwells in the desert in the burial-ground of Sekera.
+He bore a message from Tanofir to me, telling me to make ready since before
+sundown to-night you, my son, would be with me, having escaped great dangers,
+accompanied by the dwarf Bes, your servant, and six strange Eastern men. So I
+made ready and waited; also I prepared lodging for the six strange men in the
+outbuildings behind the house and sent a thank offering to the temple. For
+know, my son, I have suffered much fear for you.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;And not without cause, as you will say when I tell you all,&rdquo; I
+answered laughing. &ldquo;But how Tanofir knew that I was coming is more than I
+can guess. Come, my mother, greet Bes here, for had it not been for him, never
+should I have lived to hold your hand again.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+So she greeted him and thanked him, whereon Bes rolled his eyes and muttered
+something about the holy Tanofir, after which we entered the house. Thence I
+despatched a messenger to the Prince Peroa saying that if it were his pleasure
+I would wait on him at once, seeing that I had much to tell him. This done I
+bathed and caused my hair and beard to be trimmed and, discarding the Eastern
+garments, clothed myself in those of Egypt, and so felt that I was my own man
+again. Then I came out refreshed and drank a cup of Syrian wine and the night
+having fallen, sat down by my mother in the chamber with a lamp between us,
+and, holding her hand, told her something of my story, showing her the sacks of
+gold that had come with me safely from the East, and the chain of priceless,
+rose-hued pearls that I had won in a wager from the Great King.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Now when she learned how Bes by his wit had saved me from a death of torment in
+the boat, my mother clapped her hands to summon a servant and sent for Bes, and
+said to him,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Bes, hitherto I have looked on you as a slave taken by my son, the noble
+Shabaka, in one of his far journeys that it pleases him to make to fight and to
+hunt. But henceforth I look upon you as a friend and give you a seat at my
+table. Moreover it comes into my mind that although so strangely shaped by some
+evil god, perhaps you are more than you seem to be.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Now Bes looked at me to see if I had told my mother anything, and when I shook
+my head answered,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I thank you, O Lady of the House, who have but done my duty to my
+master. Still it is true that as a goatskin often holds good wine, so a dwarf
+should not always be judged by what can be seen of him.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then he went away.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;It seems that we are rich again, Son, who have been somewhat poor of
+late years,&rdquo; said my mother, looking at the bags of gold. &ldquo;Also,
+there are the pearls which doubtless are worth more than the gold. What are you
+going to do with them, Shabaka?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I thought of offering them as a gift to the lady Amada,&rdquo; I replied
+hesitatingly, &ldquo;that is unless you&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I? No, I am too old for such gems. Yet, Son, it might be well to keep
+them for a time, seeing that while they are your own they may give you more
+weight in the eyes of the Prince Peroa and others. Whereas if you gave them to
+the lady Amada and she took them, perchance it might only be to see them return
+to the East, whither you tell me she is summoned by one whose orders may not be
+disobeyed.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Now I turned white with rage and answered,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;While I live, Mother, Amada shall never go to the East to be the woman
+of yonder King.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;While you live, Son. But those who cross the will of a great king, are
+apt to die. Also this is a matter which her uncle, the Prince Peroa, must
+decide as policy dictates. Now as ever the woman is but a pawn in the game. Oh!
+my son,&rdquo; she went on, &ldquo;do not pin all your heart to the robe of
+this Amada. She is very fair and very learned, but is she one who will love?
+Moreover, if so she is a priestess and it would be difficult for her to wed who
+is sworn to Isis. Lastly, remember this: If Egypt were free, she would be its
+heiress, not her uncle, Peroa. For hers is the true blood, not his. Would he,
+therefore, be willing to give her to any man who, according to the ancient
+custom, through her would acquire the right to rule?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I do not seek to rule, Mother; I only seek to wed Amada whom I
+love.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Amada whom you love and whose name you, or rather your servant Bes,
+which is the same thing since it will be held that he did it by your order,
+gave to the King of the East, or so I understand. Here is a pretty tangle,
+Shabaka, and rather would I be without all that gold and those priceless pearls
+than have the task of its unravelling.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Before I could answer and explain all the truth to her, the curtain was swung
+aside and through it came a messenger from the Prince Peroa, who bade me come
+to eat with him at once at the palace, since he must see me this night.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+So my mother having set the rope of rose-hued pearls in a double chain about my
+neck, I kissed her and went, with Bes who was also bidden. Outside a chariot
+was waiting into which we entered.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Now, Master,&rdquo; said Bes to me as we drove to the palace, &ldquo;I
+almost wish that we were back in another chariot hunting lions in the
+East.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Why?&rdquo; I asked.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Because then, although we had much to fear, there was no woman in the
+story. Now the woman has entered it and I think that our real troubles are
+about to begin. Oh! to-morrow I go to seek counsel of the holy Tanofir.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;And I come with you,&rdquo; I answered, &ldquo;for I think it will be
+needed.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2><a name="chap09"></a>CHAPTER IX.<br />THE MESSENGERS</h2>
+
+<p>
+We descended at the great gate of the palace and were led through empty halls
+that were no longer used now when there was no king in Egypt, to the wing of
+the building in which dwelt the Prince Peroa. Here we were received by a
+chamberlain, for the Prince of Egypt still kept some state although it was but
+small, and had about him men who bore the old, high-sounding titles of the
+&ldquo;Officers of Pharaoh.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The chamberlain led me and Bes to an ante-chamber of the banqueting hall and
+left us, saying that he would summon the Prince who wished to see me before he
+ate. This, however, was not necessary since while he spoke Peroa, who as I
+guessed had been waiting for me, entered by another door. He was a
+majestic-looking man of middle age, for grey showed in his hair and beard, clad
+in white garments with a purple hem and wearing on his brow a golden circlet,
+from the front of which rose the <i>uræus</i> in the shape of a hooded snake
+that might be worn by those of royal blood alone. His face was full of thought
+and his black and piercing eyes looked heavy as though with sleeplessness.
+Indeed I could see that he was troubled. His gaze fell upon us and his features
+changed to a pleasant smile.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Greeting, Cousin Shabaka,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I am glad that you have
+returned safe from the East, and burn to hear your tidings. I pray that they
+may be good, for never was good news more needed in Egypt.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Greeting, Prince,&rdquo; I answered, bowing my knee. &ldquo;I and my
+servant here are returned safe, but as for our tidings, well, judge of them for
+yourself,&rdquo; and drawing the letter of the Great King from my robe, I
+touched my forehead with the roll and handed it to him.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I see that you have acquired the Eastern customs, Shabaka,&rdquo; he
+said as he took it. &ldquo;But here in my own house which once was the palace
+of our forefathers, the Pharaohs of Egypt, by your leave I will omit them. Amen
+be my witness,&rdquo; he added bitterly, &ldquo;I cannot bear to lay the letter
+of a foreign king against my brow in token of my country&rsquo;s
+vassalage.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then he broke the silk of the seals and read, and as he read his face grew
+black with rage.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;What!&rdquo; he cried, casting down the roll and stamping on it.
+&ldquo;What! Does this dog of an Eastern king bid me send my niece, by birth
+the Royal Princess of Egypt, to be his toy until he wearies of her? First I
+will choke her with my own hands. How comes it, Shabaka, that you care to bring
+me such a message? Were I Pharaoh now I think your life would pay the
+price.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;As it would certainly have paid the price, had I not done so. Prince, I
+brought the letter because I must. Also a copy of it has gone, I believe, to
+Idernes the Satrap at Sais. It is better to face the truth, Prince, and I think
+that I may be of more service to you alive than dead. If you do not wish to
+send the lady Amada to the King, marry her to someone else, after which he will
+seek her no more.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He looked at me shrewdly and said,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;To whom then? I cannot marry her, being her uncle and already married.
+Do you mean to yourself, Shabaka?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I have loved the lady Amada from a child, Prince,&rdquo; I answered
+boldly. &ldquo;Also I have high blood in me and having brought much gold from
+the East, am rich again and one accustomed to war.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;So you have brought gold from the East! How? Well, you can tell me
+afterwards. But you fly high. You, a Count of Egypt, wish to marry the Royal
+Lady of Egypt, for such she is by birth and rank, which, if ever Egypt were
+free again, would give you a title to the throne.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I ask no throne, Prince. If there were one to fill I should be content
+to leave that to you and your heirs.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;So you say, no doubt honestly. But would the children of Amada say the
+same? Would you even say it if you were her husband, and would she say it?
+Moreover she is a priestess, sworn not to wed, though perhaps that trouble
+might be overcome, if she wishes to wed, which I doubt. Mayhap you might
+discover. Well, you are hungry and worn with long travelling. Come, let us eat,
+and afterwards you can tell your story. Amada and the others will be glad to
+hear it, as I shall. Follow me, Count Shabaka.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+So we went to the lesser banqueting-hall, I filled with joy because I should
+see Amada, and yet, much afraid because of that story which I must tell.
+Gathered there, waiting for the Prince, we found the Princess his wife, a large
+and kindly woman, also his two eldest daughters and his young son, a lad of
+about sixteen. Moreover, there were certain officers, while at the tables of
+the lower hall sat others of the household, men of smaller rank, and their
+wives, since Peroa still maintained some kind of a shadow of the Court of old
+Egypt.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Princess and the others greeted me, and Bes also who had always been a
+favourite with them, before he went to take his seat at the lowest table, and I
+greeted them, looking all the while for Amada whom I did not see. Presently,
+however, as we took our places on the couches, she entered dressed, not as a
+priestess, but in the beautiful robes of a great lady of Egypt and wearing on
+her head the <i>uræus</i> circlet that signified her royal blood. As it chanced
+the only seat left vacant was that next to myself, which she took before she
+recognized me, for she was engaged in asking pardon for her lateness of the
+Prince and Princess, saying that she had been detained by the ceremonies at the
+temple. Seeing suddenly that I was her neighbour, she made as though she would
+change her place, then altered her mind and stayed where she was.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Greeting, Cousin Shabaka,&rdquo; she said, &ldquo;though not for the
+first time to-day. Oh! my heart was glad when looking up, outside the temple, I
+caught sight of you clad in that strange Eastern armour, and knew that you had
+returned safe from your long wanderings. Yet afterwards I must do penance for
+it by saying two added prayers, since at such a time my thoughts should have
+been with the goddess only.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Greeting, Cousin Amada,&rdquo; I answered, &ldquo;but she must be a
+jealous goddess who grudges a thought to a relative&mdash;and friend&mdash;at
+such a time.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;She is jealous, Shabaka, as being the Queen of women she must be who
+demands to reign alone in the hearts of her votaries. But tell me of your
+travels in the East and how you came by that rope of wondrous pearls, if indeed
+there can be pearls so large and beautiful.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+This at the time I had little chance of doing, however, since the young
+Princess on the other side of her began to talk to Amada about some forthcoming
+festival, and the Prince&rsquo;s son next to me who was fond of hunting, to
+question me about sport in the East and when, unhappily, I said that I had shot
+lions there, gave me no peace for the rest of that feast. Also the Princess
+opposite was anxious to learn what food noble people ate in the East, and how
+it was cooked and how they sat at table, and what was the furniture of their
+rooms and did women attend feasts as in Egypt, and so forth. So it came about
+that what between these things and eating and drinking, which, being well-nigh
+starved, I was obliged to do, for, save a cup of wine, I had taken nothing in
+my mother&rsquo;s house, I found little chance of talking with the lovely
+Amada, although I knew that all the while she was studying me out of the
+corners of her large eyes. Or perhaps it was the rose-hued pearls she studied,
+I was not sure.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Only one thing did she say to me when there was a little pause while the cup
+went round, and she pledged me according to custom and passed it on. It was,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;You look well, Shabaka, though somewhat tired, but sadder than you used,
+I think.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Perhaps because I have seen things to sadden me, Amada. But you too look
+well but somewhat lovelier than you used, I think, if that be possible.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She smiled and blushed as she replied,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;The Eastern ladies have taught you how to say pretty things. But you
+should not waste them upon me who have done with women&rsquo;s vanities and
+have given myself to learning and&mdash;religion.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Have learning and religion no vanities of their own?&rdquo; I began,
+when suddenly the Prince gave a signal to end the feast.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Thereon all the lower part of the hall went away and the little tables at which
+we ate were removed by servants, leaving us only wine-cups in our hands which a
+butler filled from time to time, mixing the wine with water. This reminded me
+of something, and having asked leave, I beckoned to Bes, who still lingered
+near the door, and took from him that splendid, golden goblet which the Great
+King had given me, that by my command he had brought wrapped up in linen and
+hidden beneath his robe. Having undone the wrappings I bowed and offered it to
+the Prince Peroa.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;What is this wondrous thing?&rdquo; asked the Prince, when all had
+finished admiring its workmanship. &ldquo;Is it a gift that you bring me from
+the King of the East, Shabaka?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;It is a gift from myself, O Prince, if you will be pleased to accept
+it,&rdquo; I answered, adding, &ldquo;Yet it is true that it comes from the
+King of the East, since it was his own drinking-cup that he gave me in exchange
+for a certain bow, though not the one he sought, after he had pledged
+me.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;You seem to have found much favour in the eyes of this king, Shabaka,
+which is more than most of us Egyptians do,&rdquo; he exclaimed, then went on
+hastily, &ldquo;Still, I thank you for your splendid gift, and however you came
+by it, shall value it much.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Perhaps my cousin Shabaka will tell us his story,&rdquo; broke in Amada,
+her eyes still fixed upon the rose-hued pearls, &ldquo;and of how he came to
+win all the beauteous things that dazzle our eyes to-night.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Now I thought of offering her the pearls, but remembering my mother&rsquo;s
+words, also that the Princess might not like to see another woman bear off such
+a prize, did not do so. So I began to tell my story instead, Bes seated on the
+ground near to me by the Prince&rsquo;s wish, that he might tell his.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The tale was long for in it was much that went before the day when I saw myself
+in the chariot hunting lions with the King of kings, which I, the modern man
+who set down all this vision, now learned for the first time. It told of the
+details of my journey to the East, of my coming to the royal city and the rest,
+all of which it is needless to repeat. Then I came to the lion hunt, to my
+winning of the wager, and all that happened to me; of my being condemned to
+death, of the weighing of Bes against the gold, and of how I was laid in the
+boat of torment, a story at which I noticed Amada turn pale and tremble.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Here I ceased, saying that Bes knew better than I what had chanced at the Court
+while I was pinned in the boat, whereon all present cried out to Bes to take up
+the tale. This he did, and much better than I could have done, bringing out
+many little things which made the scene appear before them, as Ethiopians have
+the art of doing. At last he came to the place in his story where the king
+asked him if he had ever seen a woman fairer than the dancers, and went on
+thus:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;O Prince, I told the Great King that I had; that there dwelt in Egypt a
+lady of royal blood with eyes like stars, with hair like silk and long as an
+unbridled horse&rsquo;s tail, with a shape like to that of a goddess, with
+breath like flowers, with skin like milk, with a voice like honey, with
+learning like to that of the god Thoth, with wit like a razor&rsquo;s edge,
+with teeth like pearls, with majesty of bearing like to that of the king
+himself, with fingers like rosebuds set in pink seashells, with motion like
+that of an antelope, with grace like that of a swan floating upon water,
+and&mdash;I don&rsquo;t remember the rest, O Prince.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Perhaps it is as well,&rdquo; exclaimed Peroa. &ldquo;But what did the
+King say then?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;He asked her name, O Prince.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;And what name did you give to this wondrous lady who surpasses all the
+goddesses in loveliness and charm, O dwarf Bes?&rdquo; inquired Amada much
+amused.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;What name, O High-born One? Is it needful to ask? Why, what name could I
+give but your own, for is there any other in the world of whom a man whose
+heart is filled with truth could speak such things?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Now hearing this I gasped, but before I could speak Amada leapt up, crying,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Wretch! You dared to speak my name to this king! Surely you should be
+scourged till your bones are bare.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;And why not, Lady? Would you have had me sit still and hear those fat
+trollops of the East exalted above you? Would you have had me so disloyal to
+your royal loveliness?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;You should be scourged,&rdquo; repeated Amada stamping her foot.
+&ldquo;My Uncle, I pray you cause this knave to be scourged.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Nay, nay,&rdquo; said Peroa moodily. &ldquo;Poor simple man, he knew no
+better and thought only to sing your praises in a far land. Be not angry with
+the dwarf, Niece. Had it been Shabaka who gave your name, the thing would be
+different. What happened next, Bes?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Only this, Prince,&rdquo; said Bes, looking upwards and rolling his
+eyes, as was his fashion when unloading some great lie from his heart.
+&ldquo;The King sent his servants to bring my master from the boat, that he
+might inquire of him whether he had always found me truthful. For, Prince,
+those Easterns set much store by truth which here in Egypt is worshipped as a
+goddess. There they do not worship her because she lives in the heart of every
+man, and some women.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Now all stared at Bes who continued to stare at the ceiling, and I rose to say
+something, I know not what, when suddenly the doors opened and through them
+appeared heralds, crying,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Hearken, Peroa, Prince of Egypt by grace of the Great King. A message
+from the Great King. Read and obey, O Peroa, Prince of Egypt by grace of the
+Great King!&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+As they cried thus from between them emerged a man whose long Eastern robes
+were stained with the dust of travel. Advancing without salute he drew out a
+roll, touched his forehead with it, bowing deeply, and handed it to the prince,
+saying,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Kiss the Word. Read the Word. Obey the Word, O servant of our Master,
+the King of kings, beneath whose feet we are all but dust.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Peroa took the roll, made a semblance of lifting it to his forehead, opened and
+read it. As he did so I saw the veins swell upon his neck and his eyes flash,
+but he only said,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;O Messenger, to-night I feast, to-morrow an answer shall be given to you
+to convey to the Satrap Idernes. My servants will find you food and lodging.
+You are dismissed.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Let the answer be given early lest you also should be dismissed, O
+Peroa,&rdquo; said the man with insolence.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then he turned his back upon the prince, as one does on an inferior, and walked
+away, accompanied by the herald.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When they were gone and the doors had been shut, Peroa spoke in a voice that
+was thick with fury, saying,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Hearken, all of you, to the words of the writing.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then he read it.
+</p>
+
+<p class="letter">
+&ldquo;From the King of kings, the Ruler of all the earth, to Peroa, one of his
+servants in the Satrapy of Egypt,<br />
+    &ldquo;Deliver over to my servant Idernes without delay, the person of
+Amada, a lady of the blood of the old Pharaohs of Egypt, who is your relative
+and in your guardianship, that she may be numbered among the women of my
+house.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Now all present looked at each other, while Amada stood as though she had been
+frozen into stone. Before she could speak, Peroa went on,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;See how the King seeks a quarrel against me that he may destroy me and
+bray Egypt in his mortar, and tan it like a hide to wrap about his feet. Nay,
+hold your peace, Amada. Have no fear. You shall not be sent to the East; first
+will I kill you with my own hands. But what answer shall we give, for the
+matter is urgent and on it hang all our lives? Bethink you, Idernes has a great
+force yonder at Sais, and if I refuse outright, he will attack us, which indeed
+is what the King means him to do before we can make preparation. Say then,
+shall we fight, or shall we fly to Upper Egypt, abandoning Memphis, and there
+make our stand?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Now the Councillors present seemed to find no answer, for they did not know
+what to say. But Bes whispered in my ear,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Remember, Master, that you hold the King&rsquo;s seal. Let an answer be
+sent to Idernes under the White Seal, bidding him wait on you.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then I rose and spoke.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;O Peroa,&rdquo; I said, &ldquo;as it chances I am the bearer of the
+private signet of the Great King, which all men must obey in the north and in
+the south, in the east and in the west, wherever the sun shines over the
+dominions of the King. Look on it,&rdquo; and taking the ancient White Seal
+from about my neck, I handed it to him.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He looked and the Councillors looked. Then they said almost with one voice,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;It is the White Seal, the very signet of the Great Kings of the
+East,&rdquo; and they bowed before the dreadful thing.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;How you came by this we do not know, Shabaka,&rdquo; said Peroa.
+&ldquo;That can be inquired of afterwards. Yet in truth it seems to be the old
+Signet of signets, that which has come down from father to son for countless
+generations, that which the King of kings carries on his person and affixes to
+his private orders and to the greatest documents of State, which afterwards can
+never be recalled, that of which a copy is emblazoned on his banner.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;It is,&rdquo; I answered, &ldquo;and from the King&rsquo;s person it
+came to me for a while. If any doubt, let the impress be brought, that is
+furnished to all the officers throughout the Empire, and let the seal be set in
+the impress.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Now one of the officers rose and went to bring the impress which was in his
+keeping, but Peroa continued,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;If this be the true seal, how would you use it, Shabaka, to help us in
+our present trouble?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Thus, Prince,&rdquo; I answered. &ldquo;I would send a command under the
+seal to Idernes to wait upon the holder of the seal here in Memphis. He will
+suspect a trap and will not come until he has gathered a great army. Then he
+will come, but meanwhile, you, Prince, can also collect an army.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;That needs gold, Shabaka, and I have little. The King of kings takes all
+in tribute.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I have some, Prince, to the weight of a heavy man, and it is at the
+service of Egypt.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I thank you, Shabaka. Believe me, such generosity shall not go
+unrewarded,&rdquo; and he glanced at Amada who dropped her eyes. &ldquo;But if
+we can collect the army, what then?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Then you can put Memphis into a state of defence. Then too when Idernes
+comes I will meet him and, as the bearer of the seal, command him under the
+seal to retreat and disperse his army.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;But if he does, Shabaka, it will only be until he has received fresh
+orders from the Great King, whereon he will advance again.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;No, Prince, <i>he</i> will not advance, or that army either. For when
+they are in retreat we will fall on them and destroy them, and declare you, O
+Prince, Pharaoh of Egypt, though what will happen afterwards I do not
+know.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When they heard this all gasped. Only Amada whispered,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Well said!&rdquo; and Bes clapped his big hands softly in the Ethiopian
+fashion.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;A bold counsel,&rdquo; said Peroa, &ldquo;and one on which I must have
+the night to think. Return here, Shabaka, an hour after sunrise to-morrow, by
+which time I can gather all the wisest men in Memphis, and we will discuss this
+matter. Ah! here is the impress. Now let the seal be tried.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+A box was brought and opened. In it was a slab of wood on which was an impress
+of the King&rsquo;s seal in wax, surrounded by those of other seals certifying
+that it was genuine. Also there was a writing describing the appearance of the
+seal. I handed the signet to Peroa who, having compared it with the description
+in the writing, fitted it to the impress on the wax.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;It is the same,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;See, all of you.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+They looked and nodded. Then he would have given it back to me but I refused to
+take it, saying,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;It is not well that this mighty symbol should hang about the neck of a
+private man whence it might be stolen or lost.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Or who might be murdered for its sake,&rdquo; interrupted Peroa.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Yes, Prince. Therefore take it and hide it in the safest and most secret
+place in the palace, and with it these pearls that are too priceless to be
+flaunted about the streets of Memphis at night, unless
+indeed&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo; and I turned to look for Amada, but she was gone.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+So the seal and the pearls were taken and locked in the box with the impress
+and borne away. Nor was I sorry to see the last of them, wisely as it happened.
+Then I bade the Prince and his company good night, and presently was driving
+homeward with Bes in the chariot.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Our way led us past some large houses once occupied by officers of the Court of
+Pharaoh, but now that there was no Court, fallen into ruins. Suddenly from out
+of these houses sprang a band of men disguised as common robbers, whose faces
+were hidden by cloths with eye-holes cut in them. They seized the horses by the
+bridles, and before we could do anything, leapt upon us and held us fast. Then
+a tall man speaking with a foreign accent, said,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Search that officer and the dwarf. Take from them the seal upon a gold
+chain and a rope of rose-hued pearls which they have stolen. But do them no
+harm.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+So they searched us, the tall man himself helping and, aided by others, holding
+Bes who struggled with them, and searched the chariot also, by the light of the
+moon, but found nothing. The tall man muttered that I must be the wrong
+officer, and at a sign they left us and ran away.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;That was a wise thought of mine, Bes, which caused me to leave certain
+ornaments in the palace,&rdquo; I said. &ldquo;As it is they have taken
+nothing.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Yes, Master,&rdquo; he answered, &ldquo;though I have taken something
+from them,&rdquo; a saying that I did not understand at the time. &ldquo;Those
+Easterns whom we met by the canal told Idernes about the seal, and he ordered
+this to be done. That tall man was one of the messengers who came to-night to
+the palace.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Then why did they not kill us, Bes?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Because murder, especially of one who holds the seal, is an ugly
+business, that is easily tracked down, whereas thieves are many in Memphis and
+who troubles about them when they have failed? Oh! the Grasshopper, or Amen, or
+both, have been with us to-night.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+So I thought although I said nothing, for since we had come off scatheless,
+what did it matter? Well, this. It showed me that the signet of the Great King
+was indeed to be dreaded and coveted, even here in Egypt. If Idernes could get
+it into his possession, what might he not do with it? Cause himself to be
+proclaimed Pharaoh perhaps and become the forefather of an independent dynasty.
+Why not, when the Empire of the East was taxed with a great war elsewhere? And
+if this was so why should not Peroa do the same, he who had behind him all Old
+Egypt, maddened with its wrongs and foreign rule?
+</p>
+
+<p>
+That same night before I slept, but after Bes and I had hidden away the bags of
+gold by burying them beneath the clay floor, I laid the whole matter before my
+mother who was a very wise woman. She heard me out, answering little, then
+said,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;The business is very dangerous, and of its end I will not speak until I
+have heard the counsel of your great-uncle, the holy Tanofir. Still, things
+having gone so far, it seems to me that boldness may be the best course, since
+the great King has his Grecian wars to deal with, and whatever he may say,
+cannot attack Egypt yet awhile. Therefore if Peroa is able to overcome Idernes
+and his army he may cause himself to be proclaimed Pharaoh and make Egypt free
+if only for a time.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Such is my mind, Mother.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Not all your mind, Son, I think,&rdquo; she answered smiling, &ldquo;for
+you think more of the lovely Amada than of these high policies, at any rate
+to-night. Well, marry your Amada if you can, though I misdoubt me somewhat of a
+woman who is so lost in learning and thinks so much about her soul. At least if
+you marry her and Egypt should become free, as it was for thousands of years,
+you will be the next heir to the throne as husband of the Great Royal
+Lady.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;How can that be, Mother, seeing that Peroa has a son?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;A vain youth with no more in him than a child&rsquo;s rattle. If once
+Amada ceases to think about her soul she will begin to think about her throne,
+especially if she has children. But all this is far away and for the present I
+am glad that neither she nor the thieves have got those pearls, though perhaps
+they might be safer here than where they are. And now, my son, go rest for you
+need it, and dream of nothing, not even Amada, who for her part will dream of
+Isis, if at all. I will wake you before the dawn.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+So I went, being too tired to talk more, and slept like a crocodile in the sun,
+till, as it seemed to me, but a few minutes later I saw my mother standing over
+me with a lamp, saying that it was time to rise. I rose, unwillingly enough,
+but refreshed, washed and dressed myself, by which time the sun had begun to
+appear. Then I ate some food and, calling Bes, made ready to start for the
+palace.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;My son,&rdquo; said my mother, the lady Tiu, before we parted,
+&ldquo;while you have been sleeping I have been thinking, as is the way of the
+old. Peroa, your cousin, will be glad enough to make use of you, but he does
+not love you over much because he is jealous of you and fears lest you should
+become his rival in the future. Still he is an honest man and will keep a
+bargain which he once has made. Now it seems that above everything on earth you
+desire Amada on whom you have set your heart since boyhood, but who has always
+played with you and spoken to you with her arm stretched out. Also life is
+short and may come to an end any day, as you should know better than most men
+who have lived among dangers, and therefore it is well that a man should take
+what he desires, even if he finds afterwards that the rose he crushes to his
+breast has thorns. For then at least he will have smelt the rose, not only have
+looked on and longed to smell it. Therefore, before you hand over your gold,
+and place your wit and strength at the service of Peroa, make your bargain with
+him; namely, that if thereby you save Amada from the King&rsquo;s House of
+Women and help to set Peroa on the throne, he shall promise her to you free of
+any priestly curse, you giving her as dowry the priceless rose-hued pearls that
+are worth a kingdom. So you will get your rose till it withers, and if the
+thorns prick, do not blame me, and one day you may become a king&mdash;or a
+slave, Amen knows which.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Now I laughed and said that I would take her counsel who desired Amada and
+nothing else. As for all her talk about thorns, I paid no heed to it, knowing
+that she loved me very much and was jealous of Amada who she thought would take
+her place with me.
+</p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2><a name="chap10"></a>CHAPTER X.<br />SHABAKA PLIGHTS HIS TROTH</h2>
+
+<p>
+Bes and I went armed to the palace, walking in the middle of the road, but now
+that the sun was up we met no more robbers. At the gate a messenger summoned me
+alone to the presence of Peroa, who, he said, wished to talk with me before the
+sitting of the Council. I went and found him by himself.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I hear that you were attacked last night,&rdquo; he said after greeting
+me.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I answered that I was and told him the story, adding that it was fortunate I
+had left the White Seal and the pearls in safe keeping, since without doubt the
+would-be thieves were Easterns who desired to recover them.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Ah! the pearls,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;One of those who handled them,
+who was once a dealer in gems, says that they are without price, unmatched in
+the whole world, and that never in all his life has he seen any to equal the
+smallest of them.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I replied that I believed this was so. Then he asked me of the value of the
+gold of which I had spoken. I told him and it was a great sum, for gold was
+scarce in Egypt. His eyes gleamed for he needed wealth to pay soldiers.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;And all this you are ready to hand over to me, Shabaka?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Now I bethought me of my mother&rsquo;s words, and answered,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Yes, Prince, at a price.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;What price, Shabaka?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;The price of the hand of the Royal Lady, Amada, freed from her vows.
+Moreover, I will give her the pearls as a marriage dowry and place at your
+service my sword and all the knowledge I have gained in the East, swearing to
+stand or fall with you.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I thought it, Shabaka. Well, in this world nothing is given for nothing
+and the offer is a fair one. You are well born, too, as well as myself, and a
+brave and clever man. Further, Amada has not taken her final vows and therefore
+the high priests can absolve her from her marriage to the goddess, or to her
+son Horus, whichever it may be, for I do not understand these mysteries. But,
+Shabaka, if Fortune should chance to go with us and I should became the first
+Pharaoh of a new dynasty in Egypt, he who was married to the Royal Princess of
+the true blood might become a danger to my throne and family.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I shall not be that man, Prince, who am content with my own station, and
+to be your servant.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;And my son&rsquo;s, Shabaka? You know that I have but one lawful
+son.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;And your son&rsquo;s, Prince.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;You are honest, Shabaka, and I believe you. But how about your sons, if
+you have any, and how about Amada herself? Well, in great businesses something
+must be risked, and I need the gold and the rest which I cannot take for
+nothing, for you won them by your skill and courage and they are yours. But how
+you won the seal you have not told us, nor is there time for you to do so
+now.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He thought a little, walking up and down the chamber, then went on,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I accept your offer, Shabaka, so far as I can.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;So far as you can, Prince?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Yes; I can give you Amada in marriage and make that marriage easy, but
+only if Amada herself consents. The will of a Royal Princess of Egypt of full
+age cannot be forced, save by her father if he reigns as Pharaoh, and I am not
+her father, but only her guardian. Therefore it stands thus. Are you willing to
+fulfil your part of the bargain, save only as regards the pearls, if she does
+not marry you, and to take your chance of winning Amada as a man wins a woman,
+I on my part promising to do all in my power to help your suit?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Now it was my turn to think for a moment. What did I risk? The gold and perhaps
+the pearls, no more, for in any case I should fight for Peroa against the
+Eastern king whom I hated, and through him for Egypt. Well, these came to me by
+chance, and if they went by chance what of it? Also I was not one who desired
+to wed a woman, however much I worshipped her, if she desired to turn her back
+on me. If I could win her in fair love&mdash;well. If not, it was my
+misfortune, and I wanted her in no other way. Lastly, I had reason to think
+that she looked on me more favourably than she had ever done on any other man,
+and that if it had not been for what my mother called her soul and its
+longings, she would have given herself to me before I journeyed to the East.
+Indeed, once she had said as much, and there was something in her eyes last
+night which told me that in her heart she loved me, though with what passion at
+the time I did not know. So very swiftly I made up my mind and answered,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I understand and I accept. The gold shall be delivered to you to-day,
+Prince. The pearls are already in your keeping to await the end.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Good!&rdquo; he exclaimed. &ldquo;Then let the matter be reduced to
+writing and at once, that afterwards neither of us may have cause to complain
+of the other.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+So he sent for his secret scribe and dictated to him, briefly but clearly, the
+substance of our bargain, nothing being added, and nothing taken away. This
+roll written on papyrus was afterwards copied twice, Peroa taking one copy, I
+another, and a third being deposited according to custom, in the library of the
+temple of Ptah.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When all was done and Peroa and I had touched each other&rsquo;s breasts and
+given our word in the name of Amen, we went to the hall in which we had dined,
+where those whom the Prince had summoned were assembled. Altogether there were
+about thirty of them, great citizens of Memphis, or landowners from without who
+had been called together in the night. Some of these men were very old and
+could remember when Egypt had a Pharaoh of its own before the East set its heel
+upon her neck, of noble blood also.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Others were merchants who dealt with all the cities of Egypt; others hereditary
+generals, or captains of fleets of ships; others Grecians, officers of
+mercenaries who were supposed to be in the pay of the King of kings, but hated
+him, as did all the Greeks. Then there were the high priests of Ptah, of Amen,
+of Osiris and others who were still the most powerful men in the land, since
+there was no village between Thebes and the mouths of the Nile in which they
+had not those who were sworn to the service of their gods.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Such was the company representing all that remained or could be gathered there
+of the greatness of Egypt the ancient and the fallen.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+To these when the doors had been closed and barred and trusty watchmen set to
+guard them, Peroa expounded the case in a low and earnest voice. He showed them
+that the King of the East sought a new quarrel against Egypt that he might
+grind her to powder beneath his heel, and that he did this by demanding the
+person of Amada, his own niece and the Royal Lady of Egypt, to be included in
+his household like any common woman. If she were refused then he would send a
+great army under pretext of taking her, and lay the land waste as far as
+Thebes. And if she were granted some new quarrel would be picked and in the
+person of the royal Amada all of them be for ever shamed.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Next he showed the seal, telling them that I&mdash;who was known to many of
+them, at least by repute&mdash;had brought it from the East, and repeating to
+them the plan that I had proposed upon the previous night. After this he asked
+their counsel, saying that before noon he must send an answer to Idernes, the
+King&rsquo;s Satrap at Sais.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then I was called upon to speak and, in answer to questions, answered frankly
+that I had stolen the ancient White Seal from the King&rsquo;s servant who
+carried it as a warrant for the King&rsquo;s private vengeance on one who had
+bested him. How I did not mention. I told them also of the state of the Great
+King&rsquo;s empire and that I had heard that he was about to enter upon a war
+with the Greeks which would need all its strength, and that therefore if they
+wished to strike for liberty the time was at hand.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then the talk began and lasted for two hours, each man giving his judgment
+according to precedence, some one way and some another. When all had done and
+it became clear that there were differences of opinion, some being content to
+live on in slavery with what remained to them and others desiring to strike for
+freedom, among whom were the high priests who feared lest the Eastern heretics
+should utterly destroy their worship, Peroa spoke once more.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Elders of Egypt,&rdquo; he said briefly, &ldquo;certain of you think one
+way, and certain another, but of this be sure, such talk as we have held
+together cannot be hid. It will come to the ears of spies and through them to
+those of the Great King, and then all of us alike are doomed. If you refuse to
+stir, this very day I with my family and household and the Royal Lady Amada,
+and all who cling to me, fly to Upper Egypt and perhaps beyond it to Ethiopia,
+leaving you to deal with the Great King, as you will, or to follow me into
+exile. That he will attack us there is no doubt, either over the pretext of
+Amada or some other, since Shabaka has heard as much from his own lips. Now
+choose.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then, after a little whispering together, every man of them voted for
+rebellion, though some of them I could see with heavy hearts, and bound
+themselves by a great oath to cling together to the last.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The matter being thus settled such a letter was written to Idernes as I had
+suggested on the night before, and sealed with the Signet of signets. Of the
+yielding up of Amada it said nothing, but commanded Idernes, under the private
+White Seal that none dared disobey, to wait upon the Prince Peroa at Memphis
+forthwith, and there learn from him, the Holder of the Seal, what was the will
+of the Great King. Then the Council was adjourned till one hour after noon, and
+most of them departed to send messengers bearing secret word to the various
+cities and nomes of Egypt.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Before they went, however, I was directed to wait upon my relative, the holy
+Tanofir, whom all acknowledged to be the greatest magician in Egypt, and to ask
+of him to seek wisdom and an oracle from his Spirit as to the future and
+whether in it we should fare well or ill. This I promised to do.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When most of the Council were gone the messengers of Idernes were summoned, and
+came proudly, and with them, or rather before them, Bes for whom I had sent as
+he was not present at the Council.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Master,&rdquo; he whispered to me, &ldquo;the tallest of those
+messengers is the man who captained the robbers last night. Wait and I will
+prove it.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Peroa gave the roll to the head messenger, bidding him bear it to the Satrap in
+answer to the letter which he had delivered to him. The man took it insolently
+and thrust it into his robe, as he did so revealing a silver chain that had
+been broken and knotted together, and asked whether there were words to bear
+besides those written in the roll. Before Peroa could answer Bes sprang up
+saying,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;O Prince, a boon, the boon of justice on this man. Last night he and
+others with him attacked my master and myself, seeking to rob us, but finding
+nothing let us go.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;You lie, Abortion!&rdquo; said the Eastern.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Oh! I lie, do I?&rdquo; mocked Bes. &ldquo;Well, let us see,&rdquo; and
+shooting out his long arm, he grasped the chain about the messenger&rsquo;s
+neck and broke it with a jerk. &ldquo;Look, O Prince,&rdquo; he said,
+&ldquo;you may have noted last night, when that man entered the hall, that
+there hung about his neck this chain to which was tied a silver key.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I noted it,&rdquo; said Peroa.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Then ask him, O Prince, where is the key now.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;What is that to you, Dwarf?&rdquo; broke in the man. &ldquo;The key is
+my mark of office as chief butler to the High Satrap. Must I always bear it for
+your pleasure?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Not when it has been taken from you, Butler,&rdquo; answered Bes.
+&ldquo;See, here it is,&rdquo; and from his sleeve he produced the key hanging
+to a piece of the chain. &ldquo;Listen, O Prince,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I
+struggled with this man and the key was in my left hand though he did not know
+it at the time, and with it some of the chain. Compare them and judge. Also his
+mask slipped and I saw his face and knew him again.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Peroa laid the pieces of the chain together and observed the workmanship which
+was Eastern and rare. Then he clapped his hands, at which sign armed men of his
+household entered from behind him.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;It is the same,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Butler of Idernes, you are a
+common thief.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The man strove to answer, but could not for the deed was proved against him.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Then, O Prince,&rdquo; asked Bes, &ldquo;what is the punishment of those
+thieves who attack passers-by with violence in the streets of Memphis, for such
+I demand on him?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;The cutting off of the right hand and scourging,&rdquo; answered Peroa,
+at which words the butler turned to fly. But Bes leapt on him like an ape upon
+a bird, and held him fast.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Seize that thief,&rdquo; said Peroa to his servants, &ldquo;and let him
+receive fifty blows with the rods. His hand I spare because he must
+travel.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+They laid the man down and the rods having been fetched, gave him the blows
+until at the thirtieth he howled for mercy, crying out that it was true and
+that it was he who had captained the robbers, words which Peroa caused to be
+written down. Then he asked him why he, a messenger from the Satrap, had robbed
+in the streets of Memphis, and as he refused to answer, commanded the officer
+of justice to lay on. After three more blows the man said,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;O Prince, this was no common robbery for gain. I did what I was
+commanded to do, because yonder noble had about him the ancient White Seal of
+the Great King which he showed to certain of the Satrap&rsquo;s servants by the
+banks of the canal. That seal is a holy token, O Prince, which, it is said, has
+descended for twice a thousand years in the family of the Great King, and as
+the Satrap did not know how it had come into the hands of the noble Shabaka, he
+ordered me to obtain it if I could.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;And the pearls too, Butler?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Yes, O Prince, since those gems are a great possession with which any
+Satrap could buy a larger satrapy.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Let him go,&rdquo; said Peroa, and the man rose, rubbing himself and
+weeping in his pain.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Now, Butler,&rdquo; he went on, &ldquo;return to your master with a
+grateful heart, since you have been spared much that you deserve. Say to him
+that he cannot steal the Signet, but that if he is wise he will obey it, since
+otherwise his fate may be worse than yours, and to all his servants say the
+same. Foolish man, how can you, or your master, guess what is in the mind of
+the Great King, or for what purpose the Signet of signets is here in Egypt?
+Beware lest you fall into a pit, all of you together, and let Idernes beware
+lest he find himself at the very bottom of that pit.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;O Prince, I will beware,&rdquo; said the humbled butler, &ldquo;and
+whatever is written over the seal, that I will obey, like many others.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;You are wise,&rdquo; answered Peroa; &ldquo;I pray for his own sake that
+the Satrap Idernes may be as wise. Now begone, thanking whatever god you
+worship that your life is whole in you and that your right hand remains upon
+your wrist.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+So the butler and those with him prostrated themselves before Peroa and bowed
+humbly to me and even to Bes because in their hearts now they believed that we
+were clothed by the Great King with terrible powers that might destroy them
+all, if so we chose. Then they went, the butler limping a little and with no
+pride left in him.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;That was good work,&rdquo; said Peroa to me afterwards when we were
+alone, &ldquo;for now yonder knave is frightened and will frighten his
+master.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; I answered, &ldquo;you played that pipe well, Prince. Still,
+there is no time to lose, since before another moon this will all be reported
+in the East, whence a new light may arise and perchance a new signet.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;You say you stole the White Seal?&rdquo; he asked.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Nay, Prince, the truth is that Bes bought it&mdash;in a certain
+fashion&mdash;and I used it. Perhaps it is well that you should know no more at
+present.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Perhaps,&rdquo; he answered, and we parted, for he had much to do.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+That afternoon the Council met again. At it I gave over the gold and by help of
+it all was arranged. Within a week ten thousand armed men would be in Memphis
+and a hundred ships with their crews upon the Nile; also a great army would be
+gathering in Upper Egypt, officered for the most part by Greeks skilled in war.
+The Greek cities too at the mouths of the Nile would be ready to revolt, or so
+some of their citizens declared, for they hated the Great King bitterly and
+longed to cast off his yoke.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+For my part, I received the command of the bodyguard of Peroa in which were
+many Greeks, and a generalship in the army; while to Bes, at my prayer, was
+given the freedom of the land which he accepted with a smile, he who was a king
+in his own country.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At length all was finished and I went out into the palace garden to rest myself
+before I rode into the desert to see my great uncle, the holy Tanofir. I was
+alone, for Bes had gone to bring our horses on which we were to ride, and sat
+myself down beneath a palm-tree, thinking of the great adventure on which we
+had entered with a merry heart, for I loved adventures.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Next I thought of Amada and was less merry. Then I looked up and lo! she stood
+before me, unaccompanied and wearing the dress, not of a priestess, but of an
+Egyptian lady with the little circlet of her rank upon her hair. I rose and
+bowed to her and we began to walk together beneath the palms, my heart beating
+hard within me, for I knew that my hour had come to speak.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Yet it was she who spoke the first, saying,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I hear that you have been playing a high part, Shabaka, and doing great
+things for Egypt.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;For Egypt and for you who are Egypt,&rdquo; I answered.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;So I should have been called in the old days, Cousin, because of my
+blood and the rank it gives, though now I am but as any other lady of the
+land.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;And so you shall be called in days to come, Amada, if my sword and wit
+can win their way.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;How so, Cousin, seeing that you have promised certain things to my uncle
+Peroa and his son?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I have promised those things, Amada, and I will abide by my promise; but
+the gods are above all, and who knows what they may decree?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Yes, Cousin, the gods are above all, and in their hands we will let
+these matters rest, provoking them in no manner and least of all by treachery
+to our oaths.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+We walked for a little way in silence. Then I spoke.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Amada, there are more things than thrones in the world.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Yes, Cousin, there is that in which all thrones end&mdash;death, which
+it seems we court.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;And, Amada, there is that in which all thrones begin&mdash;love, which I
+court from you.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I have known it long,&rdquo; she said, considering me gravely,
+&ldquo;and been grateful to you who are more to me than any man has been or
+ever will be. But, Shabaka, I am a priestess bound to set the holy One I serve
+above a mortal.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;That holy One was wed and bore a child, Amada, who avenged his father,
+as I trust that we shall avenge Egypt. Therefore she looks with a kind eye upon
+wives and mothers. Also you have not taken your final vows and can be
+absolved.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; she said softly.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Then, Amada, will you give yourself into my keeping?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I think so, Shabaka, though it has been in my mind for long, as you know
+well, to give myself only to learning and the service of the heavenly Lady. My
+heart calls me to you, it is true, day and night it calls, how loudly I will
+not tell; yet I would not yield myself to that alone. But Egypt calls me also,
+since I have been shown in a dream while I watched in the sanctuary, that you
+are the only man who can free her, and I think that this dream came from on
+high. Therefore I will give myself, but not yet.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Not yet,&rdquo; I said dismayed. &ldquo;When?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;When I have been absolved from my vows, which must be done on the night
+of the next new moon, which is twenty-seven days from this. Then, if nothing
+comes between us during those twenty-seven days, it shall be announced that the
+Royal Lady of Egypt is to wed the noble Shabaka.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Twenty-seven days! In such times much may happen in them, Amada. Still,
+except death, what can come between us?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I know of nothing, Shabaka, whose past is shadowless as the noon.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Or I either,&rdquo; I replied.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Now we were standing in the clear sunlight, but as I said the words a wind
+stirred the palm-trees and the shadow from one of them fell full upon me, and
+she who was very quick, noted it.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Some might take that for an omen,&rdquo; she said with a little laugh,
+pointing to the line of the shadow. &ldquo;Oh! Shabaka, if you have aught to
+confess, say it now and I will forgive it. But do not leave me to discover it
+afterwards when I may not forgive. Perchance during your journeyings in the
+East&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Nothing, nothing,&rdquo; I exclaimed joyfully, who during all that time
+had scarcely spoken to a youthful woman.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I am glad that nothing happened in the East that could separate us,
+Shabaka, though in truth my thought was not your own, for there are more things
+than women in the world. Only it seems strange to me that you should return to
+Egypt laden with such priceless gifts from him who is Egypt&rsquo;s greatest
+enemy.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Have I not told you that I put my country before myself? Those gifts
+were won fairly in a wager, Amada, whereof you heard the story but last night.
+Moreover you know the purpose to which they are to be put,&rdquo; I replied
+indignantly.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Yes, I know and now I am sure. Be not angry, Shabaka, with her who loves
+you truly and hopes ere long to call you husband. But till that day take it not
+amiss if I keep somewhat aloof from you, who must break with the past and learn
+to face a future of which I did not dream.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+For the rest she stretched out her hand and I kissed it, for while she was
+still a priestess her lips she would not suffer me to touch. Another moment and
+smiling happily, she had glided away, leaving me alone in the garden.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then it was for the first time that I bethought me of the warnings of Bes and
+remembered that it was I, not he, who had told the Great King the name of the
+most beautiful woman in Egypt, although in all innocence. Yes, I remembered,
+and felt as if all the shadows on the earth had wrapped me round. I thought of
+finding her, but she had gone whither I knew not in that great palace. So I
+determined that the next time we were alone I would tell her of the matter,
+explaining all, and with this thought I comforted myself who did not know that
+until many days were past we should be alone no more.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+After this I went home and told my mother all my joy, for in truth there was no
+happier man in Egypt. She listened, then answered, smiling a little.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;When your father wished to take me to wife, Shabaka, it was not my hand
+that I gave him to kiss, and as you know, I too have the blood of kings in me.
+But then I was not a priestess of Isis, so doubtless all is well. Only in
+twenty-seven days much may happen, as you said to Amada. Now I wonder why did
+she&mdash;&mdash;? Well, no matter, since priestesses are not like other women
+who only think of the man they have won and of naught before or after. The
+blessing of the gods and mine be on you both, my son,&rdquo; and she went away
+to attend to her household matters.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+As we rode to Sekera to find the holy Tanofir I told Bes also, adding that I
+had forgotten to reveal that it was I who had spoken Amada&rsquo;s name to the
+king, but that I intended to do so ere long.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Bes rolled his eyes and answered,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;If I were you, Master, as I had forgotten, I should continue to forget,
+for what is welcome in one hour is not always welcome in another. Why speak of
+the matter at all, which is one hard to explain to a woman, however wise and
+royal? I have already said that <i>I</i> spoke the name to the King and that
+you were brought from the boat to say whether I was noted for my truthfulness.
+Is not that enough?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+While I considered, Bes went on,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;You may remember, Master, that when I told, well&mdash;the truth about
+this story, the lady Amada asked earnestly that I should be scourged, even to
+the bones. Now if you should tell another truth which will make mine dull as
+tarnished silver, she will not leave me even my bones, for I shall be proved a
+liar, and what will happen to you I am sure I do not know. And, Master, as I am
+no longer a slave here in Egypt, to say nothing of what I may be elsewhere, I
+have no fancy for scourgings, who may not kiss the hand that smites me as you
+can.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;But, Bes,&rdquo; I said, &ldquo;what is, is and may always be learned in
+this way or in that.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Master, if what is were always learned, I think the world would fall to
+pieces, or at least there would be no men left on it. Why should this matter be
+learned? It is known to you and me alone, leaving out the Great King who
+probably has forgotten as he was drunk at the time. Oh! Master, when you have
+neither bow nor spear at hand, it is not wise to kick a sleeping lion in the
+stomach, for then he will remember its emptiness and sup off you. Beside, when
+first I told you that tale I made a mistake. I did tell the Great King, as I
+now remember quite clearly, that the beautiful lady was named Amada, and he
+only sent for you to ask if I spoke the truth.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Bes,&rdquo; I exclaimed, &ldquo;you worshippers of the Grasshopper wear
+virtue easily.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Easily as an old sandal, Master, or rather not at all, since the
+Grasshopper has need of none. For ages they have studied the ways of those who
+worship the gods of Egypt, and from them have learned&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;What?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Amongst other things, Master, that woman, being modest, is shocked at
+the sight of the naked Truth.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2><a name="chap11"></a>CHAPTER XI.<br />THE HOLY TANOFIR</h2>
+
+<p>
+We entered the City of Graves that is called Sekera. In the centre towered
+pyramids that hid the bones of ancient and forgotten kings, and everywhere
+around upon the desert sands was street upon street of monuments, but save for
+a priest or two hurrying to patter his paid office in the funeral chapels of
+the departed, never a living man. Bes looked about him and sniffed with his
+wide nostrils.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Is there not death enough in the world, Master,&rdquo; he asked,
+&ldquo;that the living should wish to proclaim it in this fashion, rolling it
+on their tongues like a morsel they are loth to swallow, because it tastes so
+good? Oh! what a waste is here. All these have had their day and yet they need
+houses and pyramids and painted chambers in which to sleep, whereas if they
+believed the faith they practised, they would have been content to give their
+bones to feed the earth they fed on, and fill heaven with their souls.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Do your people thus, Bes?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;For the most part, Master. Our dead kings and great ones we enclose in
+pillars of crystal, but we do this that they may serve a double purpose. One is
+that the pillars may support the roof of their successors, and the other, that
+those who inherit their goods may please themselves by reflecting how much
+handsomer they are than those who went before them. For no mummy looks really
+nice, Master, at least with its wrappings off, and our kings are put naked into
+the crystal.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;And what becomes of the rest, Bes?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Their bodies go to the earth or the water and the Grasshopper carries
+off their souls to&mdash;where, Master?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I do not know, Bes.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;No, Master, no one knows, except the lady Amada and perhaps the holy
+Tanofir. Here I think is the entrance to his hole,&rdquo; and he pulled up his
+beast with a jerk at what looked like the doorway of a tomb.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Apparently we were expected, for a tall and proud-looking girl clad in white
+and with extraordinarily dark eyes, appeared in the doorway and asked in a soft
+voice if we were the noble Shabaka and Bes, his slave.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I am Shabaka,&rdquo; I answered, &ldquo;and this is Bes, who is not my
+slave but a free citizen of Egypt.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The girl contemplated the dwarf with her big eyes, then said,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;And other things, I think.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;What things?&rdquo; inquired Bes with interest, as he stared at this
+beautiful lady.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;A very brave and clever man and one perhaps who is more than he seems to
+be.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Who has been telling you about me?&rdquo; exclaimed Bes anxiously.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;No one, O Bes, at least not that I can remember.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Not that you can remember! Then who and what are you who learn things
+you know not how?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I am named Karema and desert-bred, and my office is that of Cup to the
+holy Tanofir.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;If hermits drink from such a cup I shall turn hermit,&rdquo; said Bes,
+laughing. &ldquo;But how can a woman be a man&rsquo;s cup and what kind of a
+wine does he drink from her?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;The wine of wisdom, O Bes,&rdquo; she replied colouring a little, for
+like many Arabs of high blood she was very fair in hue.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Wine of wisdom,&rdquo; said Bes. &ldquo;From such cups most drink the
+wine of folly, or sometimes of madness.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;The holy Tanofir awaits you,&rdquo; she interrupted, and turning,
+entered the doorway.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+A little way down the passage was a niche in which stood three lamps ready
+lighted. One of these she took and gave the others to us. Then we followed her
+down a steep incline of many steps, till at length we found ourselves in a hot
+and enormous hall hewn from the living rock and filled with blackness.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;What is this place?&rdquo; said Bes, who looked frightened, and although
+he spoke in a low whisper, our guide overheard him and turning, answered,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;This is the burial place of the Apis bulls. See, here lies the last, not
+yet closed in,&rdquo; and holding up her lamp she revealed a mighty sarcophagus
+of black granite set in a niche of the mausoleum.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;So they make mummies of bulls as well as of men,&rdquo; groaned Bes.
+&ldquo;Oh! what a land. But when I have seen the holy Tanofir it was in a brick
+cell beneath the sky.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Doubtless that was at night, O Bes,&rdquo; answered Karema, &ldquo;for
+in such a house he sleeps, spending his days in the Apis tomb, because of all
+the evil that is worked beneath the sun.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Hump,&rdquo; said Bes, &ldquo;I should have thought that more was worked
+beneath the moon, but doubtless the holy Tanofir knows better, or being asleep
+does not mind.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Now in front of each of the walled-up niches was a little chapel, and at the
+fourth of these whence a light came, the maiden stopped, saying,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Enter. Here dwells the holy Tanofir. He tended this god during its
+life-days in his youth, and now that the god is dead he prays above its
+bones.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Prays to the bones of a dead bull in the dark! Well, give me a live
+grasshopper in the light; he is more cheerful,&rdquo; muttered Bes.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;O Dwarf,&rdquo; cried a deep and resounding voice from within the
+chapel, &ldquo;talk no more of things you do not understand. I do not pray to
+the bones of a dead bull, as you in your ignorance suppose. I pray to the
+spirit whereof this sacred beast was but one of the fleshly symbols, which in
+this haunted place you will do well not to offend.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then for once I saw Bes grow afraid, for his great jaw dropped and he trembled.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Master,&rdquo; he said to me, &ldquo;when next you visit tombs where
+maidens look into your heart and hermits hear your very thoughts, I pray you
+leave me behind. The holy Tanofir I love, if from afar, but I like not his
+house, or his&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo; Here he looked at Karema who was regarding
+him with a sweet smile over the lamp flame, and added, &ldquo;There is
+something the matter with me, Master; I cannot even lie.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Cease from talking follies, O Shabaka and Bes, and enter,&rdquo; said
+the tremendous voice from within.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+So we entered and saw a strange sight. Against the back wall of the chapel
+which was lit with lamps, stood a life-sized statue of Maat, goddess of Law and
+Truth, fashioned of alabaster. On her head was a tall feather, her hair was
+covered with a wig, on her neck lay a collar of blue stones; on her arms and
+wrists were bracelets of gold. A tight robe draped her body. In her right hand
+that hung down by her side, she held the looped Cross of Life, and in her left
+which was advanced, a long, lotus-headed sceptre, while her painted eyes stared
+fixedly at the darkness. Crouched upon the ground, at the feet of the statue,
+scribe fashion, sat my great-uncle Tanofir, a very aged man with sightless eyes
+and long hands, so thin that one might see through them against the lamp-flame.
+His head was shaven, his beard was long and white; white too was his robe. In
+front of him was a low altar, on which stood a shallow silver vessel filled
+with pure water, and on either side of it a burning lamp.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+We knelt down before him, or rather I knelt, for Bes threw himself flat upon
+his face.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Am I the King of kings whom you have so lately visited, that you should
+prostrate yourselves before me?&rdquo; said Tanofir in his great voice, which,
+coming from so frail and aged a man seemed most unnatural. &ldquo;Or is it to
+the goddess of Truth beyond that you bow yourselves? If so, that is well, since
+one, if not both of you, greatly needs her pardon and her help. Or is it to the
+sleeping god beyond who holds the whole world on his horns? Or is it to the
+darkness of this hallowed place which causes you to remember the nearness of
+the awaiting tomb?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Nay, my Uncle,&rdquo; I said, &ldquo;we would greet you, no more, who
+are so worthy of our veneration, seeing we believe, both of us, that you saved
+us yonder in the East, from that tomb of which you speak, or rather from the
+jaws of lions or a cruel death by torments.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Perchance I did, I or the gods of which I am the instrument. At least I
+remember that I sent you certain messages in answer to a prayer for help that
+reached me, here in my darkness. For know that since we parted I have gone
+quite blind so that I must use this maiden&rsquo;s eyes to read what is written
+in yonder divining-cup. Well, it makes the darkness of this sepulchre easier to
+bear and prepares me for my own. &lsquo;Tis full a hundred and twenty years
+since first I looked upon the light, and now the time of sleep draws near. Come
+hither, my nephew, and kiss me on the brow, remembering in your strength that a
+day will dawn when as I am, so shall you be, if the gods spare you so
+long.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+So I kissed him, not without fear, for the old man was unearthly. Then he sent
+Karema from the place and bade me tell him my story, which I did. Why he did
+this I cannot say, since he seemed to know it already and once or twice
+corrected me in certain matters that I had forgotten, for instance as to the
+exact words that I had used to the Great King in my rage and as to the fashion
+in which I was tied in the boat. When I had done, he said,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;So you gave the name of Amada to the Great King, did you? Well, you
+could have done nothing else if you wished to go on living, and therefore
+cannot be blamed. Yet before all is finished I think it will bring you into
+trouble, Shabaka, since among many gifts, the gods did not give that of reason
+to women. If so, bear it, since it is better to have trouble and be alive than
+to have none and be dead, that is, for those whose work is still to do in the
+world. And you, or rather Bes, stole the White Signet of signets of which,
+although it is so simple and ancient, there is not the like for power in the
+whole world. That was well done since it will be useful for a while. And now
+Peroa has determined to rebel against the King, which also is well done. Oh!
+trouble not to tell me of that business for I know all. But what would you
+learn of me, Shabaka?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I am instructed to learn from you the end of these great matters, my
+Uncle.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Are you mad, Shabaka, that you should think me a god who can read the
+future?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Not at all, my Uncle, who know that you can if you will.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Call the maiden,&rdquo; he said.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+So Bes went out and brought her in.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Be seated, Karema, there in front of the altar, and look into my
+eyes.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She obeyed and presently seemed to go to sleep for her head nodded. Then he
+said,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Wake, woman, look into the water in the bowl upon the altar and tell me
+what you see.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She appeared to wake, though I perceived that this was not really so, for she
+seemed a different woman with a fixed face that frightened me, and wide and
+frozen eyes. She stared into the silver bowl, then spoke in a new voice, as
+though some spirit used her tongue.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I see myself crowned a queen in a land I hate,&rdquo; she said coldly, a
+saying at which I gasped. &ldquo;I am seated on a throne beside yonder
+dwarf,&rdquo; a saying at which Bes gasped. &ldquo;Although so hideous, this
+dwarf is a great man with a good heart, a cunning mind and the courage of a
+lion. Also his blood is royal.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Here Bes rolled his eyes and smiled, but Tanofir did not seem in the least
+astonished, and said,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Much of this is known to me and the rest can be guessed. Pass on to what
+will happen in Egypt, before the spirit leaves you.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;There will be war in Egypt,&rdquo; she answered. &ldquo;I see fightings;
+Shabaka and others lead the Egyptians. The Easterns are driven away or slain.
+Peroa rules as Pharaoh, I see him on his throne. Shabaka is driven away in his
+turn, I see him travelling south with the dwarf and with myself, looking very
+sad. Time passes. I see the moons float by; I see messengers reach Shabaka,
+sent by Peroa and you O holy Tanofir; they tell of trouble in Egypt. I see
+Shabaka and the dwarf coming north at the head of a great army of black men
+armed with bows. With them I come rejoicing, for my heart seems to shine. He
+reaches a temple on the Nile about which is camped another great army, a
+countless army of Easterns under the command of the King of kings. Shabaka and
+the dwarf give battle to that army and the fray is desperate. They destroy it,
+they drive it into the Nile; the Nile runs red with blood. The Great King
+falls, an arrow from the bow of Shabaka is in his heart. He enters the temple,
+a conqueror, and there lies Peroa, dying or dead. A veiled priestess is there
+before an image, I cannot see her face. Shabaka looks on her. She stretches out
+her arms to him, her eyes burn with woman&rsquo;s love, her breast heaves, and
+above the image frowns and threatens. All is done, for Tanofir, Master of
+spirits, you die, yonder in the temple on the Nile, and therefore I can see no
+more. The power that comes through you, has left me.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then once more she became as a woman asleep.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;You have heard, Shabaka and Bes,&rdquo; said Tanofir quietly and
+stroking his long white beard, &ldquo;and what that maiden seemed to read in
+the water you may believe or disbelieve as you will.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;What do you believe, O holy Tanofir?&rdquo; I asked.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;The only part of the story whereof I am sure,&rdquo; he replied, evading
+a direct answer, &ldquo;is that which said that I shall die, and that when I am
+dead I shall no longer be able to cause the maiden Karema to see visions. For
+the rest I do not know. These things may happen or they may not. But,&rdquo; he
+added with a note of warning in his voice, &ldquo;whether they happen or not,
+my counsel to you both is that you say nothing of them beforehand.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;What then shall we report to those who bid me seek the oracle of your
+wisdom, O Tanofir?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;You can tell them that my wisdom declared that the omens were mixed with
+good and evil, but that time would show the truth. Hush now, the maiden is
+about to awake and must not be frightened. Also it is time for me to be led
+from this sepulchre to where I sleep, for I think that Ra has set and I am
+weary. Oh! Shabaka, why do you seek to peer into the future, which from day to
+day will unroll itself as does a scroll? Be content with the present, man, and
+take what Fate gives you of good or ill, not seeking to learn what offerings he
+hides beneath his robe in the days and the years and the centuries to
+come.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Yet you have sought to learn those things, O Tanofir, and not in
+vain.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Aye and what have they made of me? A blind old hermit weighed down with
+the weight of years and holding in my fingers but some few threads that with
+pain and grief I have plucked from the fringe of Wisdom&rsquo;s robe. Be warned
+by me, Nephew. While you are a man, live the life of a man, and when you become
+a spirit, live the life of a spirit. But do not seek to mix the two together
+like oil and wine, and thus spoil both. I am glad to learn, O Bes, that you are
+going to make a king&rsquo;s, or a slave&rsquo;s wife, whichever it may be, of
+this maiden, seeing that I love her well and hold this trade unwholesome for
+her. She will be better bearing babes than reading visions in a diviner&rsquo;s
+cup, and I will pray the gods that they may not be dwarfs as you are, but take
+on the likeness of their mother, who tells me that she is fair. Hush! she
+stirs.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Karema, are you awake? Good. Then lead me from the sepulchre, that I may
+make my evening prayer beneath the stars. Go, Shabaka and Bes, you are brave
+men, both of you, and I am glad to have the one for nephew and the other for
+pupil. My greetings to your mother, Tiu. She is a good woman and a true, one to
+whom you will do well to hearken. To the lady Amada also, and bid her study her
+beauteous face in a mirror and not be holy overmuch, since too great holiness
+often thwarts itself and ends in trouble for the unholy flesh. Still she loves
+pearls like other women, does she not, and even the statue of Isis likes to be
+adorned. As for you, Bes, though I think that is not your name, do not lie
+except when you are obliged, for jugglers who play with too many knives are apt
+to cut their fingers. Also give no more evil counsel to your Master on matters
+that have to do with woman. Now farewell. Let me hear how fortune favours you
+from time to time, Shabaka, for you take part in a great game, such as I loved
+in my youth before I became a holy hermit. Oh! if they had listened to me,
+things would have been different in Egypt to-day. But it was written otherwise,
+and as ever, women were the scribes. Good night, good night, good night! I am
+glad that my thought reached you yonder in the East, and taught you what to say
+and do. It is well to be wise sometimes, for others&rsquo; sake, but not for
+our own, oh! not for our own.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p class="p2">
+&ldquo;Master,&rdquo; said Bes as we ambled homewards beneath the stars,
+&ldquo;the holy Tanofir is a man for thought to feed on, since having climbed
+to the topmost peak of holiness, he does not seem to like its cold air and
+warns off those who would follow in his footsteps.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Then he might have spared himself the pains in your case, Bes, or in my
+own for that matter, since we shall never come so high.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;No, Master, and I am glad to have his leave to stay lower down, since
+that hot place of dead bulls is not one which I wish to inhabit in my age,
+making use of a maiden to stare into a pot of water, and there read marvels,
+which I could invent better for myself after a jug or two of wine. Oh! the holy
+Tanofir is quite right. If these things are going to happen let them happen,
+for we cannot change them by knowing of them beforehand. Who wishes to know,
+Master, if his throat will be cut?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Or that he will be married,&rdquo; I suggested.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Just so, Master, seeing that such prophecies end in becoming truths
+because we make them true, feeling that we must. Thus, now I must marry yonder
+Karema if she will marry me for fear lest I should prove the holy Tanofir to be
+what he called me&mdash;a liar.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I laughed and then asked Bes if he had taken note of what the seeress said of
+our flight south and our return thence with a great army of black men armed
+with bows.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Yes, Master,&rdquo; he answered gravely, &ldquo;and I think this army
+can be none other than that of the Ethiopians of whom by right I am the King.
+This very night I send messengers to tell those who rule in my place that I
+still live and am changing my mind on the matter of marriage. Also that if I do
+change it I may return to them, the wisest man who ever wore the crown of
+Ethiopia, having journeyed all about the world and collected much
+knowledge.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Perhaps, Bes, those who rule in your place may not wish to give it up to
+you. Perhaps they will kill you.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Have no fear, Master; as I have told you, the Ethiopians are a faithful
+people. Moreover they know that such a deed would bring the curse of the
+Grasshopper on them, since then the locusts would appear and eat up all their
+land, and when they were starving their enemies would attack them. Lastly they
+are a very tall folk and simple-minded and would not wish to miss the chance of
+being ruled over by the wisest dwarf in all the world, if only because it would
+be something new to them, Master.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Again I laughed thinking that Bes was jesting according to his fashion. But
+when that night, chancing to go round the corner of the house, I came upon him
+with a circlet of feathers round his head and his big bow in his hand,
+addressing three great black men who knelt before him as though he were a god,
+I changed my mind. As I withdrew he caught sight of me and said,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I pray you, my lord Shabaka, stay one moment.&rdquo; Then he spoke to
+the three men in his own language, translating sentence by sentence to me what
+he said to them. Briefly it was this:&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Say to the Lords and Councillors of the Ancient Kingdom that I, the
+Karoon&rdquo; (for such it seemed was his title) &ldquo;have a friend named the
+lord Shabaka, he whom you see before you, who again and again has saved my
+life, nursing me in his arms as a mother nurses her babe, and who is, after me,
+the bravest and the wisest man in all the world. Say to them that if indeed I
+double myself by marriage and return having fulfilled the law, I will beg this
+mighty prince to accompany me, and that if he consents that will be the most
+joyful day which the Ethiopians have seen for a thousand years, since he will
+teach them wisdom and lead their armies in great and glorious battles. Let the
+priests of the Grasshopper pray therefore that he may consent to do so. Now
+salute the mighty lord Shabaka who can send one arrow through all three of you
+and two more behind, and depart, tarrying not day or night till you reach the
+land of Ethiopia. Then when you have delivered the message of Karoon to the
+Captains and the Councillors, return, or let others return and seek me out
+wherever I may be, bringing of the gold of Ethiopia and other gifts, together
+with their answer, seeing that I and the lord Shabaka who have the world
+beneath our feet, will not come to a land where we are not welcome.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+So these great men saluted me as though I were the King of kings himself, after
+which they rubbed their foreheads in the dust before Bes, said something which
+I did not understand, leapt to their feet, crying &ldquo;Karoon&rdquo; and
+sprang away into the night.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;It is good to have been a slave, Master,&rdquo; said Bes when they had
+gone, &ldquo;since it teaches one that it is even better to be a king, at least
+sometimes.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Here I may add that during the days which followed Bes was often absent. When I
+asked him where he had gone, he would answer, to drink in the wisdom of the
+holy Tanofir by help of a certain silver vessel that the maiden Karema held to
+his lips. From all of which I gathered that he was wooing the lady who had
+called herself the Cup of Tanofir, and wondered how the business went, though
+as he said no more I did not ask him.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Indeed I had little time to talk with Bes about such light matters, since
+things moved apace in Memphis. Within six days all the great lords left in
+Upper Egypt were sworn to the revolt under the leadership of Peroa, and hour by
+hour their vassals or hired mercenaries flowed into the city. These it was my
+duty to weld into an army, and at this task I toiled without cease, separating
+them into regiments and drilling them, also arranging for the arming and
+victualling of the boats of war. Then news came that Idernes was advancing from
+Sais with a great force of Easterns, all the garrison of Lower Egypt indeed, as
+his messengers said, to answer the summons conveyed to him under the private
+Seal of seals.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Of Amada during this time I saw little, only meeting her now and again at the
+table of Peroa, or elsewhere in public. For the rest it pleased her to keep
+away from me. Once or twice I tried to find her alone, only to discover that
+she was engaged in the service of the goddess. Once, too, as she left
+Peroa&rsquo;s table, I whispered into her ear that I wished to speak with her.
+But she shook her head, saying,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;After the new moon, Shabaka. Then you shall speak with me as much as you
+wish.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Thus it came about that never could I find opportunity to tell her of that
+matter of what had happened at the court of the Great King. Still every morning
+she sent me some token, flowers or trifling gifts, and once a ring that must
+have belonged to her forefathers, since on its bezel was engraved the royal
+<i>uræus</i>, together with the signs of long life and health, which ring I
+wore hung about my neck but not upon my finger, fearing lest that emblem of
+royalty might offend Peroa or some of his House, if they chanced to see it. So
+in answer I also sent her flowers and other gifts, and for the rest was content
+to wait.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+All of which things my mother noted with a smile, saying that the lady Amada
+showed a wonderful discretion, such as any man would value in a wife of so much
+beauty, which also must be most pleasing to her mistress, the goddess Isis. To
+this I answered that I valued it less as a lover than I might do as a husband.
+My mother smiled again and spoke of something else.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Thus things went on while the storm-clouds gathered over Egypt.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+One night I could not sleep. It was that of the new moon and I knew that during
+those hours of darkness, before the solemn conclave of the high priests, with
+pomp and ceremony in the sanctuary of the temple, Amada had undergone
+absolution of her vows to Isis and been given liberty to wed as other women do.
+Indeed my mother, in virtue of her rank as a Singer of Amen, had been present
+at the rite, and returning, told me all that happened.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She described how Amada had appeared, clad as a priestess, how she had put up
+her prayer to the four high priests seated in state, demanding to be loosed
+from her vow &ldquo;for the sake of her heart and of Egypt.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then one of the high priests, he of Amen, I think, as the chief of them all,
+had advanced to the statue of the goddess Isis and whispered the prayer to it,
+whereon after a pause the goddess nodded thrice in the sight of all present,
+thereby signifying her assent. This done the high priest returned and
+proclaimed the absolution in the ancient words &ldquo;for the sake of the
+suppliant&rsquo;s heart and of Egypt&rdquo; and with it the blessing of the
+goddess on her union, adding, however, the formula, &ldquo;at thy prayer,
+daughter and spouse, I, the goddess Isis, cut the rope that binds thee to me on
+earth. Yet if thou should&rsquo;st tie it again, know that it may never more be
+severed, for if thou strivest so to do, it shall strangle thee in whatever
+shape thou livest on the earth throughout the generations, and with thee the
+man thou choosest and those who give thee to him. Thus saith Isis the Queen of
+Heaven.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;What does that mean?&rdquo; I asked my mother.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;It means, my son, that if, having broken her vows to Isis, a woman
+should repeat them and once more enter the service of the goddess, and then for
+the second time seek to break them, she and the man for whom she did this thing
+would be like flies in a spider&rsquo;s web, and that not only in this life,
+but in any other that may be given to them in the world.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;It seems that Isis has a long arm,&rdquo; I said.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Without doubt a very long arm, my son, since Isis, by whatever name she
+is called, is a power that does not die or forget.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Well, Mother, in this case she can have no reason to remember, since
+never again will Amada be her priestess.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I think not, Shabaka. Yet who can be sure of what a woman will or will
+not do, now or hereafter? For my part I am glad that I have served Amen and not
+Isis, and that after I was wed.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2><a name="chap12"></a>CHAPTER XII.<br />THE SLAYING OF IDERNES</h2>
+
+<p>
+Whilst I was still talking to my mother I received an urgent summons to the
+palace. I went and in a little ante-chamber met Amada alone, who, I could see,
+was waiting there for me. She was arrayed in her secular dress and wore the
+insignia of royalty, looking exceedingly beautiful. Moreover, her whole aspect
+had changed, for now she was no longer a priestess sworn to mysteries, but just
+a lovely and a loving woman.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;It is done, Shabaka,&rdquo; she whispered, &ldquo;and thou art mine and
+I am thine.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then I opened my arms and she sank upon my breast and for the first time I
+kissed her on the lips, kissed her many times and oh! my heart almost burst
+with joy. But all too fleeting was that sweet moment of love&rsquo;s first
+fruits, whereon I had sown the seed so many years ago, for while we yet clung
+together, whispering sweet things into each other&rsquo;s ears, I heard a voice
+calling me and was forced to go away before I had even time to ask when we
+might be wed.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Within the Council was gathered. The news before it was that the Satrap Idernes
+lay camped upon the Nile with some ten thousand men, not far from the great
+pyramids, that is, within striking distance of Memphis. Moreover his messengers
+announced that he purposed to visit the Prince Peroa that day with a small
+guard only, to inquire into this matter of the Signet, for which visit he
+demanded a safe-conduct sworn in the name of the Great King and in those of the
+gods of Egypt and the East. Failing this he would at once attack Memphis
+notwithstanding any commands that might be given him under the Signet, which,
+until he beheld it with his own eyes, he believed to be a forgery.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The question was&mdash;what answer should be sent to him? The debate that
+followed proved long and earnest. Some were in favour of attacking Idernes at
+once although his camp was reported to be strongly entrenched and flanked on
+one side by the Nile and on the other by the rising ground whereon stood the
+great sphinx and the pyramids. Others, among whom I was numbered, thought
+otherwise, for I hold that some evil god led me to give counsel that day which,
+if it were good for Egypt was most ill for my own fortunes. Perchance this god
+was Isis, angry at the loss of her votary.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I pointed out that by receiving Idernes Peroa would gain time which would
+enable a body of three thousand men, if not more, who were advancing down the
+Nile, to join us before they were perhaps cut off from the city, and thus give
+us a force as large as his, or larger. Also I showed that having summoned
+Idernes under the Signet, we should put ourselves in the wrong if we refused to
+receive him and instead attacked him at once.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+A third party was in favour of allowing him to enter Memphis with his guard and
+then making him prisoner or killing him. As to this I pointed out again that
+not only would it involve the breaking of a solemn oath, which might bring the
+curse of the gods upon our cause and proclaim us traitors to the world, but it
+would also be foolish since Idernes was not the only general of the Easterns
+and if we cut off him and his escort, it would avail us little for then the
+rest of the Easterns would fight in a just cause.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+So in the end it was agreed that the safe-conduct should be sent and that Peroa
+should receive Idernes that very day at a great feast given in his honour.
+Accordingly it was sent in the ancient form, the oaths being taken before the
+messengers that neither he nor those with him who must not number more than
+twenty men, would be harmed in Memphis and that he would be guarded on the road
+back until he reached the outposts of his own camp.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+This done, I was despatched up the Nile bank in a chariot accompanied only by
+Bes, to hurry on the march of those troops of which I have spoken, so that they
+might reach Memphis by sundown. Before I went, however, I had some words alone
+with Peroa. He told me that my immediate marriage with the lady Amada would be
+announced at the feast that night. Thereon I prayed him to deliver to Amada the
+rope of priceless rose-hued pearls which was in his keeping, as my betrothal
+gift, with the prayer that she would wear them at the feast for my sake. There
+was no time for more.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The journey up Nile proved long for the road was bad being covered with drifted
+sand in some places and deep in mud from the inundation waters in others. At
+length I found the troops just starting forward after their rest, and rejoiced
+to see that there were more of them than I had thought. I told the case to
+their captains, who promised to make a forced march and to be in Memphis two
+hours before midnight.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+As we drove back Bes said to me suddenly,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Do you know why you could not find me this morning?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I answered that I did not.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Because a good slave should always run a pace ahead of his master, to
+clear the road and tell him of its pitfalls. I was being married. The Cup of
+the holy Tanofir is now by law and right Queen of the Ethiopians. So when you
+meet her again you must treat her with great respect, as I do already.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Indeed, Bes,&rdquo; I said laughing, &ldquo;and how did you manage that
+business? You must have wooed her well during these days which have been so
+full for both of us.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I did not woo her over much, Master; indeed, the time was lacking. I
+wooed the holy Tanofir, which was more important.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;The holy Tanofir, Bes?&rdquo; I exclaimed.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Yes, Master. You see this beautiful Cup of his is after all&mdash;his
+beautiful Cup. Her mind is the shadow of his mind and from her he pours out his
+wisdom. So I told him all the case. At first he was angry, for, notwithstanding
+the words he spoke to you and me, when it came to a point the holy Tanofir,
+being after all much like other men, did not wish to lose his Cup. Indeed had
+he been a few score of years younger I am not sure but that he would have
+forgotten some of his holiness because of her. Still he came to see matters in
+the true light at last&mdash;for your sake, Master, not for mine, since his
+wisdom told him it was needful that I should become King of the Ethiopians
+again, to do which I must be married. At any rate he worked upon the mind of
+that Cup of his&mdash;having first settled that she should procure a younger
+sister of her own to fill her place&mdash;in such fashion that when at length I
+spoke to her on the matter, she did not say no.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;No doubt because she was fond of you for yourself, Bes. A woman would
+not marry even to please the holy Tanofir.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Oh! Master,&rdquo; he replied in a new voice, a very sad voice, &ldquo;I
+would that I could think so. But look at me, a misshapen dwarf, accursed from
+birth. Could a fair lady like this Karema wed such a one for his own
+sake?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Well, Bes, there might be other reasons besides the holy Tanofir,&rdquo;
+I said hurriedly.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Master, there were no other reasons, unless the Cup, when it is awake,
+remembers what it has held in trance, which I do not believe. I wooed her as I
+was, not telling her that I am also King of the Ethiopians, or any more than I
+seem to be. Moreover the holy Tanofir told her nothing, for he swore as much to
+me and he does not lie.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;And what did she say to you, Bes?&rdquo; I asked, for I was curious.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;She lied fast enough, Master. She said&mdash;well, what she said when
+first we met her, that there was more in me than the eye saw and that she who
+had lived so much with spirits looked to the spirit rather than to the flesh,
+and that dwarf or no she loved me and desired nothing better than to marry me
+and be my true and faithful wife and helpmeet. She lied so well that once or
+twice almost I believed her. At any rate I took her at her word, not altogether
+for myself, believe me, Master, but because without doubt what the holy Tanofir
+has shown us will come to pass, and it is necessary to you that I should be
+married.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;You married her to help me, Bes?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;That is so, Master&mdash;after all, but a little thing, seeing that she
+is beautiful, well born and very pleasant, and I am fond of her. Also I do her
+no wrong for she has bought more than she bargained for, and if she has any
+that are not dwarfs, her children may be kings. I do not think,&rdquo; he added
+reflectively, &ldquo;that even the faithful Ethiopians could accept a second
+dwarf as their king. One is very well for a change, but not two or three. The
+stomach of a tall people would turn against them.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I took Bes&rsquo;s hand and pressed it, understanding the depth of his love and
+sacrifice. Also some spirit&mdash;doubtless it came from the holy
+Tanofir&mdash;moved me to say,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Be comforted, Bes, for I am sure of this. Your children will be strong
+and straight and tall, more so than any of their forefathers that went before
+them.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+This indeed proved to be the case, for their father&rsquo;s deformity was but
+an accident, not born in his blood.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Those are good-omened words, Master, for which I thank you, though the
+holy Tanofir said the like when he wed us with the sacred words this morning
+and gave us his blessing, endowing my wife with certain gifts of secret wisdom
+which he said would be of use to her and me.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Where is she now, Bes?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;With the holy Tanofir, Master, until I fetch her, training her younger
+sister to be a diviner&rsquo;s worthy Cup. Only perhaps I shall never send,
+seeing that I think there will be fighting soon.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Yes, Bes, but being newly married you will do well to leave it to
+others.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;No, no, Master. Battle is better than wives. Moreover, could you think
+that I would leave you to stand alone in the fray? Why if I did and harm came
+to you I should die of shame or hang myself and then Karema would never be a
+queen. So both her trades would be gone, since after marriage she cannot be a
+Cup, and her heart would break. But here are the gates of Memphis, so we will
+forget love and think of war.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p class="p2">
+An hour later I and my mother, the lady Tiu, stood in the banqueting hall of
+the palace with many others, and learned that the Satrap Idernes and his escort
+had reached Memphis and would be present at the feast. A while later trumpets
+blew and a glittering procession entered the hall. At the head of it was Peroa
+who led Idernes by the hand. This Eastern was a big, strong man with tired and
+anxious eyes, such as I had noted were common among the servants of the Great
+King who from day to day never knew whether they would fill a Satrapy or a
+grave. He was clad in gorgeous silks and wore a cap upon his head in which
+shone a jewel, but beneath his robes I caught the glint of mail.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+As he came into the hall and noted the number and quality of the guests and the
+stir and the expectant look upon their faces, he started as though he were
+afraid, but recovering himself, murmured some courteous words to his host and
+advanced towards the seat of honour which was pointed out to him upon the
+Prince&rsquo;s right. After these two followed the wife of Peroa with her son
+and daughters. Then, walking alone in token of her high rank, appeared Amada,
+the Royal Lady of Egypt, wonderfully arrayed. Now, however, she wore no emblems
+of royalty, either because it was not thought wise that these should be shown
+in the presence of the Satrap, or because she was about to be given in marriage
+to one who was not royal. Indeed, as I noted with joy, her only ornament was
+the rope of rose-hued pearls which were arranged in a double row upon her
+breast.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She searched me out with her eyes, smiled, touching the pearls with her finger,
+and passed on to her place next to the daughters of Peroa, at one end of the
+head table which was shaped like a horse&rsquo;s hoof.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+After her came the nobles who had accompanied Idernes, grave Eastern men. One
+of these, a tall captain with eyes like a hawk, seemed familiar to me. Nor was
+I mistaken, for Bes, who stood behind me and whose business it would be to wait
+on me at the feast, whispered in my ear,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Note that man. He was present when you were brought before the Great
+King from the boat and saw and heard all that passed.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Then I wish he were absent now,&rdquo; I whispered back, for at the
+words a sudden fear shot through me, of what I could not say.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+By degrees all were seated in their appointed places. Mine was by that of my
+mother at a long table that stood as it were across the ends of the high table
+but at a little distance from them, so that I was almost opposite to Peroa and
+Idernes and could see Amada, although she was too far away for me to be able to
+speak to her.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The feast began and at first was somewhat heavy and silent, since, save for the
+talk of courtesy, none spoke much. At length wine, whereof I noted that Idernes
+drank a good deal, as did his escort, but Peroa and the Egyptians little,
+loosened men&rsquo;s tongues and they grew merrier. For it was the custom of
+the people of the Great King to discuss both private and public business when
+full of strong drink, but of the Egyptians when they were quite sober. This was
+well known to Peroa and many of us, especially to myself who had been among
+them, which was one of the reasons why Idernes had been asked to meet us at a
+feast, where we might have the advantage of him in debate.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Presently the Satrap noted the splendid cup from which he drank and asked some
+question concerning it of the hawk-eyed noble of whom I have spoken. When it
+had been answered he said in a voice loud enough for me to overhear,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Tell me, O Prince Peroa, was this cup ever that of the Great King which
+it so much resembles?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;So I understand, O Idernes,&rdquo; answered Peroa. &ldquo;That is, until
+it became mine by gift from the lord Shabaka, who received it from the Great
+King.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+An expression of horror appeared upon the face of the Satrap and upon those of
+his nobles.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Surely,&rdquo; he answered, &ldquo;this Shabaka must hold the
+King&rsquo;s favours lightly if he passes them on thus to the first-comer. At
+the least, let not the vessel which has been hallowed by the lips of the King
+of kings be dishonoured by the humblest of his servants. I pray you, O Prince,
+that I may be given another cup.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+So a new goblet was brought to him, Peroa trying to pass the matter off as a
+jest by appealing to me to tell the story of the cup. Then I said while all
+listened,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;O Prince, the most high Satrap is mistaken. The King of kings did not
+give me the cup, I bought it from him in exchange for a certain famous bow, and
+therefore held it not wrong to pass it on to you, my lord.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Idernes made no answer and seemed to forget the matter.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+A while later, however, his eye fell upon Amada and the rose-hued pearls she
+wore, and again he asked a question of the hawk-eyed captain, then said,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Think me not discourteous, O Prince, if I seem to look upon yonder
+lovely lady which in our country, where women do not appear in public, we
+should think it an insult to do. But on her fair breast I see certain pearls
+like to some that are known throughout the world, which for many years have
+been worn by those who sit upon the throne of the East. I would ask if they are
+the same, or others?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I do not know, O Idernes,&rdquo; answered Peroa; &ldquo;I only know that
+the lord Shabaka brought them from the East. Inquire of him, if it be your
+pleasure.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Shabaka again&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo; began Idernes, but I cut him short,
+saying,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Yes, O Satrap, Shabaka again. I won those pearls in a bet from the Great
+King, and with them a certain weight of gold. This I think you knew before,
+since your messenger of a while ago was whipped for trying to steal them, which
+under the rods he said he did by command, O Satrap.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+To this bold speech Idernes made no answer. Only his captains frowned and many
+of the Egyptians murmured approval.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+After this the feast went on without further incident for a while, the Easterns
+always drinking more wine, till at length the tables were cleared and all of
+the meaner sort departed from the hall, save the butlers and the personal
+servants such as Bes, who stood behind the seats of their masters. There came a
+silence such as precedes the bursting of a storm, and in the midst of it
+Idernes spoke, somewhat thickly.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I did not come here, O Peroa,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;from the seat of
+government at Sais to eat your meats and drink your wine. I came to speak of
+high matters with you.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;It is so, O Satrap,&rdquo; answered Peroa. &ldquo;And now what may be
+your will? Would you retire to discuss them with me and my Councillors?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Where is the need, O Peroa, seeing that I have naught to say which may
+not be heard by all?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;As it pleases you. Speak on, O Satrap.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I have been summoned here, Prince Peroa, by a writing under what seems
+to be the Signet of signets&mdash;the ancient White Seal that for generations
+unknown has been worn by the forefathers of the King of kings. Where is this
+Signet?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Here,&rdquo; said the Prince, opening his robe. &ldquo;Look on it,
+Satrap, and let your lords look, but let none of you dare to touch it.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Idernes looked long and earnestly, and so did some of his people, especially
+the lord with the hawk eyes. Then they stared at each other bewildered and
+whispered together.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;It seems to be the very Seal&mdash;the White Seal itself!&rdquo;
+exclaimed Idernes at length. &ldquo;Tell me now, Peroa. How came this sacred
+thing that dwells in the East hither into Egypt?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;The lord Shabaka brought it to me with certain letters from the Great
+King, O Satrap.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Shabaka for the third time, by the holy Fire!&rdquo; cried Idernes.
+&ldquo;He brought the cup; he brought the famous pearls; he brought the gold,
+and he brought the Signet of signets. What is there then that he did not bring?
+Perchance he has the person of the King of kings himself in his keeping!&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Not that, O Satrap, only the commands of the King of kings which are
+prepared ready to deliver to you under the White Seal that you
+acknowledge.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;And what may they be, Egyptian?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;This, O Satrap: That you and all the army which you have brought with
+you retire to Sais and thence out of Egypt as quickly as you may, or pay for
+disobedience with your lives.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Now Idernes and his captains gasped.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Why this is rebellion!&rdquo; he said.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;No, O Satrap, only the command of the Great King given under the White
+Seal,&rdquo; and drawing a roll from his breast, Peroa laid it on his brow and
+cast it down before Idernes, adding,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Obey the writing and the Signet, or by virtue of my commission, as soon
+as you are returned to your army and your safe-conduct is expired, I fall upon
+you and destroy you.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Idernes looked about him like a wolf in a trap, then asked,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Do you mean to murder me here?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Not so,&rdquo; answered Peroa, &ldquo;for you have our safe-conduct and
+Egyptians are honourable men. But you are dismissed your office and ordered to
+leave Egypt.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Idernes thought a little while, then said,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;If I leave Egypt, there is at least one whom I am commanded to take with
+me under orders and writings that you will not dispute, a maiden named Amada
+whom the Great King would number among his women. I am told it is she who sits
+yonder&mdash;a jewel indeed, fair as the pearls upon her breast which thus will
+return into the King&rsquo;s keeping. Let her be handed over, for she rides
+with me at once.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Now in the midst of an intense silence Peroa answered,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Amada, the Royal Lady of Egypt, cannot be sent to dwell in the House of
+Women of the Great King without the consent of the lord Shabaka, whose she
+is.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Shabaka for the fourth time!&rdquo; said Idernes, glaring at me.
+&ldquo;Then let Shabaka come too. Or his head in a basket will suffice, since
+that will save trouble afterwards, also some pain to Shabaka. Why, now I
+remember. It was this very Shabaka whom the Great King condemned to death by
+the boat for a crime against his Majesty, and who bought his life by promising
+to deliver to him the fairest and most learned woman in the world&mdash;the
+lady Amada of Egypt. And thus does the knave keep his oath!&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Now I leapt to my feet, as did most of those present. Only Amada kept her seat
+and looked at me.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;You lie!&rdquo; I cried, &ldquo;and were it not for your safe-conduct I
+would kill you for the lie.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I lie, do I?&rdquo; sneered Idernes. &ldquo;Speak then, you who were
+present, and tell this noble company whether I lie,&rdquo; and he pointed to
+the hawk-eyed lord.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;He does not lie,&rdquo; said the Captain. &ldquo;I was in the Court of
+the Great King and heard yonder Shabaka purchase pardon by promising to hand
+over his cousin, the lady Amada, to the King. The pearls were entrusted to him
+as a gift to her and I see she wears them. The gold also of which mention has
+been made was to provide for her journey in state to the East, or so I heard.
+The cup was his guerdon, also a sum for his own purse.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;It is false,&rdquo; I shouted. &ldquo;The name of Amada slipped my lips
+by chance&mdash;no more.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;So it slipped your lips by chance, did it?&rdquo; sneered Idernes.
+&ldquo;Now, if you are wise, you will suffer the lady Amada to slip your hand,
+and not by chance. But let us have done with this cunning knave. Prince, will
+you hand over yonder fair woman, or will you not?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Satrap, I will not,&rdquo; answered Peroa. &ldquo;The demand is an
+insult put forward to force us to rebellion, since there is no man in Egypt who
+will not be ready to die in defence of the Royal Lady of Egypt.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+This statement was received with a shout of applause by every Egyptian in the
+hall. Idernes waited until it had died away, then said,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Prince Peroa and Egyptians, you have conveyed to me certain commands
+sealed with the Signet of signets, which I think was stolen by yonder Shabaka.
+Now hearken; until this matter is made clear I will obey those commands thus
+far. I will return with my army to Sais and there wait until I have received
+the orders of the Great King, after report made to him. If so much as an arrow
+is shot at us on our march, it will be open rebellion, as the price of which
+Egypt shall be crushed as she was never crushed before, and every one of you
+here present shall lose his head, save only the lady Amada who is the property
+of the Great King. Now I thank you for your hospitality and demand that you
+escort me and those with me back to my camp, since it seems that here we are in
+the midst of enemies.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Before you go, Idernes,&rdquo; I shouted, &ldquo;know that you and your
+lying captain shall pay with your lives for your slander on me.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Many will pay with their lives for this night&rsquo;s work, O thief of
+pearls and seals,&rdquo; answered the Satrap, and turning, left the hall with
+his company.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Now I searched for Amada, but she also had gone with the ladies of
+Peroa&rsquo;s household who feared lest the feast should end in blows and
+bloodshed, also lest she should be snatched away. Indeed of all the women in
+the hall, only my mother remained.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Search out the lady Amada,&rdquo; I said to her, &ldquo;and tell her the
+truth.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Yes, my son,&rdquo; she answered thoughtfully; &ldquo;but what is the
+truth? I understood it was Bes who first gave the name of the lady Amada to the
+Great King. Now we learn from your own lips that it was you. Wise would you
+have been, my son, if you had bitten out your tongue before you said it, since
+this is a matter that any woman may well misunderstand.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Her name was surprised out of me, Mother. It was Bes who spoke to the
+King of the beauty of a certain lady of Egypt.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;And I think, my son, it was Bes who told Peroa and his guests that he
+and not you had given the King her name, which you do not seem to have denied.
+Well, doubtless both of you are to blame for foolishness, no more, since well I
+know that you would have died ten times over rather than buy your life at the
+price of the honour of the Lady of Egypt. This I will say to her as soon as I
+may, praying that it may not be too late, and afterwards you shall tell me
+everything, which you would have done well to do at first, if Bes, as I think,
+had not been over cunning after the fashion of black people, and counselled you
+otherwise. See, Peroa calls you and I must go, for there are greater matters
+afoot than that of who let slip the name of the lady Amada to the King of
+kings.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+So she went and there followed a swift council of war, the question being
+whether we were to strike at the Satrap&rsquo;s army or to allow it to retreat
+to Sais. In my turn I was asked for my judgment of the issue, and answered,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Strike and at once, since we cannot hope to storm Sais, which is far
+away. Moreover such strength as we have is now gathered and if it is idle and
+perhaps unpaid, will disperse again. But if we can destroy Idernes and his
+army, it will be long before the King of kings, who is sending all his
+multitudes against the Greeks, can gather another, and during this time Egypt
+may again become a nation and able to protect herself under Peroa her own
+Pharaoh.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In the end I, and those who thought like me, prevailed, so that before the dawn
+I was sailing down the Nile with the fleet, having two thousand men under my
+command. Also I took with me the six hunters whom I had won from the Great
+King, since I knew them to be faithful, and thought that their knowledge of the
+Easterns and their ways might be of service. Our orders were to hold a certain
+neck of land between the river and the hills where the army of Idernes must
+pass, until Peroa and all his strength could attack him from behind.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Four hours later, the wind being very favourable to us, we reached that place
+and there took up our station and having made all as ready as we could, rested.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In the early afternoon Bes awakened me from the heavy sleep into which I had
+fallen, and pointed to the south. I looked and through the desert haze saw the
+chariots of Idernes advancing in ordered ranks, and after them the masses of
+his footmen.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Now we had no chariots, only archers, and two regiments armed with long spears
+and swords. Also the sailors on the boats had their slings and throwing
+javelins. Lastly the ground was in our favour since it sloped upwards and the
+space between the river and the hills was narrow, somewhat boggy too after the
+inundation of the Nile, which meant that the chariots must advance in a column
+and could not gather sufficient speed to sweep over us.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Idernes and his captains noted all this also, and halted. Then they sent a
+herald forward to ask who we were and to command us in the name of the Great
+King to make way for the army of the Great King.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I answered that we were Egyptians, ordered by Peroa to hold the road against
+the Satrap who had done affront to Egypt by demanding that its Royal Lady
+should be given over to him to be sent to the East as a woman-slave, and that
+if the Satrap wished to clear a road, he could come and do so. Or if it pleased
+him he could go back towards Memphis, or stay where he was, since we did not
+wish to strike the first blow. I added this,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I who speak on behalf of the Prince Peroa, am the lord Shabaka, that
+same man whom but last night the Satrap and a certain captain of his named a
+liar. Now the Easterns are brave men and we of Egypt have always heard that
+among them none is braver than Idernes who gained his advancement through
+courage and skill in war. Let him therefore come out together with the lord who
+named me a liar, armed with swords only, and I, who being a liar must also be a
+coward, together with my servant, a black dwarf, will meet them man to man in
+the sight of both the armies, and fight them to the death. Or if it pleases
+Idernes better, let him not come and I will seek him and kill him in the
+battle, or by him be killed.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The herald, having taken stock of me and of Bes at whom he laughed, returned
+with the message.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Will he come, think you, Master?&rdquo; asked Bes.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Mayhap,&rdquo; I answered, &ldquo;since it is a shame for an Eastern to
+refuse a challenge from any man whom he calls barbarian, and if he did so it
+might cost him his life afterwards at the hands of the Great King. Also if he
+should fall there are others to take his command, but none who can wipe away
+the stain upon his honour.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; said Bes; &ldquo;also they will think me a dwarf of no
+account, which makes the task of killing you easy. Well, they shall see.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Now when I sent this challenge I had more in my mind than a desire to avenge
+myself upon Idernes and his captain for the public shame they had put upon me.
+I wished to delay the attack of their host upon our little band and give time
+for the army of Peroa to come up behind. Moreover, if I fell it did not greatly
+matter, except as an omen, seeing that I had good officers under me who knew
+all my plans.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+We saw the herald reach the Satrap&rsquo;s army and after a while return
+towards us again, which made us think my challenge had been refused, especially
+as with him was an officer who, I took it, was sent to spy out our strength.
+But this was not so, for the man said,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;The Satrap Idernes has sworn by the Great King to kill the thief of the
+Signet and send his head to the Great King, and fears that if he waits to meet
+him in battle, he may slip away. Therefore he is minded to accept your
+challenge, O Shabaka, and put an end to you, and indeed under the laws of the
+East he may not refuse. But a noble of the Great King may not fight against a
+black slave save with a whip, so how can that noble accept the challenge of the
+dwarf Bes?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Quite well,&rdquo; answered Bes, &ldquo;seeing that I am no slave but a
+free citizen of Egypt. Moreover, in my own country of Ethiopia I am of royal
+blood. Lastly, tell the man this, that if he does not come and afterwards falls
+into my hands or into those of the lord Shabaka, he who talks of whips shall be
+scourged with them till his life creeps out from between his bare bones.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Thus spoke Bes, rolling his great eyes and looking so terrible that the herald
+and the officer fell back a step or two. Then I told them that if my offer did
+not please them, I myself would fight, first Idernes and then the noble. So
+they returned.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The end of it was that we saw Idernes and his captain advancing, followed by a
+guard of ten men. Then after I had explained all things to my officers, I also
+advanced with Bes, followed by a guard of ten picked men. We met between the
+armies on a little sandy plain at the foot of the rise and there followed talk
+between the captains of our guards as to arms and so forth, but we four said
+nothing to each other, since the time for words was past. Only Bes and I sat
+down upon the sand and spoke a little together of Amada and Karema and of how
+they would receive the news of our victory or deaths.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;It does not much matter, Master,&rdquo; said Bes at last, &ldquo;seeing
+that if we die we shall never know, and if we live we shall learn for
+ourselves.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At length all was arranged and we stood up to face each other, the four of us
+being armed in the same way. For as did Idernes and the hawk-eyed lord, Bes and
+I wore shirts of mail and helms, those that we had brought with us from the
+East. For weapons we had short and heavy swords, small shields and knives at
+our girdles.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Look your last upon the sun, Thieves,&rdquo; mocked Idernes, &ldquo;for
+when you see it again, it shall be with blind eyes from the points of spears
+fastened to the gateway pillars of the Great King&rsquo;s palace.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Liars you have lived and liars you shall die,&rdquo; shouted Bes, but I
+said nothing.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Now the agreement was that when the word had been given Idernes and I, and the
+noble and Bes, should fight together, but if they killed one of us, or we
+killed one of them, the two who survived might fall together on the remaining
+man. Remembering this, as he told me afterwards, at the signal Bes leapt
+forward like a flash with working face and foam upon his lips, and before ever
+I could come to Idernes, how I know not, had received the blow of the Eastern
+lord upon his shield and without striking back, had gripped him in his long
+arms and wrapped him round with his bowed legs. In an instant they were on the
+ground, Bes uppermost, and I heard the sound of blow upon blow struck with
+knife or sword, I knew not which, upon the Eastern&rsquo;s mail, followed by a
+shout of victory from the Egyptians which told me that Bes had slain him.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Now Idernes and I were smiting at each other. He was a taller and a bigger man
+than myself, but older and one who had lived too well. Therefore I thought it
+wise to keep him at a distance and tire him, which I did by retreating and
+catching his sword-cuts on my shield, only smiting back now and again.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;He runs! He runs!&rdquo; shouted the Easterns. &ldquo;O Idernes, beware
+the dwarf!&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Stand away, Bes,&rdquo; I called; &ldquo;this is my game,&rdquo; and he
+obeyed, as often he had done when we were hunting together.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Now a shrewd blow from Idernes cut through my helm and staggered me, and
+another before I could recover myself, shore the shield from my hand, whereat
+the Easterns shouted more loudly than before. Then fear of defeat entered into
+me and made me mad, for this Satrap was a great fighter. With a shout of
+&ldquo;Egypt!&rdquo; I went at him like a wounded lion and soon it was his turn
+to stagger back. But alas! I struck too hard, for my sword snapped upon his
+mail.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;The knife!&rdquo; screamed Bes; &ldquo;the knife!&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I hurled the sword hilt in the Satrap&rsquo;s face and drew the dagger from my
+belt. Then I ran in beneath his guard and stabbed and stabbed and stabbed. He
+gripped me and we went down side by side, rolling over each other. The gods
+know how it ended, for things were growing dim to me when some thrust of mine
+found a rent in his mail made when the sword broke and he became weak. His
+spirit weakened also, for he gasped,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Spare my life, Egyptian, and my treasure is yours. I swear it by the
+Fire.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Not for all the treasure in the world, Slanderer,&rdquo; I panted back
+and drove the dagger home to the hilt thrice, until he died. Then I staggered
+to my feet, and when the armies saw that it was I who rose while Idernes lay
+still a roar of triumph went up from the Egyptians, answered by a roar of rage
+from the Easterns.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+With a cry of &ldquo;Well done, Master!&rdquo; Bes leapt upon the dead man and
+hewed his head from him, as already he had served the hawk-eyed noble. Then
+gripping one head in each hand he held them up for the Easterns to see.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Men of the Great King,&rdquo; I said, &ldquo;bear us witness that we
+have fought fairly, man to man, when we need not have done so.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The ten of the Satrap&rsquo;s guard stood silent, but my own shouted,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Back, Shabaka! The Easterns charge!&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I looked and saw them coming like waves of steel, then supported by my men and
+preceded by Bes who danced in front shaking the severed heads, I ran back to my
+own ranks where one gave me wine to drink and threw water over my hurts which
+were but slight. Scarcely was it done when the battle closed in and soon in it
+I forgot the deaths of Idernes and the Eastern liar.
+</p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2><a name="chap13"></a>CHAPTER XIII.<br />AMADA RETURNS TO ISIS</h2>
+
+<p>
+We fought a very terrible fight that evening there by the banks of Nile. Our
+position was good, but we were outnumbered by four or five to one, and the
+Easterns and their mercenaries were mad at the death of the Satrap by my hand.
+Time upon time they came on furiously, charging up the slope like wild bulls.
+For the most part we relied upon our archers to drive them back, since our
+half-trained troops could scarcely hope to stand against the onset of veterans
+disciplined in war. So taking cover behind the rocks we rained arrows on them,
+shooting the horses in the chariots, and when these were down, pouring our
+shafts upon the footmen behind. Myself I took my great black bow and drew it
+thrice, and each time I saw a noble fall, for no mail could withstand the
+arrows which it sent, and of that art I was a master. None in Egypt could shoot
+so far or so straight as I did, save perhaps Peroa himself. I had no time to do
+more since always I must be moving up and down the line encouraging my men.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Three times we drove them back, after which they grew cunning. Ceasing from a
+direct onslaught and keeping what remained of their chariots in reserve, they
+sent one body of men to climb along the slope of the hill where the rocks gave
+them cover from our arrows, and another to creep through the reeds and growing
+crops upon the bank of the river where we could not see to shoot them well,
+although the slingers in the ships did them some damage.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Thus they attacked us on either flank, and while we were thus engaged their
+centre made a charge. Then came the bitterest of the fighting for now the bows
+were useless, and it was sword against sword and spear against spear. Once we
+broke and I thought that they were through. But I led a charge against them and
+drove them back a little way. Still the issue was doubtful till I saw Bes rush
+past me grinning and leaping, and with him a small body of Greeks whom we held
+in reserve, and I think that the sight of the terrible dwarf whom they thought
+a devil, frightened the Easterns more than did the Greeks.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At any rate, shouting out something about an evil spirit whom the Egyptians
+worshipped, by which I suppose they meant that god after whom Bes was named,
+they retreated, leaving many dead but taking their wounded with them, for they
+were unbroken.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At the foot of the slope they reformed and took counsel, then sat down out of
+bowshot as though to rest. Now I guessed their plan. It was to wait till night
+closed in, which would be soon for the sun was sinking, and then, when we could
+not see to shoot, either rush through us by the weight of numbers, or march
+back to where the cliffs were lower and climb them, thus passing us on the
+higher open land.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Now we also took counsel, though little came of it, since we did not know what
+to do. We were too few to attack so great an army, nor if we climbed the cliffs
+could we hope to withstand them in the desert sands, or to hold our own against
+them if they charged in the dark. If this happened it seemed that all we could
+do would be to fight as long as we could, after which the survivors of us must
+take refuge on our boats. So it came to this, that we should lose the battle
+and the greater part of the Easterns would win back to Sais, unless indeed the
+main army under Peroa came to our aid.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Whilst we talked I caused the wounded to be carried to the ships before it grew
+too dark to move them. Bes went with them. Presently he returned, running
+swiftly.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Master,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;the evening wind is blowing strong and
+stirs the sand, but from a mast-head through it I caught sight of Peroa&rsquo;s
+banners. The army comes round the bend of the river not four furlongs away. Now
+charge and those Easterns will be caught between the hammer and the stone, for
+while they are meeting us they will not look behind.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+So I went down the lines of our little force telling them the good news and
+showing them my plan. They listened and understood. We formed up, those who
+were left of us, not more than a thousand men perhaps, and advanced. The
+Easterns laughed when they saw us coming down the slope, for they thought that
+we were mad and that they would kill us every one, believing as they did that
+Peroa had no other army. When we were within bowshot we began to shoot, though
+sparingly, for but few arrows were left. Galled by our archery they marshalled
+their ranks to charge us again. With a shout we leapt forward to meet them, for
+now from the higher ground I saw the chariots of Peroa rushing to our rescue.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+We met, we fought. Surely there had been no such fighting since the days of
+Thotmes and Rameses the Great. Still they drove us back till unseen and
+unsuspected the chariots and the footmen of Peroa broke on them from behind,
+broke on them like a desert storm. They gave, they fled this way and that, some
+to the banks of the Nile, some to the hills. By the light of the setting sun we
+finished it and ere the darkness closed in the Great King&rsquo;s army was
+destroyed, save for the fugitives whom we hunted down next day.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Yes, in that battle perished ten thousand of the Easterns and their
+mercenaries, and upon its field at dawn we crowned Peroa Pharaoh of Egypt, and
+he named me the chief general of his army. There, too, fell over a thousand of
+my men and among them those six hunters whom I had won in the wager with the
+Great King and brought with me from the East. Throughout the fray they served
+me as a bodyguard, fighting furiously, who knew that they could hope for no
+mercy from their own people. One by one they were slain, the last two of them
+in the charge at sunset. Well, they were brave and faithful to me, so peace be
+on their spirits. Better to die thus than in the den of lions.
+</p>
+
+<p class="p2">
+In triumph we returned to Memphis, I bringing in the rear-guard and the spoils.
+Before Pharaoh and I parted a messenger brought me more good news. Sure tidings
+had come that the King of kings had been driven by revolt in his dominions to
+embark upon a mighty war with Syria, Greece and Cyprus and other half-conquered
+countries, in which, doubtless by agreement, the fires of insurrection had
+suddenly burned up. Also already Peroa&rsquo;s messengers had departed to tell
+them of what was passing on the Nile.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;If this be true,&rdquo; said Peroa when he had heard all, &ldquo;the
+Great King will have no new army to spare for Egypt.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;It is so, Pharaoh,&rdquo; I answered. &ldquo;Yet I think he will conquer
+in this great war and that within two years you must be prepared to meet him
+face to face.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Two years are long, Shabaka, and in them, by your help, much may be
+done.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But as it chanced he was destined to be robbed of that help, and this by the
+work of Woman the destroyer.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It happened thus. Amidst great rejoicings Pharaoh reached Memphis and in the
+vast temple of Amen laid down our spoils in the presence of the god, thousands
+of right hands hewn from the fallen, thousands of swords and other weapons and
+tens of chariots, together with much treasure of which a portion was given to
+the god. The high priests blessed us in the name of Amen and of the other gods;
+the people blessed us and threw flowers in our path; all the land rejoiced
+because once more it was free.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+There too that day in the temple with ancient form and ceremonial Peroa was
+crowned Pharaoh of Egypt. Sceptres and jewels that had been hid for generations
+were brought out by those who knew the secret of their hiding-places; the
+crowns that had been worn by old Pharaohs, were set upon his head; yes, the
+double crown of the Upper and the Lower Land. Thus in a Memphis mad with joy at
+the casting off of the foreign yoke, he was anointed the first of a new
+dynasty, and with him his queen.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I too received honours, for the story of the slaying of Idernes at my hands and
+of how I held the pass had gone abroad, so that next to Pharaoh, I was looked
+upon as the greatest man in Egypt. Nor was Bes forgotten, since many of the
+common people thought that he was a spirit in the form of a dwarf whom the gods
+had sent to aid us with his strength and cunning. Indeed at the close of the
+ceremony voices cried out in the multitude of watchers, demanding that I who
+was to marry the Royal Lady of Egypt should be named next in succession to the
+throne.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Pharaoh heard and glanced first at his son and then at me, doubtfully,
+whereon, covered with confusion, I slipped away.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The portico of the temple was deserted, since all, even the guards, had crowded
+into the vast court to watch the coronation. Only in the shadow, seated against
+the pedestal of one of the two colossal statues in front of the outer pylon
+gate and looking very small beneath its greatness, was a man wrapped in a dark
+cloak whom noting vaguely I took to be a beggar. As I passed him, he plucked at
+my robe, and I stopped to search for something to give to him but could find
+naught.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I have nothing, Father,&rdquo; I said laughing, &ldquo;except the gold
+hilt of my sword.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Do not part with that, Son,&rdquo; answered a deep voice, &ldquo;for I
+think you will need it before all is over.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then while I stared at him he threw back his hood and I saw that beneath was
+the ancient withered face and the long white beard of my great-uncle, the holy
+Tanofir, the hermit and magician.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Great things happen yonder, Shabaka. So great that I have come from my
+sepulchre to see, or rather, being blind, to listen, who thrice in my life days
+have known the like before,&rdquo; and he pointed to the glittering throng in
+the court within. &ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; he went on, &ldquo;I have seen Pharaohs
+crowned and Pharaohs die&mdash;one of them at the hand of a conqueror. What
+will happen to this Pharaoh, think you, Shabaka?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;You should be better able to answer that question than I, who am no
+prophet, my Uncle.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;How, my Nephew, seeing that your dwarf has borne away my magic Cup? I do
+not grudge her to him for he is a brave dwarf and clever, who may yet prove a
+good prop to you, as he has done before, and to Egypt also. But she has gone
+and the new vessel is not yet shaped to my liking. So how can I answer?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Out of the store of wisdom gathered in your breast.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;So! my Nephew. Well, my store of wisdom tells me that feasts are
+sometimes followed by want and rejoicings by sorrow and victories by defeat,
+and splendid sins by repentance and slow climbing back to good again. Also that
+you will soon take a long journey. Where is the Royal Lady Amada? I did not
+hear her step among those who passed in to the Crowning. But even my hearing
+has grown somewhat weak of late, except in the silence of the night,
+Shabaka.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I do not know, my Uncle, who have only been in Memphis one hour. But
+what do you mean? Doubtless she prepares herself for the feast where I shall
+meet her.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Doubtless. Tell me, what passes at the temple of Isis? As I crept past
+the pylon feeling my way with my beggar&rsquo;s staff, I thought&mdash;but how
+can you know who have only been in Memphis an hour? Yet surely I heard voices
+just now calling out that you, Shabaka, should be named as the next successor
+to the throne of Egypt. Was it so?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Yes, holy Tanofir. That is why I have left who was vexed and am sworn to
+seek no such honour, which indeed I do not desire.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Just so, Nephew. Yet gifts have a way of coming to those who do not
+desire them and the last vision that I saw before my Cup left me, or rather
+that she saw, was of you wearing the Double Crown. She said that you looked
+very well in it, Shabaka. But now begone, for hark, here comes the procession
+with the new-anointed Pharaoh whose royal robe you won for him yonder in the
+pass, when you smote down Idernes and held his legions. Oh! it was well done
+and my new Cup, though faulty, was good enough to show me all. I felt proud of
+you, Shabaka, but begone, begone! &lsquo;A gift for the poor old beggar! A
+gift, my lords, for the poor blind beggar who has had none since the last
+Pharaoh was crowned in Egypt and finds it hard to live on
+memories!&rsquo;&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p class="p2">
+At our house I found my mother just returned from the Coronation, but Bes I did
+not find and guessed that he had slipped away to meet his new-made wife,
+Karema. My mother embraced me and blessed me, making much of me and my deeds in
+the battle; also she doctored such small hurts as I had. I put the matter by as
+shortly as I could and asked her if she had seen aught of Amada. She answered
+that she had neither seen nor heard of her which I was sure she thought
+strange, as she began to talk quickly of other things. I said to her what I had
+said to the holy Tanofir, that doubtless she was making ready for the feast
+since I could not find her at the Crowning.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Or saying good-bye to the goddess,&rdquo; answered my mother nodding,
+&ldquo;since there are some who find it even harder to fall from heaven to
+earth than to climb from earth to heaven, and after all you are but a man, my
+son.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then she slipped away to attire herself, leaving me wondering, because my
+mother was shrewd and never spoke at random.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+There was the holy Tanofir, too, with his talk about the temple of Isis, and he
+also did not speak at random. Oh! now I felt as I had done when the shadow of
+the palm-tree fell on me yonder in the palace garden.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The mood passed for my blood still tingled with the glory of that great fight,
+and my heart shut its doors to sadness, knowing as I did, that I was the most
+praised man in Memphis that day. Indeed had I not, I should have learned it
+when with my mother I entered the great banqueting-hall of the palace somewhat
+late, for she was long in making ready.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The first thing I saw there was Bes gorgeously arrayed in Eastern silks that he
+had plundered from the Satrap&rsquo;s tent, standing on a table so that all
+might see and hear him, and holding aloft in one hand the grisly head of
+Idernes and in the other that of the hawk-eyed noble whom he had slain, while
+in his thick, guttural voice he told the tale of that great fray. Catching
+sight of me, he called aloud,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;See! Here comes the man! Here comes the hero to whom Egypt owes its
+liberty and Pharaoh his crown.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Thereon all the company and the soldiers and servants who were gathered about
+the door began to shout and acclaim me, till I wished that I could vanish away
+as the holy Tanofir was said to be able to do. Since this was impossible I
+rushed at Bes who leapt from the table like a monkey and, still waving the
+heads and talking, slipped from the hall, I know not how, followed by the loud
+laughter of the guests.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then heralds announced the coming of Pharaoh and all grew silent. He and his
+company entered with pomp and we, his subjects, prostrated ourselves in the
+ancient fashion.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Rise, my guests,&rdquo; he cried. &ldquo;Rise, my people. Above all do
+you rise, Shabaka, my beloved cousin, to whom Egypt and I owe so much.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+So we rose and I took my seat in a place of honour having my mother at my side,
+and looked about me for Amada, but in vain. There was the carven chair upon
+which she should have been among those of the princesses, but it was empty. At
+first I thought that she was late, but when time went by and she did not
+appear, I asked if she were ill, a question that none seemed able to answer.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The feast went on with all the ancient ceremonies that attended the crowning of
+a Pharaoh of Egypt, since there were old men who remembered these, also the
+scribes and priests had them written in their books.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I took no heed of them and will not set them down. At length Pharaoh pledged
+his subjects, and his subjects pledged Pharaoh. Then the doors were opened and
+through them came a company of white-robed, shaven priests bearing on a bier
+the body of a dead man wrapped in his mummy-cloths. At first some laughed for
+this rite had not been performed in Egypt since she passed into the hands of
+the Great Kings of the East and therefore was strange to them. Then they grew
+silent since after all it was solemn to see those death-bearing priests
+flitting in and out between the great columns, now seen and now lost in the
+shadows, and to listen to their funeral chants.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In the hush my mother whispered to me that this body was that of the last
+Pharaoh of Egypt brought from his tomb, but whether this were so I cannot say
+for certain. At length they brought the mummy which was crowned with a
+snake-headed circlet of the royal <i>uræus</i> and still draped with withered
+funeral wreaths, and stood it on its feet opposite to Peroa just behind and
+between my mother and me in such a fashion that it cut off the light from us.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The faint and heavy smell of the embalmer&rsquo;s spices struck upon my
+nostrils, a dead flower from the chaplets fell upon my head and, glancing over
+my shoulder, I saw the painted or enamelled eyes in the gilded mask staring at
+me. The thing filled me with fear, I knew not of what. Not of death, surely,
+for that I had faced a score of times of late and thought nothing of it. Indeed
+I am not sure that it was fear I felt, but rather a deep sense of the vanity of
+all things. It seemed to come home to me&mdash;Shabaka or Allan Quatermain, for
+in my dream the inspiration or whatever it might be, struck through the spirit
+that animated both of us&mdash;as it had never done before, that everything is
+<i>nothing</i>, that victory and love and even life itself have no meaning;
+that naught really exists save the soul of man and God, of whom perchance that
+soul is a part sent forth for a while to do His work through good and ill. The
+thought lifted me up and yet crushed me, since for a moment all that makes a
+man passed away, and I felt myself standing in utter loneliness, naked before
+the glory of God, watched only by the flaming stars that light his throne. Yes,
+and at that moment suddenly I learned that all the gods are but one God, having
+many shapes and called by many names.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then I heard the priests saying,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Pharaoh the Osiris greets Pharaoh the living on the Earth and sends to
+him this message&mdash;&lsquo;As I am, so shalt thou be, and where I am, there
+thou shalt dwell through all the ages of Eternity.&rsquo;&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then Pharaoh the living rose and bowed to Pharaoh the dead and Pharaoh the dead
+was taken away back to his Eternal House and I wondered whether his <i>Ka</i>
+or his spirit, or whatever is the part of him that lives on, were watching us
+and remembering the feasts whereof he had partaken in his pomp in this pillared
+hall, as his forefathers had done before him for hundreds or thousands of
+years.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Not until the mummy had gone and the last sound of the chanting of the priests
+had died, did the hearts of the feasters grow light again. But soon they
+forgot, as men alive always forget death and those whom Time has devoured, for
+the wine was good and strong and the eyes of the women were bright and victory
+had crowned our spears, and for a while Egypt was once more free.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+So it went on till Pharaoh rose and departed, the great gold earrings in his
+ears jingling as he walked, and the trumpets sounding before and after him. I
+too rose to go with my mother when a messenger came and bade me wait upon
+Pharaoh, and with me the dwarf Bes. So we went, leaving an officer to conduct
+my mother to our home. As I passed her she caught me by the sleeve and
+whispered in my ear,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;My son, whatever chances to you, be brave and remember that the world
+holds more than women.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; I answered, &ldquo;it holds death and God, or they hold
+it,&rdquo; though what put the words into my mind I do not know, since I did
+not understand and had no time to ask her meaning.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The messenger led us to the door of Peroa&rsquo;s private chamber, the same in
+which I had seen him on my return from the East. Here he bade me enter, and Bes
+to wait without. I went in and found two men and a woman in the chamber, all
+standing very silent. The men were Pharaoh who still wore his glorious robe and
+Double Crown, and the high priest of Isis clothed in white; the other was the
+lady Amada also clothed in the snowy robes of Isis.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At the sight of her thus arrayed my heart stopped and I stood silent because I
+could not speak. She too stood silent and I saw that beneath her thin veil her
+beautiful face was set and pale as that of an alabaster statue. Indeed she
+might have been not a lovely living woman, but the goddess Isis herself whose
+symbols she bore about her.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Shabaka,&rdquo; said Pharaoh at length, &ldquo;the Royal Lady of Egypt,
+Amada, priestess of Isis, has somewhat to say to you.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Let the Royal Lady of Egypt speak on to her servant and affianced
+husband,&rdquo; I answered.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Count Shabaka, General of the armies,&rdquo; she began in a cold clear
+voice like to that of one who repeats a lesson, &ldquo;learn that you are no
+more my affianced husband and that I who am gathered again to Isis the divine,
+am no more your affianced wife.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I do not understand. Will it please you to be more plain?&rdquo; I said
+faintly.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I will be more plain, Count Shabaka, more plain than you have been with
+me. Since we speak together for the last time it is well that I should be
+plain. Hear me. When first you returned from the East, in yonder hall you told
+us of certain things that happened to you there. Then the dwarf your servant
+took up the tale. He said that he gave my name to the Great King. I was wroth
+as well I might be, but even when I prayed that he should be scourged, you did
+not deny that it was he who gave my name to the King, although Pharaoh yonder
+said that if you had spoken the name it would have been another matter.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I had no time,&rdquo; I answered, &ldquo;for just then the messengers
+came from Idernes and afterwards when I sought you you were gone.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Had you then no time,&rdquo; she asked coldly, &ldquo;beneath the palms
+in the garden of the palace when we were affianced? Oh! there was time in
+plenty but it did not please you to tell me that you had bought safety and
+great gifts at the price of the honour of the Lady of Egypt whose love you
+stole.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;You do not understand!&rdquo; I exclaimed wildly.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Forgive me, Shabaka, but I understand very well indeed, since from your
+own words I learned at the feast given to Idernes that &lsquo;the name of
+Amada&rsquo; slipped your lips by chance and thus came to the ears of the Great
+King.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;The tale that Idernes and his captain told was false, Lady, and for it
+Bes and I took their lives with our own hands.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;It had perhaps been better, Shabaka, if you had kept them living that
+they might confess that it was false. But doubtless you thought them safer
+dead, since dead men cannot speak, and for this reason challenged them to
+single combat.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I gasped and could not answer for my mind seemed to leave me, and she went on
+in a gentler voice,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I do not wish to speak angrily to you, my cousin Shabaka, especially
+when you have just wrought such great deeds for Egypt. Moreover by the law I
+serve I may speak angrily to no man. Know then that on learning the truth,
+since I could love none but you according to the flesh and therefore can never
+give myself in marriage to another, I sought refuge in the arms of the goddess
+whom for your sake I had deserted. She was pleased to receive me, forgetting my
+treason. On this very day for the second time I took the oaths which may no
+more be broken, and that I may dwell where I shall never see you more, Pharaoh
+here has been pleased, at my request to name me high priestess and prophetess
+of Isis and to appoint me as a dwelling-place her temple at Amada where I was
+born far away in Upper Egypt. Now all is said and done, so farewell.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;All is not said and done,&rdquo; I broke out in fury. &ldquo;Pharaoh, I
+ask your leave to tell the full story of this business of the naming of the
+lady Amada to the King of kings, and that in the presence of the dwarf Bes.
+Even a slave is allowed to set out his tale before judgment is passed upon
+him.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Peroa glanced at Amada who made no sign, then said,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;It is granted, General Shabaka.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+So Bes was called into the chamber and having looked about him curiously,
+seated himself upon the ground.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Bes,&rdquo; I said, &ldquo;you have heard nothing of what has
+passed.&rdquo; (Here I was mistaken, for as he told me afterwards he had heard
+everything through the door which was not quite closed.) &ldquo;It is needful,
+Bes, that you should repeat truly all that happened at the court of the King of
+kings before and after I was brought from the boat.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Bes obeyed, telling the tale very well, so well that all listened earnestly,
+without error moreover. When he had finished I also told my story and how,
+shaken by all I had gone through and already weak from the torment of the boat,
+the name of Amada was surprised from me who never dreamed that the King would
+at once make demand of her, and who would have perished a thousand times rather
+than such a thing should happen. I added what I had learned afterwards from our
+escort, that this name was already well known to the Great King who meant to
+make use of it as a cause of quarrel with Egypt. Further, that he had let me
+escape from a death by horrible torments because of some dream that he had
+dreamed while he rested before the banquet, in which a god appeared and told
+him that it was an evil thing to slay a man because that man had bested him at
+a hunting match and one of which heaven would keep an account. Still because of
+the law of his land he must find a public pretext for loosing one whom he had
+once condemned, and therefore chose this matter of the lady Amada whom he
+pretended to send me to bring to him.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When I had finished, as Amada still remained silent, Pharaoh asked of Bes how
+it came about that he told one story on the night of our return and another on
+this night.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Because, O Pharaoh,&rdquo; answered Bes rolling his eyes, &ldquo;for the
+first time in my life I have been just a little too clever and shot my arrow
+just a little too far. Hearken, Pharaoh, and Royal Lady, and High Priest. I
+knew that my master loves the lady Amada and knew also that she is quick of
+tongue and temper, one who readily takes offence even if thereby she breaks her
+own heart and so brings her life to ruin, and with it perchance her country.
+Therefore, knowing women whom I have studied in my own land, I saw in this
+matter just such a cause of offence as she would lay hold of, and counselled my
+master to keep silent as to the story of the naming of her before the King.
+Some evil spirit made him listen to this bad counsel, so far at least, that
+when I lied as to what had chanced, for which lie the lady Amada prayed that I
+might be scourged till my bones broke through the skin, he did not at once tell
+all the truth. Nor did he do so afterwards because he feared that if he did I
+should in fact be scourged, for my master and I love each other. Neither of us
+wishes to see the other scourged, though such is my lot to-night,&rdquo; and he
+glanced at Amada. &ldquo;I have said.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then at last Amada spoke.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Had I known all this story from the first, perhaps I should not have
+done what I have done to-day and perhaps I should have forgiven and forgotten,
+for in truth even if the dwarf still lies, I believe your word, O Shabaka, and
+understand how all came about. But now it is too late to change. Say, O Priest
+of the Mother, is it not too late?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;It is too late,&rdquo; said the priest solemnly, &ldquo;seeing that if
+such vows as yours are broken for the second time, O Prophetess, the curse of
+the goddess will pursue you and him for whom they were broken, yes, through
+this life and all other lives that perchance may be given to you upon the earth
+or elsewhere.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Pharaoh,&rdquo; I cried in despair, &ldquo;I made a bond with you. It is
+recorded in writing and sealed. I have kept my part of the bond; my treasure
+you have spent; your enemies I have slain; your army I have commanded not so
+ill. Will you not keep yours and bid the priests release this lady from her vow
+and give her to me to whom she was promised? Or must I believe that you refuse,
+not because of goddesses and vows, but because yonder is the Royal Lady of
+Egypt, the true heiress to the throne who might perchance bear children, which
+as prophetess of Isis she can never do. Yes, because of this and because of
+certain cries that came to your ears in the hour of your crowning before
+Amen-ra and all the gods?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Peroa flushed as he heard me and answered,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;You speak roughly, Cousin, and were you any other man I might be tempted
+to answer roughly. But I know that you suffer and therefore I forgive. Nay, you
+must believe no such things. Rather must you remember that in this bond of
+which you speak, it was set down that I only promised you the lady Amada with
+her own consent, and this she has withdrawn.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Then, Pharaoh, hearken! To-morrow I leave Egypt for another land, giving
+you back your generalship and sheathing the sword that I had hoped to wield in
+its defence and yours when the last great day of trial by battle comes, as come
+it will. I tell you that I go to return no more, unless the lady Amada yonder
+shall summon me back to fight for her and you, promising herself to me in
+guerdon.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;That can never be,&rdquo; said Amada.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then I became aware of another presence in the room, though how and when it
+appeared I do not know, but I suppose that it had crept in while we were lost
+in talk. At least between me and Pharaoh, crouched upon the ground, was the
+figure of a man wrapped in a beggar&rsquo;s cloak. It threw back the hood and
+there appeared the ashen face and snowy beard of the holy Tanofir.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;You know me, Pharaoh,&rdquo; he said in his deep, solemn voice. &ldquo;I
+am Tanofir, the King&rsquo;s son; Tanofir the hermit, Tanofir the seer. I have
+heard all that passes, it matters not how and I come to you with a message, I
+who read men&rsquo;s hearts. Of vows and goddesses and women I say nothing. But
+this I say to you, that if you break the spirit of your bond and suffer yonder
+Shabaka to go hence with a bitter heart, trouble shall come on you. All the
+Great King&rsquo;s armies did not die yonder by the banks of Nile, and mayhap
+one day he will journey to bury the bones of those who fell, and with them
+<i>yours</i>, O Pharaoh. I do not think that you will listen to me to-night,
+and I am sure that yonder lady, full of the new-fanned flame of the jealous
+goddess, will not listen. Still let her take counsel and remember my words: In
+the hour of desperate danger let her send to Shabaka and demand his help,
+promising in return what he has asked and remembering that if Isis loves her,
+that goddess was born upon the Nile and loves Egypt more.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Too late, too late, <i>too late!</i>&rdquo; wailed Amada.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then she burst into tears and turning fled away with the high priest. Pharaoh
+went also leaving me and Bes alone. I looked for the holy Tanofir to speak with
+him, but he too was gone.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;It is time to sleep, Master,&rdquo; said Bes, &ldquo;for all this talk
+is more wearisome than any battle. Why! what is this that has your name upon
+it?&rdquo; and he picked a silk-wrapped package from the floor and opened it.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Within were the priceless rose-hued pearls!
+</p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2><a name="chap14"></a>CHAPTER XIV.<br />SHABAKA FIGHTS THE CROCODILE</h2>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Where to?&rdquo; I said to Bes when we were outside the palace, for I
+was so broken with grief that I scarcely knew what I did.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;To the house of the lady Tiu, I think, Master, since there you must make
+preparations for your start on the morrow, also bid her farewell. Oh!&rdquo; he
+went on in a kind of rapture which afterwards I knew was feigned though at the
+time I did not think about it, &ldquo;Oh! how happy should you be who now are
+free from all this woman-coil, with life new and fresh before you. Reflect,
+Master, on the hunting we will have yonder in Ethiopia. No more cares, no more
+plannings for the welfare of Egypt, no more persuading of the doubtful to take
+up arms, no more desperate battle-ventures with your country&rsquo;s honour on
+your sword-point. And if you must see women&mdash;well, there are plenty in
+Ethiopia who come and go lightly as an evening breeze laden with the odour of
+flowers, and never trouble in the morning.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;At any rate <i>you</i> are not free from such coils, Bes,&rdquo; I said
+and in the moonlight I saw his great face fall in.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;No, Master, I am tying them about my throat. See, such is the way of the
+world, or of the gods that rule the world, I know not which. For years I have
+been happy and free, I have enjoyed adventures and visited strange countries
+and have gathered learning, till I think I am the wisest man upon the Nile, at
+the side of one whom I loved and holding nothing at risk, except my own life
+which mattered no more than that of a gnat dancing in the sun. Now all is
+changed. I have a wife whom I love also, more than I can tell you,&rdquo; and
+he sighed, &ldquo;but who still must be looked after and obeyed&mdash;yes,
+obeyed. Further, soon I shall have a people and a crown to wear, and
+councillors and affairs of state, and an ancient religion to support and the
+Grasshopper itself knows what besides. The burden has rolled from your back to
+mine, Master, making my heart which was so light, heavy, and oh! I wish it had
+stopped where it was.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Even then I laughed, sad as I was, for truth lived in the philosophy of Bes.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Master,&rdquo; he went on in a changed voice, &ldquo;I have been a fool
+and my folly has worked you ill. Forgive me since I acted for the best, only
+until the end no one ever knows what is the best. Now here is the house and I
+go to meet my wife and to make certain arrangements. By dawn perhaps you will
+be ready to start to Ethiopia.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Do you really desire that I should accompany you there, Bes?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Certainly, Master. That is unless you should desire that I accompany you
+somewhere else instead, by sea southward for instance. If so, I do not know
+that I would refuse, since Ethiopia will not run away and there is much of the
+world that I should still like to visit. Only then there is Karema to be
+thought about, who expects, or, when she learns all, soon will expect, to be a
+queen,&rdquo; he added doubtfully.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;No, Bes, I am too tired to make new plans, so let us go to Ethiopia and
+not disappoint Karema, who after holding a cup so long naturally would like to
+try a sceptre.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I think that is wisest, Master; at any rate the holy Tanofir thinks it
+wisest, and he is the voice of Fate. Oh! why do we trouble who after all, every
+one of us, are nothing but pieces upon the board of Fate.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then he turned and left me and I entered the house where I found my mother
+sitting, still in her festal robes, like one who waits. She looked at my face,
+then asked what troubled me. I sat down on a stool at her feet and told her
+everything.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Much as I thought,&rdquo; she said when I had finished. &ldquo;These
+over-learned women are strange fish to catch and hold, and too much soul is
+like too much sail upon a boat when the desert wind begins to blow across the
+Nile. Well, do not let us blame her or Bes, or Peroa who is already anxious for
+his dynasty and would rather that Amada were a priestess than your wife, or
+even the goddess Isis, who no doubt is anxious for her votaries. Let us rather
+blame the Power that is behind the veil, or to it bow our heads, seeing that we
+know nothing of the end for which it works. So Egypt shuts her doors on you, my
+Son, and whither away? Not to the East again, I trust, for there you would soon
+grow shorter by a head.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I go to Ethiopia, my Mother, where it seems that Bes is a great man and
+can shelter me.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;So we go to Ethiopia, do we? Well, it is a long journey for an old
+woman, but I weary of Memphis where I have lived for so many years and
+doubtless the sands of the south make good burial grounds.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;We!&rdquo; I exclaimed. &ldquo;<i>We?</i>&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Surely, my Son, since in losing a wife you have again found a mother and
+until I die we part no more.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When I heard this my eyes filled with tears. My conscience smote me also
+because of late, and indeed for years past, I had thought so much of Amada and
+so little of my mother. And now it was Amada who had cast me out, unjustly,
+without waiting to learn the truth, because at the worst I, who worshipped her,
+had saved myself from death in slow torment by speaking her name, while my
+mother, forgetting all, took me to her bosom again as she had done when I was a
+babe. I knew not what to say, but remembering the pearls, I drew them out and
+placed them round my mother&rsquo;s neck.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She looked at the wonderful things and smiled, then said,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Such gems as these become white locks and withered breasts but ill. Yet,
+my Son, I will keep them for you till you find a wife, if not Amada, then
+another.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;If not Amada, I shall never find a wife,&rdquo; I said bitterly, whereat
+she smiled.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then she left me to make ready before she slept a while.
+</p>
+
+<p class="p2">
+Work as we would noon had passed two hours, on the following day, before we
+were prepared to start, for there was much to do. Thus the house must be placed
+in charge of friends and the means of travel collected. Also a messenger came
+from Pharaoh praying me for his and Egypt&rsquo;s sake to think again before I
+left them, and an answer sent that go I must, whither the holy Tanofir would
+know if at any time Pharaoh desired to learn. In reply to this came another
+messenger who brought me parting gifts from Pharaoh, a chain of honour, a title
+of higher nobility, a commission as his envoy to whatever land I wandered, and
+so forth, which I must acknowledge. Lastly as we were leaving the house to seek
+the boat which Bes had made ready on the Nile, there came yet another messenger
+at the sight of whom my heart leapt, for he was priest of Isis.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He bowed and handed me a roll. I opened it with a trembling hand and read:
+</p>
+
+<p class="letter">
+&ldquo;From the Prophetess of Isis whose house is at Amada, aforetime Royal
+Lady of Egypt, to the Count Shabaka,<br />
+    
+&ldquo;I learn, O my Cousin, that you depart from Egypt and knowing the reason
+my heart is sore. Believe me, my Cousin, I love you well, better than any who
+lives upon the earth, nor will that love ever change, since the goddess who
+holds my future in her hands, knows of what we are made and is not jealous of
+the past. Therefore she will not be wroth at the earthly love of one who is
+gathered to her heavenly arms. Her blessing and mine be on you and if we see
+each other no more face to face in the world, may we meet again in the halls of
+Osiris. Farewell, beloved Shabaka. Oh! why did you suffer that black master of
+lies, the dwarf Bes, to persuade you to hide the truth from me?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+So the writing ended and below it were two stains still wet, which I knew were
+caused by tears. Moreover, wrapped in a piece of silk and fastened to the
+scroll was a little gold ring graven with the royal <i>uræus</i> that Amada had
+always worn from childhood. Only on the previous night I had noted it on the
+first finger of her right hand.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I took my stylus and my waxen tablets and wrote on one of them:
+</p>
+
+<p class="letter">
+&ldquo;Had you been a man, Amada, and not a woman, I think you would have
+judged me differently but, learned priestess and prophetess as you are, a woman
+you remain. Perchance a time may come when once more you will turn to me in the
+hour of your need; if so and I am living, I will come. Yea, if I am dead I
+think that I still shall come, since nothing can really part us. Meanwhile by
+day and by night I wear your ring and whenever I look on it I think of Amada
+the woman whose lips have pressed my own, and forget Amada the priestess who
+for her soul&rsquo;s sake has been pleased to break the heart of the man who
+loved her and whom she misjudged so sorely in her pride and anger.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+This tablet I wrapped up and sealed, using clay and her own ring to make the
+seal, and gave it for delivery to the priest.
+</p>
+
+<p class="p2">
+At length we drew near to the river and here, gathered on the open land, I
+found the most of those who had fought with me in the battle against the
+Easterns, and with them a great concourse of others from the city. These
+collected round me, some of them wounded and hobbling upon crutches, praying me
+not to go, as did the others who foresaw sorrow to Egypt from my loss. But I
+broke away from them almost in tears and with my mother hid myself beneath the
+canopy of the boat. Here Bes was waiting, also his beautiful wife who, although
+she seemed sad at leaving Egypt, smiled a greeting to us while the steersmen
+and rowers of the boat, tall Ethiopians every one of them, rose and gave me a
+General&rsquo;s salute. Then, as the wind served, we hoisted the sail and
+glided away up Nile, till presently the temples and palm-groves of Memphis were
+lost to sight.
+</p>
+
+<p class="p2">
+Of that long, long journey there is no need to tell. Up the Nile we travelled
+slowly, dragging the boat past the cataracts till Egypt was far behind us. In
+the end, many days after we had passed the mouth of another river that was blue
+in colour which flowed from the northern mountain lands down into the Nile, we
+came to a place where the rapids were so long and steep that we must leave the
+boat and travel overland. Drawing near to it at sunset I saw a multitude of
+people gathered on the sand and beyond them a camp in which were set many
+beautiful pavilions that seemed to be broidered with silk and gold, as were the
+banners that floated above them whereon appeared the effigy of a grasshopper,
+also done in gold with silver legs.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;It seems that my messengers travelled in safety,&rdquo; said Bes to me,
+&ldquo;for know, that yonder are some of my subjects who have come here to meet
+us. Now, Master, I must no longer call you master since I fear I am once more a
+king. And you must no longer call me Bes, but Karoon. Moreover, forgive me, but
+when you come into my presence you must bow, which I shall like less than you
+do, but it is the custom of the Ethiopians. Oh! I would that you were the king
+and that I were your friend, for henceforth good-bye to ease and
+jollity.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I laughed, but Bes did not laugh at all, only turned to his wife who already
+ruled him as though he were indeed a slave, and said, &ldquo;Lady Karema, make
+yourself as beautiful as you can and forget that you have ever been a Cup or
+anything useful, since henceforth you must be a queen, that is if you please my
+people.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;And what happens if I do not please them, Husband?&rdquo; asked Karema
+opening her fine eyes.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I do not quite know, Wife. Perhaps they may refuse to accept me, at
+which I shall not weep. Or perhaps they may refuse to accept you, at which of
+course I should weep very much, for you see you are so very white and,
+heretofore, all the queens of the Ethiopians have been black.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;And if they refuse to accept me because I am white, or rather brown,
+instead of black like oiled marble, what then, O Husband?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Then&mdash;oh! then I cannot say, O Wife. Perhaps they will send you
+back to your own country. Or perhaps they will separate us and place you in a
+temple where you will live alone in all honour. I remember that once they did
+that to a white woman, making a goddess of her until she died of weariness. Or
+perhaps&mdash;well, I do not know.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then Karema grew angry.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Now I wish I had remained a Cup,&rdquo; she said, &ldquo;and the servant
+of the holy Tanofir who at least taught me many secret things, instead of
+coming to dwell among black barbarians in the company of a dwarf who, even if
+he be a king, it seems has no power to protect the wife whom he has
+chosen.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Why will women always grow wroth before there is need?&rdquo; asked Bes
+humbly. &ldquo;Surely it would be time to rate me when any of these things had
+happened.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;If any of them do happen, Husband, I shall say much worse things than
+that,&rdquo; she replied, but the talk went no further, for at this moment our
+boat grounded and singing a wild song, many of those who waited rushed into the
+water to drag it to the bank.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then Bes stood up on the prow, waving his bow and there arose a mighty shout
+of, &ldquo;<i>Karoon! Karoon!</i> It is he, it is he returned after many
+years!&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Twice they shouted thus and then, every one of them, threw themselves face
+downwards in the sand.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Yes, my people,&rdquo; cried Bes, &ldquo;it is I, Karoon, who having
+been miraculously preserved from many dangers in far lands by the help of the
+Grasshopper in heaven, and, as my messengers will have told you, of my beloved
+friend, lord Shabaka the Egyptian, who has deigned to come to dwell with us for
+a while, have at length returned to Ethiopia that I may shed my wisdom on you
+like the sun and pour it on your heads like melted honey. Moreover, mindful of
+our laws which aforetime I defied and therefore left you, I have searched the
+whole world through till I found the most beautiful woman that it contained,
+and made her my wife. She too has deigned to come to this far country to be
+your queen. Advance, fair Karema, and show yourself to these my
+Ethiopians.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+So Karema stepped forward and stood on the prow of the boat by the side of Bes,
+and a strange couple they looked. The Ethiopians who had risen, considered her
+gravely, then one of them said,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Karoon called her beautiful, but in truth she is almost white and very
+ugly.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;At least she is a woman,&rdquo; said another, &ldquo;for her shape is
+female.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Yes, and he has married her,&rdquo; remarked a third, &ldquo;and even a
+king may choose his own wife sometimes. For in such matters who can judge
+another&rsquo;s taste?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Cease,&rdquo; said Bes in a lordly way. &ldquo;If you do not think her
+beautiful to-night, you will to-morrow. And now let us land and rest.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+So we landed and while I did so I took note of these Ethiopians. They were
+great men, black as charcoal with thick lips, white teeth and flat noses. Their
+eyes were large and the whites of them somewhat yellow, their hair curled like
+wool, their beards were short and on their faces they wore a continual smile.
+Of dress most of them had little, but their elders or leaders wore lion and
+leopard skins and some were clad in a kind of silken tunic belted about the
+middle. All were armed for war with long bows, short swords and small shields
+round in shape and made from the hide of the hippopotamus or of the unicorn.
+Gold was plentiful amongst them since even the humblest wore bracelets of that
+metal, while about the necks of the chieftains it was wound in great torques,
+also sometimes on their ankles. They wore sandals on their feet and some of
+them had ostrich feathers stuck in their hair, a few also had grasshoppers
+fashioned of gold bound on the top of their heads, and these I took to be the
+priests. There were no women in their number.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+As the sun was sinking we were led at once to a very beautiful tent made of
+woven flax and ornamented as I have described, where we found food made ready
+for us in plenty, milk in bowls and the flesh of sheep and oxen boiled and
+roasted. Bes, however, was taken to a place apart, which made Karema even more
+angry than she was before.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Scarcely had we finished eating when a herald rushed into the tent crying,
+&ldquo;Prostrate yourselves! Yea, be prostrated, the Grasshopper comes! Karoon
+comes.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Here I must say that I found that the title of Karoon meant &ldquo;Great
+Grasshopper,&rdquo; but Karema who did not know this, asked indignantly why she
+should prostrate herself to a grasshopper. Indeed she refused to do so even
+when Bes entered the pavilion wonderfully attired in a gorgeous-coloured robe
+of which the train was held by two huge men. So absurd did he look that my
+mother and I must bow very deeply to hide our laughter while Karema said,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;It would be better, Husband, if you found children to carry your robe
+instead of two giants. Moreover, if it is meant to copy the colours of a
+grasshopper, &lsquo;tis badly done, since grasshoppers are green and you are
+gold and scarlet. Also they do not wear feathers set awry upon their
+heads.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Bes rolled his eyes as though in agony, then turning, bade his attendants be
+gone. They obeyed, though doubtfully as though they did not like to leave him
+alone with us, whereon he let down the flap of the pavilion, threw off his
+gorgeous coverings and said,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;You must learn to understand, Wife, that our customs are different from
+those of Egypt. There I was happy as a slave and you were held to be beautiful
+as the Cup of the holy Tanofir, also learned. Here I am wretched as a king and
+you are held to be ugly, also ignorant as a stranger. Oh! do not answer, I pray
+you, but learn that all goes well. For the time you are accepted as my wife,
+subject to the decision of a council of matrons, aged relatives of my family,
+who will decide when we reach the City of the Grasshopper whether or not you
+shall be acknowledged as the Queen of the Ethiopians. No, no, I pray you say
+nothing since I must go away at once, as according to the law of the Ethiopians
+the time has come for the Grasshopper to sleep, alone, Karema, as you are not
+yet acknowledged as my wife. You also can sleep with the lady Tiu and for
+Shabaka a tent is provided. Rest sweetly, Wife. Hark! They fetch me.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Now, if I had my way,&rdquo; said Karema, &ldquo;I would rest in that
+boat going back to Egypt. What say you, lord Shabaka?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But I made no answer who followed Bes out of the tent, leaving her to talk the
+matter over with my mother. Here I found a crowd of his people waiting to
+convey him to sleep and watching, saw them place him in another tent round
+which they ranged themselves, playing upon musical instruments. After this
+someone came and led me to my own place where was a good bed in which I lay
+down to sleep. This however I could not do for a long while because of my own
+laughter and the noise of the drums and horns that were soothing Bes to his
+rest. For now I understood why he had preferred to be a slave in Egypt rather
+than a king in Ethiopia.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In the morning I rose before the dawn and went out to the river-bank to bathe.
+While I was making ready to wash myself, who should appear but Bes, followed,
+but at a distance, by a number of his people.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Never have I spent such a night, Master,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;at least
+not since you took me prisoner years ago, since by law I may not stop those
+horns and musical instruments. Now, however, also according to the law of the
+Ethiopians, I am my own lord until the sun rises. So I have come here to gather
+some of those blue lilies which she loves as a present for Karema, because I
+fear that she is angry and must be appeased.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Certainly she is very angry,&rdquo; I said, &ldquo;or at least was so
+when I left her last night. Oh! Bes, why did you let your people tell her that
+she was ugly?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;How can I help it, Master? Have you not always heard that the Ethiopians
+are chiefly famous for one thing, namely that they speak nothing but the truth.
+To them she, being different, seems to be ugly. Therefore when they say that
+she is ugly, they speak the truth.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;If so, it is a truth that she does not like, Bes, as I have no doubt she
+will tell you by and by. Do they think me ugly also?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Yes, they do, Master; but they think also that you look like a man who
+can draw a bow and use a sword, and that goes far with the Ethiopians. Of your
+mother they say nothing because she is old and they venerate the aged whom the
+Grasshopper is waiting to carry away.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Now I began to laugh again and went with Bes to gather the lilies. These grew
+at the end of a mass of reeds woven together by the pressure of the current and
+floating on the water. Bes lay down upon his stomach while his people watched
+from a distance on the bank amazed into silence, and stretched out his long
+arms to reach the blue lotus flowers. Suddenly the reeds gave way beneath him
+just as he had grasped two of the flowers and was dragging at them, so that he
+fell into the river.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Next instant I saw a swirl in the brown water and perceived a huge crocodile.
+It rushed at Bes open-mouthed. Being a good swimmer he twisted his body in
+order to avoid it, but I heard the great teeth close with a snap on the short
+leathern garment which he wore about his middle.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;The devil has me! Farewell!&rdquo; he cried and vanished beneath the
+water.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Now, as I have said, I was almost stripped for bathing, but had not yet taken
+off my short sword which was girded round me by a belt. In an instant I drew it
+and amidst the yells of horror of the Ethiopians who had seen all from the
+bank, I plunged into the river. There are few able to swim as I could and I had
+the art of diving with my eyes open and remaining long beneath the surface
+without drawing breath, for this I had practised from a child.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Immediately I saw the great reptile sinking to the mud and dragging Bes with
+him to drown him there. But here the river was very deep and with a few swift
+strokes I was able to get under the crocodile. Then with all my strength I
+stabbed upwards, driving the sword far into the soft part of the throat.
+Feeling the pain of the sharp iron the beast let go of Bes and turned on me.
+How it happened I do not know but presently I found myself upon its back and
+was striking at its eyes. One thrust at least went home, for the blinded brute
+rose to the surface, bearing me with him, and oh! the sweetness of the air as I
+breathed again.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Thus we appeared, I riding the crocodile like a horse and stabbing furiously,
+while close by was Bes rolling his yellow eyes but helpless, for he had no
+weapon. Still the devil was not dead although blood streamed from him, only mad
+with pain and rage. Nor could the shouting Ethiopians help me since they had
+only bows and dared not shoot lest their shafts should pierce me. The crocodile
+began to sink again, snapping furiously at my legs. Then I bethought me of a
+trick I had seen practised by natives on the Nile.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Waiting till its huge jaws were open I thrust my arm between them, grasping the
+short sword in such fashion that the hilt rested on its tongue and the point
+against the roof of its mouth. It tried to close its jaws and lo! the good iron
+was fixed between them, holding them wide open. Then I withdrew my hand and
+floated upwards with nothing worse than a cut upon the wrist from one of its
+sharp fangs. I appeared upon the surface and after me the crocodile spouting
+blood and wallowing in its death agonies. I remembered no more till I found
+myself lying on the bank surrounded by a multitude with Bes standing over me.
+Also in the shallow water was the crocodile dead, my sword still fixed between
+its jaws.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Are you harmed, Master&rdquo; cried Bes in a voice of agony.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Very little I think,&rdquo; I answered, sitting up with the blood
+pouring from my arm.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Bes thrust aside Karema who had come lightly clothed from her tent, saying,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;All is well, Wife. I will bring you the lilies presently.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then he flung his arms about me, kissed my hands and my brow and turning to the
+crowd, shouted,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Last night you were disputing as to whether this Egyptian lord should be
+allowed to dwell with me in the land of Ethiopia. Which of you disputes it
+now?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;No one!&rdquo; they answered with a roar. &ldquo;He is not a man but a
+god. No man could have done such a deed.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;So it seems,&rdquo; answered Bes quietly. &ldquo;At least none of you
+even tried to do it. Yet he is not a god but only that kind of man who is
+called a hero. Also he is my brother, and while I reign in Ethiopia either he
+shall reign at my side, or I go away with him.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;It shall be so, Karoon!&rdquo; they shouted with one voice. And after
+this I was carried back to the tent.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In front of it my mother waited and kissed me proudly before them all, whereat
+they shouted again.
+</p>
+
+<p class="p2">
+So ended this adventure of the crocodile, except that presently Bes went back
+and recovered the two lilies for Karema, this time from a boat, which caused
+the Ethiopians to call out that he must love her very much, though not as much
+as he did me.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+That afternoon, borne in litters, we set out for the City of the Grasshopper,
+which we reached on the fourth day. As we drew near the place regiments of men
+to the number of twelve thousand or more, came out to meet us, so that at last
+we arrived escorted by an army who sang their songs of triumph and played upon
+their musical instruments until my head ached with the noise.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+This city was a great place whereof the houses were built of mud and thatched
+with reeds. It stood upon a wide plain and in its centre rose a natural, rocky
+hill upon the crest of which, fashioned of blocks of gleaming marble and roofed
+with a metal that shone as gold, was the temple of the Grasshopper, a columned
+building very like to those of Egypt. Round it also were other public
+buildings, among them the palace of the Karoon, the whole being surrounded by
+triple marble walls as a protection from attack by foes. Never had I seen
+anything so beautiful as that hill with its edifices of shining white roofed
+with gold or copper and gleaming in the sun.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Descending from my litter I walked to those of my mother and Karema, for Bes in
+his majesty might not be approached, and said as much to them.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Yes, Son,&rdquo; answered my mother, &ldquo;it is worth while to have
+travelled so far to see such a sight. I shall have a fine sepulchre,
+Son.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I have seen it all before,&rdquo; broke in Karema.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;When?&rdquo; I asked.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I do not know. I suppose it must have been when I was the Cup of the
+holy Tanofir. At least it is familiar to me. Already I weary of it, for who can
+care for a land or a city where they think white people hideous and scarcely
+allow a wife to go near her husband, save between midnight and dawn when they
+cease from their horrible music?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;It will be your part to change these customs, Karema.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; she exclaimed, &ldquo;certainly that will be my part,&rdquo;
+after which I went back to my litter.
+</p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2><a name="chap15"></a>CHAPTER XV.<br />THE SUMMONS</h2>
+
+<p>
+Now at the gates of the City of the Grasshopper we were royally received. The
+priests came out to meet us, pushing a colossal image of their god before them
+on a kind of flat chariot, and I remember wondering what would be the value of
+that huge golden locust, if it were melted down. Also the Council came, very
+ancient men all of them, since the Ethiopians for the most part lived more than
+a hundred years. Perhaps that is why they were so glad to welcome Bes since
+they were too old to care about retaining power in their own hands as they had
+done during his long absence. For save Bes there was no other man living of the
+true royal blood who could take the throne.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then there were thousands of women, broad-faced and smiling whose black skins
+shone with scented oils, for they wore little except a girdle about their
+waists and many ornaments of gold. Thus their earrings were sometimes a palm in
+breadth and many of them had great gold rings through their noses, such as in
+Egypt are put in those of bulls. My mother laughed at them, but Karema said
+that she thought them hideous and hateful.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+They were a strange people, these Ethiopians, like children, most of them,
+being merry and kind and never thinking of one thing for more than a minute.
+Thus one would see them weep and laugh almost in the same breath. But among
+them was an upper class who had great learning and much ancient knowledge.
+These men made their laws wherein there was always sense under what seemed to
+be folly, designed the temples, managed the mines of gold and other metals and
+followed the arts. They were the real masters of the land, the rest were but
+slaves content to live in plenty, for in that fertile soil want never came near
+them, and to do as they were bid.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Thus they passed from the cradle to the grave amidst song and flowers, carrying
+out their light, allotted tasks, and for the rest, living as they would and
+loving those they would, especially their children, of whom they had many. By
+nature and tradition the men were warriors and hunters, being skilled in the
+use of the bow and always at war when they could find anyone to fight. Indeed
+when we came among them their trouble was that they had no enemies left, and at
+once they implored Bes to lead them out to battle since they were weary of
+herding kine and tilling fields.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+All of these things I found out by degrees, also that they were a great people
+who could send out an army of seventy thousand men and yet leave enough behind
+them to defend their land. Of the world beyond their borders the most of them
+knew little, but the learned men of whom I have spoken, a great deal, since
+they travelled to Egypt and elsewhere to study the customs of other countries.
+For the rest their only god was the Grasshopper and like that insect they
+skipped and chirruped through life and when the winter of death came sprang
+away to another of which they knew nothing, leaving their young behind them to
+bask in the sun of unborn summers. Such were the Ethiopians.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Now of all the ceremonies of the reception of Bes and his re-crowning as
+Karoon, I knew little, for the reason that the tooth of the crocodile poisoned
+my blood and made me very ill, so that I remained for a moon or more lying in a
+fine room in the palace where gold seemed to be as plentiful as earthen pots
+are in Egypt, and all the vessels were of crystal. Had it not been for the
+skill of the Ethiopian leeches and above all for the nursing of my mother, I
+think that I must have died. She it was who withstood them when they wished to
+cut off my arm, and wisely, for it recovered and was as strong as it had ever
+been. In the end I grew well again and from the platform in front of the temple
+was presented to the people by Bes as his saviour and the next greatest to him
+in the kingdom, nor shall I ever forget the shoutings with which I was
+received.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Karema also was presented as his wife, having passed the Ordeal of the Matrons,
+but only, I think, because it was found that she was in the way to give an heir
+to the throne. For to them her beauty was ugliness, nor could they understand
+how it came about that their king, who contrary to the general customs of the
+land, was only allowed one wife lest the children should quarrel, could have
+chosen a lady who was not black. So they received her in silence with many
+whisperings which made Karema very angry.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When in due course, however, the child came and proved to be a son black as the
+best of them and of perfect shape, they relented towards her and after the
+birth of a second, grew to love her. But she never forgave and loved them not
+at all. Nor was she over-fond of these children of hers because they were so
+black which, she said, showed how poisonous was the blood of the Ethiopians.
+And indeed this is so, for often I have noticed that if an Ethiopian weds with
+one of another colour, their offspring is black down to the third or fourth
+generation. Therefore Karema longed for Egypt notwithstanding the splendour in
+which she dwelt.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+So greatly did she long that she had recourse to the magic lore which she had
+learned from the holy Tanofir, and would sit for hours gazing into water in a
+crystal bowl, or sometimes into a ball of crystal without the water, trying to
+see visions therein that had to do with what passed in Egypt. Moreover in time
+much of her gift returned to her and she did see many things which she repeated
+to me, for she would tell no one else of them, not even her husband.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Thus she saw Amada kneeling in a shrine before the statue of Isis and weeping:
+a picture that made me sad. Also she saw the holy Tanofir brooding in the
+darkness of the Cave of the Bulls, and read in his mind that he was thinking of
+us, though what he thought she could not read. Again she saw Eastern messengers
+delivering letters to Pharaoh and knew from his face that he was disturbed and
+that Egypt was threatened with calamities. And so forth.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Soon the news of her powers of divination spread abroad, so that all the
+Ethiopians grew to fear her as a seeress and thenceforth, whatever they may
+have thought, none of them dared to say that she was ugly. Further, her gift
+was real, since if she told me of a certain thing such as that messengers were
+approaching, in due course they would arrive and make clear much that she had
+not been able to understand in her visions.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Now from the time that I grew strong again and as soon as Bes was firmly seated
+on his throne, he and I set to work to train and drill the army of the
+Ethiopians, which hitherto had been little more than a mob of men carrying bows
+and swords. We divided it into phalanxes after the Greek fashion, and armed
+these bodies with long lances, swords, and large shields in the place of the
+small ones they had carried before. Also we trained the archers, teaching them
+to advance in open order and shoot from cover, and lastly chose the best
+soldiers to be captains and generals. So it came about that at the end of the
+two years that I spent in Ethiopia there was a force of sixty thousand men or
+more whom I should not have been afraid to match against any troops in the
+world, since they were of great strength and courage, and, as I have said, by
+nature lovers of war. Also their bows being longer and more powerful, they
+could shoot arrows farther than the Easterns or the Egyptians.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Ethiopian lords wondered why their King and I did these things, since they
+saw no enemy against which so great an army could be led to battle. On that
+matter Bes and I kept our own counsel, telling them only that it was good for
+the men to be trained to war, since, hearing of their wealth, one day the King
+of kings might attempt to invade their country. So month by month I laboured at
+this task, leading armies into distant regions to accustom them to travelling
+far afield, carrying with them what was necessary for their sustenance.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+So it went on until a sad thing happened, since on returning from one of these
+forays in which I had punished a tribe that had murdered some Ethiopian hunters
+and we had taken many thousands of their cattle, I found my mother dying. She
+had been smitten by a fever which was common at that season of the year, and
+being old and weak had no strength to throw it off.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+As medicine did not help her, the priests of the Grasshopper prayed day and
+night in their temple for her recovery. Yes, there they prayed to a golden
+locust standing on an altar in a sanctuary that was surrounded by crystal
+coffins wherein rested the flesh of former kings of the land. To me the sight
+was pitiful, but Bes asked me what was the difference between praying to a
+locust and praying to images with the heads of beasts, or to a dwarf shaped as
+he was like we did in Egypt, and I could not answer him.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;The truth is, Brother,&rdquo; he said, for so he called me now,
+&ldquo;that all peoples in the world do not offer petitions to what they see
+and have been taught to revere, but to something beyond of which to them it is
+a sign. But why the Ethiopians should have chosen a grasshopper as a symbol of
+God who is everywhere, is more than I can tell. Still they have done so for
+thousands of years.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When I came to my mother&rsquo;s bedside she was wandering and I saw that she
+could not live long. In a little while, however, her mind cleared so that she
+knew me and tears of joy ran down her pale cheeks because I had returned before
+she died. She reminded me that she had always said that she would find a grave
+in Ethiopia, and asked to be buried and not kept above ground in crystal, as
+was the custom there. Then she said that she had been dreaming of my father and
+of me; also that she did not think that I need fret myself overmuch about
+Amada, since she was sure that before long I should kiss her on the lips.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I asked if she meant that I should marry her and that we should be happy and
+fortunate. She replied that she supposed that I should marry her, but of the
+rest would say nothing. Indeed her face grew troubled, as though some thought
+hurt her, and leaving the matter of Amada she bade Karema bring me the
+rose-hued pearls, blessed me, prayed for our reunion in the halls of Osiris,
+and straightway died.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+So I caused her to be embalmed after the Egyptian fashion and enclosed in a
+coffin of crystal with a scarab on her heart that Karema had discovered
+somewhere in the city, for always she was searching for things that reminded
+her of Egypt, whereof many were to be found brought from time to time by
+travellers or strangers. Then with such ceremony as we could without the
+services of the priests of Osiris, Karema and I buried her in a tomb that Bes
+had caused to be made near to the steps of the temple of the Grasshopper, while
+Bes and his nobles watched from a distance.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And so farewell to my beloved mother, the lady Tiu.
+</p>
+
+<p class="p2">
+After she was gone I grew very sad and lonely. While she lived I had a home,
+but now I was an exile, a stranger in a strange land with no one of my own
+people to talk to except Karema, with whom, as there were gossips even in
+Ethiopia, I thought it well not to talk too much. There was Bes it was true,
+but now he was a great king and the time of kings is not their own. Moreover
+Bes was Bes and an Ethiopian and I was I and an Egyptian, and therefore
+notwithstanding our love and brotherhood, we could never be like men of the
+same blood and country.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I grew weary of Ethiopia with its useless gold and damp eternal green and heat,
+and longed for the sand and the keen desert air. Bes noted it and offered me
+wives, but I shrank from these black women however buxom and kindly, and wished
+for no offspring of their race whom afterwards I could never leave. To Egypt I
+had sworn not to return unless one voice called me and it remained silent. What
+then was I to do, being no longer content to discipline and command an army
+that I might not lead into battle?
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At length I made up my mind. By nature I was a hunter as much as a soldier; I
+would beg from Bes a band of brave men whom I knew, lovers of adventure who
+sought new things, and with them strike down south, following the path of the
+elephants to wherever the gods might lead us. Doubtless in the end it would be
+to death, but what matter when there is nothing for which one cares to live?
+</p>
+
+<p>
+While I was brooding over these plans Karema read my mind, perhaps because it
+was her own, perhaps by help of her strange arts, which I do not know. At least
+one day when I was sitting alone looking at the city beneath from one of the
+palace window-places, she came to me looking very beautiful and very mystic in
+the white robes she always loved to wear, and said,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;My lord Shabaka, you tire of this land of honey and sweetness and soft
+airs and flowers and gold and crystal and black people who grin and chatter and
+are not pleasant to be near, is it not so?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Yes, Queen,&rdquo; I answered.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Do not call me queen, my lord Shabaka, for I weary of that name, as we
+both do of the rest. Call me Karema the Arab, or Karema the Cup, which you
+will, but by the name of Thoth, god of learning, do <i>not</i> call me
+queen.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Karema then,&rdquo; I said. &ldquo;Well, how do you know that I tire of
+all this, Karema?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;How could you do otherwise who are not a barbarian and who have Egypt in
+your heart, and Egypt&rsquo;s fate and&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo; here she looked me
+straight in the eyes, &ldquo;Egypt&rsquo;s Lady. Besides, I measure you by
+myself.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;You at least should be happy, Karema, who are great and rich and
+beloved, and the wife of a King who is one of the best of men, and the mother
+of children.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Yes, Shabaka, I should be but I am not, for who can live on sweetmeats
+only, especially when they like what is sour? See now how strangely we are
+made. When I was a girl, the daughter of an Arab chief, well bred and well
+taught as it chanced, I tired of the hard life of the desert and the narrow
+minds about me, I who longed for wisdom and to know great men. Then I became
+the Cup of the holy Tanofir and wisdom was all about me, strange wisdom from
+another world, rough, sharp wisdom from Tanofir, and the quiet wisdom of the
+dead among whom I dwelt. I wearied of that also, Shabaka. I was beautiful and
+knew it and I longed to shine in a Court, to be admired among men, to be envied
+of women, to rule. My husband came my way. He was clever with a great heart. He
+was your friend and therefore I was sure that he must be loyal and true. He
+was, or might be, a king, as I knew, though he thought that I did not. I
+married him and the holy Tanofir laughed but he did not say me nay, and I
+became a queen. And now I wish sometimes that I were dead, or back holding the
+cup of the holy Tanofir with the wisdom of the heavens flowing round me and the
+soft darkness of the tombs about me. It seems that in this world we never can
+be content, Shabaka.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;No, Karema, we only think that we should be if things were otherwise
+than they are. But how can I help you, Karema?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Least of all by going away and leaving me alone,&rdquo; she answered
+with the tears starting to her eyes.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Looking at her, I began to think that the best thing I could do would be to go
+away and at once, but as ever she read my thought, shook her head and laughed.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;No, no, I have put on my yoke and will carry it to the end. Have I not
+two black children and a husband who is a hero, a wit and a mountebank in one,
+and a throne and more gold and crystal than I ever wish to see again even in a
+dream, and shall I not cling to these good things? If you went I should only be
+a little more unhappy than before, that is all. Not for my sake do I ask you to
+stay, but for your own.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;How for my own, Karema? I have done all that I can do here. I have built
+the army afresh from cook-boys to generals. Bes needs me no longer who has you,
+his children and his country, and I die of weariness.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;You can stop to make use of that army you have built afresh,
+Shabaka.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Against whom? There are none to fight.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Against the Great King of the East. Listen. My gift of vision has grown
+strong and clear of late. Only to-day I have seen a meeting between Pharaoh,
+the holy Tanofir and the lady Amada. They were all disturbed, I know not at
+what, and the end of it was that Amada wrote in a roll and gave the writing to
+messengers, who I think even now are speeding southward&mdash;to you, Shabaka.
+Nay, do not look doubtfully on me, it is true.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Then you did well to tell me, Karema, for within a moon of this day I
+should have been where perhaps no messengers would have found me. Now I will
+wait and let it be your part to prepare the mind of Bes. Do you think that he
+would give me an army to lead to Egypt, if there were need?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She nodded and answered,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;He would do so for three reasons. The first is because he loves you, the
+second because he too wearies of Ethiopia and this rich, fat life of peace, and
+the third, because I shall tell him that he must.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Then why trouble to speak of the other two?&rdquo; I said laughing.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+So I stayed on in the City of the Grasshopper, and busied myself with the
+questions of how to transport and feed a great army that must hold the field
+for six months or a year; also with the setting of hundreds of skilled men to
+the making of bows, arrows, swords and shields. Nor did Bes say me no in these
+matters. Indeed he helped them forward by issuing the orders as his own,
+wherein I saw the hand of Karema.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Three months went by and I began to think that Karema&rsquo;s power had been at
+fault, or that her vision was one that came from her lips and not from her
+heart, to keep me in Ethiopia. But again she read my mind and smiled.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Not so, Shabaka,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;Those messengers have come to
+trouble and are detained by a petty tribe beyond our borders over some matter
+of a woman. Ten days ago the frontier guards marched to set them free.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+So again I waited and at length the messengers came, three of them Egyptians
+and three men of Ethiopia who dwelt in Egypt to learn its wisdom, reporting
+that as Karema had said, through the foolishness of a servant they had been
+held prisoner by an Arab chief and thus delayed. Then they delivered the
+writings which they had kept safe. One was from Pharaoh to the Karoon of
+Ethiopia; one from the holy Tanofir to Karema; and one from the lady Amada to
+myself.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+With a trembling hand I broke the silk and seals and read. It ran thus:
+</p>
+
+<p class="p2">
+&ldquo;Shabaka, my Cousin,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;You departed from Egypt saying that never would you return unless I,
+Amada the priestess, called you, and I told you that I should never call. You
+said, moreover, that if you came at my call you would demand me in guerdon, and
+I told you that never would I give myself to you who was doubly sworn to Isis.
+Yet now I call and now I say that if you come and conquer and I yet live, then,
+if you still will it, I am yours. Thus stands the case: The Great King advances
+upon Egypt with an army countless as the sands, nor can Egypt hope to battle
+against him unaided and alone. He comes to make of her a slave, to kill her
+children, to burn her temples, to sack her cities and to defile her gods with
+blasphemies. Moreover he comes to seize me and to drag me away to shame in his
+House of Women.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Therefore for the sake of the gods, for Egypt&rsquo;s sake and for my
+own, I pray you come and save us. Moreover I still love you, Shabaka, yes, more
+a thousand times, than ever I did, though whether you still love me I know not.
+For that love&rsquo;s sake, therefore, I am ready to break my vows to Isis and
+to dare her vengeance, if she should desire to be avenged upon me who would
+save her and her worship, praying that it may fall on my head and not on yours.
+This will I do by the counsel of the holy Tanofir, by command of Pharaoh, and
+with the consent of the high priests of Egypt.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Now I, Amada, have written. Choose, Shabaka, beloved of my heart.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Such was the letter that caused my head to swim and set my soul on fire. Still
+I said nothing, but thrust it into my robe and waited. Presently Bes, who had
+been reading in his roll, looked up and spoke, saying,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Are you minded to see arrows fly and swords shine in war, Brother? If
+so, here is opportunity. Pharaoh writes to me above his own seal, seeking an
+alliance between Egypt and Ethiopia. He says that the King of kings invades him
+and that if he conquers Egypt he has sworn to travel on and conquer Ethiopia
+also, since he learns that it is now ruled by a certain dwarf who once stole
+his White Signet, and by a certain Egyptian who once killed his Satrap,
+Idernes.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;What says the Karoon?&rdquo; I asked.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Bes rolled his eyes and turning to Karema, asked,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;What says the Karoon&rsquo;s wife?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Karema laid down the roll she had been studying and answered,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;She says that she has received a command from her master the holy
+Tanofir to wait upon him forthwith, for reasons that he will explain when she
+arrives, or to brave his curse upon her, her children, her country and her
+husband, and not only his but that of the spirits who serve him.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;The curse of the holy Tanofir is not a thing to mock at,&rdquo; said
+Bes, &ldquo;as I who revere him, know as well as any man.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;No, Husband, and therefore I leave for Egypt as soon as may be. It seems
+that my sister is dead, this year past, and the holy Tanofir has no one to hold
+his cup.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;And what shall I do?&rdquo; asked Bes.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;That is for you to say, Husband. But if you will, you can stay here and
+guard our children, giving the command of your army to the lord Shabaka.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Now, for we were alone, Bes twisted himself about, rolling his eyes and
+laughing as he used to do before he became Karoon of Ethiopia.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;O-ho-ho! Wife,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;so you are to go to Egypt, leaving
+me to play the nurse to babes, and my brother here is to command my armies,
+leaving me to look after the old men and the women. Nay, I think otherwise. I
+think that I shall come also, that is if my brother wishes it. Did he not save
+my life and is it not his and with it all I have? Oh! have done. Once more we
+will stand side by side in the battle, Brother, and afterwards let Fate do as
+it will with us. Tell me now, what is the tale of archers and of swordsmen with
+which we can march against the Great King with whom, like you, I have a score
+to settle?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Seventy and five thousand,&rdquo; I answered.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Good! On the fifth day from now the army marches for Egypt.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2><a name="chap16"></a>CHAPTER XVI.<br />TANOFIR FINDS HIS BROKEN CUP</h2>
+
+<p>
+March we did, but on the fifteenth day, not the fifth, since there was much to
+make ready. First the Council of the Ethiopians must be consulted and through
+them the people. In the beginning there was trouble over the matter, since many
+were against a distant war, and this even after Bes had urged that it was
+better to attack than wait to be attacked. For they answered, and justly, that
+here in Ethiopia distance and the desert were their shields, since the King of
+kings, however great his strength, would be weary and famished before he set
+foot within their borders.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In the end the knot was cut with a sword, for when the army came to learn of
+the dispute, from the generals down to the common soldiers, every man clamoured
+to be led to war, since, as I have said, these Ethiopians were fighters all of
+them, and near at hand there were none left with whom they could fight. So when
+the Council came to see that they must choose between war abroad and revolt at
+home, they gave way, bargaining only that the children of the Karoon should not
+leave the land so that if aught befell him, there would be some of the true
+blood left to succeed.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Also the Grasshopper was consulted by the priests who found the omens
+favourable. Indeed I was told that this great golden locust sat up upon its
+hind legs upon the altar and waved its feelers in the air, which only happened
+when wonderful fortune was about to bless the land. The tale reminded me of the
+nodding of the statues of our own gods in Egypt when a new Pharaoh was
+presented to them, and of that of Isis when Amada put up her prayer to the
+divine Mother. To tell the truth, I suspected Karema of having some hand in the
+business. However, so it happened.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At length we set forth, a mighty host, Bes commanding the swordsmen and I,
+under him, the archers, of whom there were more than thirty thousand men, and
+glad was I when all the farewells were said and we were free of the weeping
+crowds of women. At first Bes and Karema were somewhat sad at parting from
+their children, but in a little while they grew gay again since the one longed
+for battle and the other for the sands of Egypt.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Now of our advance I need say little, except that it was slow, though none
+dared to bar the road of so mighty an array. Since we must go on foot, we were
+not able to cover more than five leagues a day, for even after we reached the
+river boats could not be found for so many, though Karema travelled in one with
+her ladies. Also cattle and corn must always be sent forward for food. Still we
+crept on to Egypt without sickness, accident, or revolt.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When we drew near to its frontiers messengers met us from Pharaoh bearing
+letters in answer to those which we had sent with the tidings of our coming.
+These contained little but ill news. It seemed that the Great King with a
+countless host had taken all the cities of the Delta and, after a long siege,
+had captured Memphis and put it to the sack, and that the army of Egypt,
+fighting desperately by land and upon the Nile was being driven southwards
+towards Thebes. Pharaoh added that he proposed to make his last stand at the
+strong city of Amada, since he doubted whether the troops from Lower Egypt
+would not rather surrender to the Easterns than retreat further up the Nile. He
+thanked and blessed us for our promised aid and prayed that it might come in
+time to save Egypt from slavery and himself from death.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Also there was a letter for me from Amada in which she said,
+</p>
+
+<p class="letter">
+&ldquo;Oh! come quickly. Come quickly, beloved Shabaka, lest of me you should
+find but bones for never will I fall living into the hands of the Great King.
+We are sore pressed and although Amada has been made very strong, it can stand
+but a little while against such a countless multitude armed with all the
+engines of war.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+For Karema, too, there were messages from the holy Tanofir of the same meaning,
+saying that unless we appeared within a moon of their receipt, all was lost.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+We read and took counsel. Then we pressed forward by double marches, sending
+swift runners forward to bid Pharaoh and his army hold on to the last spear and
+arrow.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+On the twenty-fifth day from the receipt of this news we came to the great
+frontier city which we found in tumult for its citizens were mad with fear.
+Here we rested one night and ate of the food that was gathered there in plenty.
+Then leaving a small rear-guard of five thousand men who were tired out, to
+hold the place, we pressed onwards, for Amada was still four days&rsquo; march
+away. On the morning of the fourth day we were told that it was falling, or had
+fallen, and when at length we came in sight of the place we saw that it was
+beleaguered by an innumerable host of Easterns, while on the Nile was a great
+fleet of Grecian and Cyprian mercenaries. Moreover, heralds from the King of
+kings reached us, saying:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Surrender, Barbarians, or before the second day dawns you shall sleep
+sound, every one of you.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+To these we answered that we would take counsel on the matter and that perhaps
+on the morrow we would surrender, since when we had marched from Ethiopia, we
+did not know how great was the King&rsquo;s strength, having been deceived as
+to it by the letters of the Pharaoh. Meanwhile that the King of kings would do
+well to let us alone, since we were brave men and meant to die hard, and it
+would be better for him to leave us to march back to Ethiopia, rather than lose
+an army in trying to kill us.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+With these words which were spoken by Bes himself, the messengers departed. One
+of them however, who seemed to be a great lord, called in a loud voice to his
+companions, saying it was hard that nobles should have to do the errands, not
+of a man but of an ape who would look better hanging to a pole. Bes made no
+answer, only rolled his yellow eyes and said when the lord was out of hearing,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Now by the Grasshopper and all the gods of Egypt I swear that in payment
+for this insult I will choke the Nile with the army of the Great King, and hang
+that knave to a pole from the prow of the royal ship.&rdquo; Which last thing I
+hope he did.
+</p>
+
+<p class="p2">
+When the embassy had gone Bes gave orders that the whole army should eat and
+lie down to sleep.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I am sure,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;that the Great King will not attack us
+at once, since he will hope that we shall flee away during the night, having
+seen his strength.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+So the Ethiopians filled themselves and then lay down to sleep, which these
+people can do at any time, even if not tired as they were. But while they
+rested Bes and I and Karema, with some of the generals consulted together long
+and earnestly. For in truth we knew not what to do. But a league away lay the
+town of Amada beset by hundreds of thousands of the Easterns so that none could
+come in or out, and within its walls were the remains of Pharaoh&rsquo;s army,
+not more than twenty thousand men, all told, if what we heard were true. On the
+Nile also was the great Grecian and Cyprian fleet, two hundred vessels and
+more, though as we could see by the light of the setting sun the most of these
+were made fast to the western bank where the Egyptians could not come at them.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+For the rest our position was good, being on high desert beyond the cultivated
+land which bordered the eastern bank. But in front of us, separating us from
+the southern army of the King, stretched a swamp hard to cross, so that we
+could not hope to make an attack by night as there was no moon. Lastly, the
+main Eastern strength, to the number of two hundred thousand or more, lay to
+the north beyond Amada.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+All these things we considered, talking low and earnestly there in the tent,
+till it grew so dark that we could not see each other&rsquo;s faces while
+behind us slumbered our army that now numbered some seventy thousand men.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;We are in a trap,&rdquo; said Bes at length. &ldquo;If we await attack
+they will weigh us down with numbers. If we flee they have camels and horses
+and will overtake us; also ships of which we have none. If we attack it must be
+without cover through swamp where we shall be bogged.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Meanwhile Pharaoh is perishing within yonder walls of Amada which the
+engines batter down. By the Grasshopper! I know not what to do. It seems that
+our journey is vain and that few of us will see Ethiopia more; also that Egypt
+is sped.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I made no answer, for here my generalship failed me and I had nothing to say.
+The captains, too, were silent, only woman-like, Karema wept a little, and I
+too went near to weeping who thought of Amada penned in yonder temple like a
+lamb that awaits the butcher&rsquo;s knife.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Suddenly, coming from the door of the tent which I thought was closed, I heard
+a deep voice say,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I have ever noted that those of Ethiopian blood are melancholy after
+sundown, though of Egyptians I had thought better things.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Now about this voice there was something familiar to me, still I said nothing,
+nor did the others, for to speak the truth, all of us were frightened and
+thought that we must dream. For how could any thing that breathed approach this
+tent through a triple line of sentries? So we sat still, staring at the
+darkness, till presently in that darkness appeared a glow of light, such as
+comes from the fire-flies of Ethiopia. It grew and grew while we gasped with
+fear, till presently it took shape, and the shape it took was that of the
+ancient withered face, the sightless eyes, and the white beard of the holy
+Tanofir. Yes, there not two feet from the ground seemed to float the head of
+the holy Tanofir, limned in faint flame, which I suppose must have been
+reflected on to it from the light of some camp-fire without.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;O my beloved master!&rdquo; cried Karema, and threw herself towards him.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;O my beloved Cup!&rdquo; answered Tanofir. &ldquo;Glad am I to know you
+well and unshattered.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then a torch was lit and lo! there before us, wrapped in his dark cloak sat the
+holy Tanofir.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Whence come you, my Great-uncle?&rdquo; I asked amazed.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;From less far than you do, Nephew,&rdquo; he answered. &ldquo;Namely out
+of Amada yonder. Oh! ask me not how. It is easy if you are a blind old beggar
+who knows the path. And by the way, if you have aught to eat I should be glad
+of a bite and a sup, since in Amada food has been scarce for this last month,
+and to-night there is little left.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Karema sped from the tent and presently returned with bread and wine of which
+Tanofir partook almost greedily.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;This is the first strong drink that I have tasted for many a
+year,&rdquo; he said as he drained the goblet; &ldquo;but better a broken vow
+than broken wits when one has much to plan and do. At least I hope the gods
+will think so when I meet them presently. There&mdash;I am strong again. Now,
+say, what is your force?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+We told him.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Good. And what is your plan?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+We shook our heads, having none.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Bes,&rdquo; he said sternly, &ldquo;I think you grow dull since you
+became a king&mdash;or perhaps it is marriage that makes you so. Why, in bygone
+years schemes would have come so fast that they would have choked each other
+between those thick lips of yours. And Shabaka, tell me, have you lost all your
+generalship whereof once you had plenty, in the soft air of Ethiopia? Or is it
+that even the shadow of marriage makes <i>you</i> dull? Well, I must turn to
+the woman, for that is always the lot of man. Your plan, Karema, and quickly
+for there is no time to lose.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Now the face of Karema grew fixed and her eyes dreamy as she spoke in a slow,
+measured voice like one who knows not what she says.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;My plan is to destroy the armies of the Great King and to relieve the
+city of Amada.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;A very good plan,&rdquo; said holy Tanofir, &ldquo;but the question is,
+how?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I think,&rdquo; went on Karema, &ldquo;that about a league above this
+place there is a spot where at this season the Nile can be forded by tall men
+without the wetting of their shoulders. First then, I would send five thousand
+swordsmen across that ford and let them creep down on the navy of the Great
+King where the sailors revel in safety, or sleep sound, and fire the ships. The
+wind blows strongly from the south and the flames will leap fast from one of
+them to the other. Most of their crews will be burned and the rest can be slain
+by our five thousand.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Good, very good,&rdquo; said the holy Tanofir, &ldquo;but not enough,
+seeing that on the eastern bank is gathered the host of over two hundred
+thousand men. Now how will you deal with <i>them</i>, Karema?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I seem to see a road yonder beyond the swamp. It runs on the edge of the
+desert but behind the sand-hills. I would send the archers of whom there are
+more than thirty thousand, under the command of Shabaka along that road which
+leads them past Amada. On its farther side are low hills strewn with rocks.
+Here I would let the archers take cover and wait for the breaking of the dawn.
+Then beneath them they will see the most of the Eastern host and with such bows
+as ours they can sweep the plain from the hills almost to the Nile, and having
+a hundred arrows to a man, should slaughter the Easterns by the ten thousand,
+for when these turn to charge a shaft should pierce through two
+together.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Good again,&rdquo; said Tanofir. &ldquo;But what of the army of the
+Great King which lies upon this side of Amada?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I think that before the dawn, believing us so few, it will advance and
+with the first light begin to thread the swamp, and therefore we must keep five
+thousand archers to gall it as it comes. Still it will win through, though with
+loss, and find us waiting for it here shoulder to shoulder, rank upon rank with
+locked shields, against which horse and foot shall break in vain, for who shall
+drive a wedge through the Ethiopian squares that Shabaka has trained and that
+Bes, the Karoon, commands? I say that they shall roll back like waves from a
+cliff; yes, again and again, growing ever fewer till the clamour of battle and
+the shouts of fear and agony reach their ears from beyond Amada where Shabaka
+and the archers do their work and the sight of the burning ships strikes terror
+in them and they fly.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Good again,&rdquo; said the holy Tanofir. &ldquo;But still many on both
+fronts will be left, for this army of Easterns is very vast. And how will you
+deal with these, O Karema?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;On these I would have Pharaoh with all his remaining strength pour from
+the northern and the southern gates of Amada, for so shall they be caught like
+wounded lions between two wild bulls and torn and trampled and utterly
+destroyed. Only I know not how to tell Pharaoh what he must do, and
+when.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Good again,&rdquo; said the holy Tanofir, &ldquo;very good. And as for
+the telling of Pharaoh, well, I shall see him presently. It is strange, my
+chipped Cup which I had almost thrown away as useless, that although broken,
+you still hold so much wisdom. For know, wonderful though it may seem, that
+just such plans as you have spoken have grown up in my own mind, only I wished
+to learn if you thought them wise.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then he laughed a little and Karema stretched her arms as one does who awakes
+from sleep, rubbed her eyes and asked if he would not eat more food.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In an instant Tanofir was speaking again in a quick, clear voice.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Bes, or King,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;doubtless you will do your
+wife&rsquo;s will. Therefore let the host be aroused and stand to its arms. As
+it chances I have four men without who can be trusted. Two of these will guide
+the five thousand to the ford and across it; also down upon the ships. The
+other two will guide Shabaka and the archers along the road which Karema
+remembers so well; perhaps she trod it as a child. For my part I return to
+Amada to make sure that Pharaoh does his share and at the right time. For mark,
+unless all this is carried through to-night Amada will fall to-morrow, a
+certain priestess will die, and you, Bes, and your soldiers will never look on
+Ethiopia again. Is it agreed?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I nodded who did not wish to waste time in words, and Bes rolled his eyes and
+answered,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;When one can think of nothing, it is best to follow the counsel of those
+who can think of something; also to hunt rather than to be hunted. Especially
+is this so if that something comes from the holy Tanofir or his broken Cup.
+Generals, you have heard. Rouse the host and bid them stand to their arms
+company by company!&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The generals leapt away into the darkness like arrows from a bow, and presently
+we heard the noise of gathering men.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Where are these guides of yours, holy Tanofir?&rdquo; asked Bes.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Tanofir beckoned over his shoulder, and out of the gloom, one by one, four men
+stole into the tent. They were strange, quiet men, but I can say no more of
+them since their faces were veiled, nor as it chances, did I ever see any of
+them after the battle, in which I suppose that they were killed. Or perhaps
+they appeared after&mdash;well, never mind!
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;You have heard,&rdquo; said Tanofir, whereupon all four of them bowed
+their mysterious veiled heads.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Now, my Brother,&rdquo; whispered Bes into my ear, &ldquo;tell me, I
+pray you, how did four men who were not in the tent, hear what was said in this
+tent, and how did they come through the guards who have orders to kill anyone
+who does not know the countersign, especially men whose faces are wrapped in
+napkins?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I do not know,&rdquo; I answered, whereon Bes groaned, only Karema
+smiled a little as though to herself.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Then, having heard, obey,&rdquo; said the holy Tanofir, whereon the four
+veiled ones bowed again.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Will you not give them their orders, O most Venerable?&rdquo; inquired
+Bes doubtfully.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I think it is needless,&rdquo; said Tanofir in a dry voice. &ldquo;Why
+try to teach those who know?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Will you not offer them something to eat, since they also must be
+hungry?&rdquo; I asked of Karema.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Fool, be silent,&rdquo; she replied, looking on me with contempt.
+&ldquo;Do the&mdash;friends&mdash;of Tanofir need to eat?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I should have thought so after being beleaguered for a month in a
+starving town. If the master wants to eat, why should not his men?&rdquo; I
+murmured.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then a thought struck me and I was silent.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+A general returned and reported that the orders had been executed and that all
+the army was afoot.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Good,&rdquo; said Bes. &ldquo;Then start forthwith with five thousand
+men, and burn those ships, according to the plan laid down by the Queen Karema,
+which you heard her speak but now,&rdquo; and he named certain regiments that
+he should take with him, those of the general&rsquo;s own command, adding:
+&ldquo;Save some of the ships if you can, and afterwards cross the Nile in them
+with your men, and join yourself either to my force or to that of the lord
+Shabaka, according to what you see. May the Grasshopper give you victory and
+wisdom.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The general saluted and asked,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Who guides us to and across the ford of the great river?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Two of the veiled men stepped forward whereon the general muttered into my ear,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I like not the look of them. I pray the Grasshopper they do not guide us
+across the River of Death.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Have no fear, General,&rdquo; said the holy Tanofir from the other end
+of the tent. &ldquo;If you and your men play their parts as well as the guides
+will play theirs, the ships are already burned together with their companies.
+Only take fire with you.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+So that general departed with the two guides, looking somewhat frightened, and
+soon was marching up Nile at the head of five thousand swordsmen.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Now Bes looked at me and said,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;It seems that you had better be gone also, my Brother, with the archers.
+Perchance the holy Tanofir will show you whither.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;No, no,&rdquo; answered Tanofir, &ldquo;my guides will show him. Look
+not so doubtful, Shabaka. Did I fail you when you were in the grip of the King
+of kings in the East, and only your own life and that of Bes were at
+stake?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I do not know,&rdquo; I answered.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;You do not know, but I know, as I think do Bes and Karema, since the one
+received the messages which the other sent. Well, if I did not fail you then,
+shall I fail you now when Egypt is at stake? Follow these guides I give you,
+and&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo; here he took hold of the quiver of arrows that lay
+beside me on the ground, and as certainly as though he could see it with his
+blind eyes, touched one of them, on the shaft of which were two black and a
+white feather, &ldquo;remember my words after you have loosed this arrow from
+your great black bow and noted where it strikes.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then I turned to Bes and asked,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Where do we meet again?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I cannot say, Brother,&rdquo; he answered. &ldquo;In Amada if that may
+be. If not, at the Table of Osiris, or in the fields of the Grasshopper, or in
+the blackness which swallows all, gods and men together.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Does Karema come with me or bide with you?&rdquo; I asked again.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;She does neither,&rdquo; interrupted Tanofir, &ldquo;she accompanies me
+to Amada, where I have need of her and she will be more safe. Oh! fear nothing,
+for every hermit however poor, still carries his staff and his cup, even if it
+be cracked.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then I shook Bes by the hand and went my way, wondering if I were awake or
+dreaming, and the last thing I saw in that tent was the beautiful face of
+Karema smiling at me. This I took to be a good omen, since I knew that it was
+the heart of the holy Tanofir which smiled, and that her eyes were but its
+mirror.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Already my thirty thousand archers were marshalling, and having made sure that
+there was ample store of arrows and that all their gourds were filled with
+water, I set myself at their head while in front of me walked the two veiled
+guides. I looked upon them doubtfully, since it seemed dangerous to trust an
+army to unknown men who for aught I knew, might lead us into the midst of our
+foes. Then I remembered that they were vouched for by the holy Tanofir, my own
+great-uncle whom I trusted above any man on earth, and took heart again.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+How had he come into our tent, I wondered, and how, blind as he was, would he
+get back into Amada with Karema, if he took her? Well, who could account for
+the goings or the comings of the holy Tanofir, who was more of a spirit than a
+man? Perhaps it was not really he whom we had seen, but what we Egyptians
+called his <i>Ka</i> or Double which can pass to and fro at will. Only do
+<i>Kas</i> eat? Of this matter I knew only that offerings of food and drink are
+made to them in tombs. So leaving the holy Tanofir to guard himself, I turned
+my mind to our own business, which was to surprise the army of the Great King.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Skirting the swamp we came to rough and higher ground and though I could see
+little in that darkness, I knew that we were walking up a hill. Presently we
+crossed its crest and descending for three bowshots or so, I felt that my feet
+were on a road. Now the guides turned to the left and after them in a long line
+came my army of thirty thousand archers. In utter silence we went since we had
+no beasts with us and our sandalled feet made little noise; moreover orders had
+been passed down the line that the man who made a sound should die.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+For two hours or more we marched thus, then bore to the left again and climbed
+a slope, by which time I judged we must be well past the town of Amada. Here
+suddenly the guides halted and we after them at whispered words of command. One
+of them took me by the cloak, led me forward a little way to the crest of the
+ridge, and pointed with his white-sleeved arm. I looked and there beneath me,
+well within bowshot, were thousands of the watchfires of the King&rsquo;s army,
+flaring, some of them, in the strong wind. For a full league those fires burned
+and we were opposite to the midmost of them.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;See now, General Shabaka,&rdquo; said the guide, speaking for the first
+time in a curious hissing whisper such as might come from a man who had no
+lips, &ldquo;beneath you sleeps the Eastern host, which being so great, has not
+thought it needful to guard this ridge. Now marshal your archers in a fourfold
+line in such fashion that at the first break of dawn they can take cover behind
+the rocks and shoot, every man of them without piercing his fellow. Do you bide
+here with the centre where your standard can be seen by all to north and south.
+I and my companion will lead your vanguard farther on to where the ridge draws
+nearer to the Nile, so that with their arrows they can hold back and slay any
+who strive to escape down stream. The rest is in your hands, for we are guides,
+not generals. Summon your captains and issue your commands.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+So we went back again and I called the officers together and told them what
+they were to do, then despatched them to their regiments.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Presently the vanguard of ten thousand men drew away and vanished, and with
+them the white-robed guides on whom I never looked again. Then I marshalled my
+centre as well as I could in the gloom, and bade them lie down to rest and
+sleep if they were able; also, within thirty minutes of the sunrise, to eat and
+drink a little of the food they carried, to see that every bow was ready and
+that the arrows were loosened in every quiver. This done, with a few whom I
+trusted to serve me as messengers and guard, I crept up to the brow of the hill
+or slope, and there we laid us down and watched.
+</p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2><a name="chap17"></a>CHAPTER XVII.<br />THE BATTLE&mdash;AND AFTER</h2>
+
+<p>
+Two hours went by and I knew by the stars that the dawn could not be far away.
+My eyes were fixed upon the Nile and on the lights that hung to the prows of
+the Great King&rsquo;s ships. Where were those who had been sent to fire them,
+I wondered, for of them I saw nothing. Well, their journey would be long as
+they must wade the river. Perhaps they had not yet arrived, or perhaps they had
+miscarried. At least the fleet seemed very quiet. None were alarmed there and
+no sentry challenged.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At length it grew near to dawn and behind me I heard the gentle stir of the
+Ethiopians arising and eating as they had been bidden, whereon I too ate and
+drank a little, though never had I less wished for food. The East brightened
+and far up the Nile of a sudden there appeared what at first I took to be a
+meteor or a lantern waving in the wind that now was blowing its strongest, as
+it does at this season of the year just at the time of dawn. Yet that lantern
+seemed to travel fast and lo! now I saw that it was fire running up the rigging
+of a ship.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It leapt from rope to rope and from sail to sail till they blazed fiercely, and
+in other ships also nearer to us, flame appeared that grew to a great red
+sheet. Our men had not failed; the navy of the King of kings was burning! Oh!
+how it burned fanned by the breath of that strong wind. From vessel to vessel
+leapt the fire like a thing alive, for all of them were drawn up on the bank
+with prows fastened in such fashion that they could not readily be made loose.
+Some broke away indeed, but they were aflame and only served to spread the fire
+more quickly. Before the rim of the sun appeared for a league or more there was
+nothing but blazing ships from which rose a hideous crying, and still more and
+more took fire lower down the line.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I had no time to watch for now I must be up and doing. The sky grew grey, there
+was light enough to see though faintly. I cast my eyes about me and perceived
+that no place in the world could have been better for archery. In front the
+hill was steep for a hundred paces or more and scattered over with thousands of
+large stones behind which bowmen might take shelter. Then came a gentle slope
+of loose sand up which attackers would find it hard to climb. Then the long
+flat plain whereon the Easterns were camped, and beyond it, scarce two furlongs
+away, the banks of Nile.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Indeed the place was ill-chosen for so great an army, nor could it have held
+them all, had not the camping ground been a full league in length, and even so
+they were crowded. Out of the mist their tents appeared, thousands of them,
+farther than my eye could reach, and almost opposite to me, near to the banks
+of the river, was a great pavilion of silk and gold that I guessed must shelter
+the majesty of the King of kings. Indeed this was certain since now I saw that
+over it floated his royal banner which I knew so well, I who had stolen the
+little White Signet of signets from which it was taken. Truly the holy Tanofir,
+or his Cup, Karema, or his messengers, or the spirits with whom he dwelt, I
+know not which, had a general&rsquo;s eye and knew how to plan an ambuscade.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+So thought I to myself as I ran back to my army to meet the gathered captains
+and set all things in order. It was soon done for they were ready, as were the
+fierce Ethiopians fresh from their rest and food, and stringing their bows,
+every one of them, or loosening the arrows in their quivers. As I came they
+lifted their hands in salute, for speak they dared not and I sent a whisper
+down their ranks, that this day they must fight and conquer, or fall for the
+glory of Ethiopia and their king. Then I gave my orders and before the sun rose
+and revealed them they crept forward in a fourfold line and took shelter behind
+the stones, lying there invisible on their bellies until the moment came.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The red rim of Ra appeared glorious in the East, and I, from behind the rocks
+that I had chosen, sat down and watched. Oh! truly Tanofir or the gods of Egypt
+were ordering things aright for us. The huge camp was awake now and aware of
+what was happening on the Nile. They could not see well because of the tall
+reeds upon the river&rsquo;s rim and therefore, without order or discipline, by
+the thousand and the ten thousand, for their numbers were countless, some with
+arms and some without, they ran to the slope of sand beneath our station and
+began to climb it to have a better view of the burning ships.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The sun leapt up swiftly as it does in Egypt. His glowing edge appeared over
+the crest of the hill though the hollows beneath were still filled with shadow.
+The moment was at hand. I waited till I had counted ten, glancing to the right
+and left of me to see that all were ready and to suffer the crowd to thicken on
+the slope, but not to reach the lowest rocks, whither they were climbing. Then
+I gave the double signal that had been agreed.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Behind me the banner of the golden Grasshopper was raised upon a tall pole and
+broke upon the breeze. That was the first signal whereat every man rose to his
+knees and set shaft on string. Next I lifted my bow, the black bow, the ancient
+bow that few save I could bend, and drew it to my ear.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Far away, out of arrow-reach as most would have said, floated the Great
+King&rsquo;s standard over his pavilion. At this I aimed, making allowance for
+the wind, and shot. The shaft leapt forward, seen in the sunlight, lost in the
+shadow, seen in the sunlight again and lastly seen once more, pinning that
+golden standard against its pole!
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At the sight of the omen a roar went up that rolled to right and left of us, a
+roar from thirty thousand throats. Now it was lost in a sound like to the
+hissing of thunder rain in Ethiopia, the sound of thirty thousand arrows
+rushing through the wind. Oh! they were well aimed, those arrows for I had not
+taught the Ethiopians archery in vain.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+How many went down before them? The gods of Egypt know alone. I do not. All I
+know is that the long slope of sand which had been crowded with standing men,
+was now thick with fallen men, many of whom lay as though they were asleep. For
+what mail could resist the iron-pointed shafts driven by the strong bows of the
+Ethiopians?
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And this was but a beginning, for, flight after flight, those arrows sped till
+the air grew dark with them. Soon there were no more to shoot at on the slope,
+for these were down, and the order went to lift the bows and draw upon the
+camp, and especially upon the parks of baggage beasts. Presently these were
+down also, or rushing maddened to and fro.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At last the Eastern generals saw and understood. Orders were shouted and in a
+mad confusion the scores of thousands who were unharmed, rushed back towards
+the banks of Nile where our shafts could not reach them. Here they formed up in
+their companies and took counsel. It was soon ended, for all the vast mass of
+them, preceded by a cloud of archers, began to advance upon the hill.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Now I passed a command to the Ethiopians, of whom so far not one had fallen, to
+lie low and wait. On came the glittering multitude of Easterns, gay with purple
+and gold, their mail and swords shining in the risen sun. On they came by
+squadron and by company, more than the eye could number. They reached the sand
+slope thick with their own dead and wounded and paused a little because they
+could see no man, since the black bodies of the Ethiopians were hid behind the
+black stones and the black bows did not catch the light.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then from a gorgeous group that I guessed hid the person of the Great King
+surrounded by his regiment of guards, ten thousand of them who were called
+Immortals, messengers sprang forth screaming the order to charge. The host
+began to climb the slippery sand slope but still I held my hand till their
+endless lines were within fifty paces of us and their arrows rattled harmlessly
+against our stones. Then I caused the banner of the Grasshopper that had been
+lowered, to be lifted thrice, and at the third lifting once more thirty
+thousand arrows rushed forth to kill.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+They went down, they went down in lines and heaps, riddled through and through.
+But still others came on for they fought under the eye of the Great King, and
+to fly meant death with shame and torture. We could not kill them all, they
+were too many. We could not kill the half of them. Now their foremost were
+within ten paces of us and since we must stand up to shoot, our men began to
+fall, also pierced with arrows. I caused the blast of retreat to be sounded on
+the ivory horn and step by step we drew back to the crest of the ridge,
+shooting as we went. On the crest we re-formed rapidly in a double line
+standing as close as we could together and my example was followed all down the
+ranks to right and left. Then I bethought me of a plan that I had taught these
+archers again and again in Ethiopia.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+With the flag I signalled a command to stop shooting and also passed the word
+down the line, so that presently no more arrows flew. The Easterns hesitated,
+wondering whether this were a trap, or if we lacked shafts, and meanwhile I
+sent messengers with certain orders to the vanguard, who sped away at speed
+behind the hill, running as they never ran before. Presently I heard a voice
+below cry out,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;The Great King commands that the barbarians be destroyed. Let the
+barbarians be destroyed!&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Now with a roar they came on like a flood. I waited till they were within
+twenty paces of us, and shouted, &ldquo;Shoot and fall!&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The first line shot and oh! fearful was its work, for not a shaft missed those
+crowded hosts and many pinned two together. My archers shot and fell down,
+setting new arrows to the string as they fell, whereon the second line also
+shot over them. Then up we sprang and loosed again, and again fell down,
+whereon the second line once more poured in its deadly hail.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Now the Easterns stayed their advance, for their front ranks lay prone, and
+those behind must climb over them if they could. Yes, standing there in
+glittering groups they rocked and hesitated although their officers struck them
+with swords and lances to drive them forward. Once more our front rank rose and
+loosed, and once more we dropped and let the shafts of the second speed over
+us. It was too much, flesh and blood could not bear more of those arrows.
+Thousands upon thousands were down and the rest began to flee in confusion.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then at my command the ivory horns sounded the charge. Every man slung his bow
+upon his back and drew his short sword.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;On to them!&rdquo; I cried and leapt forward.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Like a black torrent we rushed down the hill, leaping over the dead and
+wounded. The retreat became a rout since before these ebon, great-eyed warriors
+the soft Easterns did not care to stand. They fled screaming,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;These are devils! These are devils!&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+We were among them now, hacking and stabbing with the short swords upon their
+heads and backs. There was no need to aim the blow, they were so many. Like a
+huddled mob of cattle they turned and fled down Nile. But my orders had reached
+the vanguard and these, hidden in the growing crops on the narrow neck of
+swampy land between the hills and the Nile, met them with arrows as they came,
+also raked them from the steep cliff side. Their chariot wheels sank into the
+mud till the horses were slain; their footmen were piled in heaps about them,
+till soon there was a mighty wall of dead and dying. And our centre and
+rearguard came up behind. Oh! we slew and slew, till before the sun was an hour
+high over half the army of the Great King was no more. Then we re-formed,
+having suffered but little loss, and drank of the water of the Nile.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;All is not done,&rdquo; I cried.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+For the Immortals still remained behind us, gathered in massed ranks about
+their king. Also there were many thousands of others between these and the
+walls of Amada, and to the south of the city yet a second army, that with which
+Bes had been left to deal, with what success I knew not.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Ethiopians,&rdquo; I shouted, &ldquo;cease crying Victory, since the
+battle is about to begin. Strike, and at once before the Easterns find their
+heart again.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+So we advanced upon the Immortals, all of us, for now the vanguard had joined
+our strength.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In long lines we advanced over that blood-soaked plain, and as we came the
+Great King loosed his remaining chariots against us. It availed him nothing,
+since the horses could not face our arrows whereof, thanks be to the gods! I
+had prepared so ample a store, carried in bundles by lads. Scarce a chariot
+reached our lines, and those that did were destroyed, leaving us unbroken.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The chariots were done with and their drivers dead, but there still frowned the
+squares of the Immortals. We shot at them till nearly all our shafts were
+spent, and, galled to madness, they charged. We did not wait for the points of
+those long spears, but ran in beneath them striking with our short swords, and
+oh! grim and desperate was that battle, since the Easterns were clad in mail
+and the Ethiopians had but short jerkins of bull&rsquo;s hide.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Fight as we would we were driven back. The fray turned against us and we fell
+by hundreds. I bethought me of flight to the hills, since now we were
+outnumbered and very weary. But behold! when all seemed lost a great shouting
+rose from Amada and through her opened gates poured forth all that remained of
+the army of Pharaoh, perhaps eighteen or twenty thousand men. I saw, and my
+heart rose again.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Stand firm!&rdquo; I cried. &ldquo;Stand firm!&rdquo; and lo! we stood.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Egyptians were on them now and in their midst I saw Pharaoh&rsquo;s banner.
+By degrees the battle swayed towards the banks of Nile, we to the north, the
+Egyptians to the south and the Easterns between us. They were trying to turn
+our flank; yes, and would have done it, had there not suddenly appeared upon
+the Nile a fleet of ships. At first I thought that we were lost, for these
+ships were from Greece and Cyprus, till I saw the banner of the Grasshopper
+wave from a prow, and knew that they were manned by our five thousand who had
+gone out to burn the fleet, and had saved these vessels. They beached and from
+their crowded holds poured the five thousand, or those that were left of them,
+and ranging themselves upon the bank, raised their war-shout and attacked the
+ends of the Easterns&rsquo; lines.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Now we charged for the last time and the Egyptians charged from the south.
+Ha-ha! the ranks of the Immortals were broken at length. We were among them. I
+saw Pharaoh, his <i>uræus</i> circlet on his helm. He was wounded and sore
+beset. A tall Immortal rushed at him with a spear and drove it home.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Pharaoh fell.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I leapt over him and killed that Eastern with a blow upon the neck, but my
+sword shattered on his armour. The tide of battle rolled up and swept us apart
+and I saw Pharaoh being carried away. Look! yonder was the Great King himself
+standing in a golden chariot, the Great King in all his glory whom last I had
+seen far away in the East. He knew me and shot at me with a bow, the bow he
+thought my own, shouting, &ldquo;Die, dog of an Egyptian!&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+His arrow pierced my helm but missed my head. I strove to come at him but could
+not.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The real rout began. The Immortals were broken like an earthen jar. They
+retreated in groups fighting desperately and of these the thickest was around
+the Great King. He whom I hated was about to escape me. He still had horses; he
+would fly down Nile, gain his reserves and so away back to the East, where he
+would gather new and yet larger armies, since men in millions were at his
+command. Then he would return and destroy Egypt when perchance there were no
+Ethiopians to help her, and perhaps after all drag Amada to his House of Women.
+See, they were breaking through and already I was far away with a wound in my
+breast, a hurt leg and a shattered sword.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+What could I do? My arrows were spent and the bearers had none left to give me.
+No, there was one still in the quiver. I drew it out. On its shaft were two
+black feathers and one white. Who had spoken of that arrow? I remembered,
+Tanofir. I was to think of certain things that he had said when I noted what it
+pierced. I unslung my bow, strung it and set that arrow on the string.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+By now the Great King was far away, out of reach for most archers. His chariot
+forging ahead amidst the remnant of his guards and the nobles who attended on
+his sacred person, travelled over a little rise where doubtless once there had
+been a village, long since rotted down to its parent clay. The sunlight glinted
+on his shining armour and silken robe, whereof the back was toward me.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I aimed, I drew, I loosed! Swift and far the shaft sped forward. By Osiris! it
+struck him full between the shoulders, and lo! the King of kings, the Monarch
+of the World, lurched forward, fell on to the rail of his chariot, and rolled
+to the ground. Next instant there arose a roar of, &ldquo;The King is dead! The
+Great King is dead! <i>Fly, fly, fly!</i>&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+So they fled and after them thundered the pursuers slaying and slaying till
+they could lift their arms no more. Oh! yes, some escaped though the men of
+Thebes and country folk murdered many of them and but a few ever won back to
+the East to tell the tale of the blotting out of the mighty army of the King of
+kings and of the doom dealt to him by the great black bow of Shabaka the
+Egyptian.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I stood there gasping, when suddenly I heard a voice at my side. It said,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;You seem to have done very well, Brother, even better than we did yonder
+on the other side of the town, though some might think that fray a thing
+whereof to make a song. Also that last shot of yours was worthy of a good
+archer, for I marked it, I marked it. A great lord was laid low thereby. Let us
+go and see who it was.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I threw my arm round the bull neck of Bes and leaning on him, advanced to where
+the King lay alone save for the fallen about him.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;This man is not yet sped,&rdquo; said Bes. &ldquo;Let us look upon his
+face,&rdquo; and he turned him over, and stretched him there upon the sand with
+the arrow standing two spans beyond his corselet.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Why,&rdquo; said Bes, &ldquo;this is a certain High one with whom we had
+dealings in the East!&rdquo; and he laughed thickly.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then the Great King opened his eyes and knew us and on his dying features came
+a look of hate.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;So you have conquered, Egyptian,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Oh! if only I
+had you again in the East, whence in my folly I let you go&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;You would set me in your boat, would you not, whence by the wisdom of
+Bes I escaped.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;More than that,&rdquo; he gasped.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I shall not serve you so,&rdquo; I went on. &ldquo;I shall leave you to
+die as a warrior should upon a fair fought field. But learn, tyrant and
+murderer, that the shaft which overthrew you came from the black bow you
+coveted and thought you had received, and that this hand loosed it&mdash;not at
+hazard.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I guessed it,&rdquo; he whispered.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Know, too, King, that the lady Amada whom you also coveted, waits to be
+my wife; that your mighty army is destroyed, and that Egypt is free by the
+hands of Shabaka the Egyptian and Bes the dwarf.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Shabaka the Egyptian,&rdquo; he muttered, &ldquo;whom I held and let go
+because of a dream and for policy. So, Shabaka, you will wed Amada whom I
+desired because I could not take her, and doubtless you will rule in Egypt, for
+Pharaoh, I think, is as I am to-day. O Shabaka, you are strong and a great
+warrior, but there is something stronger than you in the world&mdash;that which
+men call Fate. Such success as yours offends the gods. Look on me, Shabaka,
+look on the King of kings, the Ruler of the earth, lying shamed in the dust
+before you, and, accursed Shabaka! do not call yourself happy until you see
+death as near as I do now.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then he threw his arms wide and died.
+</p>
+
+<p class="p2">
+We called to soldiers to bear his body and having set the pursuit, with that
+royal clay entered into Amada in triumph. It was not a very great town and the
+temple was its finest building and thither we wended. In the outer court we
+found Pharaoh lying at the point of death, for from many wounds his life
+drained out with his flowing blood, nor could the leeches help him.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Greeting, Shabaka,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;you and the Ethiopians have
+saved Egypt. My son is slain in the battle and I too am slain, and who remains
+to rule her save you, you and Amada? Would that you had married her at once,
+and never left my side. But she was foolish and headstrong and I&mdash;was
+jealous of you, Shabaka. Forgive me, and farewell.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He spoke no more although he lived a little while.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Karema came from the inner court. She greeted her husband, then turned and
+said,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Lord Shabaka, one waits to welcome you.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I rested myself upon her shoulder, for I could not walk alone.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;What happened to the army of the Karoon?&rdquo; I asked as we went
+slowly.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;That happened, Lord, which the holy Tanofir foretold. The Easterns
+attacked across the swamp, thinking to bear us down by numbers. But the paths
+were too narrow and their columns were bogged in the mud. Still they struggled
+on against the arrows to its edge and there the Ethiopians fell on them and
+being lighter-footed and without armour, had the mastery of them, who were
+encumbered by their very multitude. Oh! I saw it all from the temple top. Bes
+did well and I am proud of him, as I am proud of you.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;It is of the Ethiopians that you should be proud, Karema, since with one
+to five they have won a great battle.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+We came to the end of the second court where was a sanctuary.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Enter,&rdquo; said Karema and fell back.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I did so and though the cedar door was left a little ajar, at first could see
+nothing because of the gloom of the place. By degrees my eyes grew accustomed
+to the darkness and I perceived an alabaster statue of the goddess Isis of the
+size of life, who held in her arms an ivory child, also lifesize. Then I heard
+a sigh and, looking down, saw a woman clad in white kneeling at the feet of the
+statue, lost in prayer. Suddenly she rose and turned and the ray of light from
+the door ajar fell upon her. It was Amada draped only in the transparent robe
+of a priestess, and oh! she was beautiful beyond imagining, so beautiful that
+my heart stood still.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She saw me in my battered mail and the blood flowed up to her breast and brow
+and in her eyes there came a light such as I had never known in them before,
+the light that is lit only by the torch of woman&rsquo;s love. Yes, no longer
+were hers the eyes of a priestess; they were the eyes of a woman who burns with
+mortal passion.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Amada,&rdquo; I whispered, &ldquo;Amada found at last.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Shabaka,&rdquo; she whispered back, &ldquo;returned at last, to me, your
+home,&rdquo; and she stretched out her arms toward me.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But before I could take her into mine, she uttered a little cry and shrank
+away.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Oh! not here,&rdquo; she said, &ldquo;not here in the presence of this
+Holy One who watches all that passes in heaven and earth.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Then perchance, Amada, she has watched the freeing of Egypt on yonder
+field to-day, and knows for whose sake it was done.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Hearken, Shabaka. I am your guerdon. Moreover as a woman I am yours.
+There is naught I desire so much as to feel your kiss upon me. For it and it
+alone I am ready to risk my spirit&rsquo;s death and torment. But for you I
+fear. Twice have I sworn myself to this goddess and she is very jealous of
+those who rob her of her votaries. I fear that her curse will fall not only on
+me, but on you also, and not only for this life but for all lives that may be
+given to us. For your own sake, I pray you leave me. I hear that Pharaoh my
+uncle is dead or dying, and doubtless they will offer you the throne. Take it,
+Shabaka, for in it I ask no share. Take it and leave me to serve the goddess
+till my death.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I too serve a goddess,&rdquo; I answered hoarsely, &ldquo;and she is
+named Love, and you are her priestess. Little I care for Isis who serve the
+goddess Love. Come, kiss me here and now, ere perchance I die. Kiss me who have
+waited long enough, and so let us be wed.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+One moment she paused, swaying in the wind of passion, like a tall reed on the
+banks of Nile, and then, ah! then she sank upon my breast and pressed her lips
+against my own.
+</p>
+
+<p class="center">
+AND AFTER
+</p>
+
+<p>
+For a few moments I, Shabaka, seemed to be lost in a kind of delirium and
+surrounded by a rose-hued mist. Then I, Allan Quatermain, heard a sharp quick
+sound as of a clock striking, and looked up. It was a clock, a beautiful old
+clock on a mantelpiece opposite to me and the hands showed that it had just
+struck the hour of ten.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Now I remembered that centuries ago, as I was dropping asleep, I did not know
+why, I had seen that clock and those hands in the same position and known that
+it was striking the second stroke of ten. Oh! what did it all mean? Had
+thousands of years gone by or&mdash;only eight seconds?
+</p>
+
+<p>
+There was a weight upon my shoulder. I glanced round to see what it was and
+discovered the beautiful head of Lady Ragnall who was sweetly sleeping there.
+Lady Ragnall! and in that very strange dream which I had dreamed she was the
+priestess called Amada. Look, there was the mark of the new moon above her
+breast. And not a second ago I had been in a shrine with Amada dressed as Lady
+Ragnall was to-night, in circumstances so intimate that it made me blush to
+think of them. Lady Ragnall! Amada!&mdash;Amada! Lady Ragnall! A shrine! A
+boudoir! Oh! I must be going mad!
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I could not disturb her, it would have been&mdash;well, unseemly. So I,
+Shabaka, or Allan Quatermain, just sat still feeling curiously comfortable, and
+tried to piece things together, when suddenly Amada&mdash;I mean Lady Ragnall
+woke.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I wonder,&rdquo; she said without lifting her head from my shoulder,
+&ldquo;what happened to the holy Tanofir. I think that I heard him outside the
+shine giving directions for the digging of Pharaoh&rsquo;s grave at that spot,
+and saying that he must do so at once as his time was very short. Yes, and I
+wished that he would go away. Oh! my goodness!&rdquo; she exclaimed, and
+suddenly sprang up.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I too rose and we stood facing each other.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Between us, in front of the fire stood the tripod and the bowl of black stone
+at the bottom of which lay a pinch of white ashes, the remains of the
+<i>Taduki</i>. We stared at it and at each other.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Oh! where have we been, Shaba&mdash;I mean, Mr. Quatermain?&rdquo; she
+gasped, looking at me round-eyed.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know,&rdquo; I answered confusedly. &ldquo;To the East I
+suppose. That is&mdash;it was all a dream.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;A dream!&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;What nonsense! Tell me, were you or
+were you not in a sanctuary just now with me before the statue of Isis, the
+same that fell on George two years ago and killed him, and did you or did you
+not give me a necklace of wonderful rosy pearls which we put upon the neck of
+the statue as a peace-offering because I had broken my vows to the
+goddess&mdash;those that you won from the Great King?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;No,&rdquo; I answered triumphantly, &ldquo;I did nothing of the sort. Is
+it likely that I should have taken those priceless pearls into battle? I gave
+them to Karema to keep after my mother returned them to me on her death-bed; I
+remember it distinctly.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Yes, and Karema handed them to me again as your love-token when she
+appeared in the city with the holy Tanofir, and what was more welcome at the
+moment&mdash;something to eat. For we were near starving, you know. Well, I
+threw them over your neck and my own in the shrine to be the symbol of our
+eternal union. But afterwards we thought that it might be wise to offer them to
+the goddess&mdash;to appease her, you know. Oh! how dared we plight our mortal
+troth there in her very shrine and presence, and I her twice-sworn servant? It
+was insult heaped on sacrilege.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;At a guess, because love is stronger than fear,&rdquo; I replied.
+&ldquo;But it seems that you dreamed a little longer than I did. So perhaps you
+can tell me what happened afterwards. I only got as far as&mdash;well, I forget
+how far I got,&rdquo; I added, for at that moment full memory returned and I
+could not go on.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She blushed to her eyes and grew disturbed.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;It is all mixed up in my mind too,&rdquo; she exclaimed. &ldquo;I can
+only remember something rather absurd&mdash;and affectionate. You know what
+strange things dreams are.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I thought you said it wasn&rsquo;t a dream.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Really I don&rsquo;t know what it was. But&mdash;your wound
+doesn&rsquo;t hurt you, does it? You were bleeding a good deal. It stained me
+here,&rdquo; and she touched her breast and looked down wonderingly at her
+sacred, ancient robe as though she expected to see that it was red.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;As there is no stain now it <i>must</i> have been a dream. But my word!
+that was a battle,&rdquo; I answered.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Yes, I watched it from the pylon top, and oh! it was glorious. Do you
+remember the charge of the Ethiopians against the Immortals? Why of course you
+must as you led it. And then the fall of Pharaoh Peroa&mdash;he was George, you
+know. And the death of the Great King, killed by your black bow; you were a
+wonderful shot even then, you see. And the burning of the ships, how they
+blazed! And&mdash;a hundred other things.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; I said, &ldquo;it came off. The holy Tanofir was a good
+strategist&mdash;or his Cup was, I don&rsquo;t know which.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;And you were a good general, and so for the matter of that was Bes. Oh!
+what agonies I went through while the fight hung doubtful. My heart was on
+fire, yes, I seemed to burn for&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo; and she stopped.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;For whom?&rdquo; I asked.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;For Egypt of course, and when, reflected in the alabaster, I saw you
+enter that shrine, where you remember I was praying for your success&mdash;and
+safety, I nearly died of joy. For you know I had been, well, attached to
+you&mdash;to Shabaka, I mean&mdash;all the time&mdash;that&rsquo;s my part of
+the story which I daresay you did not see. Although I seemed so cold and
+wayward I could love, yes, in that life I knew how to love. And Shabaka looked,
+oh! a hero with his rent mail and the glory of triumph in his eyes. He was very
+handsome, too, in his way. But what nonsense I am talking.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Yes, great nonsense. Still, I wish we were sure how it ended. It is a
+pity that you forget, for I am crazed with curiosity. I suppose there is no
+more <i>Taduki</i>, is there?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Not a scrap,&rdquo; she answered firmly, &ldquo;and if there were it
+would be fatal to take it twice on the same day. We have learned all there is
+to learn. Perhaps it is as well, though I should like to know what happened
+after our&mdash;our marriage.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;So we <i>were</i> married, were we?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I mean,&rdquo; she went on ignoring my remark, &ldquo;whether you ruled
+long in Egypt. For you, or rather Shabaka, did rule. Also whether the Easterns
+returned and drove us out, or what. You see the Ivory Child went away somehow,
+for we found it again in Kendah Land only a few years ago.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Perhaps we retired to Ethiopia,&rdquo; I suggested, &ldquo;and the
+worship of the Child continued in some part of that country after the Ethiopian
+kingdom passed away.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Perhaps, only I don&rsquo;t think Karema would ever have gone back to
+Ethiopia unless she was obliged. You remember how she hated the place. No, not
+even to see those black children of hers. Well, as we can never tell, it is no
+use speculating.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I thought there <i>was</i> more <i>Taduki</i>,&rdquo; I remarked sadly.
+&ldquo;I am sure I saw some in the coffer.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Not one bit,&rdquo; she answered still more firmly than before, and,
+stretching out her hand, she shut down the lid of the coffer before I could
+look into it. &ldquo;It may be best so, for as it stands the story had a happy
+ending and I don&rsquo;t want to learn, oh! I don&rsquo;t want to learn how the
+curse of Isis fell on you and me.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;So you believe in that?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Yes, I do,&rdquo; she answered with passion, &ldquo;and what is more, I
+believe it is working still, which perhaps is why we have all come down in the
+world, you and I and George and Hans, yes, and even old Harût whom we knew in
+Kendah Land, who, I think, was the holy Tanofir. For as surely as I live I
+<i>know</i> beyond possibility of doubt that whatever we may be called to-day,
+you were the General Shabaka and I was the priestess Amada, Royal Lady of
+Egypt, and between us and about us the curse of Isis wavers like a sword. That
+is why George was killed and that is why&mdash;but I feel very tired, I think I
+had better go to bed.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p class="p2">
+As I recall that I have explained, I was obliged to leave Ragnall Castle early
+the next morning to keep a shooting engagement. O heavens! to keep a shooting
+engagement!
+</p>
+
+<p class="p2">
+But whatever Amada, I mean Lady Ragnall, said, there <i>was</i> plenty more
+<i>Taduki</i>, as I have good reason to know.
+</p>
+
+<p class="right">
+A<small>LLAN</small> Q<small>UATERMAIN</small>.
+</p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Ancient Allan, by H. Rider Haggard
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Ancient Allan
+
+Author: H. Rider Haggard
+
+Posting Date: March 20, 2009
+Release Date: May, 2004 [EBook #5746]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ANCIENT ALLAN ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by John Bickers and Dagny
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+THE ANCIENT ALLAN
+
+By H. Rider Haggard
+
+First Published 1920.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I. AN OLD FRIEND
+
+Now I, Allan Quatermain, come to the weirdest (with one or two
+exceptions perhaps) of all the experiences which it has amused me to
+employ my idle hours in recording here in a strange land, for after all
+England is strange to me. I grow elderly. I have, as I suppose, passed
+the period of enterprise and adventure and I should be well satisfied
+with the lot that Fate has given to my unworthy self.
+
+To begin with, I am still alive and in health when by all the rules I
+should have been dead many times over. I suppose I ought to be thankful
+for that but, before expressing an opinion on the point, I should have
+to be quite sure whether it is better to be alive or dead. The religious
+plump for the latter, though I have never observed that the religious
+are more eager to die than the rest of us poor mortals.
+
+For instance, if they are told that their holy hearts are wrong, they
+spend time and much money in rushing to a place called Nauheim
+in Germany, to put them right by means of water-drinking, thereby
+shortening their hours of heavenly bliss and depriving their heirs of
+a certain amount of cash. The same thing applies to Buxton in my own
+neighbourhood and gout, especially when it threatens the stomach or the
+throat. Even archbishops will do these things, to say nothing of such
+small fry as deans, or stout and prominent lay figures of the Church.
+
+From common sinners like myself such conduct might be expected, but in
+the case of those who are obviously poised on the topmost rungs of the
+Jacobean--I mean, the heavenly--ladder, it is legitimate to inquire why
+they show such reluctance in jumping off. As a matter of fact the only
+persons that, individually, I have seen quite willing to die, except now
+and again to save somebody else whom they were so foolish as to care for
+more than they did for themselves, have been not those "upon whom the
+light has shined" to quote an earnest paper I chanced to read this
+morning, but, to quote again, "the sinful heathen wandering in their
+native blackness," by which I understand the writer to refer to their
+moral state and not to their sable skins wherein for the most part they
+are also condemned to wander, that is if they happen to have been born
+south of a certain degree of latitude.
+
+To come to facts, the staff of Faith which each must shape for himself,
+is often hewn from unsuitable kinds of wood, yes, even by the very best
+among us. Willow, for instance, is pretty and easy to cut, but try to
+support yourself with it on the edge of a precipice and see where you
+are. Then of a truth you will long for ironbark, or even homely oak. I
+might carry my parable further, some allusions to the proper material
+of which to fashion the helmet of Salvation suggest themselves to me for
+example, but I won't.
+
+The truth is that we fear to die because all the religions are full of
+uncomfortable hints as to what may happen to us afterwards as a reward
+for our deviations from their laws and we half believe in something,
+whereas often the savage, not being troubled with religion, fears less,
+because he half believes in nothing. For very few inhabitants of this
+earth can attain either to complete belief or to its absolute opposite.
+They can seldom lay their hands upon their hearts, and say they _know_
+that they will live for ever, or sleep for ever; there remains in the
+case of most honest men an element of doubt in either hypothesis.
+
+That is what makes this story of mine so interesting, at any rate to
+me, since it does seem to suggest that whether or no I have a future,
+as personally I hold to be the case and not altogether without evidence,
+certainly I have had a past, though, so far as I know, in this world
+only; a fact, if it be a fact, from which can be deduced all kinds of
+arguments according to the taste of the reasoner.
+
+And now for my experience, which it is only fair to add, may after all
+have been no more than a long and connected dream. Yet how was I to
+dream of lands, events and people where of I have only the vaguest
+knowledge, or none at all, unless indeed, as some say, being a part of
+this world, we have hidden away somewhere in ourselves an acquaintance
+with everything that has ever happened in the world. However, it does
+not much matter and it is useless to discuss that which we cannot prove.
+
+Here at any rate is the story.
+
+
+In a book or a record which I have written down and put away with others
+under the title of "The Ivory Child," I have told the tale of a certain
+expedition I made in company with Lord Ragnall. Its object was to search
+for his wife who was stolen away while travelling in Egypt in a state of
+mental incapacity resulting from shock caused by the loss of her child
+under tragic and terrible circumstances. The thieves were the priests of
+a certain bastard Arab tribe who, on account of a birthmark shaped like
+the young moon which was visible above her breast, believed her to be
+the priestess or oracle of their worship. This worship evidently had its
+origin in Ancient Egypt since, although they did not seem to know it,
+the priestess was nothing less than a personification of the great
+goddess Isis, and the Ivory Child, their fetish, was a statue of the
+infant Horus, the fabled son of Isis and Osiris whom the Egyptians
+looked upon as the overcomer of Set or the Devil, the murderer of Osiris
+before his resurrection and ascent to Heaven to be the god of the dead.
+
+I need not set down afresh all that happened to us on this remarkable
+adventure. Suffice it to say that in the end we recovered the lady and
+that her mind was restored to her. Before she left the Kendah country,
+however, the priesthood presented her with two ancient rolls of
+papyrus, also with a quantity of a certain herb, not unlike tobacco in
+appearance, which by the Kendah was called _Taduki_. Once, before we
+took our great homeward journey across the desert, Lady Ragnall and I
+had a curious conversation about this herb whereof the property is to
+cause the person who inhales its fumes to become clairvoyant, or to
+dream dreams, whichever the truth may be. It was used for this purpose
+in the mystical ceremonies of the Kendah religion when under its
+influence the priestess or oracle of the Ivory Child was wont to
+announce divine revelations. During her tenure of this office Lady
+Ragnall was frequently subjected to the spell of the _Taduki_ vapour,
+and said strange things, some of which I heard with my own ears. Also
+myself once I experienced its effects and saw a curious vision, whereof
+many of the particulars were afterwards translated into facts.
+
+Now the conversation which I have mentioned was shortly to the effect,
+that she, Lady Ragnall, believed a time would come when she or I or both
+of us, were destined to imbibe these _Taduki_ fumes and see wonderful
+pictures of some past or future existence in which we were both
+concerned. This knowledge, she declared, had come to her while she was
+officiating in an apparently mindless condition as the priestess of the
+Kendah god called the Ivory Child.
+
+At the time I did not think it wise to pursue so exciting a subject with
+a woman whose mind had been recently unbalanced, and afterwards in the
+stress of new experiences, I forgot all about the matter, or at any rate
+only thought of it very rarely.
+
+Once, however, it did recur to me with some force. Shortly after I
+came to England to spend my remaining days far from the temptations of
+adventure, I was beguiled into becoming a steward of a Charity dinner
+and, what was worse, into attending the said dinner. Although its
+objects were admirable, it proved one of the most dreadful functions
+in which I was ever called upon to share. There was a vast number of
+people, some of them highly distinguished, who had come to support the
+Charity or to show off their Orders, I don't know which, and others like
+myself, not at all distinguished, just common subscribers, who had no
+Orders and stood about the crowded room like waiters looking for a job.
+
+At the dinner, which was very bad, I sat at a table so remote that I
+could hear but little of the interminable speeches, which was perhaps
+fortunate for me. In these circumstances I drifted into conversation
+with my neighbour, a queer, wizened, black-bearded man who somehow
+or other had found out that I was acquainted with the wilder parts of
+Africa. He proved to be a wealthy scientist whose passion it was
+to study the properties of herbs, especially of such as grow in the
+interior of South America where he had been travelling for some years.
+
+Presently he mentioned a root named Yag�, known to the Indians which,
+when pounded up into a paste and taken in the form of pills, had the
+effect of enabling the patient to see events that were passing at a
+distance. Indeed he alleged that a vision thus produced had caused him
+to return home, since in it he saw that some relative of his, I think
+a twin-sister, was dangerously ill. In fact, however, he might as well
+have stayed away, as he only arrived in London on the day after her
+funeral.
+
+As I saw that he was really interested in the subject and observed that
+he was a very temperate man who did not seem to be romancing, I told him
+something of my experiences with _Taduki_, to which he listened with a
+kind of rapt but suppressed excitement. When I affected disbelief in the
+whole business, he differed from me almost rudely, asking why I rejected
+phenomena simply because I was too dense to understand them. I answered
+perhaps because such phenomena were inconvenient and upset one's ideas.
+To this he replied that all progress involved the upsetting of existent
+ideas. Moreover he implored me, if the chance should ever come my way,
+to pursue experiments with _Taduki_ fumes and let him know the results.
+
+Here our conversation came to an end for suddenly a band that was
+braying near by, struck up "God save the Queen," and we hastily
+exchanged cards and parted. I only mention it because, had it not
+occurred, I think it probable that I should never have been in a
+position to write this history.
+
+The remarks of my acquaintance remained in my mind and influenced it so
+much that when the occasion came, I did as a kind of duty what, however
+much I was pressed, I am almost sure I should never have done for any
+other reason, just because I thought that I ought to take an opportunity
+of trying to discover what was the truth of the matter. As it chanced it
+was quick in coming.
+
+Here I should explain that I attended the dinner of which I have spoken
+not very long after a very lengthy absence from England, whither I had
+come to live when King Solomon's Mines had made me rich. Therefore it
+happened that between the conclusion of my Kendah adventure some years
+before and this time I saw nothing and heard little of Lord and Lady
+Ragnall. Once a rumour did reach me, however, I think through Sir Henry
+Curtis or Captain Good, that the former had died as a result of an
+accident. What the accident was my informant did not know and as I was
+just starting on a far journey at the time, I had no opportunity of
+making inquiries. My talk with the botanical scientist determined me
+to do so; indeed a few days later I discovered from a book of reference
+that Lord Ragnall was dead, leaving no heir; also that his wife survived
+him.
+
+I was working myself up to write to her when one morning the postman
+brought me here at the Grange a letter which had "Ragnall Castle"
+printed on the flap of the envelope. I did not know the writing
+which was very clear and firm, for as it chanced, to the best of my
+recollection, I had never seen that of Lady Ragnall. Here is a copy of
+the letter it contained:
+
+
+ "My dear Mr. Quatermain,--Very strangely I have just seen at a
+  meeting of the Horticultural Society, a gentleman who declares
+  that a few days ago he sat next to you at some public dinner.
+  Indeed I do not think there can be any doubt for he showed me your
+  card which he had in his purse with a Yorkshire address upon it.
+
+ "A dispute had arisen as to whether a certain variety of Crinum
+  lily was first found in Africa, or Southern America. This
+  gentleman, an authority upon South American flora, made a speech
+  saying that he had never met with it there, but that an
+  acquaintance of his, Mr. Quatermain, to whom he had spoken on the
+  subject, said that he had seen something of the sort in the
+  interior of Africa." (This was quite true for I remembered the
+  incident.) "At the tea which followed the meeting I spoke to this
+  gentleman whose name I never caught, and to my astonishment learnt
+  that he must have been referring to you whom I believed to be
+  dead, for so we were told a long time ago. This seemed certain,
+  for in addition to the evidence of the name, he described your
+  personal appearance and told me that you had come to live in
+  England.
+
+ "My dear friend, I can assure you it is long since I heard anything
+  which rejoiced me so much. Oh! as I write all the past comes back,
+  flowing in upon me like a pent-up flood of water, but I trust that
+  of this I shall soon have an opportunity of talking to you. So let
+  it be for a while.
+
+ "Alas! my friend, since we parted on the shores of the Red Sea,
+  tragedy has pursued me. As you will know, for both my husband and
+  I wrote to you, although you did not answer the letters" (I never
+  received them), "we reached England safely and took up our old
+  life again, though to tell you the truth, after my African
+  experiences things could never be quite the same to me, or for the
+  matter of that to George either. To a great extent he changed his
+  pursuits and certain political ambitions which he once cherished,
+  seemed no longer to appeal to him. He became a student of past
+  history and especially of Egyptology, which under all the
+  circumstances you may think strange, as I did. However it suited
+  me well enough, since I also have tastes that way. So we worked
+  together and I can now read hieroglyphics as well as most people.
+  One year he said that he would like to go to Egypt again, if I
+  were not afraid. I answered that it had not been a very lucky
+  place for us, but that personally I was not in the least afraid
+  and longed to return there. For as you know, I have, or think I
+  have, ties with Egypt and indeed with all Africa. Well, we went
+  and had a very happy time, although I was always expecting to see
+  old Har�t come round the corner.
+
+ "After this it became a custom with us who, since George
+  practically gave up shooting and attending the House of Lords, had
+  nothing to keep us in England, to winter in Egypt. We did this for
+  five years in succession, living in a bungalow which we built at a
+  place in the desert, not far from the banks of the Nile, about
+  half way between Luxor which was the ancient Thebes, and Assouan.
+  George took a great fancy to this spot when first he saw it, and
+  so in truth did I, for, like Memphis, it attracted me so much that
+  I used to laugh and say I believed that once I had something to do
+  with it.
+
+ "Now near to our villa that we called 'Ragnall' after this house,
+  are the remains of a temple which were almost buried in the sand.
+  This temple George obtained permission to excavate. It proved to
+  be a long and costly business, but as he did not mind spending the
+  money, that was no obstacle. For four winters we worked at it,
+  employing several hundred men. As we went on we discovered that
+  although not one of the largest, the temple, owing to its having
+  been buried by the sand during, or shortly after the Roman epoch,
+  remained much more perfect than we had expected, because the early
+  Christians had never got at it with their chisels and hammers.
+  Before long I hope to show you pictures and photographs of the
+  various courts, etc., so I will not attempt to describe them now.
+
+ "It is a temple to Isis--built, or rather rebuilt over the remains
+  of an older temple on a site that seems to have been called Amada,
+  at any rate in the later days, and so named after a city in Nubia,
+  apparently by one of the Amen-hetep Pharaohs who had conquered it.
+  Its style is beautiful, being of the best period of the Egyptian
+  Renaissance under the last native dynasties.
+
+ "At the beginning of the fifth winter, at length we approached the
+  sanctuary, a difficult business because of the retaining walls
+  that had to be built to keep the sand from flowing down as fast as
+  it was removed, and the great quantities of stuff that must be
+  carried off by the tramway. In so doing we came upon a shallow
+  grave which appeared to have been hastily filled in and roughly
+  covered over with paving stones like the rest of the court, as
+  though to conceal its existence. In this grave lay the skeleton of
+  a large man, together with the rusted blade of an iron sword and
+  some fragments of armour. Evidently he had never been mummified,
+  for there were no wrappings, canopic jars, _ushapti_ figures or
+  funeral offerings. The state of the bones showed us why, for the
+  right forearm was cut through and the skull smashed in; also an
+  iron arrow-head lay among the ribs. The man had been buried
+  hurriedly after a battle in which he had met his death. Searching
+  in the dust beneath the bones we found a gold ring still on one of
+  the fingers. On its bezel was engraved the cartouche of 'Peroa,
+  beloved of Ra.' Now Peroa probably means Pharaoh and perhaps he
+  was Khabasha who revolted against the Persians and ruled for a
+  year or two, after which he is supposed to have been defeated and
+  killed, though of his end and place of burial there is no record.
+  Whether these were the remnants of Khabasha himself, or of one of
+  his high ministers or generals who wore the King's cartouche upon
+  his ring in token of his office, of course I cannot say.
+
+ "When George had read the cartouche he handed me the ring which I
+  slipped upon the first finger of my left hand, where I still wear
+  it. Then leaving the grave open for further examination, we went
+  on with the work, for we were greatly excited. At length, this was
+  towards evening, we had cleared enough of the sanctuary, which was
+  small, to uncover the shrine that, if not a monolith, was made of
+  four pieces of granite so wonderfully put together that one could
+  not see the joints. On the curved architrave as I think it is
+  called, was carved the symbol of a winged disc, and beneath in
+  hieroglyphics as fresh as though they had only been cut yesterday,
+  an inscription to the effect that Peroa, Royal Son of the Sun,
+  gave this shrine as an 'excellent eternal work,' together with the
+  statues of the Holy Mother and the Holy Child to the 'emanations
+  of the great Goddess Isis and the god Horus,' Amada, Royal Lady,
+  being votaress or high-priestess.
+
+ "We only read the hieroglyphics very hurriedly, being anxious to
+  see what was within the shrine that, the cedar door having rotted
+  away, was filled with fine, drifted sand. Basketful by basketful
+  we got it out and then, my friend, there appeared the most
+  beautiful life-sized statue of Isis carved in alabaster that ever
+  I have seen. She was seated on a throne-like chair and wore the
+  vulture cap on which traces of colour remained. Her arms were held
+  forward as though to support a child, which perhaps she was
+  suckling as one of the breasts was bare. But if so, the child had
+  gone. The execution of the statue was exquisite and its tender and
+  mystic face extraordinarily beautiful, so life-like also that I
+  think it must have been copied from a living model. Oh! my friend,
+  when I looked upon it, which we did by the light of the candles,
+  for the sun was sinking and shadows gathered in that excavated
+  hole, I felt--never mind what I felt--perhaps _you_ can guess who
+  know my history.
+
+ "While we stared and stared, I longing to go upon my knees, I knew
+  not why, suddenly I felt a faint trembling of the ground. At the
+  same moment, the head overseer of the works, a man called Achmet,
+  rushed up to us, shouting out--'Back! Back! The wall has burst.
+  The sand runs!'
+
+ "He seized me by the arm and dragged me away beside of and behind
+  the grave, George turning to follow. Next instant I saw a kind of
+  wave of sand, on the crest of which appeared the stones of the
+  wall, curl over and break. It struck the shrine, overturned and
+  shattered it, which makes me think it was made of four pieces, and
+  shattered also the alabaster statue within, for I saw its head
+  strike George upon the back and throw him forward. He reeled and
+  fell into the open grave which in another moment was filled and
+  covered with the d�bris that seemed to grip me to my middle in its
+  flow. After this I remembered nothing more until hours later I
+  found myself lying in our house.
+
+ "Achmet and his Egyptians had done nothing; indeed none of them
+  could be persuaded to approach the place till the sun rose
+  because, as they said, the old gods of the land whom they looked
+  upon as devils, were angry at being disturbed and would kill them
+  as they had killed the Bey, meaning George. Then, distracted as I
+  was, I went myself for there was no other European there, to find
+  that the whole site of the sanctuary was buried beneath hundreds
+  of tons of sand, that, beginning at the gap in the broken wall,
+  had flowed from every side. Indeed it would have taken weeks to
+  dig it out, since to sink a shaft was impracticable and so
+  dangerous that the local officials refused to allow it to be
+  attempted. The end of it was that an English bishop came up from
+  Cairo and consecrated the ground by special arrangement with the
+  Government, which of course makes it impossible that this part of
+  the temple should be further disturbed. After this he read the
+  Burial Service over my dear husband.
+
+ "So there is the end of a very terrible story which I have written
+  down because I do not wish to have to talk about it more than is
+  necessary when we meet. For, dear Mr. Quatermain, we shall meet,
+  as I always knew that we should--yes, even after I heard that you
+  were dead. You will remember that I told you so years ago in
+  Kendah Land and that it would happen after a great change in my
+  life, though what that change might be I could not say...."
+
+
+This is the end of the letter except for certain suggested dates for the
+visit which she took for granted I should make to Ragnall.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II. RAGNALL CASTLE
+
+When I had finished reading this amazing document I lit my pipe and
+set to work to think it over. The hypothetical inquirer might ask why I
+thought it amazing. There was nothing odd in a dilettante Englishman of
+highly cultivated mind taking to Egyptology and, being, as it chanced,
+one of the richest men in the kingdom, spending a fraction of his wealth
+in excavating temples. Nor was it strange that he should have happened
+to die by accident when engaged in that pursuit, which I can imagine to
+be very fascinating in the delightful winter climate of Egypt. He was
+not the first person to be buried by a fall of sand. Why, only a little
+while ago the same fate overtook a nursery-governess and the child in
+her charge who were trying to dig out a martin's nest in a pit in
+this very parish. Their operations brought down a huge mass of the
+overhanging bank beneath which the sand-vein had been hollowed by
+workmen who deserted the pit when they saw that it had become unsafe.
+Next day I and my gardeners helped to recover their bodies, for their
+whereabouts was not discovered until the following morning, and a sad
+business it was.
+
+Yet, taken in conjunction with the history of this couple, the whole
+Ragnall affair was very strange. When but a child Lady Ragnall, then the
+Hon. Miss Holmes, had been identified by the priests of a remote African
+tribe as the oracle of their peculiar faith, which we afterwards proved
+to be derived from old Egypt, in short the worship of Isis and Horus.
+Subsequently they tried to steal her away and through the accident of
+my intervention, failed. Later on, after her marriage when shock had
+deprived her of her mind, these priests renewed the attempt, this time
+in Egypt, and succeeded. In the end we rescued her in Central Africa,
+where she was playing the part of the Mother-goddess Isis and even
+wearing her ancient robes. Next she and her husband came home with their
+minds turned towards a branch of study that took them back to Egypt.
+Here they devote themselves to unearthing a temple and find out that
+among all the gods of Egypt, who seem to have been extremely numerous,
+it was dedicated to Isis and Horus, the very divinities with whom they
+recently they had been so intimately concerned if in traditional and
+degenerate forms.
+
+Moreover that was not the finish of it. They come to the sanctuary. They
+discover the statue of the goddess with the child gone, as their child
+was gone. A disaster occurs and both destroys and buries Ragnall so
+effectually that nothing of him is ever seen again: he just vanishes
+into another man's grave and remains there.
+
+A common sort of catastrophe enough, it is true, though people of
+superstitious mind might have thought that it looked as though the
+goddess, or whatever force was behind the goddess, was working vengeance
+on the man who desecrated her ancient shrine. And, by the way, though
+I cannot remember whether or no I mentioned it in "The Ivory Child,"
+I recall that the old priest of the Kendah, Har�t, once told me he was
+sure Ragnall would meet with a violent death. This seemed likely enough
+in that country under our circumstances there, still I asked him why. He
+answered,
+
+"Because he has laid hands on that which is holy and not meant for man,"
+and he looked at Lady Ragnall.
+
+I remarked that all women were holy, whereon he replied that he did not
+think so and changed the subject.
+
+Well, Ragnall, who had married the lady who once served as the last
+priestess of Isis upon earth, was killed, whereas she, the priestess,
+was almost miraculously preserved from harm. And--oh! the whole story
+was deuced odd and that is all. Poor Ragnall! He was a great English
+gentleman and one whom when first I knew him, I held to be the most
+fortunate person I ever met, endowed as he was with every advantage of
+mind, body and estate. Yet in the end this did not prove to be the case.
+Well, while he lived he was a good friend and a good fellow and none
+can hope for a better epitaph in a world where all things are soon
+forgotten.
+
+And now, what was I to do? To tell the truth I did not altogether desire
+to reopen this chapter in past history, or to have to listen to painful
+reminiscences from the lips of a bereaved woman. Moreover, beautiful
+as she had been, for doubtless she was _pass�e_ now, and charming as of
+course she remained--I do not think I ever knew anyone who was quite so
+charming--there was something about Lady Ragnall which alarmed me. She
+did not resemble any other woman. Of course no woman is ever quite like
+another, but in her case the separateness, if I may so call it, was very
+marked. It was as though she had walked out of a different age, or even
+world, and been but superficially clothed with the attributes of our
+own. I felt that from the first moment I set eyes upon her and while
+reading her letter the sensation returned with added force.
+
+Also for me she had a peculiar attraction and not one of the ordinary
+kind. It is curious to find oneself strangely intimate with a person
+of whom after all one does not know much, just as if one really knew a
+great deal that was shut off by a thin but quite impassable door. If so,
+I did not want to open that door for who could tell what might be on
+the other side of it? And intimate conversations with a lady in whose
+company one has shared very strange experiences, not infrequently lead
+to the opening of every kind of door.
+
+Further I had made up my mind some time ago to have no more friendships
+with women who are so full of surprises, but to live out the rest of
+my life in a kind of monastery of men who have few surprises, being
+creatures whose thoughts are nearly always open and whose actions can
+always be foretold.
+
+Lastly there was that _Taduki_ business. Well, there at any rate I was
+clear and decided. No earthly power would induce me to have anything
+more to do with _Taduki_ smoke. Of course I remembered that Lady Ragnall
+once told me kindly but firmly that I would if she wished. But that was
+just where she made a mistake. For the rest it seemed unkind to refuse
+her invitation now when she was in trouble, especially as I had once
+promised that if ever I could be of help, she had only to command me.
+No, I must go. But if that word--_Taduki_--were so much as mentioned I
+would leave again in a hurry. Moreover it would not be, for doubtless
+she had forgotten all about the stuff by now, even if it were not lost.
+
+The end of it was that as I did not wish to write a long letter entering
+into all that Lady Ragnall had told me, I sent her a telegram, saying
+that if convenient to her, I would arrive at the Castle on the following
+Saturday evening and adding that I must be back here on the Tuesday
+afternoon, as I had guests coming to stay with me on that day. This
+was perfectly true as the season was mid-November and I was to begin
+shooting my coverts on the Wednesday morning, a function that once
+fixed, cannot be postponed.
+
+In due course an answer arrived--"Delighted, but hoped that you would
+have been able to stay longer."
+
+
+
+Behold me then about six o'clock on the said Saturday evening being once
+more whirled by a splendid pair of horses through the gateway arch of
+Ragnall Castle. The carriage stopped beneath the portico, the great
+doors flew open revealing the glow of the hall fire and lights within,
+the footman sprang down from the box and two other footmen descended
+the steps to assist me and my belongings out of the carriage. These,
+I remember, consisted of a handbag with my dress clothes and a
+yellow-backed novel.
+
+So one of them took the handbag and the other had to content himself
+with the novel, which made me wish I had brought a portmanteau as well,
+if only for the look of the thing. The pair thus burdened, escorted me
+up the steps and delivered me over to the butler who scanned me with a
+critical eye. I scanned him also and perceived that he was a very fine
+specimen of his class. Indeed his stately presence so overcame me that
+I remarked nervously, as he helped me off with my coat, that when last I
+was here another had filled his office.
+
+"Indeed, Sir," he said, "and what was his name, Sir?"
+
+"Savage," I replied.
+
+"And where might he be now, Sir?"
+
+"Inside a snake!" I answered. "At least he was inside a snake but now I
+hope he is waiting upon his master in Heaven."
+
+The man recoiled a little, pulling off my coat with a jerk. Then he
+coughed, rubbed his bald head, stared and recovering himself with an
+effort, said,
+
+"Indeed, Sir! I only came to this place after the death of his late
+lordship, when her ladyship changed all the household. Alfred, show
+this gentleman up to her ladyship's boudoir, and William, take
+his--baggage--to the blue room. Her ladyship wishes to see you at once,
+Sir, before the others come."
+
+So I went up the big staircase to a part of the Castle that I did not
+remember, wondering who "the others" might be. Almost could I have sworn
+that the shade of Savage accompanied me up those stairs; I could feel
+him at my side.
+
+Presently a door was thrown open and I was ushered into a room
+somewhat dimly lit and full of the scent of flowers. By the fire near a
+tea-table, stood a lady clad in some dark dress with the light glinting
+on her rich-hued hair. She turned and I saw that she still wore the
+necklace of red stones, and beneath it on her breast a single red
+flower. For this was Lady Ragnall; about that there was no doubt at all,
+so little doubt indeed that I was amazed. I had expected to see a stout,
+elderly woman whom I should only know by the colour of her eyes and her
+voice, and perhaps certain tricks of manner. But, this was the mischief
+of it, I could not perceive any change, at any rate in that light.
+She was just the same! Perhaps a little fuller in figure, which was an
+advantage; perhaps a little more considered in her movements, perhaps a
+little taller or at any rate more stately, and that was all.
+
+These things I learned in a flash. Then with a murmured "Mr. Quatermain,
+my Lady," the footman closed the door and she saw me.
+
+Moving quickly towards me with both her hands outstretched, she
+exclaimed in that honey-soft voice of hers,
+
+"Oh! my dear friend----" stopped and added, "Why, you haven't changed a
+bit."
+
+"Fossils wear well," I replied, "but that is just what I was thinking of
+you."
+
+"Then it is very rude of you to call me a fossil when I am only
+approaching that stage. Oh! I am glad to see you. I _am_ glad!" and she
+gave me both the outstretched hands.
+
+Upon my word I felt inclined to kiss her and have wondered ever since if
+she would have been very angry. I am not certain that she did not divine
+the inclination. At any rate after a little pause she dropped my hands
+and laughed. Then she said,
+
+"I must tell you at once. A most terrible catastrophe has happened----"
+
+Instantly it occurred to me that she had forgotten having informed me by
+letter of all the details of her husband's death. Such things chance
+to people who have once lost their memory. So I tried to look as
+sympathetic as I felt, sighed and waited.
+
+"It's not so bad as all that," she said with a little shake of her head,
+reading my thought as she always had the power to do from the first
+moment we met. "We can talk about _that_ afterwards. It's only that I
+hoped we were going to have a quiet two days, and now the Atterby-Smiths
+are coming, yes, in half an hour. Five of them!"
+
+"The Atterby-Smiths!" I exclaimed, for somehow I too felt disappointed.
+"Who are the Atterby-Smiths?"
+
+"Cousins of George's, his nearest relatives. They think he ought to have
+left them everything. But he didn't, because he could never bear the
+sight of them. You see his property was unentailed and he left it all to
+me. Now the entire family is advancing to suggest that I should leave
+it to them, as perhaps I might have done if they had not chosen to come
+just now."
+
+"Why didn't you put them off?" I asked.
+
+"Because I couldn't," she answered with a little stamp of her foot,
+"otherwise do you suppose they would have been here? They were far too
+clever. They telegraphed after lunch giving the train by which they were
+to arrive, but no address save Charing Cross. I thought of moving up
+to the Berkeley Square house, but it was impossible in the time, also I
+didn't know how to catch you. Oh! it's _most_ vexatious."
+
+"Perhaps they are very nice," I suggested feebly.
+
+"Nice! Wait till you have seen them. Besides if they had been angels
+I did not want them just now. But how selfish I am! Come and have
+some tea. And you can stop longer, that is if you live through the
+Atterby-Smiths who are worse than both the Kendah tribes put together.
+Indeed I wish old Har�t were coming instead. I should like to see Har�t
+again, wouldn't you?" and suddenly the mystical look I knew so well,
+gathered on her face.
+
+"Yes, perhaps I should," I replied doubtfully. "But I must leave by the
+first train on Tuesday morning; it goes at eight o'clock. I looked it
+up."
+
+"Then the Atterby-Smiths leave on Monday if I have to turn them out
+of the house. So we shall get one evening clear at any rate. Stop a
+minute," and she rang the bell.
+
+The footman appeared as suddenly as though he had been listening at the
+door.
+
+"Alfred," she said, "tell Moxley" (he, I discovered, was the butler)
+"that when Mr. and Mrs. Atterby-Smith, the two Misses Atterby-Smith and
+the young Mr. Atterby-Smith arrive, they are to be shown to their rooms.
+Tell the cook also to put off dinner till half-past eight, and if Mr.
+and Mrs. Scroope arrive earlier, tell Moxley to tell them that I
+am sorry to be a little late, but that I was delayed by some parish
+business. Now do you understand?"
+
+"Yes, my Lady," said Alfred and vanished.
+
+"He doesn't understand in the least," remarked Lady Ragnall, "but so
+long as he doesn't show the Atterby-Smiths up here, in which case he can
+go away with them on Monday, I don't care. It will all work out somehow.
+Now sit down by the fire and let's talk. We've got nearly an hour and
+twenty minutes and you can smoke if you like. I learnt to in Egypt," and
+she took a cigarette from the mantelpiece and lit it.
+
+That hour and twenty minutes went like a flash, for we had so much to
+say to each other that we never even got to the things we wanted to say.
+For instance, I began to tell her about King Solomon's Mines, which was
+a long story; and she to tell me what happened after we parted on the
+shores of the Red Sea. At least the first hour and a quarter went,
+when suddenly the door opened and Alfred in a somewhat frightened voice
+announced--"Mr. and Mrs. Atterby-Smith, the Misses Atterby-Smith and Mr.
+Atterby-Smith junior."
+
+Then he caught sight of his mistress's eye and fled.
+
+I looked and felt inclined to do likewise if only there had been another
+door. But there wasn't and that which existed was quite full. In the
+forefront came A.-S. senior, like a bull leading the herd. Indeed his
+appearance was bull-like as my eye, travelling from the expanse of white
+shirt-front (they were all dressed for dinner) to his red and massive
+countenance surmounted by two horn-like tufts of carroty hair, informed
+me at a glance. Followed Mrs. A.-S., the British matron incarnate.
+Literally there seemed to be acres of her; black silk below and white
+skin above on which set in filigree floated big green stones, like
+islands in an ocean. Her countenance too, though stupid was very stern
+and frightened me. Followed the progeny of this formidable pair. They
+were tall and thin, also red haired. The girls, whose age I could not
+guess in the least, were exactly like each other, which was not strange
+as afterwards I discovered that they were twins. They had pale blue eyes
+and somehow reminded me of fish. Both of them were dressed in green and
+wore topaz necklaces. The young man who seemed to be about one or
+two and twenty, had also pale blue eyes, in one of which he wore an
+eye-glass, but his hair was sandy as though it had been bleached, parted
+in the middle and oiled down flat.
+
+For a moment there was a silence which I felt to be dreadful. Then in a
+big, pompous voice A.-S. _p�re_ said,
+
+"How do you do, my dear Luna? As I ascertained from the footman that
+you had not yet gone to dress, I insisted upon his leading us here for a
+little private conversation after we have been parted for so many years.
+We wished to offer you our condolences in person on your and our still
+recent loss."
+
+"Thank you," said Lady Ragnall, "but I think we have corresponded on the
+subject which is painful to me."
+
+"I fear that we are interrupting a smoking party, Thomas," said Mrs.
+A.-S. in a cold voice, sniffing at the air for all the world like a
+suspicious animal, whereon the five of them stared at Lady Ragnall's
+cigarette which she held between her fingers.
+
+"Yes," said Lady Ragnall. "Won't you have one? Mr. Quatermain, hand Mrs.
+Smith the box, please."
+
+I obeyed automatically, proffering it to the lady who nearly withered me
+with a glance, and then to each to each in turn. To my relief the young
+man took one.
+
+"Archibald," said his mother, "you are surely not going to make your
+sisters' dresses smell of tobacco just before dinner."
+
+Archibald sniggered and replied,
+
+"A little more smoke will not make any difference in this room, Ma."
+
+"That is true, darling," said Mrs. A.-S. and was straightway seized with
+a fit of asthma.
+
+After this I am sure I don't know what happened, for muttering something
+about its being time to dress, I rushed from the room and wandered about
+until I could find someone to conduct me to my own where I lingered
+until I heard the dinner-bell ring. But even this retreat was not
+without disaster, for in my hurry I trod upon one of the young lady's
+dresses; I don't know whether it was Dolly's or Polly's (they were named
+Dolly and Polly) and heard a dreadful crack about her middle as though
+she were breaking in two. Thereon Archibald giggled again and Dolly and
+Polly remarked with one voice--they always spoke together,
+
+"Oh! clumsy!"
+
+To complete my misfortunes I missed my way going downstairs and strayed
+to and fro like a lost lamb until I found myself confronted by a green
+baize door which reminded me of something. I stood staring at it till
+suddenly a vision arose before me of myself following a bell wire
+through that very door in the darkness of the night when in search for
+the late Mr. Savage upon a certain urgent occasion. Yes, there could be
+no doubt about it, for look! there was the wire, and strange it seemed
+to me that I should live to behold it again. Curiosity led me to push
+the door open just to ascertain if my memory served me aright about
+the exact locality of the room. Next moment I regretted it for I fell
+straight into the arms of either Polly or Dolly.
+
+"Oh!" said she, "I've just been sewn up."
+
+I reflected that this was my case also in another sense, but asked
+feebly if she knew the way downstairs.
+
+She didn't; neither of us did, till at length we met Mrs. Smith coming
+to look for her.
+
+If I had been a burglar she could not have regarded me with graver
+suspicions. But at any rate _she_ knew the way downstairs. And there to
+my joy I found my old friend Scroope and his wife, both of them grown
+stout and elderly, but as jolly as ever, after which the Smith family
+ceased to trouble me.
+
+Also there was the rector of the parish, Dr. Jeffreys and an absurdly
+young wife whom he had recently married, a fluffy-headed little thing
+with round eyes and a cheerful, perky manner. The two of them together
+looked exactly like a turkey-cock and a chicken. I remembered him well
+enough and to my astonishment he remembered me, perhaps because Lady
+Ragnall, when she had hastily invited him to meet the Smith family,
+mentioned that I was coming. Lastly there was the curate, a dark,
+young man who seemed to be always brooding over the secrets of time and
+eternity, though perhaps he was only thinking about his dinner or the
+next day's services.
+
+Well, there we stood in that well-remembered drawing-room in which first
+I had made the acquaintance of Har�t and Mar�t; also of the beautiful
+Miss Holmes as Lady Ragnall was then called. The Scroopes, the Jeffreys
+and I gathered in one group and the Atterby-Smiths in another like
+a force about to attack, while between the two, brooding and
+indeterminate, stood the curate, a neutral observer.
+
+Presently Lady Ragnall arrived, apologizing for being late. For some
+reason best known to herself she had chosen to dress as though for a
+great party. I believe it was out of mischief and in order to show Mrs.
+Atterby-Smith some of the diamonds she was firmly determined that family
+should never inherit. At any rate there she stood glittering and lovely,
+and smiled upon us.
+
+Then came dinner and once more I marched to the great hall in her
+company; Dr. Jeffreys got Mrs. Smith; Papa Smith got Mrs. Jeffreys who
+looked like a Grecian maiden walking into dinner with the Minotaur;
+Scroope got one of the Miss Smiths, she who wore a pink bow, the gloomy
+curate got the other with a blue bow, and Archibald got Mrs. Scroope who
+departed making faces at us over his shoulder.
+
+"You look very grand and nice," I said to Lady Ragnall as we followed
+the others at a discreet distance.
+
+"I am glad," she answered, "as to the nice, I mean. As for the grand,
+that dreadful woman is always writing to me about the Ragnall diamonds,
+so I thought that she should see some of them for the first and last
+time. Do you know I haven't worn these things since George and I went to
+Court together, and I daresay shall never wear them again, for there is
+only one ornament I care for and I have got _that_ on under my dress."
+
+I stared and her and with a laugh said that she was very mischievous.
+
+"I suppose so," she replied, "but I detest those people who are pompous
+and rude and have spoiled my party. Do you know I had half a mind to
+come down in the dress that I wore as Isis in Kendah Land. I have got it
+upstairs and you shall see me in it before you go, for old time's sake.
+Only it occurred to me that they might think me mad, so I didn't. Dr.
+Jeffreys, will you say grace, please?"
+
+Well, it was a most agreeable dinner so far as I was concerned, for I
+sat between my hostess and Mrs. Scroope and the rest were too far off
+for conversation. Moreover as Archibald developed an unexpected quantity
+of small talk, and Scroope on the other side amused himself by filling
+pink-bow Miss Smith's innocent mind with preposterous stories about
+Africa, as had happened to me once before at this table, Lady Ragnall
+and I were practically left undisturbed.
+
+"Isn't it strange that we should find ourselves sitting here again after
+all these years, except that you are in my poor mother's place? Oh! when
+that scientific gentleman convinced me the other day that you whom I had
+heard were dead, were not only alive and well but actually in England,
+really I could have embraced him."
+
+I thought of an answer but did not make it, though as usual she read my
+mind for I saw her smile.
+
+"The truth is," she went on, "I am an only child and really have no
+friends, though of course being--well, you know," and she glanced at the
+jewels on her breast, "I have plenty of acquaintances."
+
+"And suitors," I suggested.
+
+"Yes," she replied blushing, "as many as Penelope, not one of whom
+cares twopence about me any more than I care for them. The truth is, Mr.
+Quatermain, that nobody and nothing interest me, except a spot in the
+churchyard yonder and another amid ruins in Egypt."
+
+"You have had sad bereavements," I said looking the other way.
+
+"Very sad and they have left life empty. Still I should not complain
+for I have had my share of good. Also it isn't true to say that nothing
+interests me. Egypt interests me, though after what has happened I do
+not feel as though I could return there. All Africa interests me and,"
+she added dropping her voice, "I can say it because I know you will not
+misunderstand, you interest me, as you have always done since the first
+moment I saw you."
+
+"_I!_" I exclaimed, staring at my own reflection in a silver plate which
+made me look--well, more unattractive than usual. "It's very kind of
+you to say so, but I can't understand why I should. You have seen very
+little of me, Lady Ragnall, except in that long journey across the
+desert when we did not talk much, since you were otherwise engaged."
+
+"I know. That's the odd part of it, for I feel as though I had seen you
+for years and years and knew everything about you that one human being
+can know of another. Of course, too, I do know a good lot of your life
+through George and Har�t."
+
+"Har�t was a great liar," I said uneasily.
+
+"Was he? I always thought him painfully truthful, though how he got at
+the truth I do not know. Anyhow," she added with meaning, "don't suppose
+I think the worse of you because others have thought so well. Women who
+seem to be all different, generally, I notice, have this in common. If
+one or two of them like a man, the rest like him also because something
+in him appeals to the universal feminine instinct, and the same applies
+to their dislike. Now men, I think, are different in that respect."
+
+"Perhaps because they are more catholic and charitable," I suggested,
+"or perhaps because they like those who like them."
+
+She laughed in her charming way, and said,
+
+"However these remarks do not apply to you and me, for as I think I told
+you once before in that cedar wood in Kendah Land where you feared lest
+I should catch a chill, or become--odd again, it is another you with
+whom something in me seems to be so intimate."
+
+"That's fortunate for your sake," I muttered, still staring at and
+pointing to the silver plate.
+
+Again she laughed. "Do you remember the _Taduki_ herb?" she asked. "I
+have plenty of it safe upstairs, and not long ago I took a whiff of it,
+only a whiff because you know it had to be saved."
+
+"And what did you see?"
+
+"Never mind. The question is what shall we _both_ see?"
+
+"Nothing," I said firmly. "No earthly power will make me breathe that
+unholy drug again."
+
+"Except me," she murmured with sweet decision. "No, don't think about
+leaving the house. You can't, there are no Sunday trains. Besides you
+won't if I ask you not."
+
+"'In vain is the net spread in the sight of any bird,'" I replied, firm
+as a mountain.
+
+"Is it? Then why are so many caught?"
+
+At that moment the Bull of Bashan--I mean Smith, began to bellow
+something at his hostess from the other end of the table and our
+conversation came to an end.
+
+"I say, old chap," whispered Scroope in my ear when we stood up to see
+the ladies out. "I suppose you are thinking of marrying again. Well, you
+might do worse," and he glanced at the glittering form of Lady Ragnall
+vanishing through the doorway behind her guests.
+
+"Shut up, you idiot!" I replied indignantly.
+
+"Why?" he asked with innocence. "Marriage is an honourable estate,
+especially when there is lots of the latter. I remember saying something
+of the sort to you years ago and at this table, when as it happened you
+also took in her ladyship. Only there was George in the wind then; now
+it has carried him away."
+
+Without deigning any reply I seized my glass and went to sit down
+between the canon and the Bull of Bashan.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III. ALLAN GIVES HIS WORD
+
+Mr. Atterby-Smith proved on acquaintance to be even worse than unfond
+fancy painted him. He was a gentleman in a way and of good family
+whereof the real name was Atterby, the Smith having been added to secure
+a moderate fortune left to him on that condition. His connection with
+Lord Ragnall was not close and through the mother's side. For the
+rest he lived in some south-coast watering-place and fancied himself a
+sportsman because he had on various occasions hired a Scottish moor or
+deer forest. Evidently he had never done anything nor earned a shilling
+during all his life and was bringing his family up to follow in his
+useless footsteps. The chief note of his character was that intolerable
+vanity which so often marks men who have nothing whatsoever about which
+to be vain. Also he had a great idea of his rights and what was due to
+him, which he appeared to consider included, upon what ground I could
+not in the least understand, the reversal of all the Ragnall properties
+and wealth. I do not think I need say any more about him, except that he
+bored me to extinction, especially after his fourth glass of port.
+
+Perhaps, however, the son was worse, for he asked questions without
+number and when at last I was reduced to silence, lectured me about
+shooting. Yes, this callow youth who was at Sandhurst, instructed
+me, Allan Quatermain, how to kill elephants, he who had never seen an
+elephant except when he fed it with buns at the Zoo. At last Mr. Smith,
+who to Scroope's great amusement had taken the end of the table and
+assumed the position of host, gave the signal to move and we adjourned
+to the drawing-room.
+
+I don't know what had happened but there we found the atmosphere
+distinctly stormy. The ample Mrs. Smith sat in a chair fanning herself,
+which caused the barbaric ornaments she wore to clank upon her fat arm.
+Upon either side of her, pale and indeterminate, stood Polly and Dolly
+each pretending to read a book. Somehow the three of them reminded me of
+a coat-of-arms seen in a nightmare, British Matron _sejant_ with Modesty
+and Virtue as supporters. Opposite, on the other side of the fire and
+evidently very angry, stood Lady Ragnall, _regardant_.
+
+"Do I understand you to say, Luna," I heard Mrs. A.-S. ask in resonant
+tones as I entered the room, "that you actually played the part of a
+heathen goddess among these savages, clad in a transparent bed-robe?"
+
+"Yes, Mrs. Atterby-Smith," replied Lady Ragnall, "and a nightcap of
+feathers. I will put it on for you if you won't be shocked. Or perhaps
+one of your daughters----"
+
+"Oh!" said both the young ladies together, "please be quiet. Here come
+the gentlemen."
+
+After this there was a heavy silence broken only by the stifled giggles
+in the background of Mrs. Scroope and the canon's fluffy-headed wife,
+who to do her justice had some fun in her. Thank goodness the evening,
+or rather that part of it did not last long, since presently Mrs.
+Atterby-Smith, after studying me for a long while with a cold eye, rose
+majestically and swept off to bed followed by her offspring.
+
+Afterwards I ascertained from Mrs. Scroope that Lady Ragnall had been
+amusing herself by taking away my character in every possible manner for
+the benefit of her connections, who were left with a general impression
+that I was the chief of a native tribe somewhere in Central Africa where
+I dwelt in light attire surrounded by the usual accessories. No wonder,
+therefore, that Mrs. A.-S. thought it best to remove her "Twin Pets," as
+she called them, out of my ravening reach.
+
+Then the Scroopes went away, having arranged for me to lunch with them
+on the morrow, an invitation that I hastily accepted, though I heard
+Lady Ragnall mutter--"Mean!" beneath her breath. With them departed the
+canon and his wife and the curate, being, as they said, "early birds
+with duties to perform." After this Lady Ragnall paid me out by going to
+bed, having instructed Moxley to show us to the smoking room, "where,"
+she whispered as she said good night, "I hope you will enjoy yourself."
+
+Over the rest of the night I draw a veil. For a solid hour and
+three-quarters did I sit in that room between this dreadful pair, being
+alternately questioned and lectured. At length I could stand it no
+longer and while pretending to help myself to whiskey and soda, slipped
+through the door and fled upstairs.
+
+I arrived late to breakfast purposely and found that I was wise, for
+Lady Ragnall was absent upstairs, recovering from "a headache." Mr.
+A.-Smith was also suffering from a headache downstairs, the result of
+champagne, port and whisky mixed, and all his family seemed to have
+pains in their tempers. Having ascertained that they were going to the
+church in the park, I departed to one two miles away and thence walked
+straight on to the Scroopes' where I had a very pleasant time, remaining
+till five in the afternoon. I returned to tea at the Castle where I
+found Lady Ragnall so cross that I went to church again, to the six
+o'clock service this time, only getting back in time to dress for
+dinner. Here I was paid out for I had to take in Mrs. Atterby-Smith. Oh!
+what a meal was that. We sat for the most part in solemn silence
+broken only by requests to pass the salt. I observed with satisfaction,
+however, that things were growing lively at the other end of the table
+where A.-Smith _p�re_ was drinking a good deal too much wine. At last I
+heard him say,
+
+"We had hoped to spend a few days with you, my dear Luna. But as you
+tell us that your engagements make this impossible"--and he paused to
+drink some port, whereon Lady Ragnall remarked inconsequently,
+
+"I assure you the ten o'clock train is far the best and I have ordered
+the carriage at half-past nine, which is not very early."
+
+"As your engagements make this impossible," he repeated, "we would ask
+for the opportunity of a little family conclave with you to-night."
+
+Here all of them turned and glowered at me.
+
+"Certainly," said Lady Ragnall, "'the sooner 'tis over the sooner to
+sleep.' Mr. Quatermain, I am sure, will excuse us, will you not? I
+have had the museum lit up for you, Mr. Quatermain. You may find some
+Egyptian things there that will interest you."
+
+"Oh, with pleasure!" I murmured, and fled away.
+
+I spent a very instructive two hours in the museum, studying various
+Egyptian antiquities including a couple of mummies which rather
+terrified me. They looked so very corpse-like standing there in
+their wrappings. One was that of a lady who was a "Singer of Amen," I
+remember. I wondered where she was singing now and what song. Presently
+I came to a glass case which riveted my attention, for above it was a
+label bearing the following words: "Two Papyri given to Lady Ragnall
+by the priests of the Kendah Tribe in Africa." Within were the papyri
+unrolled and beneath each of the documents, its translation, so far as
+they could be translated for they were somewhat broken. No. 1, which
+was dated, "In the first year of Peroa," appeared to be the official
+appointment of the Royal Lady Amada, to be the prophetess to the temple
+of Isis and Horus the Child, which was also called Amada, and situated
+on the east bank of the Nile above Thebes. Evidently this was the same
+temple of which Lady Ragnall had written to me in her letter, where her
+husband had met his death by accident, a coincidence which made me start
+when I remembered how and where the document had come into her hands and
+what kind of office she filled at the time.
+
+The second papyrus, or rather its translation, contained a most
+comprehensive curse upon any man who ventured to interfere with the
+personal sanctity of this same Royal Lady of Amada, who, apparently in
+virtue of her office, was doomed to perpetual celibacy like the vestal
+virgins. I do not remember all the terms of the curse, but I know that
+it invoked the vengeance of Isis the Mother, Lady of the Moon, and Horus
+the Child upon anyone who should dare such a desecration, and in so many
+words doomed him to death by violence "far from his own country where
+first he had looked on Ra," (i.e. the sun) and also to certain spiritual
+sufferings afterwards.
+
+The document gave me the idea that it was composed in troubled days to
+protect that particularly sacred person, the Prophetess of Isis whose
+cult, as I have since learned, was rising in Egypt at the time, from
+threatened danger, perhaps at the hands of some foreign man. It occurred
+to me even that this Princess, for evidently she was a descendant of
+kings, had been appointed to a most sacred office for that very purpose.
+Men who shrink from little will often fear to incur the direct curse of
+widely venerated gods in order to obtain their desires, even if they
+be not their own gods. Such were my conclusions about this curious and
+ancient writing which I regret I cannot give in full as I neglected to
+copy it at the time.
+
+I may add that it seemed extremely strange to me that it and the other
+which dealt with a particular temple in Egypt should have passed into
+Lady Ragnall's hands over two thousand years later in a distant part of
+Africa, and that subsequently her husband should have been killed in
+her presence whilst excavating the very temple to which they referred,
+whence too in all probability they were taken. Moreover, oddly enough
+Lady Ragnall had herself for a while filled the r�le of Isis in a shrine
+whereof these two papyri had been part of the sacred appurtenances for
+unknown ages, and one of her official titles there was Prophetess and
+Lady of the Moon, whose symbol she wore upon her breast.
+
+Although I have always recognized that there are a great many more
+things in the world than are dreamt of in our philosophy, I say with
+truth and confidence that I am not a superstitious man. Yet I confess
+that these papers and the circumstances connected with them, made me
+feel afraid.
+
+Also they made me wish that I had not come to Ragnall Castle.
+
+Well, the Atterby-Smiths had so far effectually put a stop to any talk
+of such matters and even if Lady Ragnall should succeed in getting
+rid of them by that morning train, as to which I was doubtful, there
+remained but a single day of my visit during which it ought not to be
+hard to stave off the subject. Thus I reflected, standing face to face
+with those mummies, till presently I observed that the Singer of Amen
+who wore a staring, gold mask, seemed to be watching me with her oblong
+painted eyes. To my fancy a sardonic smile gathered in them and spread
+to the mouth.
+
+"That's what _you_ think," this smile seemed to say, "as once before you
+thought that Fate could be escaped. Wait and see, my friend. Wait and
+see!"
+
+"Not in this room any way," I remarked aloud, and departed in a hurry
+down the passage which led to the main staircase.
+
+Before I reached its end a remarkable sight caused me to halt in the
+shadow. The Atterby-Smith family were going to bed _en bloc_. They
+marched in single file up the great stair, each of them carrying a
+hand candle. Papa led and young Hopeful brought up the rear. Their
+countenances were full of war, even the twins looked like angry lambs,
+but something written on them informed me that they had suffered defeat
+recent and grievous. So they vanished up the stairway and out of my ken
+for ever.
+
+When they had gone I started again and ran straight into Lady Ragnall.
+If her guests had been angry, it was clear that _she_ was furious,
+almost weeping with rage, indeed. Moreover, she turned and rent me.
+
+"You are a wretch," she said, "to run away and leave me all day long
+with those horrible people. Well, they will never come here again, for I
+have told them that if they do the servants have orders to shut the door
+in their faces."
+
+Not knowing what to say I remarked that I had spent a most instructive
+evening in the museum, which seemed to make her angrier than ever. At
+any rate she whisked off without even saying "good night" and left
+me standing there. Afterwards I learned that the A.-S.'s had calmly
+informed Lady Ragnall that she had stolen their property and demanded
+that "as an act of justice" she should make a will leaving everything
+she possessed to them, and meanwhile furnish them with an allowance of
+�4,000 a year. What I did not learn were the exact terms of her answer.
+
+Next morning Alfred, when he called me, brought me a note from his
+mistress which I fully expected would contain a request that I should
+depart by the same train as her other guests. Its real contents,
+however, were very different.
+
+
+ "My dear Friend," it ran, "I am so ashamed of myself and so sorry
+  for my rudeness last night, for which I deeply apologise. If you
+  knew all that I had gone through at the hands of those dreadful
+  mendicants, you would forgive me.--L.R."
+
+ "P.S.--I have ordered breakfast at 10. Don't go down much before,
+  for your own sake."
+
+
+Somewhat relieved in my mind, for I thought she was really angry with
+me, not altogether without cause, I rose, dressed and set to work
+to write some letters. While I was doing so I heard the wheels of a
+carriage beneath and opening my window, saw the Atterby-Smith family in
+the act of departing in the Castle bus. Smith himself seemed to be still
+enraged, but the others looked depressed. Indeed I heard the wife of his
+bosom say to him,
+
+"Calm yourself, my dear. Remember that Providence knows what is best for
+us and that beggars on horseback are always unjust and ungrateful."
+
+To which her spouse replied,
+
+"Hold your infernal tongue, will you," and then began to rate the
+servants about the luggage.
+
+Well, off they went. Glaring through the door of the bus, Mr. Smith
+caught sight of me leaning out of the window, seeing which I waved my
+hand to him in adieu. His only reply to this courtesy was to shake
+his fist, though whether at me or at the Castle and its inhabitants in
+general, I neither know nor care.
+
+When I was quite sure that they had gone and were not coming back again
+to find something they had forgotten, I went downstairs and surprised a
+conclave between the butler, Moxley, and his satellites, reinforced by
+Lady Ragnall's maid and two other female servants.
+
+"Gratuities!" Moxley was exclaiming, which I thought a fine word for
+tips, "not a smell of them! His gratuities were--'Damn your eyes, you
+fat bottle-washer,' being his name for butler. _My_ eyes, mind you, Ann,
+not Alfred's or William's, and that because he had tumbled over his own
+rugs. Gentleman! Why, I name him a hog with his litter."
+
+"Hogs don't have litters, Mr. Moxley," observed Ann smartly.
+
+"Well, young woman, if there weren't no hogs, there'd be no litters,
+so there! However, he won't root about in this castle no more, for
+I happened to catch a word or two of what passed between him and her
+Ladyship last night. He said straight out that she was making love to
+that little Mr. Quatermain who wanted her money, and probably not for
+the first time as they had forgathered in Africa. A gentleman, mind you,
+Ann, who although peculiar, I like, and who, the keeper Charles tells
+me, is the best shot in the whole world."
+
+"And what did she say to that?" asked Ann.
+
+"What did she say? What didn't she say, that's the question. It was just
+as though all the furniture in the room got up and went for them Smiths.
+Well, having heard enough, and more than I wanted, I stepped off
+with the tray and next minute out they all come and grab the bedroom
+candlesticks. That's all and there's her Ladyship's bell. Alfred, don't
+stand gaping there but go and light the hot-plates."
+
+So they melted away and I descended from the landing, indignant but
+laughing. No wonder that Lady Ragnall lost her temper!
+
+Ten minutes later she arrived in the dining-room, waving a lighted
+ribbon that disseminated perfume.
+
+"What on earth are you doing?" I asked.
+
+"Fumigating the house," she said. "It is unnecessary as I don't think
+they were infectious, but the ceremony has a moral significance--like
+incense. Anyway it relieves my feelings."
+
+Then she laughed and threw the remains of the ribbon into the fire,
+adding,
+
+"If you say a word about those people I'll leave the room."
+
+I think we had one of the jolliest breakfasts I ever remember. To begin
+with we were both hungry since our miseries of the night before had
+prevented us from eating any dinner. Indeed she swore that she had
+scarcely tasted food since Saturday. Then we had such a lot to talk
+about. With short intervals we talked all that day, either in the house
+or while walking through the gardens and grounds. Passing through the
+latter I came to the spot on the back drive where once I had saved her
+from being abducted by Har�t and Mar�t, and as I recognized it, uttered
+an exclamation. She asked me why and the end of it was that I told her
+all that story which to this moment she had never heard, for Ragnall had
+thought well to keep it from her.
+
+She listened intently, then said,
+
+"So I owe you more than I knew. Yet, I'm not sure, for you see I was
+abducted after all. Also if I had been taken there, probably George
+would never have married me or seen me again, and that might have been
+better for him."
+
+"Why?" I asked. "You were all the world to him."
+
+"Is any woman ever all the world to a man, Mr. Quatermain?"
+
+I hesitated, expecting some attack.
+
+"Don't answer," she went on, "it would be too long and you wouldn't
+convince me who have been in the East. However, he was all the world
+to me. Therefore his welfare was what I wished and wish, and I think he
+would have had more of it if he had never married me."
+
+"Why?" I asked again.
+
+"Because I brought him no good luck, did I? I needn't go through all
+the story as you know it. And in the end it was through me that he was
+killed in Egypt."
+
+"Or through the goddess Isis," I broke in rather nervously.
+
+"Yes, the goddess Isis, a part I have played in my time, or something
+like it. And he was killed in the temple of the goddess Isis. And those
+papyri of which you read the translations in the museum, which were
+given to me in Kendah Land, seem to have come from that same temple.
+And--how about the Ivory Child? Isis in the temple evidently held a
+child in her arms, but when we found her it had gone. Supposing this
+child was the same as that of which I was guardian! It might have been,
+since the papyri came from that temple. What do you think?"
+
+"I don't think anything," I answered, "except that it is all very odd. I
+don't even understand what Isis and the child Horus represent. They were
+not mere images either in Egypt or Kendah Land. There must be an idea
+behind them somewhere."
+
+"Oh! there was. Isis was the universal Mother, Nature herself with all
+the powers, seen and unseen, that are hidden in Nature; Love personified
+also, although not actually the queen of Love like Hathor, her sister
+goddess. The Horus child, whom the old Egyptians called Heru-Hennu,
+signified eternal regeneration, eternal youth, eternal strength and
+beauty. Also he was the Avenger who overthrew Set, the Prince of
+Darkness, and thus in a way opened the Door of Life to men."
+
+"It seems to me that all religions have much in common," I said.
+
+"Yes, a great deal. It was easy for the old Egyptians to become
+Christian, since for many of them it only meant worshipping Isis and
+Horus under new and holier names. But come in, it grows cold."
+
+We had tea in Lady Ragnall's boudoir and after it had been taken away
+our conversation died. She sat there on the other side of the fire with
+a cigarette between her lips, looking at me through the perfumed smoke
+till I began to grow uncomfortable and to feel that a crisis of some
+sort was at hand. This proved perfectly correct, for it was. Presently
+she said,
+
+"We took a long journey once together, Mr. Quatermain, did we not?"
+
+"Undoubtedly," I answered, and began to talk of it until she cut me
+short with a wave of her hand, and went on,
+
+"Well, we are going to take a longer one together after dinner
+to-night."
+
+"What! Where! How!" I exclaimed much alarmed.
+
+"I don't know where, but as for how--look in that box," and she pointed
+to a little carved Eastern chest made of rose or sandal wood, that stood
+upon a table between us.
+
+With a groan I rose and opened it. Inside was another box made of
+silver. This I opened also and perceived that within lay bundles of
+dried leaves that looked like tobacco, from which floated an enervating
+and well-remembered scent that clouded my brain for a moment. Then I
+shut down the lids and returned to my seat.
+
+"_Taduki_," I murmured.
+
+"Yes, _Taduki_, and I believe in perfect order with all its virtue
+intact."
+
+"Virtue!" I exclaimed. "I don't think there is any virtue about that
+hateful and magical herb which I believe grew in the devil's garden.
+Moreover, Lady Ragnall, although there are few things in the world that
+I would refuse you, I tell you at once that nothing will induce me to
+have anything more to do with it."
+
+She laughed softly and asked why not.
+
+"Because I find life so full of perplexities and memories that I have
+no wish to make acquaintance with any more, such as I am sure lie hid by
+the thousand in that box."
+
+"If so, don't you think that they might clear up some of those which
+surround you to-day?"
+
+"No, for in such things there is no finality, since whatever one saw
+would also require explanation."
+
+"Don't let us argue," she replied. "It is tiring and I daresay we shall
+need all our strength to-night."
+
+I looked at her speechless. Why could she not take No for an answer? As
+usual she read my thought and replied to it.
+
+"Why did not Adam refuse the apple that Eve offered him?" she inquired
+musingly. "Or rather why did he eat it after many refusals and learn
+the secret of good and evil, to the great gain of the world which
+thenceforward became acquainted with the dignity of labour?"
+
+"Because the woman tempted him," I snapped.
+
+"Quite so. It has always been her business in life and always will be.
+Well, I am tempting you now, and not in vain."
+
+"Do you remember who was tempting the woman?"
+
+"Certainly. Also that he was a good school-master since he caused the
+thirst for knowledge to overcome fear and thus laid the foundation-stone
+of all human progress. That allegory may be read two ways, as one of a
+rise from ignorance instead of a fall from innocence."
+
+"You are too clever for me with your perverted notions. Also, you said
+we were not to argue. I have therefore only to repeat that I will not
+eat your apple, or rather, breathe your _Taduki_."
+
+"Adam over again," she replied, shaking her head. "The same old
+beginning and the same old end, because you see at last you will do
+exactly what Adam did."
+
+Here she rose and standing over me, looked me straight in the eyes with
+the curious result that all my will power seemed to evaporate. Then she
+sat down again, laughing softly, and remarked as though to herself,
+
+"Who would have thought that Allan Quatermain was a moral coward!"
+
+"Coward," I repeated. "Coward!"
+
+"Yes, that's the right word. At least you were a minute ago. Now courage
+has come back to you. Why, it's almost time to dress for dinner, but
+before you go, listen. I have some power over you, my friend, as you
+have some power over me, for I tell you frankly if you wished me very
+much to do anything, I should have to do it; and the same applies
+conversely. Now, to-night we are, as I believe, going to open a great
+gate and to see wonderful things, glorious things that will thrill us
+for the rest of our lives, and perhaps suggest to us what is coming
+after death. You will not fail me, will you?" she continued in a
+pleading voice. "If you do I must try alone since no one else will
+serve, and then I _know_--how I cannot say--that I shall be exposed to
+great danger. Yes, I think that I shall lose my mind once more and never
+find it again this side the grave. You would not have that happen to me,
+would you, just because you shrink from digging up old memories?"
+
+"Of course not," I stammered. "I should never forgive myself."
+
+"Yes, of course not. There was really no need for me to ask you. Then
+you promise you will do all I wish?" and once more she looked at me,
+adding, "Don't be ashamed, for you remember that I have been in touch
+with hidden things and am not quite as other women are. You will
+recollect I told you that which I have never breathed to any other
+living soul, years ago on that night when first we met."
+
+"I promise," I answered and was about to add something, I forget what,
+when she cut me short, saying,
+
+"That's enough, for I know your word is rather better than your bond.
+Now dress as quickly as you can or the dinner will be spoiled."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV. THROUGH THE GATES
+
+Short as was the time at my disposal before the dinner-gong sounded,
+it proved ample for reflection. With every article of attire that
+I discarded went some of that boudoir glamour till its last traces
+vanished with my walking-boots. I was fallen indeed. I who had come to
+this place so full of virtuous resolutions, could now only reflect upon
+the true and universal meaning of our daily prayer that we might be kept
+from temptation. And yet what had tempted me? For my life's sake I could
+not say. The desire to please a most charming woman and to keep her from
+making solitary experiments of a dangerous nature, I suppose, though
+whether they should be less dangerous carried out jointly remained to
+be seen. Certainly it was not any wish to eat of her proffered apple of
+Knowledge, for already I knew a great deal more than I cared for about
+things in general. Oh! the truth was that woman is the mightiest
+force in the world, at any rate where the majority of us poor men is
+concerned. She commanded and I must obey.
+
+I grew desperate and wondered if I could escape. Perhaps I might slip
+out of the back door and run for it, without my great coat or hat
+although the night was so cold and I should probably be taken up as a
+lunatic. No, it was impossible for I had forged a chain that might not
+be broken. I had passed my word of honour. Well, I was in for it and
+after all what was there of which I need be afraid that I should tremble
+and shrink back as though I were about to run away with somebody's wife,
+or rather to be run away with quite contrary to my own inclination?
+Nothing at all. A mere nonsensical ordeal much less serious than a visit
+to the dentist.
+
+Probably that stuff had lost its strength by now--that is, unless it
+had grown more powerful by keeping, as is the case with certain sorts
+of explosives. And if it had not, the worst to be expected was a silly
+dream, followed perhaps by headache. That is, unless I did not chance
+to wake up again at all in this world, which was a most unpleasant
+possibility. Another thing, suppose I woke and she didn't! What should
+I say then? Of a certainty I should find myself in the dock. Yes, and
+there were further dreadful eventualities, quite conceivable, every one
+of them, the very thought of which plunged me into a cold perspiration
+and made me feel so weak that I was obliged to sit down.
+
+Then I heard the gong; to me it sounded like the execution bell to a
+prisoner under sentence of death. I crept downstairs feebly and found
+Lady Ragnall waiting for me in the drawing-room, clothed with gaiety as
+with a garment. I remember that it made me most indignant that she could
+be so happy in such circumstances, but I said nothing. She looked me up
+and down and remarked,
+
+"Really from your appearance you might have seen the Ragnall ghost, or
+be going to be married against your will, or--I don't know what. Also
+you have forgotten to fasten your tie."
+
+I looked in the glass. It was true, for there hung the ends down my
+shirt front. Then I struggled with the wretched thing until at last she
+had to help me, which she did laughing softly. Somehow her touch gave me
+confidence again and enabled me to say quite boldly that I only wanted
+my dinner.
+
+"Yes," she replied, "but you are not to eat much and you must only drink
+water. The priestesses in Kendah Land told me that this was necessary
+before taking _Taduki_ in its strongest form, as we are going to do
+to-night. You know the prophet Har�t only gave us the merest whiff in
+this room years ago."
+
+I groaned and she laughed again.
+
+That dinner with nothing to drink, although to avoid suspicion I let
+Moxley fill my glass once or twice, and little to eat for my appetite
+had vanished, went by like a bad dream. I recall no more about it until
+I heard Lady Ragnall tell Moxley to see that there was a good fire
+in the museum where we were going to study that night and must not be
+disturbed.
+
+Another minute and I was automatically opening the door for her. As she
+passed she paused to do something to her dress and whispered,
+
+"Come in a quarter of an hour. Mind--no port which clouds the
+intellect."
+
+"I have none left to cloud," I remarked after her.
+
+Then I went back and sat by the fire feeling most miserable and staring
+at the decanters, for never in my life do I remember wanting a bottle
+of wine more. The big clock ticked and ticked and at last chimed the
+quarter, jarring on my nerves in that great lonely banqueting hall. Then
+I rose and crept upstairs like an evil-doer and it seemed to me that the
+servants in the hall looked on me with suspicion, as well they might.
+
+I reached the museum and found it brilliantly lit, but empty except for
+the cheerful company of the two mummies who also appeared to regard me
+with gleaming but doubtful eyes. So I sat down there in front of the
+fire, not even daring to smoke lest tobacco should complicate _Taduki_.
+
+Presently I heard a low sound of laughter, looked up and nearly fell
+backwards, that is, metaphorically, for the chair prevented such a
+physical collapse.
+
+It was not wonderful since before me, like a bride of ancient days
+adorned for her husband, stood the goddess Isis--white robes, feathered
+headdress, ancient bracelets, gold-studded sandals on bare feet, scented
+hair, ruby necklace and all the rest. I stared, then there burst from me
+words which were the last I meant to say,
+
+"Great Heavens! how beautiful you are."
+
+"Am I?" she asked. "I am glad," and she glided across the room and
+locked the door.
+
+"Now," she said, returning, "we had better get to business, that is
+unless you would like to worship the goddess Isis a little first, to
+bring yourself into a proper frame of mind, you know."
+
+"No," I replied, my dignity returning to me. "I do not wish to worship
+any goddess, especially when she isn't a goddess. It was not a part of
+the bargain."
+
+"Quite so," she said, nodding, "but who knows what you will be
+worshipping before an hour is over? Oh! forgive me for laughing at you,
+but I can't help it. You are so evidently frightened."
+
+"Who wouldn't be frightened?" I answered, looking with gloomy
+apprehension at the sandal-wood box which had appeared upon a case full
+of scarabs. "Look here, Lady Ragnall," I added, "why can't you leave all
+this unholy business alone and let us spend a pleasant evening talking,
+now that those Smith people have gone? I have lots of stories about my
+African adventures which would interest you."
+
+"Because I want to hear my own African adventures, and perhaps yours
+too, which I am sure will interest me a great deal more," she exclaimed
+earnestly. "You think it is all foolishness, but it is not. Those Kendah
+priestesses told me much when I seemed to be out of my mind. For a long
+time I did not remember what they said, but of late years, especially
+since George and I began to excavate that temple, plenty has come back
+to me bit by bit, fragments, you know, that make me desire to learn the
+rest as I never desired anything else on earth. And the worst of it has
+always been that from the beginning I have known--and know--that this
+can only happen with you and through you, why I cannot say, or have
+forgotten. That's what sent me nearly wild with joy when I heard that
+you were not only alive, but in this country. You won't disappoint me,
+will you? There is nothing I can offer you which would have any value
+for you, so I can only beg you not to disappoint me--well, because I am
+your friend."
+
+I turned away my head, hesitating, and when I looked up again I saw
+that her beautiful eyes were full of tears. Naturally that settled the
+matter, so I only said,
+
+"Let us get on with the affair. What am I to do? Stop a bit. I may as
+well provide against eventualities," and going to a table I took a sheet
+of notepaper and wrote:
+
+
+ "Lady Ragnall and I, Allan Quatermain, are about to make an
+  experiment with an herb which we discovered some years ago in
+  Africa. If by any chance this should result in accident to either
+  or both of us, the Coroner is requested to understand that it is
+  not a case of murder or of suicide, but merely of unfortunate
+  scientific research."
+
+
+This I dated, adding the hour, 9.47 P.M., and signed, requesting her to
+do the same.
+
+She obeyed with a smile, saying it was strange that one who had lived a
+life of such constant danger as myself, should be so afraid to die.
+
+"Look here, young lady," I replied with irritation, "doesn't it occur to
+you that _I_ may be afraid lest _you_ should die--and _I_ be hanged for
+it," I added by an afterthought.
+
+"Oh! I see," she answered, "that is really very nice of you. But, of
+course, you would think like that; it is your nature."
+
+"Yes," I replied. "Nature, not merit."
+
+She went to a cupboard which formed the bottom of one of the mahogany
+museum cases, and extracted from it first of all a bowl of ancient
+appearance made of some black stone with projecting knobs for handles
+that were carved with the heads of women wearing ceremonial wigs; and
+next a low tripod of ebony or some other black wood. I looked at these
+articles and recognized them. They had stood in front of the sanctuary
+in the temple in Kendah Land, and over them I had once seen this very
+woman dressed as she was to-night, bend her head in the magic smoke
+before she had uttered the prophecy of the passing of the Kendah god.
+
+"So you brought these away too," I said.
+
+"Yes," she replied with solemnity, "that they might be ready at the
+appointed hour when we needed them."
+
+Then she spoke no more for a while, but busied herself with certain
+rather eerie preparations. First she set the tripod and its bowl in an
+open space which I was glad to note was at some distance from the fire,
+since if either of us fell into that who would there be to take us off
+before cremation ensued? Then she drew up a curved settee with a back
+and arms, a comfortable-looking article having a seat that sloped
+backwards like those in clubs, and motioned to me to sit down. This I
+did with much the same sensations that are evoked by taking one's place
+upon an operation-table.
+
+Next she brought that accursed _Taduki_ box, I mean the inner silver
+one, the contents of which I heartily wished I had thrown upon the fire,
+and set it down, open, near the tripod. Lastly she lifted some glowing
+embers of wood from the grate with tongs, and dropped them into the
+stone bowl.
+
+"I think that's all. Now for the great adventure," she said in a voice
+that was at once rapt and dreamy.
+
+"What am I to do?" I asked feebly.
+
+"That is quite simple," she replied, as she sat herself down beside me
+well within reach of the _Taduki_ box, the brazier being between us
+with its tripod stand pressed against the edge of the couch, and in
+its curve, so that we were really upon each side of it. "When the smoke
+begins to rise thickly you have only to bend your head a little forward,
+with your shoulders still resting against the settee, and inhale until
+you find your senses leaving you, though I don't know that this is
+necessary for the stuff is subtle. Then throw your head back, go to
+sleep and dream."
+
+"What am I to dream about?" I inquired in a vacuous way, for my senses
+were leaving me already.
+
+"You will dream, I think, of past events in which both of us played a
+part, at least I hope so. I dreamt of them before in Kendah Land,
+but then I was not myself, and for the most part they are forgotten.
+Moreover, I learned that we can only see them all when we are together.
+Now speak no more."
+
+This command, by the way, at once produced in me an intense desire for
+prolonged conversation. It was not to be gratified, however, for at that
+moment she stood up again facing the tripod and me, and began to sing in
+a rich and thrilling voice. What she sang I do not know for I could not
+understand the language, but I presume it was some ancient chant that
+she learned in Kendah Land. At any rate, there she stood, a lovely and
+inspired priestess clad in her sacerdotal robes, and sang, waving her
+arms and fixing her eyes upon mine. Presently she bent down, took a
+little of the _Taduki_ weed and with words of incantation, dropped it
+upon the embers in the bowl. Twice she did this, then sat herself upon
+the couch and waited.
+
+A clear flame sprang up and burned for thirty seconds or so, I suppose
+while it consumed the volatile oils in the weed. Then it died down and
+smoke began to come, white, rich and billowy, with a very pleasant odour
+resembling that of hot-house flowers. It spread out between us like a
+fan, and though its veil I heard her say,
+
+"The gates are wide. Enter!"
+
+I knew what she meant well enough, and though for a moment I thought of
+cheating, there is no other word for it, knew also that she had detected
+the thought and was scorning me in her mind. At any rate I felt that I
+must obey and thrust my head forward into the smoke, as a green ham is
+thrust into a chimney. The warm vapour struck against my face like fog,
+or rather steam, but without causing me to choke or my eyes to smart. I
+drew it down my throat with a deep inhalation--once, twice, thrice, then
+as my brain began to swim, threw myself back as I had been instructed
+to do. A deep and happy drowsiness stole over me, and the last thing I
+remember was hearing the clock strike the first two strokes of the hour
+of ten. The third stroke I heard also, but it sounded like to that of
+the richest-throated bell that ever boomed in all the world. I remember
+becoming aware that it was the signal for the rolling up of some vast
+proscenium, revealing behind it a stage that was the world--nothing
+less.
+
+
+
+What did I see? What did I see? Let me try to recall and record.
+
+First of all something chaotic. Great rushes of vapour driven by mighty
+winds; great seas, for the most part calm. Then upheavals and volcanoes
+spouting fire. Then tropic scenes of infinite luxuriance. Terrific
+reptiles feeding on the brinks of marshes, and huge elephant-like
+animals moving between palms beyond. Then, in a glade, rough huts and
+about them a jabbering crowd of creatures that were only half human, for
+sometimes they stood upright and sometimes ran on their hands and feet.
+Also they were almost covered with hair which was all they had in
+the way of clothes, and at the moment that I met them, were terribly
+frightened by the appearance of a huge mammoth, if that is the right
+name for it, which walked into the glade and looked at us. At any rate
+it was a beast of the elephant tribe which I judged to be nearly twenty
+feet high, with enormous curving tusks.
+
+The point of the vision was that I recognized myself among those hairy
+jabberers, not by anything outward and visible, but by something inward
+and spiritual. Moreover, I was being urged by a female of the race, I
+can scarcely call her a woman, to justify my existence by tackling the
+mammoth in her particular interest, or to give her up to someone who
+would. In the end I tackled it, rushing forward with a weapon, I think
+it was a sharp stone tied to a stick, though how I could expect to
+hurt a beast twenty feet high with such a thing is more than I can
+understand, unless perhaps the stone was poisoned.
+
+At any rate the end was sudden. I threw the stone, whereat a great trunk
+shot out from between the tusks and caught me. Round and round I went
+in the air, reflecting as I did so, for I suppose at the time my normal
+consciousness had not quite left me, that this was my first encounter
+with the elephant Jana, also that it was very foolish to try to oblige a
+female regardless of personal risk....
+
+All became dark, as no doubt it would have done, but presently, that is
+after a lapse of a great many thousands of years, or so it appeared to
+me, light grew again. This time I was a black man living in something
+not unlike a Kaffir kraal on the top of a hill.
+
+There was shouting below and enemies attacked us; a woman rushed out
+of a hut and gave me a spear and a shield, the latter made of wood with
+white spots on it, and pointed to the path of duty which ran down the
+hill. I followed in company with others, though without enthusiasm, and
+presently met a roaring giant of a man at the bottom. I stuck my spear
+into him and he stuck his into me, through the stomach, which hurt me
+most abominably. After this I retired up the hill where the woman pulled
+the spear out and gave it to another man. I remember no more.
+
+Then followed a whole maze of visions, but really I cannot disentangle
+them. Nor is it worth while doing so since after all they were only of
+the nature of an overture, jumbled incidents of former lives, real or
+imaginary, or so I suppose, having to do, all of them, with elementary
+things, such as hunger and wounds and women and death.
+
+At length these broken fragments of the past were swept away out of my
+consciousness and I found myself face to face with something connected
+and tangible, not too remote or unfamiliar for understanding. It was the
+beginning of the real story.
+
+
+
+I, please remember always that I knew it was I, Allan, and no one else,
+that is, the same personality or whatever it may be which makes each
+man different from any other man, saw myself in a chariot drawn by two
+horses with arched necks and driven by a charioteer who sat on a little
+seat in front. It was a highly ornamented, springless vehicle of wood
+and gilded, something like a packing-case with a pole, or as we
+should call it in South Africa, a disselboom, to which the horses were
+harnessed. In this cart I stood arrayed in flowing robes fastened round
+my middle by a studded belt, with strips of coloured cloth wound round
+my legs and sandals on my feet. To my mind the general effect of the
+attire was distinctly feminine and I did not like it at all.
+
+I was glad to observe, however, that the I of those days was anything
+but feminine. Indeed I could never have believed that once I was so
+good-looking, even over two thousand years ago. I was not very tall but
+extremely stalwart, burly almost, with an arm that as I could observe,
+since it projected from the sleeve of my lady's gown, would have done no
+discredit to a prize-fighter, and a chest like a bull.
+
+The face also I admired very much. The brow was broad; the black eyes
+were full and proud-looking, the features somewhat massive but well-cut
+and highly intelligent; the mouth firm and shapely, with lips that were
+perhaps a trifle too thick; the hair--well, there was rather a failure
+in the hair, at least according to modern ideas, for it curled so
+beautifully as to suggest that one of my ancestors might have fallen
+in love with a person of negroid origin. However there was lots of it,
+hanging down almost to the shoulders and bound about the brow by a very
+neat fillet of blue cloth with silver studs. The colour of my skin, I
+was glad to note, was by no means black, only a light and pleasing brown
+such as might have been produced by sunburn. My age, I might add, was
+anywhere between five and twenty and five and thirty, perhaps nearer the
+latter than the former, at any rate, the very prime of life.
+
+For the rest, I held in my left hand a very stout, long bow of black
+wood which seemed to have seen much service, with a string of what
+looked like catgut, on which was set a broad-feathered, barbed arrow.
+This I kept in place with the fingers of my right hand, on one of which
+I observed a handsome gold ring with strange characters carved upon the
+bezel.
+
+Now for the charioteer.
+
+He was black as night, black as a Sunday hat, with yellow rolling
+eyes set in a countenance of extraordinary ugliness and I may add,
+extraordinary humour. His big, wide mouth with thick lips ran up the
+left side of his face towards an ear that was also big and projecting.
+His hair, that had a feather stuck in it, was real nigger wool covering
+a skull like a cannon ball and I should imagine as hard. This head, by
+the way, was set plumb upon the shoulders, as though it had been driven
+down between them by a pile hammer. They were very broad shoulders
+suggesting enormous strength, but the gaily-clad body beneath, which was
+supported by two bowed legs and large, flat feet, was that of a dwarf
+who by the proportions of his limbs Nature first intended for a giant;
+yes, an Ethiopian dwarf.
+
+Looking through this remarkable exterior, as it were, I recognized
+that inside of it was the soul, or animating principle, of--whom do
+you think? None other than my beloved old servant and companion, the
+Hottentot Hans whose loss I had mourned for years! Hans himself who died
+for me, slaying the great elephant, Jana, in Kendah Land, the elephant
+I could not hit, and thereby saving my life. Oh! although I had been
+obliged to go back to the days of I knew not what ancient empire to
+do so in my trance, or whatever it was, I could have wept with joy at
+finding him again, especially as I knew by instinct that as he loved
+the Allan Quatermain of to-day, so he loved this Egyptian in a wheeled
+packing-case, for I may as well say at once that such was my nationality
+in the dream.
+
+Now I looked about me and perceived that my chariot was the second of a
+cavalcade. Immediately in front of it was one infinitely more gorgeous
+in which stood a person who even if I had not known it, I should have
+guessed to be a king, and who, as a matter of fact, was none other than
+the King of kings, at that time the absolute master of most of the known
+world, though what his name may have been, I have no notion. He wore a
+long flowing robe of purple silk embroidered with gold and bound in at
+the waist by a jewelled girdle from which hung the private, sacred
+seal; the little "White Seal" that, as I learned afterwards, was famous
+throughout the earth.
+
+On his head was a stiff cloth cap, also purple in colour, round which
+was fastened a fillet of light blue stuff spotted with white. The best
+idea that I can give of its general appearance is to liken it to a tall
+hat of fashionable shape, without a brim, slightly squashed in so that
+it bulged at the top, and surrounded by a rather sporting necktie.
+Really, however, it was the _kitaris_ or headdress of these monarchs
+worn by them alone. If anyone else had put on that hat, even by mistake
+in the dark, well, his head would have come off with it, that is all.
+
+This king held a bow in his hand with an arrow set upon its string,
+just as I did, for we were out hunting, and as I shall have to narrate
+presently, lions are no respecters of persons. By his side, leaning
+against the back of the chariot, was a tall, sharp-pointed wand of cedar
+wood with a knob of some green precious stone, probably an emerald,
+fashioned to the likeness of an apple. This was the royal sceptre.
+Immediately behind the chariot walked several great nobles. One of them
+carried a golden footstool, another a parasol, furled at the moment;
+another a spare bow and a quiver of arrows, and another a jewelled
+fly-whisk made of palm fibre.
+
+The king, I should add, was young, handsome with a curled beard and
+clear-cut, high-bred looking features; his face, however, was bad, cruel
+and stamped with an air of weariness, or rather, satiety, which was
+emphasized by the black circles beneath his fine dark eyes. Moreover
+pride seemed to emanate from him and yet there was something in his
+bearing and glances which suggested fear. He was a god who knows that
+he is mortal and is therefore afraid lest at any moment he may be called
+upon to lose his godship in his mortality.
+
+Not that he dreaded the perils of the chase; he was too much of a man
+for that. But how could he tell lest among all that crowd of crawling
+nobles, there was not one who had a dagger ready for his back, or a
+phial of poison to mix with his wine or water? He with all the world
+in the hollow of his hand, was filled with secret terrors which as I
+learned since first I seemed to see him thus, fulfilled themselves at
+the appointed time. For this man of blood was destined to die in blood,
+though not by murder.
+
+
+
+The cavalcade halted. Presently a fat eunuch glittering in his
+gold-wrought garments like some bronzed beetle in the sunlight, came
+waddling back towards me. He was odious and I knew that we hated each
+other.
+
+"Greeting, Egyptian," he said, mopping his brow with his sleeve for
+the sun was hot. "An honour for you! A great honour! The King of kings
+commands your presence. Yes, he would speak with you with his own lips,
+and with that abortion of a servant of yours also. Come! Come swiftly!"
+
+"Swift as an arrow, Houman," I answered laughing, "seeing that for three
+moons I, like an arrow, have rested upon the string and flown no nearer
+to his Majesty."
+
+"Three moons!" screeched the eunuch. "Why, many wait three years and
+many go to the grave still waiting; bigger men than you, Egyptian,
+though I hear you do claim to be of royal blood yonder on the Nile.
+But talk not of arrows flying towards the most High, for surely it is
+ill-omened and might earn you another honour, that of the string," and
+he made a motion suggestive of a cord encircling his throat. "Man, leave
+your bow behind! Would you appear before the King armed? Yes, and your
+dagger also."
+
+"Perchance a lion might appear before the King and he does not leave
+his claws and teeth behind," I answered drily as I divested myself of my
+weapons.
+
+Then we started, the three of us, leaving the chariot in charge of a
+soldier.
+
+"Draw your sleeves over your hands," said the eunuch. "None must
+appear before the King showing his hands, and, dwarf, since you have no
+sleeves, thrust yours into your robe."
+
+"What am I to do with my feet?" he answered in a thick, guttural voice.
+"Will it offend the King of kings to see my feet, most noble eunuch?"
+
+"Certainly, certainly," answered Houman, "since they are ugly enough to
+offend even me. Hide them as much as possible. Now we are near, down on
+your faces and crawl forward slowly on your knees and elbows, as I do.
+Down, I say!"
+
+So down I went, though with anger in my heart, for be it remembered
+that I, the modern Allan Quatermain, knew every thought and feeling that
+passed through the mind of my prototype.
+
+It was as though I were a spectator at a play, with this difference. I
+could read the motives and reflections of this former _ego_ as well as
+observe his actions. Also I could rejoice when he rejoiced, weep when
+he wept and generally feel all that he felt, though at the same time
+I retained the power of studying him from my own modern standpoint and
+with my own existing intelligence. Being two we still were one, or being
+one we still were two, whichever way you like to put it. Lastly I lacked
+these powers with reference to the other actors in the piece. Of these
+I knew just as much, or as little as my former self knew, that is if he
+ever really existed. There was nothing unnatural in my faculties where
+they were concerned. I had no insight into their souls any more than I
+have into those of the people about me to-day. Now I hope that I have
+made clear my somewhat uncommon position with reference to these pages
+from the Book of the Past.
+
+Well, preceded by the eunuch and followed by the dwarf, I crawled though
+the sand in which grew some thorny plants that pricked my knees
+and fingers, towards the person of the Monarch of the World. He had
+descended from his chariot by help of a footstool, and was engaged in
+drinking from a golden cup, while his attendants stood around in various
+attitudes of adoration, he who had handed him the cup being upon his
+knees. Presently he looked up and saw us.
+
+"Who are these?" he asked in a high voice that yet was not unmusical,
+"and why do you bring them into my presence?"
+
+"May it please the King," answered our guide, knocking his head upon the
+ground in a very agony of humiliation, "may it please the King----"
+
+"It would please me better, dog, if you answered my question. Who are
+they?"
+
+"May it please the King, this is the Egyptian hunter and noble,
+Shabaka."
+
+"I hear," said his Majesty with a gleam of interest in his tired eyes,
+"and what does this Egyptian here?"
+
+"May it please the King, the King bade me bring him to the presence, but
+now when the chariots halted."
+
+"I forgot; you are forgiven. But who is that with him? Is it a man or an
+ape?"
+
+Here I screwed my head round and saw that my slave in his efforts to
+obey the eunuch's instructions and hide his feet, had made himself
+into a kind of ball, much as a hedgehog does, except that his big head
+appeared in front of the ball.
+
+"O King, that I understand is the Egyptian's servant and charioteer."
+
+Again he looked interested, and exclaimed,
+
+"Is it so? Then Egypt must be a stranger country than I thought if such
+ape-men live there. Stand up, Egyptian, and bid your ape stand up also,
+for I cannot hear men who speak with their mouths in the dust."
+
+So I rose and saluted by lifting both my hands and bowing as I had
+observed others do, trying, however, to keep them covered by my sleeves.
+The King looked me up and down, then said briefly,
+
+"Set out your name and the business that brought you to my city."
+
+"May the King live for ever," I replied. "As this lord said," and I
+pointed to the eunuch----
+
+"He is not a lord but a dog," interrupted the Monarch, "who wears the
+robe of women. But continue."
+
+"As this dog who wears the robe of women said"--here the King laughed,
+but the eunuch, Houman, turned green with rage and glowered at me--"my
+name is Shabaka. I am a descendant of the Ethiopian king of Egypt of
+that same name."
+
+"It seems from all I hear that there are too many descendants of kings
+in Egypt. When I visit that land which perhaps soon I must do with an
+army at my back," here he stared at me coldly, "it may be well to lessen
+their number. There is a certain Peroa for instance."
+
+He paused, but I made no answer, since Peroa was my father's cousin and
+of the fallen Royal House; also the protector of my youth.
+
+"Well, Shabaka," he went on, "in Persia royal blood is common also,
+though some of us think it looks best when it is shed. What else are
+you?"
+
+"A slayer of royal beasts, O King of kings, a hunter of lions and of
+elephants," (this statement interested me, Allan Quatermain, intensely,
+showing me as it did that our tastes are very persistent); "also when I
+am at home, a breeder of cattle and a grower of grain."
+
+"Good trades, all of them, Shabaka. But why came you here?"
+
+"Idernes the satrap of Egypt, servant of the King of kings, sought for
+one who would travel to the East because the King of kings desired to
+hear of the hunting of lions in the lands that lie to the south of Egypt
+towards the beginnings of the great river. Then I, who desired to see
+new countries, said, 'Here am I. Send me.' So I came and for three moons
+have dwelt in the royal city, but till this hour have scarcely so much
+as seen the face of the great King, although by many messengers I have
+announced my presence, showing them the letters of Idernes giving me
+safe-conduct. Therefore I propose to-morrow or the next day to return to
+Egypt."
+
+The King said a word and a scribe appeared whom he commanded to take
+note of my words and let the matter be inquired of, since some should
+suffer for this neglect, a saying at which I saw Houman and certain of
+the nobles turn pale and whisper to each other.
+
+"Now I remember," he exclaimed, "that I did desire Idernes to send me an
+Egyptian hunter. Well, you are here and we are about to hunt the lion
+of which there are many in yonder reeds, hungry and fierce beasts, since
+for three days they have been herded in so that they can kill no food.
+How many lions have you slain, Shabaka?"
+
+"Fifty and three in all, O King, not counting the cubs."
+
+He stared at me, answering with a sneer,
+
+"You Egyptians have large mouths. I have always heard it of you. Well,
+to-day we will see whether you can kill a fifty-fourth. In an hour when
+the sun begins to sink, the hounds will be loosed in yonder reeds and
+since the water is behind them, the lions will come out, and then we
+shall see."
+
+Now I saw that the King thought me to be a liar and the blood rose to my
+head.
+
+"Why wait till the sun begins to sink, O King of kings?" I said. "Why
+not enter the reeds, as is our fashion in the Land of Kush, and rouse
+the lions from sleep in their own lair?"
+
+Now the King laughed outright and called in a loud voice to his
+courtiers,
+
+"Do ye hear this boasting Egyptian, who talks of entering the reeds and
+facing the lions in their lair, a thing that no man dare do where none
+can see to shoot? What say ye now? Shall we ask him to prove his words?"
+
+Some great lord stepped forward, one who was a hunter though he looked
+little like it, for the scent on his hair reached me from four paces
+away and there was paint upon his face.
+
+"Yes, O King," he said in a mincing voice, "let him enter and kill a
+lion. But if he fail, then let a lion kill him. There are some hungry in
+the palace den and it is not fit that the King's ears should be filled
+with empty words by foreigners from Egypt."
+
+"So be it," said the King. "Egyptian, you have brought it on your own
+head. Prove that you can do what you say and I will give you great
+honour. Fail, and to the lions with him who lies of lions. Still," he
+added, "it is not right that you should go alone. Choose therefore one
+of these lords to keep you company; he who would put you to the test, if
+you will."
+
+Now I looked at the scented noble who turned pale beneath his paint.
+Then I looked at the fat eunuch, Houman, who opened his mouth and gasped
+like a fish, and when I had looked, I shook my head and said as though
+to myself,
+
+"Not so, no woman and no eunuch shall be my companion on this quest,"
+whereat the King and all the rest laughed out loud. "The dwarf and I
+will go alone."
+
+"The dwarf!" said the King. "Can he hunt lions also?"
+
+"No, O King, but perchance he can smell them, for otherwise how shall I
+find them in that thicket within an hour?"
+
+"Perchance they can smell him. How is the ape-man named?" asked the
+King.
+
+"Bes, O King, after the god of the Egyptians whom he resembles."
+
+"Dare you accompany your master on this hunt, O Bes?" inquired the King.
+
+Then Bes looked up, rolling his yellow eyes, and answered in his thick
+and guttural voice,
+
+"I am my master's slave and dare I refuse to accompany him? If I did he
+might kill me, as the King of kings kills his slaves. It is better to
+die with honour by the teeth of a lion, than with dishonour beneath the
+whip of a master. So at least we think in Ethiopia."
+
+"Well spoken, dwarf Bes!" exclaimed the King. "So would I have all men
+think throughout the East. Let the words of this Ethiop be written down
+and copies of them sent to the satraps of all the provinces that they
+may be read to the peoples of the earth. I the King have decreed it."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V. THE WAGER
+
+While the scribes were at their work I bowed before the King and prayed
+his leave and I and the dwarf Bes might get to ours.
+
+"Go," he said, "and return here within an hour. If you do not return
+tidings of your death shall be sent to the satrap of Egypt to be told to
+your wives."
+
+"I thank the King, but it is needless, for I have no wives, which are
+ill company for a hunter."
+
+"Strange," he said, "since many women would be glad to name such a man
+their husband, at least here among us Easterns."
+
+Walking backwards and bowing as we went, Bes and I returned to our
+chariot. There we stripped off our outer garments till Bes was naked
+save for his waistcloth and I was clad only in a jerkin. Then I took
+my bow, my arrows and my knife, and Bes took two spears, one light for
+throwing and the other short, broad and heavy for stabbing. Thus armed
+we passed back before the Easterns who stared at us, and advanced to the
+edge of the thicket of tall reeds that was full of lions.
+
+Here Bes took dust and threw it into the air that we might learn from
+which quarter the light wind blew.
+
+"We will go against the breeze, Lord," he said, "that I may smell the
+lions before they smell us."
+
+I nodded, and answered,
+
+"Hearken, Bes. Well may it be that we kill no lions in this place where
+it is hard to shoot. Yet I would not return to be thrown to wild beasts
+by yonder evil king. Therefore if we fail in this or in any other way,
+do you kill me, if you still live."
+
+He rolled his eyes and grinned.
+
+"Not so, Master. Then we will win through the reeds and lie hid in their
+edge till darkness comes, for in them those half-men will never dare to
+seek for us. Afterwards we will swim the water and disguise ourselves
+as jugglers and try to reach the coast, and so back to Egypt, having
+learned much. Never stretch out your hand to Death till he stretches out
+his to you, which he will do soon enough, Master."
+
+Again I nodded and said,
+
+"And if a lion should kill me, Bes, what then?"
+
+"Then, Master, I will kill that lion if I can and go report the matter
+to the King."
+
+"And if he should wish to throw you to the beasts, Bes, what then?"
+
+"Then, first I will drag him down to the greatest of all beasts, he who
+waits to devour evil-doers in the Under-world, be they kings or slaves,"
+and he stretched out his long arms and made a motion as of clutching
+a man by the throat. "Oh! have no fear, Master, I can break him like a
+stick, and afterwards we will talk the matter over among the dead, for I
+shall swallow my tongue and die also. It is a good trick, Master, which
+I wish you would learn."
+
+Then he took my hand and kissed it and we entered the reeds, I, who was
+a hunter, feeling more happy than I had done since we set foot in the
+East.
+
+Yet the quest was desperate for the reeds were tall and often I could
+not see more than a bow's length in front of me. Presently, however,
+we found a path made perchance by game coming down to drink, or by
+crocodiles coming up to sleep, and followed it, I with an arrow on
+my string and Bes with the throwing spear in his right hand and the
+stabbing spear in his left, half a pace ahead of me. On we crept, Bes
+drawing in the air through his great nostrils as a hound might do, till
+suddenly he stopped and sniffed towards the north.
+
+"I smell lion near," he whispered, searching among the reed stems with
+his eyes. "I see lion," he whispered again, and pointed, but I could see
+nothing save the stems of the reeds.
+
+"Rouse him," I whispered back, "and I will shoot as he bounds."
+
+Then Bes poised the spear, shook it till it quivered, and threw. There
+was a roar and a lioness appeared with the spear fast in her flank. I
+loosed the arrow but it cut into the thick reeds and stuck there.
+
+"Forward!" whispered Bes, "for where woman is, there look for man. The
+lion will be near."
+
+We crept on, Bes stopping to cut the arrow from a reed and set it back
+in the quiver, for it was a good arrow made by himself. But now he
+shifted the broad spear to his right hand and in his left held his
+knife. We heard the wounded lioness roar not far away.
+
+"She calls her man to help her," whispered Bes, and as the words left
+his lips the reeds down wind began to sway, for we were smelt.
+
+They swayed, they parted and, half seen, half hid between their stems,
+appeared the head of a great, black-maned lion. I drew the string and
+shot, this time not in vain, for I heard the arrow thud upon his hide.
+Then before I could set another he was on us, reared upon his hind legs
+and roaring. As I drew my dagger he struck at me, but I bent down and
+his paw went over my head. Then his weight came against me and I fell
+beneath him, stabbing him in the belly as I fell. I saw his mighty jaws
+open to crush my head. Then they shut again and through them burst a
+whine like that of a hurt dog.
+
+Bes had driven his spear into the lion's breast, so deep that the point
+of it came out through the back. Still he was not dead, only now it was
+Bes he sought. The dwarf ran at him as he reared up again, and casting
+his great arms about the brute's body, wrestled with him as man with
+man.
+
+Then it was, for the first time I think, that I learned all the
+Ethiopian's strength. For he, a dwarf, threw that lion on its back and
+thrusting his big head beneath the jaws, struggled with it madly. I
+was up, the knife still in my hand, and oh! I too was strong. Into
+the throat I drove it, dragging it this way and that, and lo! the lion
+moaned and died and his blood gushed out over both of us. Then Bes sat
+up and laughed, and I too laughed, since neither of us had more than
+scratches and we had done what men could scarcely do.
+
+"Do you remember, Master," said Bes when he had finished laughing, as he
+wiped his brow with some damp moss, "how, once far away up the Nile you
+charged a mad elephant with a spear and saved me who had fallen, from
+being trampled to death?"
+
+I, Shabaka, answered that I did. (And I, Allan Quatermain, observing
+all these things in my psychic trance in the museum of Ragnall Castle,
+reflected that I also remembered how a certain Hans had saved me from a
+certain mad elephant, to wit, Jana, not so long before, which just shows
+how things come round.)
+
+"Yes," went on Bes, "you saved me from that elephant, though it seemed
+death to you. And, Master, I will tell you something now. That very
+morning I had tried to poison you, only you would not wait to eat
+because the elephants were near."
+
+"Did you?" I asked idly. "Why?"
+
+"Because two years before you captured me in battle with some of my
+people, and as I was misshapen, or for pity's sake, spared my life and
+made me your slave. Well, I who had been a chief, a very great chief,
+Master, did not wish to remain a slave and did wish to avenge my
+people's blood. Therefore I tried to poison you, and that very day you
+saved my life, offering for it your own."
+
+"I think it was because I wanted the tusks of the elephant, Bes."
+
+"Perhaps, Master, only you will remember that this elephant was a young
+cow and had no tusks worth anything. Still had it carried tusks, it
+might have been so, since one white tusk is worth many black dwarfs.
+Well, to-day I have paid you back. I say it lest you should forget that
+had it not been for me, that lion would have eaten you."
+
+"Yes, Bes, you have paid me back and I thank you."
+
+"Master, hitherto I always thought you one who worshipped Maat, goddess
+of Truth. Now I see that you worship the god of Lies, whoever he may
+be, that god who dwells in the breasts of women and most men, but has no
+name. For, Master, it was _you_ who saved _me_ from the lion and not I
+you, since you cut its throat at the last. So that debt of mine is still
+to pay and by the great Grasshopper which we worship in my country, who
+is much better than all the gods of the Egyptians put together, I swear
+that I will pay it soon, or mayhap ten thousand years hence. At the last
+it shall be paid."
+
+"Why do you worship a grasshopper and why is he better than the gods of
+the Egyptians?" I asked carelessly, for I was tired and his talk amused
+me while we rested.
+
+"We worship the Grasshopper, Master, because he jumps with men's spirits
+from one life to another, or from this world to the next, yes, right
+through the blue sky. And he is better than your Egyptian gods because
+they leave you to find your own way there, and then eat you alive, that
+is if you have tried to poison people, as of course we have all done.
+But, Master, we are fresh again now, so let us be going, for the hour
+will soon be finished. Also when she has eaten the spear handle, that
+lioness may return."
+
+"Yes," I said; "let us go and report to the King of kings that we have
+killed a lion."
+
+"Master, it is not enough. Even common kings believe little that they
+do not see, wherefore it is certain that a King of kings will believe
+nothing and still more certain that he will not come here to look. So as
+we cannot carry the lion, we must take a bit of it," and straightway he
+cut off the end of the brute's tail.
+
+Following the crocodile path, presently we reached the edge of the reeds
+opposite to the camp where the King now sat in state beneath a purple
+pavilion that had been reared, eating a meal, with his courtiers
+standing at a distance and looking very hungry.
+
+Out of the reeds bounded Bes, naked and bloody, waving the lion's tail
+and singing some wild Ethiopian chant, while I, also bloody and half
+naked, for the lion's claws had torn my jerkin off me, followed with bow
+unstrung.
+
+The King looked up and saw us.
+
+"What! Do you live, Egyptian?" he asked. "Of a surety I thought that by
+now you would be dead."
+
+"It was the lion that died, O King," I answered, pointing to Bes who,
+having ceased from his song, was jumping about carrying the beast's tail
+in his mouth as a dog carries a bone.
+
+"It seems that this Egyptian has killed a lion," said the King to one of
+his lords, him of the painted face and scented hair.
+
+"May be please the King," he answered, bowing, "a tail is not the whole
+beast and may have been taken thither, or cut from a lion lying dead
+already. The King knows that the Egyptians are great liars."
+
+So he spoke because he was jealous of the deed.
+
+"These men look as though they had met a live one, not one that is
+dead," said the King, scanning our blood-stained shapes. "Still, as
+you doubt it, you will wish to put the matter to the proof. Therefore,
+Cousin, take six men with you, enter the reeds and search. In that soft
+ground it will be easy to follow their footmarks."
+
+"It is dangerous, O King," began the prince, for such he was, no less.
+
+"And therefore the task will be the more to your taste, Cousin. Go now,
+and be swift."
+
+So six hunters were called and the prince went, cursing me beneath his
+breath as he passed us. For he was terribly afraid, and with reason.
+Suddenly Bes ceased from his antics and prostrating himself, cried,
+
+"A boon, O King. This noble lord throws doubt upon my master's word.
+Suffer that I may lead him to where the lion lies dead, since otherwise
+wandering in those reeds the great King's cousin might come to harm and
+the great King be grieved."
+
+"I have many cousins," said the King. "Still go if you wish, Dwarf."
+
+So Bes ran after the prince and catching him up, tapped him on the
+shoulder with the lion's tail to point out the way. Then they vanished
+into the reeds and I went to the chariot to wash off the blood from my
+body and clothes. As I fastened my robe I heard a sound of roaring, then
+one scream, after which all grew still. Now I drew near to the reeds and
+stood between them and the King's camp.
+
+Presently on their edge appeared Bes dancing and singing as before, but
+this time he held a lion's tail in either hand. After him came the six
+hunters dragging between them the body of the lion we had killed. They
+staggered with it towards the King, and I followed.
+
+"I see the dwarf," he said. "I see the dead lion and I see the hunters.
+But where is my cousin? Make report, O Bes."
+
+"O King of kings," replied Bes, "the mighty prince your cousin lies flat
+yonder beneath the body of that lion's wife. She sprang upon him and
+killed him, and I sprang upon her and killed her with my spear. Here is
+her tail, O King of kings."
+
+"Is this true?" he asked of the hunters.
+
+"It is true, O King," answered their captain. "The lioness, which was
+wounded, leapt upon the prince, choosing him although he was behind us
+all. Then this dwarf leapt upon the lioness, being behind the prince and
+nearest to him, and drove his spear through her shoulders to her heart.
+So we brought the first lion as the King commanded us, since we could
+carry no more."
+
+The face of the King grew red with rage.
+
+"Seven of my people and one black dwarf!" he exclaimed. "Yet the lioness
+kills my cousin and the dwarf kills the lioness. Such is the tale that
+will go to Egypt concerning the hunters of the King of the world. Seize
+those men, Guards, and let them be fed to the wild beasts in the palace
+dens."
+
+At once the unfortunates were seized and led away. Then the King called
+Bes to him, and taking the gold chain he wore about his neck, threw
+it over his head, thereby, though I knew nothing of it at the time,
+conferring upon him some noble rank. Next he called to me and said,
+
+"It would seem that you are skilled in the use of the bow and in the
+hunting of lions, Egyptian. Therefore I will honour you, for this
+afternoon your chariot shall drive with my chariot, and we will hunt
+side by side. Moreover, I will lay you a wager as to which of us will
+kill the most lions, for know, Shabaka, that I also am skilled in
+the use of the bow, more skilled than any among the millions of my
+subjects."
+
+"Then, O King, it is of little use for me to match myself against you,
+seeing that I have met men who can shoot better than I do, or, since in
+the East all must speak nothing but the truth, not being liars as the
+dead prince said we Egyptians are, one man."
+
+"Who was that man, Shabaka?"
+
+"The Prince Peroa, O King."
+
+The King frowned as though the name displeased him, then answered,
+
+"Am I not greater than this Peroa and cannot I therefore shoot better?"
+
+"Doubtless, O King of kings, and therefore how can I who shoot worse
+than Peroa, match myself against you?"
+
+"For which reason I will give you odds, Shabaka. Behold this rope of
+rose-hued pearls I wear. They are unequalled in the whole world, for
+twenty years the merchants sought them in the days of my father; half
+of them would buy a satrapy. I wager them"--here the listening nobles
+gasped and the fat eunuch, Houman, held up his hands in horror.
+
+"Against what, O King?"
+
+"Your slave Bes, to whom I have taken a fancy."
+
+Now I trembled and Bes rolled his yellow eyes.
+
+"Your pardon, O King of kings," I said, "but it is not enough. I am a
+hunter and to such, priceless pearls are of little use. But to me that
+dwarf is of much use in my hunting."
+
+"So be it, Shabaka, then I will add to the wager. If you win, together
+with the pearls I will give you the dwarf's weight in solid gold."
+
+"The King is bountiful," I answered, "but it is not enough, for even if
+I win against one who can shoot better than Peroa, which is impossible,
+what should I do with so much gold? Surely for the sake of it I should
+be murdered or ever I saw the coasts of Egypt."
+
+"What shall I add then?" asked the King. "The most beauteous maiden in
+the House of Women?"
+
+I shook my head. "Not so, O King, for then I must marry who would remain
+single."
+
+"There is no need, you might sell her to your friend, Peroa. A satrapy?"
+
+"Not so, O King, for then I must govern it, which would keep me from my
+hunting, until it pleased the King to take my head."
+
+"By the name of the holy ones I worship what then do you ask added to
+the pearls and the pure gold?"
+
+Now I tried to bethink me of something that the King could not grant,
+since I had no wish for this match which my heart warned me would end
+in trouble. As no thought came to me I looked at Bes and saw that he was
+rolling his eyes towards the six doomed hunters who were being led away,
+also in pretence of driving off a fly, pointing to them with one of the
+lion tails. Then I remembered that a decree once uttered by the King of
+the East could not be altered, and saw a road of escape.
+
+"O King," I said, "together with the pearls and the gold I ask that the
+lives of those six hunters be added to the wager, to be spared if by
+chance I should win."
+
+"Why?" asked the King amazed.
+
+"Because they are brave men, O King, and I would not see the bones of
+such cracked by tame beasts in a cage."
+
+"Is my judgment registered?" asked the King.
+
+"Not yet, O King," answered the head scribe.
+
+"Then it has no weight and can be suspended without the breaking of the
+law. Shabaka, thus stands our wager. If I kill more lions than you do
+this day, or, should but two be slain, I kill the first, or should none
+be slain, I plant more arrows in their bodies, I take your slave, Bes
+the dwarf, to be my slave. But should you have the better of me in any
+of these ways, then I give to you this girdle of rose pearls and the
+weight of the dwarf Bes in gold and the six hunters free of harm, to do
+with what you will. Let it be recorded, and to the hunt."
+
+
+
+Soon Bes and I were in our chariot which by command took place in line
+with that of the King, but at a distance of some thirty steps. Bending
+over the dwarf who drove, I spoke with him, saying,
+
+"Our luck is ill to-day, Bes, seeing that before the end of it we may
+well be parted."
+
+"Not so, Master, our luck is good to-day seeing that before the end of
+it you will be the richer by the finest pearls in the whole world, by my
+weight in pure gold (and Master, I am twice as heavy as the king thought
+and will stuff myself with twenty pounds of meat before the weighing, if
+I have the chance, or at least with water, though in this hot place that
+will not last for long), and by six picked huntsmen, brave men as you
+thought, who will serve to escort us and our treasure to the coast."
+
+"First I must win the match, Bes."
+
+"Which you could do with one eye blinded, Master, and a sore finger.
+Kings think that they can shoot because all the worms that crawl about
+them and are named men, dare not show themselves their betters. Oh! I
+have heard tales in yonder city. There have been days when this Lord
+of the world has missed six lions with as many arrows, and they seated
+smiling in his face, being but tamed brutes brought from far in cages of
+wood, yes, smiling like cats in the sun. Look you, Master, he drinks
+too much wine and sits up too late in his Women's house--there are three
+hundred of them there, Master--to shoot as you and I can. If you doubt
+it, look at his eyes and hands. Oh! the pearls and the gold and the men
+are yours, and that painted prince who mocked us is where he ought to
+be--dead in the mud.
+
+"Did I tell you how I managed that, Master? As you know better than I
+do, lions hate those that have on them the smell of their own blood.
+Therefore, while I pointed out the way to him, I touched the painted
+prince with the bleeding tail of that which we killed, pretending that
+it was by chance, for which he cursed me, as well he might. So when we
+came to the dead lion and, as I had expected, met there the lioness you
+had wounded, she charged through the hunters at him who smelt of her
+husband, and bit his head off."
+
+"But, Bes, you smelt of him also, and worse."
+
+"Yes, Master, but that painted cousin of the King came first. I kept
+well behind him, pretending to be afraid," and he chuckled quietly,
+adding, "I expect that he is now telling an angry tale about me to
+Osiris, or to the Grasshopper that takes him there, as it may happen."
+
+"These Easterns worship neither Osiris, nor your Grasshopper, Bes, but a
+flame of fire."
+
+"Then he is telling the tale to the fire, and I hope that it will get
+tired and burn him."
+
+So we talked merrily enough because we had done great deeds and thought
+that we had outwitted the Easterns and the King, not knowing all their
+craft. For none had told us that that man who hunted with the King and
+yet dared to draw arrow upon the quarry before the King should be put
+to death as one who had done insult to his Majesty. This that royal fox
+remembered and therefore was sure that he would win the wager.
+
+Now the chariots turned and passing down a path came to an open space
+that was cleared of reeds. Here they halted, that of the King and my own
+side by side with ten paces between them, and those of the court behind.
+Meanwhile huntsmen with dogs entered the great brake far away to the
+right and left of us, also in front, so that the lions might be driven
+backwards and forwards across the open space.
+
+Soon we heard the hounds baying on all sides. Then Bes made a sucking
+noise with his great lips and pointed to the edge of the reeds in front
+of us some sixty paces away. Looking, I saw a yellow shape creeping
+along between their dark stems, and although the shot was far,
+forgetting all things save I was a hunter and there was my game, I drew
+the arrow to my ear, aimed and loosed, making allowance for its fall and
+for the wind.
+
+Oh! that shot was good. It struck the lion in the body and pierced him
+through. Out he came, roaring, rolling, and tearing at the ground. But
+by now I had another arrow on the string, and although the King lifted
+his bow, I loosed first. Again it struck, this time in the throat, and
+that lion groaned and died.
+
+The King looked at me angrily, and from the court behind rose a murmur
+of wonder mingled with wrath, wonder at my marksmanship, and wrath
+because I had dared to shoot before the King.
+
+"The wager looks well for us," muttered Bes, but I bade him be silent,
+for more lions were stirring.
+
+Now one leapt across the open space, passing in front of the King and
+within thirty paces of us. He shot and missed it, sending his shaft two
+spans above its back. Then I shot and drove the arrow through it just
+where the head joins the neck, cutting the spine, so that it died at
+once.
+
+Again that murmur went up and the King struck the charioteer on the head
+with his clenched fist, crying out that he had suffered the horses to
+move and should be scourged for causing his hand to shake.
+
+This charioteer, although he was a lord--since in the East men of high
+rank waited on the King like slaves and even clipped his nails and
+beard--craved pardon humbly, admitting his fault.
+
+"It is a lie," whispered Bes. "The horses never stirred. How could they
+with those grooms holding their heads? Nevertheless, Master, the pearls
+are as good as round your neck."
+
+"Silence," I answered. "As we have heard, in the East all men speak the
+truth; it is only Egyptians who lie. Also in the East men's necks are
+encircled with bowstrings as well as pearls, and ears are long."
+
+The hounds continued to bay, drawing nearer to us. A lioness bounded out
+of the reeds, ran towards the King's chariot and as though amazed, sat
+down like a dog, so near that a man might have hit it with a stone. The
+King shot short, striking it in the fore-paw only, whereon it shook out
+the arrow and rushed back into the reeds, while the court behind cried,
+
+"May the King live for ever! The beast is dead."
+
+"We shall see if it is dead presently," said Bes, and I nodded.
+
+Another lion appeared to the right of the King. Again he shot and missed
+it, whereon he began to curse and to swear in his own royal oaths, and
+the charioteer trembled. Then came the end.
+
+One of the hounds drew quite close and roused the lioness that had been
+pricked in the foot. She turned and killed it with a blow of her paw,
+then, being mad, charged straight at the King's chariot. The horses
+reared, lifting the grooms off their feet. The King shot wildly and fell
+backwards out of the chariot, as even Kings of the world must do when
+they have nothing left to stand on. The lioness saw that he was down and
+leapt at him, straight over the chariot. As she leapt I shot at her
+in the air and pierced her through the loins, paralysing her, so that
+although she fell down near the King, she could not come at him to kill
+him.
+
+I sprang from my chariot, but before I could reach the lioness hunters
+had run up with spears and stabbed her, which was easy as she could not
+move.
+
+The King rose from the ground, for he was unharmed, and said in a loud
+voice,
+
+"Had not that shaft of mine gone home, I think that the East would have
+bowed to another lord to-night."
+
+Now, forgetting that I was speaking to the King of the earth, forgetting
+the wager and all besides, I exclaimed,
+
+"Nay, your shaft missed; mine went home," whereon one of the courtiers
+cried,
+
+"This Egyptian is a liar, and calls the King one!"
+
+"A liar?" I said astonished. "Look at the arrow and see from whose
+quiver it came," and I drew one from my own of the Egyptian make and
+marked with my mark.
+
+Then a tumult broke out, all the courtiers and eunuchs talking at once,
+yet all bowing to the mud-stained person of the King, like ears of wheat
+to a tree in a storm. Not wishing to urge my claims further, for my part
+I returned to the chariot and the hunting being done, as I supposed,
+unstrung my bow which I prized above all things, and set it in its case.
+
+While I was thus employed the eunuch Houman approached me with a sickly
+smile, saying,
+
+"The King commands your presence, Egyptian, that you may receive your
+reward."
+
+I nodded, saying that I would come, and he returned.
+
+"Bes," I said when he was out of hearing, "my heart sinks. I do not
+trust that King who I think means mischief."
+
+"So do I, Master. Oh! we have been great fools. When a god and a man
+climb a tree together, the man should allow the god to come first to the
+top, and thence tell the world that he is a god."
+
+"Yes," I answered, "but who ever sees Wisdom until she is flying away?
+Now perhaps, the god being the stronger, will cast down the man."
+
+Then both together we advanced towards the King, leaving the chariot in
+charge of soldiers. He was seated on a gilded chair which served him
+as a throne, and behind him were his officers, eunuchs and attendants,
+though not all of them, since at a little distance some of them were
+engaged in beating the lord who had served as his charioteer upon the
+feet with rods. We prostrated ourselves before him and waited till he
+spoke. At length he said,
+
+"Shabaka the Egyptian, we made a wager with you, of which you will
+remember the terms. It seems that you have won the wager, since you slew
+two lions, whereas we, the King, slew but one, that which leapt upon us
+in the chariot."
+
+Here Bes groaned at my side and I looked up.
+
+"Fear nothing," he went on, "it shall be paid." Here he snatched off the
+girdle of priceless, rose-hued pearls and threw it in my face.
+
+"At the palace too," he went on, "the dwarf shall be set in the scales
+and his full weight in pure gold shall be given to you. Moreover, the
+lives of the six hunters are yours, and with them the men themselves."
+
+"May the King live for ever!" I exclaimed, feeling that I must say
+something.
+
+"I hope so," he answered cruelly, "but, Egyptian, you shall not, who
+have broken the laws of the land."
+
+"In what way, O King?" I asked.
+
+"By shooting at the lions before the King had time to draw his bow, and
+by telling the King that he lied to his face, for both of which things
+the punishment is death."
+
+Now my heart swelled till I thought it would burst with rage. Then of a
+sudden, a certain spirit entered into me and I rose to my feet and said,
+
+"O King, you have declared that I must die and as this is so, I will
+kneel to you no more who soon shall sup at the table of Osiris, and
+there be far greater than any king, going before him with clean hands.
+Is it not your law that he who is condemned to die has first the right
+to set out his case for the honour of his name?"
+
+"It is," said the King, I think because he was curious to hear what I
+had to say. "Speak on."
+
+"O King, although my blood is as high as your own, of that I say
+nothing, for at the wish of your satrap I came to the East from Egypt as
+a hunter, to show you how we of Egypt kill lions and other beasts. For
+three months I have waited in the royal city seeking admission to the
+presence of the King, and in vain. At length I was bidden to this hunt
+when I was about to depart to my own land, and being taunted by your
+servants, entered the reeds with my slave, and there slew a lion. Then
+it pleased you to thrust a wager upon me which I did not wish to
+take, as to which of us would shoot the most lions; a wager as I now
+understand you did not mean that I should win, whatever might be my
+skill, since you thought I knew that I must shoot at nothing till you
+had first shot and killed the beasts or scared them away.
+
+"So I matched myself against you, as hunter against hunter, for in the
+field, as before the gods, all are equal, not as a slave against a king
+who is determined to avenge defeat by death. We were posted and the
+lions came. I shot at those which appeared opposite to me, or upon
+my side, leaving those that appeared opposite to you, or on your side
+unshot at, as is the custom of hunters. My skill, or my fortune, was
+better than yours and I killed, whereas you missed or only wounded. In
+the end a lioness sprang at you and I shot it lest it should kill you;
+as could easily be proved by the arrow in its body. Now you say that I
+must die because I have broken some laws of yours which men should
+be ashamed to make, and to save your honour, pay me what I have won,
+knowing that pearls and gold and slaves are of no value to a dying man
+and can be taken back again. That is all the story.
+
+"Yet I would add one word. You Easterns have two sayings which you teach
+to your children; that they should learn to shoot with the bow, and to
+tell the truth. O King, they are my last lessons to you. Learn to shoot
+with the bow--which you cannot do, and to tell the truth which you have
+not done. Now I have spoken and am ready to die and I thank you for
+the patience with which you have heard my words, that, as the King does
+_not_ live for ever, I hope one day to repeat to you more fully beyond
+the grave."
+
+Now at this bold speech of mine all those nobles and attendants gasped,
+for never had they heard such words addressed to his Majesty. The King
+turned red as though with shame, but made no answer, only he asked of
+those about him.
+
+"What fate for this man?"
+
+"Death, O King!" they cried with one voice.
+
+"What death?" he asked again.
+
+Then his Councillors consulted together and one of them answered,
+
+"The slowest known to our law, _death by the boat_."
+
+Hearing this and not knowing what was meant, it came into my mind that I
+was to be turned adrift in a boat and there left to starve.
+
+"Behold the reward of good hunting!" I mocked in my rage. "O King,
+because of this deed of shame I call upon you the curse of all the gods
+of all the peoples. Henceforth may your sleep be ever haunted by evil
+dreams of what shall follow the last sleep, and in the end may you also
+die in blood."
+
+The King opened his mouth as though to answer, but from it came nothing
+but a low cry of fear. Then guards rushed up and seized me.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI. THE DOOM OF THE BOAT
+
+The guards led me to my chariot and thrust me into it, and with me Bes.
+I asked them if they would murder him also, to which the eunuch, Houman,
+answered No, since he had committed no crime, but that he must go with
+me to be weighed. Then soldiers took the horses by the bridles and led
+them, while others, having first snatched away my bow and all our other
+weapons, surrounded the chariot lest we should escape. So Bes and I were
+able to talk together in a Libyan tongue that none of them understood,
+even if they heard our words.
+
+"Your life is spared," I said to him, "that the King may take you as a
+slave."
+
+"Then he will take an ill slave, Master, since I swear by the
+Grasshopper that within a moon I will find means to kill him, and
+afterwards come to join you in a land where men hunt fair."
+
+I smiled and Bes went on,
+
+"Now I wish I had time to teach you that trick of swallowing your own
+tongue, since perhaps you will need it in this boat of which they talk."
+
+"Did you not say to me an hour or two ago, Bes, that we are fools to
+stretch out our hands to Death until he stretches out his to us? I will
+not die until I must--now."
+
+"Why 'now,' Master, seeing that only this afternoon you bade me kill you
+rather than let you be thrown to the wild beasts?" he asked peering at
+me curiously.
+
+"Do you remember the old hermit, the holy Tanofir, who dwells in a cell
+over the sepulchre of the Apis bulls in the burial ground of the desert
+near to Memphis, Bes?"
+
+"The magician and prophet who is the brother of your grandfather,
+Master, and the son of a king; he who brought you up before he became a
+hermit? Yes, I know him well, though I have seldom been very near to him
+because his eyes frighten me, as they frightened Cambyses the Persian
+when Tanofir cursed him and foretold his doom after he had stabbed the
+holy Apis, saying that by a wound from that same sword in his own body
+he should die himself, which thing came to pass. As they have frightened
+many another man also."
+
+"Well, Bes, when yonder king told me that I must die, fear filled me
+who did not wish to die thus, and after the fear came a blackness in my
+mind. Then of a sudden in that blackness I saw a picture of Tanofir, my
+great uncle, seated in a sepulchre looking towards the East. Moreover
+I heard him speak, and to me, saying, 'Shabaka, my foster-son, fear
+nothing. You are in great danger but it will pass. Speak to the great
+King all that rises in your heart, for the gods of Vengeance make use of
+your tongue and whatever you prophesy to him shall be fulfilled.' So I
+spoke the words you heard and I feared nothing."
+
+"Is it so, Master? Then I think that the holy Tanofir must have entered
+my heart also. Know that I was minded to leap upon that king and break
+his neck, so that all three of us might end together. But of a sudden
+something seemed to tell me to leave him alone and let things go as they
+are fated. But how can the holy Tanofir who grows blind with age, see so
+far?"
+
+"I do not know, Bes, save that he is not as are other men, for in him
+is gathered all the ancient wisdom of Egypt. Moreover he lives with the
+gods while still upon earth, and like the gods can send his _Ka_, as we
+Egyptians call the spirit, or invisible self which companions all from
+the cradle to the grave and afterwards, whither he will. So doubtless
+to-day he sent it hither to me whom he loves more than anything on
+earth. Also I remember that before I entered on this journey he told
+me that I should return safe and sound. Therefore, Bes, I say I fear
+nothing."
+
+"Nor do I, Master. Yet if you see me do strange things, or hear me speak
+strange words, take no note of them, since I shall be but playing a part
+as I think wisest."
+
+After this we talked of that day's adventure with the lions, and of
+others that we had shared together, laughing merrily all the while, till
+the soldiers stared at us as though we were mad. Also the fat eunuch,
+Houman, who was mounted on an ass, rode up and said,
+
+"What, Egyptian who dared to twist the beard of the Great King, you
+laugh, do you? Well, you will sing a different song in the boat to that
+which you sing in the chariot. Think of my words on the eighth day from
+this."
+
+"I will think of them, Eunuch," I answered, looking at him fiercely in
+the eyes, "but who knows what kind of a song you will be singing before
+the eighth day from this?"
+
+"What I do is done under the authority of the ancient and holy Seal of
+Seals," he answered in a quavering voice, touching the little cylinder
+of white shell which I had noted upon the person of the King, but that
+now hung from a gold chain about the eunuch's neck.
+
+Then he made the sign which Easterns use to avert evil and rode off
+again, looking very frightened.
+
+So we came to the royal city and went up to a wonderful palace. Here we
+were taken from the chariot and led into a room where food and drink in
+plenty were given to me as though I were an honoured guest, which caused
+me to wonder. Bes also, seated on the ground at a distance, ate and
+drank, for his own reasons filling himself to the throat as though he
+were a wineskin, until the serving slaves mocked at him for a glutton.
+
+When we had finished eating, slaves appeared bearing a wooden framework
+from which hung a great pair of scales. Also there appeared officers of
+the King's Treasury, carrying leather bags which they opened, breaking
+the seals to show that the contents were pure gold coin. They set a
+number of these bags on one of the scales, and then ordered Bes to seat
+himself in the other. So much heavier did he prove than they expected
+him to be, that they were obliged to send back to the Treasury to fetch
+more bags of gold, for although Bes was so short in height, his weight
+was that of a large man. One of the treasurers grumbled, saying he
+should have been weighed before he had eaten and drunk. But the officer
+to whom he spoke grinned and answered that it mattered little, since the
+King was heir to criminals and that these bags would soon return to
+the Treasury, only they would need washing first, a remark that made me
+wonder.
+
+At length, when the scales were even, the six hunters whose lives I had
+won and who had been given to me as slaves, were brought in and ordered
+to shoulder the bags of gold. I too was seized and my hands were bound
+behind me. Then I was led out in charge of the eunuch Houman, who
+informed me with a leer that it would be his duty to attend to my
+comfort till the end. With him were four black men all dressed in the
+same way. These, he said, were the executioners. Lastly came Bes watched
+by three of the king's guards armed with spears, lest he should attempt
+to rescue me or to do anyone a mischief.
+
+Now my heart began to sink and I asked Houman what was to happen to me.
+
+"This, O Egyptian slayer of lions. You will be laid upon a bed in a
+little boat upon the river and another boat will be placed over you, for
+these boats are called the Twins, Egyptian, in such a fashion that your
+head and your hands will project at one end and your feet at the other.
+There you will be left, comfortable as a baby in its cradle, and twice
+every day the best of food and drink will be brought to you. Should your
+appetite fail, moreover, it will be my duty to revive it by pricking
+your eyes with the point of a knife until it returns. Also after each
+meal I shall wash your face, your hands and your feet with milk and
+honey, lest the flies that buzz about them should suffer hunger, and to
+preserve your skin from burning by the sun. Thus slowly you will
+grow weaker and at length fall asleep. The last one who went into the
+boat--he, unlucky man, had by accident wandered into the court of the
+House of Women and seen some of the ladies there unveiled--only
+lived for twelve days, but you, being so strong, may hope to last for
+eighteen. Is there anything more that I can tell you? If so, ask it
+quickly for we draw near to the river."
+
+Now when I heard this and understood all the horror of my fate, I forgot
+the vision of my great uncle, the holy Tanofir, and his comfortable
+prophecies, and my heart failed me altogether, so that I stood stock
+still.
+
+"What, Lion-hunter and Bearder of kings, do you think it is too early to
+go to bed?" mocked this devilish eunuch. "On with you!" and he began to
+beat me about the face with the handle of his fly-whisk.
+
+Then my manhood came back to me.
+
+"When did the King tell you to touch me, you fatted swine?" I roared,
+and turning, since I could not reach him with my bound hands, kicked
+him in the body with all my strength, so that he fell down, writhing and
+screaming with agony. Indeed, had not the executioners leapt upon me, I
+would have trampled the life out of him where he lay. But they held me
+fast and presently, after he had been sick, Houman recovered enough to
+come forward leaning on the shoulders of two guards. Only now he mocked
+me no more.
+
+We reached a quay just as the sun was setting. There in charge of a
+one-eyed black slave, a little square-ended boat floated at the river's
+edge, while on the quay itself lay a similar but somewhat shorter boat,
+bottom uppermost. Now the hunters whom I had won in the wager, with many
+glances of compassion, for they were brave men and knew that it was I
+who had saved their lives, placed the bags of gold in the bottom of the
+floating boat, and on the top of these a mattress stuffed with straw.
+Then the girdle of rose-hued pearls was made fast about my middle, my
+hands were untied, I was seized by the executioners and laid on my back
+on the mattress, and my wrists and ankles were fixed by cords to iron
+rings that were screwed to the thwarts of the boat. After this the
+other, shorter boat was laid over me in such a manner that it did not
+touch me, leaving my head, my hands and my feet exposed as the eunuch
+had said.
+
+While this wicked work was going forward Bes sat on the quay, watching,
+till presently, after I had been made fast and covered up, he burst into
+shouts of laughter, clapped his hands and began to dance about as though
+with joy, till the eunuch, who had now recovered somewhat from my kick,
+grew curious and asked him why he behaved thus.
+
+"O noble Eunuch," he answered, "once I was free and that man made me a
+slave, so that for many years I have been obliged to toil for him whom I
+hate. Moreover, often he has beaten me and starved me, which was why you
+saw me eat so much not long ago, and threatened to kill me, and now at
+last I have my revenge upon him who is about to die miserably. That is
+why I laugh and sing and dance and clap my hands, O most noble Eunuch,
+I who shall become the follower and servant of the glorious King of
+all the earth, and perhaps your friend, too, O Eunuch of eunuchs, whose
+sacred person my brutal master dared to kick."
+
+"I understand," said Houman smiling, though with a twisted face, "and
+will make report of all you say to the King, and ask him to grant that
+you shall sometimes prick this Egyptian in the eye. Now go spit in his
+face and tell him what you think of him."
+
+So Bes waded into the water which was quite shallow here, and spat into
+my face, or pretended to, while amid a torrent of vile language, he
+interpolated certain words in the Libyan tongue, which meant,
+
+"O my most beloved father, mother, and other relatives, have no fear.
+Though things look very black, remember the vision of the holy Tanofir,
+who doubtless allows these things to happen to you to try your faith by
+direct order of the gods. Be sure that I will not leave you to perish,
+or if there should be no escape, that I will find a way to put you out
+of your misery and to avenge you. Yes, yes, I will yet see that accursed
+swine, Houman, take your place in this boat. Now I go to the Court to
+which it seems that this gold chain gives me a right of entry, or so the
+eunuch says, but soon I will be back again."
+
+Then followed another stream or most horrible abuse and more spitting,
+after which he waded back to land and embraced Houman, calling him his
+best friend.
+
+They went, leaving me alone in the boat save for the guard upon the quay
+who, now that darkness had come, soon grew silent. It was lonely, very
+lonely, lying there staring at the empty sky with only the stinging
+gnats for company, and soon my limbs began to ache. I thought of the
+poor wretches who had suffered in this same boat and wondered if their
+lot would be my lot.
+
+Bes was faithful and clever, but what could a single dwarf do among all
+these black-hearted fiends? And if he could do nothing, oh! if he could
+do nothing!
+
+The seconds seemed minutes, the minutes seemed hours, and the hours
+seemed years. What then would the days be, passed in torture and
+agony while waiting for a filthy death? Where now were the gods I had
+worshipped and--was there any god? Or was man but a self-deceiver who
+created gods instead of the gods creating him, because he did not love
+to think of an eternal blackness in which he would soon be swallowed up
+and lost? Well, at least that would mean sleep, and sleep is better than
+torment of mind or body.
+
+It came to me, I think, who was so weary. At any rate I opened my eyes
+to see that the low moon had vanished and that some of the stars which
+I knew as a hunter who had often steered his way by them, had moved a
+little. While I was wondering idly why they moved, I heard the tramp of
+soldiers on the quay and the voice of an officer giving a command. Then
+I felt the boat being drawn in by the cord with which it was attached to
+the quay. Next the other boat that lay over me was lifted off, the ropes
+that bound we were undone and I was set upon my feet, for already I was
+so stiff that I could scarcely stand. A voice which I recognised as that
+of the eunuch Houman, addressed me in respectful tones, which made me
+think I must be dreaming.
+
+"Noble Shabaka," said the voice, "the Great King commands your presence
+at his feast."
+
+"Is it so?" I answered in my dream. "Then my absence from their feast
+will vex the gnats of the river," a saying at which Houman and others
+with him laughed obsequiously.
+
+Next I heard the bags of gold being removed from the boat, after which
+we walked away, guards supporting me by either elbow until I found my
+strength again, and Houman following just behind, perhaps because he
+feared my foot if he went in front.
+
+"What has chanced, Eunuch," I asked presently, "that I am disturbed from
+the bed where I was sleeping so well?"
+
+"I do not know, Lord," he answered. "I only know that the King of kings
+has suddenly commanded that you should be brought before him as a guest
+clothed in a robe of honour, even if to do so, you must be awakened from
+your rest, yes, to his own royal table, for he holds a feast this night.
+Lord," he went on in a whining voice, "if perchance fortune should have
+changed her face to you, I pray you bear no malice to those who, when
+she frowned, were forced, yes, under the private Seal of Seals, against
+their will to carry out the commands of the King. Be just, O Lord
+Shabaka."
+
+"Say no more. I will try to be just," I answered. "But what is justice
+in the East? I only know of it in Egypt."
+
+Now we reached one of the doors of the palace and I was taken to a
+chamber where slaves who were waiting, washed and anointed me with
+scents, after which they clad me in a beautiful robe of silk, setting
+the girdle of rose-hued pearls about me.
+
+When they had finished, preceded by Houman I was led to a great pillared
+hall closed in with silk hangings, where many feasted. Through them I
+went to a dais at the head of the hall where between half-drawn curtains
+surrounded by cup-bearers and other officers, the King sat in all his
+glory upon a cushioned golden throne. He had a glittering wine-cup in
+his hand and at a glance I saw that he was drunk, as it is the fashion
+for these Easterns to be at their great feasts, for he looked happy and
+human which he did not do when he was sober. Or perchance, as sometimes
+I thought afterwards, he only pretended to be drunk. Also I saw
+something else, namely, Bes, wondrously attired with the gold chain
+about his neck and wearing a red headdress. He was seated on the carpet
+before the throne, and saying things that made the King laugh and even
+caused the grave officers behind to smile.
+
+I came to the dais and at a little sign from Bes who yet did not seem to
+see me, such a sign as he often made when he caught sight of game before
+I did, I prostrated myself. The King looked at me, then asked,
+
+"Who is this?" adding, "Oh, I remember, the Egyptian whose arrows do not
+miss, the wonderful hunter whom Idernes sent to me from Memphis, which
+I hope to visit ere long. We quarrelled, did we not, Egyptian, something
+about a lion?"
+
+"Not so, King," I answered. "The King was angry and with justice,
+because I could not kill a lion before it frightened his horses."
+
+This I said because my hours in the boat had made me humble, also
+because the words came to my lips.
+
+"Yes, yes, something like that, or at least you lie well. Whatever it
+may have been, it is done with now, a mere hunters' difference," and
+taking from his side his long sceptre that was headed with the great
+emerald, he stretched it out for me to touch in token of pardon.
+
+Then I knew that I was safe for he to whom the King has extended his
+sceptre is forgiven all crimes, yes, even if he had attempted the royal
+life. The Court knew it also, for every man who saw bowed towards me,
+yes, even the officers behind the King. One of the cup-bearers too
+brought me a goblet of the King's own wine, which I drank thankfully,
+calling down health on the King.
+
+"That was a wonderful shot of yours, Egyptian," he said, "when you sent
+an arrow through the lioness that dared to attack my Majesty. Yes, the
+King owes his life to you and he is grateful as you shall learn. This
+slave of yours," and he pointed to Bes in his gaudy attire, "has brought
+the whole matter to my mind whence it had fallen, and, Shabaka," here he
+hiccupped, "you may have noted how differently things look to the naked
+eye and when seen through a wine goblet. He has told me a wonderful
+story--what was the story, Dwarf?"
+
+"May it please the great King," answered Bes, rolling his big eyes,
+"only a little tale of another king of my own country whom I used to
+think great until I came to the East and learned what kings could be.
+That king had a servant with whom he used to hunt, indeed he was my own
+father. One day they were out together seeking a certain elephant whose
+tusks were bigger than those of any other. Then the elephant charged the
+king and my father, at the risk of his life, killed it and claimed the
+tusks, as is the custom among the Ethiopians. But the king who greatly
+desired those tusks, caused my father to be poisoned that he might take
+them as his heir. Only before he died, my father, who could talk the
+elephant language, told all the other elephants of this wickedness,
+at which they were very angry, because they knew well that from the
+beginning of time their tusks have belonged to him who killed them, and
+the elephants are a people who do not like ancient laws to be altered.
+So the elephants made a league together and when the king next went out
+hunting, taking heed of nothing else they rushed at the king and tore
+him into pieces no bigger than a finger, and then killed the prince his
+son, who was behind him. That is the tale of the elephants who love Law,
+O King."
+
+"Yes, yes," said his Majesty, waking up from a little doze, "but what
+became of the great tusks? I should like to have them."
+
+"I inherited them as my father's son, O King, and gave them to my
+master, who doubtless will send them to you when he gets back to Egypt."
+
+"A strange tale," said the King. "A very strange tale which seems to
+remind me of something that happened not long ago. What was it? Well, it
+does not matter. Egyptian, do you seek any reward for that shot of
+yours at the lioness? If so, it shall be given to you. Have you a grudge
+against anyone, for instance?"
+
+"O King," I answered, "I do seek justice against a certain man. This
+evening I was led to the bank of the river in charge of the eunuch
+Houman, who desired to take me for a row in a boat. On the road, for no
+offence he struck me on the head with the handle of his fly-whip. See,
+here are the marks of it, O King. Unless the King commanded him to
+strike me which I do not remember, I seek justice against this eunuch."
+
+Now the King grew very angry and cried,
+
+"What! Did the dog dare to strike a freeborn noble Egyptian?"
+
+Here Houman threw himself upon his face in terror and began to babble
+out I know not what about the punishment of the boat, which was unlucky
+for him, for it put the matter into the King's mind.
+
+"The boat!" he cried. "Ah! yes, the boat; being so fat you will fit it
+well, Eunuch. To the boat with him, and before he enters it a hundred
+blows upon the feet with the rods," and he pointed at him with his
+sceptre.
+
+Then guards sprang upon Houman and dragged him away. As he went he
+clutched at Bes, but hissing something into his ear, the dwarf bit
+him through the hand till he let go. So Houman departed and the King's
+guests laughed at the sight, for he had worked mischief to many.
+
+When he had gone the King stared at me and asked,
+
+"But why did I disturb you from your sleep, Egyptian? Oh! I remember.
+This dwarf says that he has seen the fairest woman in the whole world,
+and the most learned, some lady of Egypt, but that he does not know her
+name, that you alone know her name. I disturbed you that you might tell
+it to me but if you have forgotten it, you can go back to your bed and
+rest there till it returns to you. There are plenty of boats in the
+river, Egyptian."
+
+"The fairest and most learned woman in the world?" I said astonished.
+"Who can that be, unless he means the lady Amada?" and I paused, wishing
+I had bitten out my tongue before I spoke, for I smelt a trap.
+
+"Yes, Master," said Bes in a clear voice. "That was the name, the lady
+Amada."
+
+"Who is this lady Amada?" asked the King, seeming to grow suddenly
+sober. "And what is she like?"
+
+"I can tell you that, O King," said Bes. "She is like a willow shaken in
+the wind for slenderness and grace. She has eyes like those of a buck
+at gaze; she has lips like rosebuds; she has hair black as the night and
+soft as silk, the odour of which floats round her like that of flowers.
+She has a voice that whispers like the evening wind, and yet is rich
+as honey. Oh! she is beautiful as a goddess and when men see her their
+hearts melt like wax in the sun and for a long while they can look upon
+no other woman, not till the next day indeed if they meet her in the
+evening," and Bes smacked his thick lips and gazed upwards.
+
+"By the holy Fire," laughed the King, "I feel my heart melting already.
+Say, Shabaka, what do you know of this Amada? Is she married or a
+maiden?"
+
+Now I answered because I must, for after all that boat was not far away,
+nor did I dare to lie.
+
+"She is married, O King of kings, to the goddess Isis whom she loves
+alone."
+
+"A woman married to a woman, or rather to the Queen of women," he
+answered laughing, "well, that matters little."
+
+"Nay, O King, it matters much since she is under the protection of Isis
+and inviolate."
+
+"That remains to be seen, Shabaka. I think that I would dare the wrath
+of every false goddess in heaven to win such a prize. Learned also, you
+say, Shabaka."
+
+"Aye, O King, full of learning to the finger tips, a prophetess also,
+one in whom the divine fire burns like a lamp in a vase of alabaster,
+one to whom visions come and who can read the future and the past."
+
+"Still better," said the King. "One, then, who would be a fitting
+consort for the King of kings, who wearies of fat, round-eyed,
+sweetmeat-sucking fools whereof there are hundreds yonder," and he
+pointed towards the House of Women. "Who is this maid's father?"
+
+"He is dead but she is the niece of the Prince Peroa, and by birth the
+Royal Lady of Egypt, O King."
+
+"Good, then she is well born also. Hearken, O Shabaka, to-morrow you
+start back to Egypt, bearing letters from me to my vassal Peroa, and to
+my Satrap Idernes, bidding Peroa to hand over this lady Amada to Idernes
+and bidding Idernes to send her to the East with all honour and without
+delay, that she may enter my household as one of my wives."
+
+Now I was filled with rage and horror, and about to refuse this mission
+when Bes broke in swiftly,
+
+"Will the King of kings be pleased to give command as to my master's
+safe and honourable escort to Egypt?"
+
+"It is commanded with all things necessary for Shabaka the Egyptian and
+the dwarf his servant, with the gold and gems and slaves he won from me
+in a wager, and everything else that is his. Let it be recorded."
+
+Scribes sprang forward and wrote the King's words down, while like one
+in a dream I thought to myself that they could not now be altered. The
+King watched them sleepily for a while, then seemed to wake up and grow
+clear-minded again. At least he said to me,
+
+"Fortune has shown you smiles and frowns to-day, Egyptian, and the
+smiles last. Yet remember that she has teeth behind her lips wherewith
+to tear out the throat of the faithless. Man, if you play me false or
+fail in your mission, be sure that you shall die and in such a fashion
+that will make you think of yonder boat as a pleasant bed, and with you
+this woman Amada and her uncle Peroa, and all your kin and hers; yes,"
+he added with a burst of shrewdness, "and even that abortion of a dwarf
+to whom I have listened because he amused me, but who perhaps is more
+cunning than he seems."
+
+"O King of kings," I said, "I will not be false." But I did not add to
+whom I would be true.
+
+"Good. Ere long I shall visit Egypt, as I have told you, and there
+I shall pass judgment on you and others. Till then, farewell. Fear
+nothing, for you have my safe-conduct. Begone, both of you, for you
+weary me. But first drink and keep the cup, and in exchange, give me
+that bow of yours which shoots so far and straight."
+
+"It is the King's," I answered as I pledged him in the golden, jewelled
+cup which a butler had handed to me.
+
+Then the curtain fell in front of the throne and chamberlains came
+forward to lead me and Bes back to our lodging, one of whom took the cup
+and bore it in front of us. Down the hall we went between the feasting
+nobles who all bowed to one to whom the Great King had shown favour, and
+so out of the palace through the quiet night back to the house where I
+had dwelt while waiting audience of the King. Here the chamberlains
+bade me farewell, giving the cup to Bes to carry, and saying that on the
+morrow early my gold should be brought to me together with all that was
+needed for my journey, also one who would receive the bow I had promised
+to the King, which had already been returned to my lodgings with
+everything that was ours. Then they bowed and went.
+
+We entered the house, climbing a stair to an upper chamber. Here Bes
+barred the door and the shutters, making sure that none could see or
+hear us.
+
+Then he turned, threw his arms about me, kissed my hand and burst into
+tears.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII. BES STEALS THE SIGNET
+
+"Oh! my Master," gulped Bes, "I weep because I am tired, so take no
+notice. The day was long and during it twice at least there has been but
+the twinkling of an eyelid, but the thickness of a finger nail, but the
+weight of a hair between you and death."
+
+"Yes," I said, "and you were the eyelid, the finger nail and the hair."
+
+"No, Master, not I, but something beyond me. The tool carves the statue
+and the hand holds the tool but the spirit guides the hand. Not once
+only since the sun rose has my mind been empty as a drum. Then something
+struck on it, perhaps the holy Tanofir, perhaps another, and it knew
+what note to sound. So it was when I cursed you in the boat. So it was
+when I walked back with the eunuch, meaning to kill him on the road, and
+then remembered that the death of one vile eunuch would not help you at
+all, whereas alive he could bring me to the presence of the King, if
+I paid him, as I did out of the gold in your purse which I carried.
+Moreover he earned his hire, for when the King grew dull, wine not yet
+having taken a hold on him, it was he who brought me to his mind as one
+who might amuse him, being so ugly and different from others, if only
+for a few minutes, after the women dancers had failed to do so."
+
+"And what happened then, Bes?"
+
+"Then I was fetched and did my juggling tricks with that snake I caught
+and tamed, which is in my pouch now. You should not hate it any more,
+Master, for it played your game well. After this the King began to talk
+to me and I saw that his mind was ill at ease about you whom he knew
+that he had wronged. So I told him that story of an elephant that my
+father killed to save a king--it grew up in my mind like a toadstool in
+the night, Master, did this story of an ungrateful king and what befell
+him. Then the King became still more unquiet in his heart about you and
+asked the eunuch, Houman, where you were, to which he answered that by
+his order you were sleeping in a boat and might not be disturbed. So
+that arrow of mine missed its mark because the King did not like to eat
+his own words and cause you to be brought from out the boat, whither he
+had sent you. Now when everything seemed lost, some god, or perhaps
+the holy Tanofir who is ever present with me to see that I have not
+forgotten him, put it into the King's mouth to begin to talk about women
+and to ask me if I had ever seen any fairer than those dancers whom I
+met going out as I came in. I answered that I had not noticed them much
+because they were so ugly, as indeed all women had seemed to me since
+once upon the banks of Nile I had looked upon one who was as Hathor
+herself for beauty. The King asked me who this might be and I answered
+that I did not know since I had never dared to ask the name of one whom
+even my master held to be as a goddess, although as boy and girl they
+had been brought up together.
+
+"Then the King saw his opportunity to ease his conscience and inquired
+of an old councillor if there were not a law which gave the king power
+to alter his decree if thereby he could satisfy his soul and acquire
+knowledge. The councillor answered that there was such a law and began
+to give examples of its working, till the King cut him short and said
+that by virtue of it he commanded that you should be brought out of your
+bed in the boat and led before him to answer a question.
+
+"So you were sent for, Master, but I did not go with the messengers,
+fearing lest if I did the King would forget all about the matter before
+you came. Therefore I stayed and amused him with tales of hunting, till
+I could not think of any more, for you were long in coming. Indeed I
+began to fear lest he should declare the feast at an end. But at the
+last, just as he was yawning and spoke to one of his councillors,
+bidding him send to the House of Women that they might make ready to
+receive him there, you came, and the rest you know."
+
+Now I looked at Bes and said,
+
+"May the blessing of all the gods of all the lands be on your head,
+since had it not been for you I should now lie in torment in that boat.
+Hearken, friend: If ever we reach Egypt again, you will set foot on it,
+not as a slave but as a free man. You will be rich also, Bes, that is,
+if we can take the gold I won with us, since half of it is yours."
+
+Bes squatted down upon the floor and looked up at me with a strange
+smile on his ugly face.
+
+"You have given me three things, Master," he said. "Gold, which I do
+not want at present; freedom, which I do not want at present and mayhap,
+never shall while you live and love me; and the title of friend. This
+I do want, though why I should care to hear it from your lips I am not
+sure, seeing that for a long while I have known that it was spoken in
+your heart. Since you have said it, however, I will tell you something
+which hitherto I have hid even from you. I have a right to that name,
+for if your blood is high, O Shabaka, so is mine. Know that this poor
+dwarf whom you took captive and saved long years ago was more than the
+petty chief which he declared himself to be. He was and is by right the
+King of the Ethiopians and that throne with all its wealth and power he
+could claim to-morrow if he would."
+
+"The King of the Ethiopians!" I said. "Oh! friend Bes, I pray you to
+remember that we no longer stand in yonder court lying for our lives."
+
+"I speak no lie, O Shabaka, I before you am King of the Ethiopians.
+Moreover, I laid that kingship down of my own will and should I so
+desire, can take it up again when I will, since the Ethiopians are
+faithful to their kings."
+
+"Why?" I asked, astonished.
+
+"Master, for so I will still call you who am not yet upon the land
+of Egypt where you have promised me freedom, do you remember anything
+strange about the people of that tribe from among whom you and the
+Egyptian soldiers captured me by surprise, because they wished to drive
+you and your following from their country?"
+
+Now I thought and answered,
+
+"Yes, one thing. I saw no women in their camp, nor any sign of children.
+This I know because I gave orders that such were to be spared and it was
+reported to me that there were none, so I supposed that they had fled
+away."
+
+"There were none to fly, Master. That tribe was a brotherhood which had
+abjured women. Look on me now. I am misshapen, hideous, am I not? Born
+thus, it is said, because before my birth my mother was frightened by
+a dwarf. Yet the law of the Ethiopians is that their kings must marry
+within a year of their crowning. Therefore I chose a woman to be the
+queen whom I had long desired in secret. She scorned me, vowing that not
+for all the thrones of all the world would she be mated to a monster,
+and that if it were done by force she would kill herself, a saying that
+went abroad throughout the land. I said that she had spoken well and
+sent her in safety from the country, after which I too laid down my
+crown and departed with some who loved me, to form a brotherhood of
+women-haters further down the Nile, beyond the borders of Ethiopia.
+There the Egyptian force of which you were in command, attacked us
+unprepared, and you made me your slave. That is all."
+
+"But why did you do this, Bes, seeing that maidens are many and all
+would not have thought thus?"
+
+"Because I wished for that one only, Master; also I feared lest I should
+become the father of a breed of twisted dwarfs. So I who was a king am
+now a slave, and yet, who knows which way the Grasshopper will jump? One
+day from a slave I may again grow into a king. And now let us seek that
+wherein kings are as slaves and slaves as kings--sleep."
+
+So we lay down and slept, I thanking the gods that my bed was not yonder
+in the boat upon the great river.
+
+When I woke refreshed, though after all I had gone through on the
+yesterday my brain still swam a little, the light was pouring through
+the carved work of the shuttered windows. By it I saw Bes seated on the
+floor engaged in doing something to his bow, which, as I have said, had
+been restored to us with our other weapons, and asked him sleepily what
+it was.
+
+"Master," he said, "yonder King demanded your bow and therefore a bow
+must be sent to him. But there is no need for it to be that with which
+you shot the lions, which, too, you value above anything you have,
+seeing that it came down to you from your forefather who was a Pharaoh
+of Egypt, and has been your companion from boyhood ever since you were
+strong enough to draw it. As you may remember I copied that bow out of a
+somewhat lighter wood, which I could bend with ease, and it is the copy
+that we will give to the King. Only first I must set your string upon
+it, for that may have been noted; also make one or two marks that are on
+your bow which I am finishing now, having begun the task with the dawn."
+
+"You are clever," I said laughing, "and I am glad. The holy Tanofir,
+looking on my bow, once had a vision. It was that an arrow loosed from
+it would drink the blood of a great king and save Egypt. But what king
+and when, he did not see."
+
+The dwarf nodded and answered,
+
+"I have heard that tale and so have others. Therefore I play this trick
+since it is better that yonder palace dweller should get the arrow than
+the bow. There, it is finished to the last scratch, and none, save you
+and I, would know them apart. Till we are clear of this cursed land your
+bow is mine, Master, and you must find you another of the Eastern make."
+
+"Master," I repeated after him. "Say, Bes, did I dream or did you in
+truth tell me last night that you are by birth and right the king of a
+great country?"
+
+"I told you that, Master and it is true, no dream, since joy and
+suffering mixed unseal the lips and from them comes that at times which
+the heart would hide. Now I ask a favour of you, that you will speak no
+more of this matter either to me or to any other, man or woman, unless I
+should speak of it first. Let it be as though it were indeed a dream."
+
+"It is granted," I said as I rose and clothed myself, not in my own
+garments which had been taken from me in the palace, but in the splendid
+silken robes that had been set upon me after I was loosed from the boat.
+When this was done and I had washed and combed my long, curling hair,
+we descended to a lower chamber and called for the woman of the house to
+bring us food, of which I ate heartily. As we finished our meal we
+heard shouts in the street outside of, "Make way for the servants of
+the King!" and looking through the window-place, saw a great cavalcade
+approaching, headed by two princes on horseback.
+
+"Now I pray that yonder Tyrant has not changed his mind and that these
+do not come to take me back to the boat," I said in a low voice.
+
+"Have no fear, Master," answered Bes, "seeing that you have touched his
+sceptre and drunk from his cup which he gave to you. After these things
+no harm can happen to you in any land he rules. Therefore be at ease and
+deal with these fellows proudly."
+
+A minute later two princes entered followed by slaves who bore many
+things, among them those hide bags filled with gold that had been set
+beneath me in the boat. The elder of them bowed, greeting me with the
+title of "Lord," and I bowed back to him. Then he handed me certain
+rolls tied up with silk and sealed, which he said I was to deliver as
+the King had commanded to the King's Satrap in Egypt, and to the Prince
+Peroa. Also he gave me other letters addressed to the King's servants on
+the road and written on tablets of clay in a writing I could not read,
+with all of which I touched my forehead in the Eastern fashion.
+
+After this he told me that by noon all would be ready for my journey
+which I should make with the rank of the King's Envoy, duly provisioned
+and escorted by his servants, with liberty to use the royal horses from
+post to post. Then he ordered the slaves to bring in the gifts which the
+King sent to me, and these were many, including even suits of flexible
+armour that would turn any sword-thrust or arrow.
+
+I thanked him, saying that I would be ready to start by noon, and asked
+whether the King wished to see me before I rode. He replied that he had
+so wished, but that as he was suffering in his head from the effects
+of the sun, he could not. He bade me, however, remember all that he had
+said to me and to be sure that the beauteous lady Amada, of whom I had
+spoken, was sent to him without delay. In that case my reward should be
+great; but if I failed to fulfil his commands, then his wrath would be
+greater and I should perish miserably as he had promised.
+
+I bowed and made no answer, after which he and his companions opened the
+bags of gold to show me that it was there, offering to weigh it again
+against my servant, the dwarf, so that I could see that nothing had been
+taken away.
+
+I replied that the King's word was truer than any scale, whereon the
+bags were tied up again and sealed. Then I produced the bow, or rather
+its counterfeit, and having shown it to the princes, wrapped it and
+six of my own arrows in a linen cloth, to be taken to the King, with
+a message that though hard to draw it was the deadliest weapon in the
+world. The elder of them took it, bowed and bade me farewell, saying
+that perhaps we should meet again ere long in Egypt, if my gods gave me
+a safe journey. So we parted and I was glad to see the last of them.
+
+Scarcely had they gone when the six hunters whom I had won in the wager
+and thereby saved from death, entered the chamber and fell upon their
+knees before me, asking for orders as to making ready my gear for the
+journey. I inquired of them if they were coming also, to which their
+spokesman replied that they were my slaves to do what I commanded.
+
+"Do you desire to come?" I inquired.
+
+"O Lord Shabaka," answered their spokesman, "we do, though some of us
+must leave wives and children behind us."
+
+"Why?" I asked.
+
+"For two reasons, Lord. Here we are men disgraced, though through no
+fault of our own and if you were to leave us in this land, soon the
+anger of the King would find us out and we should lose not only our
+wives and children, but with them our lives. Whereas in another land we
+may get other wives and more children, but never shall we get another
+life. Therefore we would leave those dear ones to our friends, knowing
+that soon the women will forget and find other husbands, and that the
+children will grow up to whatever fate is appointed them, thinking of
+us, their fathers, as dead. Secondly we are hunters by trade, and we
+have seen that you are a great hunter, one whom we shall always be proud
+to serve in the chase or in war, one, too, who went out of his path to
+save our lives, because he saw that we had been unjustly doomed to a
+cruel death. Therefore we desire nothing better than to be your slaves,
+hoping that perchance we may earn our liberty from you in days to come
+by our good service."
+
+"Is that the wish of all of you?" I asked.
+
+Speaking one by one, they said that it was, though tears rose in the
+eyes of some of them who were married at the thought of parting from
+their women and their little ones, who, it seemed might not be brought
+with them because they were the people of the King and had not been
+named in the bet. Moreover, horses could not be found for so many, nor
+could they travel fast.
+
+"Come then," I said, "and know that while you are faithful to me, I will
+be good to you, men of my own trade, and perhaps in the end set you free
+in a land where brave fellows are not given to be torn to pieces by wild
+beasts at the word of any kind. But if you fail me or betray me, then
+either I will kill you, or sell you to those who deal in slaves, to work
+at the oar, or in the mines till you die."
+
+"Henceforth we have no lord but you, O Shabaka," they said, and one
+after another took my hand and pressed it to their foreheads, vowing to
+be true to me in all things while we lived.
+
+So I bade them begone to bid farewell to those they loved and return
+again within half an hour of noon, never expecting, to tell the truth,
+that they would come. Indeed I did this to give them the opportunity of
+escaping if they saw fit, and hiding themselves where they would. But as
+I have often noted, the trade of hunting breeds honesty in the blood
+and at the hour appointed all of these men appeared, one of them with
+a woman who carried a child in her arms, clinging to him and weeping
+bitterly. When her veil slipped aside I saw that she was young and very
+fair to look on.
+
+
+
+So at noon we left the city of the Great King in the charge of two of
+his officers who brought me his thanks for the bow I had sent him, which
+he said he should treasure above everything he possessed, a saying
+at which Bes rolled his yellow eyes and grinned. We were mounted on
+splendid stallions from the royal stables and clad in the shirts of mail
+that had been presented to us, though when we were clear of the city
+we took these off because of the heat, also because that which Bes wore
+chafed him, being too long for his squat shape. Our goods together with
+the bags of gold were laden on sumpter horses which were led by my six
+hunter slaves. Four picked soldiers brought up the rear, mighty men from
+the King's own bodyguard, and two of the royal postmen who served us as
+guides. Also there were cooks and grooms with spare horses.
+
+Thus we started in state and a great crowd watched us go. Our road ran
+by the river which we must cross in barges lower down, so that in a
+few minutes we came to that quay whither I had been led on the previous
+night to die. Yes, there were the watching guards, and there floated the
+hateful double boat, at the prow of which appeared the tortured face of
+the eunuch Houman, who rolled his head from side to side to rid himself
+of the torment of the flies. He caught sight of us and began to scream
+for pity and forgiveness, whereat Bes smiled. The officers halted our
+cavalcade and one of them approaching me said,
+
+"It is the King's command, O Lord Shabaka, that you should look upon
+this villain who traduced you to the King and afterwards dared to strike
+you. If you will, enter the water and blind him, that your face may be
+the last thing he sees before he passes into darkness."
+
+I shook my head, but Bes into whose mind some thought had come,
+whispered to me,
+
+"I wish to speak with yonder eunuch, so give me leave and fear nothing.
+I will do him no hurt, only good, if I find the chance."
+
+Then I said to the officer,
+
+"It is not for great lords to avenge themselves upon the fallen. Yet my
+slave here was also wronged and would say a word to yonder Houman."
+
+"So be it," said the officer, "only let him be careful not to hurt
+him too sorely, lest he should die before the time and escape his
+punishment."
+
+Then Bes tucked up his robes and waded into the river, flourishing a
+great knife, while seeing him come, Houman began to scream with fear.
+He reached the boat and bent over the eunuch, talking to him in a low
+voice. What he did there I could not see because his cloak was spread
+out on either side of the man's head. Presently, however, I caught sight
+of the flash of a knife and heard yells of agony followed by groans,
+whereat I called to him to return and let the fellow be. For when I
+remembered that his fate was near to being my own, those sounds made me
+sick at heart and I grew angry with Bes, though the cruel Easterns only
+laughed.
+
+At length he came back grinning and washing the blade of his knife in
+the water. I spoke fiercely to him in my own language, and still he
+grinned on, making no answer. When we were mounted again and riding away
+from that horrible boat with its groaning prisoner, watching Bes whose
+behaviour and silence I could not understand, I saw him sweep his hand
+across his great mouth and thrust it swiftly into his bosom. After
+this he spoke readily enough, though in a low voice lest someone who
+understood Egyptian should overhear him.
+
+"You are a fool, Master," he said, "to think that I should wish to waste
+time in torturing that fat knave."
+
+"Then why did you torture him?" I asked.
+
+"Because my god, the Grasshopper, when he fashioned me a dwarf, gave
+me a big mouth and good teeth," he answered, whereon I stared at him,
+thinking that he had gone mad.
+
+"Listen, Master. I did not hurt Houman. All I did was to cut his cords
+nearly through from the under side, so that when night comes he can
+break them and escape, if he has the wit. Now, Master, you may not have
+noticed, but I did, that before the King doomed you to death by the boat
+yesterday, he took a certain round, white seal, a cylinder with gods and
+signs cut on it, which hung by a gold chain from his girdle, and gave it
+to Houman to be his warrant for all he did. This seal Houman showed to
+the Treasurer whereon they produced the gold that was weighed in the
+scales against me, and to others when he ordered the boat to be prepared
+for you to lie in. Moreover he forgot to return it, for when he himself
+was dragged off to the boat by direct command of the King, I caught
+sight of the chain beneath his robe. Can you guess the rest?"
+
+"Not quite," I answered, for I wished to hear the tale in his own words.
+
+"Well, Master, when I was walking with Houman after he had put you in
+the boat, I asked him about this seal. He showed it to me and said that
+he who bore it was for the time the king of all the Empire of the
+East. It seems that there is but one such seal which has descended from
+ancient days from king to king, and that of it every officer, great or
+small, has an impress in all lands. If the seal is produced to him,
+he compares it with the impress and should the two agree, he obeys the
+order that is brought as though the King had given it in person. When
+we reached the Court doubtless Houman would have returned the seal, but
+seeing that the King was, or feigned to be drunk, waited for fear lest
+it should be lost, and with it his life. Then he was seized as you saw,
+and in his terror forgot all about the seal, as did the King and his
+officers."
+
+"But, surely, Bes, those who took Houman to the boat would have removed
+it."
+
+"Master, even the most clear-sighted do not see well at night. At any
+rate my hope was that they had not done so, and that is why I waded out
+to prick the eyes of Houman. Moreover, as I had hoped, so it was; there
+beneath his robe I saw the chain. Then I spoke to him, saying,
+
+"'I am come to put out your eyes, as you deserve, seeing how you have
+treated my master. Still I will spare you at a price. Give me the King's
+ancient white seal that opens all doors, and I will only make a pretence
+of blinding you. Moreover I will cut your cords nearly through, so
+that when the night comes you can break them, roll into the river and
+escape.'
+
+"'Take it if you can,' he said, 'and use it to injure or destroy that
+accursed one.'"
+
+"So you took it, Bes."
+
+"Yes, Master, but not easily. Remember, it was on a chain about the
+man's neck, and I could not draw it over his head, for, like his hands,
+his throat was tied by a cord, as you remember yours was."
+
+"I remember very well," I said, "for my throat is still sore from the
+rope that ran to the same staples to which my hands were fastened."
+
+"Yes, Master, and therefore if I drew the chain off his neck, it would
+still have been on the ropes. I thought of trying to cut it with the
+knife, but this was not easy because it is thick, and if I had dragged
+it up on the blade of the knife it would have been seen, for many eyes
+were watching me, Master. Then I took another counsel. While I pretended
+to be putting out the eyes of Houman, I bent down and getting the chain
+between my teeth I bit it through. One tooth broke--see, but the next
+finished the business. I ate through the soft gold, Master, and then
+sucked up the chain and the round white seal into my mouth, and that
+is why I could not answer you just now, because my cheeks were full of
+chain. So we have the King's seal that all the subject countries know
+and obey. It may be useful, yonder in Egypt, and at least the gold is of
+value."
+
+"Clever!" I exclaimed, "very clever. But you have forgotten something,
+Bes. When that knave escapes, he will tell the whole story and the King
+will send after us and kill us who have stolen his royal seal."
+
+"I don't think so, Master. First, it is not likely that Houman will
+escape. He is very fat and soft and already suffers much. After a day in
+the sun also he will be weak. Moreover I do not think that he can swim,
+for eunuchs hate the water. So if he gets out of the boat it is probable
+that he will drown in the river, since he dare not wade to the quay
+where the guards will be waiting. But if he does escape by swimming
+across the river, he will hide for his life's sake and never be seen
+again, and if by chance he is caught, he will say that the seal fell
+into the water when he was taken to the boat, or that one of the guards
+had stolen it. What he will not say is that he had bargained it away
+with someone who in return, cut his cords, since for that crime he must
+die by worse tortures than those of the boat. Lastly we shall ride so
+fast that with six hours' start none will catch us. Or if they do I can
+throw away the chain and swallow the seal."
+
+As Bes said, so it happened. The fate of Houman I never learned, and of
+the theft of the seal I heard no more until a proclamation was issued to
+all the kingdoms that a new one was in use. But this was not until long
+afterwards when it had served my turn and that of Egypt.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII. THE LADY AMADA
+
+Now day by day, hour by hour and minute by minute every detail of that
+journey appeared before me, but to set it all down is needless. As I,
+Allan Quatermain, write the record of my vision, still I seem to hear
+the thunder of our horses' hoofs while we rushed forward at full gallop
+over the plains, over the mountain passes and by the banks of rivers.
+The speed at which we travelled was wonderful, for at intervals of about
+forty miles were post-houses and at these, whatever might be the hour
+of day or night, we found fresh horses from the King's stud awaiting us.
+Moreover, the postmasters knew that we were coming, which astonished
+me until we discovered that they had been warned of our arrival by two
+King's messengers who travelled ahead of us.
+
+These men, it would seem, although our officers and guides professed
+ignorance of the matter, must have left the King's palace at dawn on the
+day of our departure, whereas we did not mount in the city till a little
+after noon. Therefore they had six hours good start of us, and what is
+more, travelled lighter than we did, having no sumpter beasts with them,
+and no cooks or servants. Moreover, always they had the pick of the
+horses and chose the three swiftest beasts, leading the third in case
+one of their own should founder or meet with accident. Thus it came
+about that we never caught them up although we covered quite a hundred
+miles a day. Only once did I see them, far off upon the skyline of a
+mountain range which we had to climb, but by the time we had reached its
+crest they were gone.
+
+At length we came to the desert without accident and crossed it, though
+more slowly. But even here the King had his posts which were in charge
+of Arabs who lived in tents by wells of water, or sometimes where there
+was none save what was brought to them. So still we galloped on, parched
+by the burning sand beneath and the burning sand above, and reached the
+borders of Egypt.
+
+Here, upon the very boundary line, the two officers halted the cavalcade
+saying that their orders were to return thence and make report to the
+King. There then we parted, Bes and I with the six hunters who still
+chose to cling to me, going forward and the officers of the King with
+the guides and servants going back. The good horses that we rode from
+the last post they gave to us by the King's command, together with the
+sumpter beasts, since horses broken to the saddle were hard to come
+by in Egypt where they were trained to draw chariots. These we took,
+sending back my thanks to the King, and started on once more, Bes
+leading that beast which bore the gold and the hunters serving as a
+guard.
+
+Indeed I was glad to see the last of those Easterns although they had
+brought us safely and treated us well, for all the while I was never
+sure but that they had some orders to lead us into a trap, or perhaps to
+make away with us in our sleep and take back the gold and the priceless,
+rose-hued pearls, any two of which were worth it all. But such was not
+their command nor did they dare to steal them on their own account,
+since then, even if they escaped the vengeance of the King, their wives
+and all their families would have paid the price.
+
+
+
+Now we entered Egypt near the Salt Lakes that are not far from the head
+of the Gulf, crossing the canal that the old Pharaohs had dug, which
+proved easy for it was silted up. Before we reached it we found some
+peasant folk labouring in their gardens and I heard one of them call to
+another,
+
+"Here come more of the Easterns. What is toward, think you, neighbour?"
+
+"I do not know," answered the other, "but when I passed down the canal
+this morning, I saw a body of the Great King's guards gathering from the
+fort. Doubtless it is to meet these men of whose coming the other two
+who went by fifty hours ago, have warned the officers."
+
+"Now what does that mean?" I asked of Bes.
+
+"Neither more nor less than we have heard, Master. The two King's
+messengers who have gone ahead of us all the way from the city, have
+told the officer of the frontier fort that we are coming, so he has
+advanced to the ford to meet us, for what purpose I do not know."
+
+"Nor do I," I said, "but I wish we could take another road, if there
+were one."
+
+"There is none, Master, for above and below the canal is full of water
+and the banks are too steep for horses to climb. Also we must show no
+doubt or fear."
+
+He thought a while, then added,
+
+"Take the royal seal, Master. It may be useful."
+
+He gave it to me, and I examined it more closely than I had done before.
+It was a cylinder of plain white shell hung on a gold chain, that which
+Bes had bitten through, but now mended again by taking out the broken
+link. On this cylinder were cut figures; as I think of a priest
+presenting a noble to a god, over whom was the crescent of the moon,
+while behind the god stood a man or demon with a tall spear. Also
+between the figures were mystic signs, meaning I know not what. The
+workmanship of the carving was grown shallow with time and use for the
+cylinder seemed to be very ancient, a sacred thing that had descended
+from generation to generation and was threaded through with a bar of
+silver on which it turned.
+
+I put the seal which was like no other that I had seen, being the work
+of an early and simpler age, round my neck beneath my mail and we went
+on.
+
+Descending the steep bank of the canal we came to the ford where the
+sand that had silted in was covered by not more than a foot of water. As
+we entered it, on the top of the further bank appeared a body of about
+thirty armed and mounted men, one of whom carried the Great King's
+banner, on which I noted was blazoned the very figures that were cut
+upon the cylinder. Now it was too late to retreat, so we rode through
+the water and met the soldiers. Their officer advanced, crying,
+
+"In the name of the Great King, greeting, my lord Shabaka!
+
+"In the name of the Great King, greeting!" I answered. "What would you
+with Shabaka, Officer of the King?"
+
+"Only to do him honour. The word of the King has reached us and we
+come to escort you to the Court of Idernes, the Satrap of the King and
+Governor of Egypt who sits at Sais."
+
+"That is not my road, Officer. I travel to Memphis to deliver the
+commands of the King to my cousin, Peroa, the ruler of Egypt under the
+King. Afterwards, perchance, I shall visit the high Idernes."
+
+"To whom our commands are to take you now, my lord Shabaka, not
+afterwards," said the officer sternly, glancing round at his armed
+escort.
+
+"I come to give commands, not to receive them, Captain of the King."
+
+"Seize Shabaka and his servants," said the officer briefly, whereon the
+soldiers rode forward to surround us.
+
+I waited till they were near at hand. Then suddenly I plunged my hand
+beneath my robe and drew out the small, white seal which I held before
+the eyes of the officer, saying,
+
+"Who is it that dares to lay a finger upon the holder of the King's
+White Seal? Surely that man is ready for death."
+
+The officer stared at it, then leapt from his horse and flung himself
+face downwards on the ground, crying,
+
+"It is the ancient signet of the Kings of the East, given to their first
+forefather by Samas the Sungod, on which hangs the fortunes of the Great
+House! Pardon, my lord Shabaka."
+
+"It is granted," I answered, "because what you did you did in ignorance.
+Now go to the Satrap Idernes and say to him that if he would have speech
+with the bearer of the King's seal which all must obey, he will find him
+at Memphis. Farewell," and with Bes and the six hunters I rode through
+the guards, none striving to hinder me.
+
+"That was well done, Master," said Bes.
+
+"Yes," I said. "Those two messengers who went ahead of us brought orders
+to the frontier guard of Idernes that I should be taken to him as a
+prisoner. I do not know why, but I think because things are passing in
+Egypt of which we know nothing and the King did not desire that I should
+see the Prince Peroa and give him news that I might have gathered.
+Mayhap we have been outwitted, Bes, and the business of the lady Amada
+is but a pretext to pick a quarrel suddenly before Peroa can strike the
+first blow."
+
+"Perhaps, Master, for these Easterns are very crafty. But, Master, what
+happens to those who make a false use of the King's ancient, sacred
+signet? I think they have cut the ropes which tie them to earth," and he
+looked upwards to the sky rolling his yellow eyes.
+
+"They must find new ropes, Bes, and quickly, before they are caught.
+Hearken. You have sat upon a throne and I can speak out to you. Think
+you that my cousin, the Prince Peroa, loves to be the servant of this
+distant, Eastern king, he who by right is Pharaoh of Egypt? Peroa must
+strike or lose his niece and perchance his life. Forward, that we may
+warn him."
+
+"And if he will not strike, Master, knowing the King's might and being
+somewhat slow to move?"
+
+"Then, Bes, I think that you and I had best go hunting far away in those
+lands you know, where even the Great King cannot follow us."
+
+"And where, if only I can find a woman who does not make me ill to look
+on, and whom I do not make ill, I too can once more be a king, Master,
+and the lord of many thousand brave armed men. I must speak of that
+matter to the holy Tanofir."
+
+"Who doubtless will know what to advise you, Bes; or, if he dies not, I
+shall."
+
+For a while we rode on in silence, each thinking his own thoughts. Then
+Bes said,
+
+"Master, before so very long we shall reach the Nile, and having with us
+gold in plenty can buy boats and hire crews. It comes into my mind that
+we should do well for our own safety and comfort to start at once on a
+hunting journey far from Egypt; in the land of the Ethiopians, Master.
+There perchance I could gather together some of the wise men in whose
+hands I left the rule of my kingdom, and submit to them this question of
+a woman to marry me. The Ethiopians are a faithful people, Master, and
+will not reject me because I have spent some years seeing the world
+afar, that I might learn how to rule them better."
+
+"I have remembered that it cannot be, Bes," I said.
+
+"Why not, Master?"
+
+"For this reason. You left your country because of a woman? I cannot
+leave mine again because of a woman."
+
+Bes rolled his eyes around as though he thought to see that woman in the
+desert. Not discovering her, he stared upwards and there found light.
+
+"Is she perchance named the lady Amada, Master?"
+
+I nodded.
+
+"So. The lady Amada who you told the Great King is the most beautiful
+one in the whole world, causing the fire of Love to burn up in his
+royal heart, and with it many other things of which we do not know at
+present."
+
+"_You_ told him, Bes," I said angrily.
+
+"I told him of a beautiful one; I did not tell him her name, Master, and
+although I never thought of it at the time, perhaps she will be angry
+with him who told her name."
+
+Now fear took hold of me, and Bes saw it in my face.
+
+"Do not be afraid, Master. If there is trouble I will swear that I told
+the Great King that lady's name."
+
+"Yes, Bes, but how would that fit in with the story, seeing that I was
+brought out of the boat for this very purpose?"
+
+"Quite easily, Master, since I will say that you were led from the boat
+to confirm my tale. Oh! she will be angry with me, no doubt, but in
+Egypt even a dwarf cannot be killed because he has declared a certain
+lady to be the most beautiful in the world. But, Master, tell me, when
+did you learn to love her?"
+
+"When we were boy and girl, Bes. We used to play together, being
+cousins, and I used to hold her hand. Then suddenly she refused to let
+me hold her hand any more, and I being quite grown up then, though she
+was younger, understood that I had better go away."
+
+"I should have stopped where I was, Master."
+
+"No, Bes. She was studying to be a priestess and my great uncle, the
+holy Tanofir, told me that I had better go away. So I went down south
+hunting and fighting in command of the troops, and met you, Bes."
+
+"Which perhaps was better for you, Master, than to stop to watch the
+lady Amada acquire learning. Still, I wonder whether the holy Tanofir is
+_always_ right. You see, Master, he thinks a great deal of priests and
+priestesses, and is so very old that he has forgotten all about love and
+that without it there never would have been a holy Tanofir."
+
+"The holy Tanofir thinks of souls, not of bodies, Bes."
+
+"Yes, Master. Still, oil is of no use without a lamp, or a soul without
+a body, at least here underneath the sun, or so we were taught who
+worship the Grasshopper. But, Master, when you came back from all your
+hunting, what happened then?"
+
+"Then I found, Bes, that the lady Amada, having acquired all the
+learning possible, had taken her first vows to Isis, which she said she
+would not break for any man on earth although she might have done so
+without crime. Therefore, although I was dear to her, as a brother would
+have been had she had one, and she swore that she had never even thought
+of another man, she refused so much as to think of marrying who dreamed
+only of the heavenly perfections of the lady Isis."
+
+"Ump!" said Bes. "We Ethiopians have Priestesses of the Grasshopper, or
+the Grasshopper's wife, but they do not think of her like that. I hope
+that one day something stronger than herself will not cause the lady
+Amada to break her vows to the heavenly Isis. Only then, perhaps, it may
+be for the sake of another man who did not go off to the East on account
+of such fool's talk. But here is a village and the horses are spent. Let
+us stop and eat, as I suppose even the lady Amada does sometimes."
+
+
+
+On the following afternoon we crossed the Nile, and towards sunset
+entered the vast and ancient city of Memphis. On its white walls floated
+the banners of the Great King which Bes pointed out to me, saying that
+wherever we went in the whole world, it seemed that we could never be
+free from those accursed symbols.
+
+"May I live to spit upon them and cast them into the moat," I answered
+savagely, for as I drew near to Amada they grew ten times more hateful
+to me than they had been before.
+
+In truth I was nearer to Amada than I thought, for after we had
+passed the enclosure of the temple of Ptah, the most wonderful and the
+mightiest in the whole world, we came to the temple of Isis. There near
+to the pylon gate we met a procession of her priests and priestesses
+advancing to offer the evening sacrifice of song and flowers, clad, all
+of them, in robes of purest white. It was a day of festival, so singers
+went with them. After the singers came a band of priestesses bearing
+flowers, in front of whom walked another priestess shaking a _sistrum_
+that made a little tinkling music.
+
+Even at a distance there was something about the tall and slender shape
+of this priestess that stirred me. When we came nearer I saw why, for it
+was Amada herself. Through the thin veil she wore I could see her dark
+and tender eyes set beneath the broad brow that was so full of thought,
+and the sweet, curved mouth that was like no other woman's. Moreover
+there could be no doubt since the veil parting above her breast showed
+the birth-mark for which she was famous, the mark of the young moon, the
+sign of Isis.
+
+I sprang from my horse and ran towards her. She looked up and saw me.
+At first she frowned, then her face grew wondering, then tender, and I
+thought that her red lips shaped my name. Moreover in her confusion she
+let the _sistrum_ fall.
+
+I muttered "Amada!" and stepped forward, but priests ran between us and
+thrust me away. Next moment she had recovered the _sistrum_ and passed
+on with her head bowed. Nor did she lift her eyes to look back.
+
+"Begone, man!" cried a priest, "Begone, whoever you may be. Because you
+wear Eastern armour do you think that you can dare the curse of Isis?"
+
+Then I fell back, the holy image of the goddess passed and the
+procession vanished through the pylon gate. I, Shabaka the Egyptian,
+stood by my horse and watched it depart. I was happy because the lady
+Amada was alive, well, and more beautiful than ever; also because she
+had shown signs of joy and confusion at seeing me again. Yet I was
+unhappy because I met her still filling a holy office which built a wall
+between us, also because it seemed to me an evil omen that I should have
+been repelled from her by a priest of Isis who talked of the curse of
+the goddess. Moreover the sacred statue, I suppose by accident, turned
+towards me as it passed and perhaps by the chance of light, seemed to
+frown upon me.
+
+Thus I thought as Shabaka hundreds of years before the Christian
+era, but as Allan Quatermain the modern man, to whom it was given so
+marvellously to behold all these things and who in beholding them, yet
+never quite lost the sense of his own identity of to-day, I was amazed.
+For I knew that this lady Amada was the same being though clad in
+different flesh, as that other lady with whom I had breathed the magical
+_Taduki_ fumes which had power to rend the curtain of the past, or,
+perhaps, only to breed dreams of what it might have been.
+
+To the outward eye, indeed she was different, as I was different,
+taller, more slender, larger-eyed, with longer and slimmer hands than
+those of any Western woman, and on the whole even more beautiful and
+alluring. Moreover that mysterious look which from time to time I had
+seen on Lady Ragnall's face, was more constant on that of the lady
+Amada. It brooded in the deep eyes and settled in a curious smile about
+the curves of the lips, a smile that was not altogether human, such a
+smile as one might wear who had looked on hidden things and heard voices
+that spoke beyond the limits of the world.
+
+Somehow neither then nor at any other time during all my dream, could I
+imagine this Amada, this daughter of a hundred kings, whose blood might
+be traced back through dynasty on dynasty, as nothing but a woman who
+nurses children upon her breast. It was as though something of our
+common nature had been bred out of her and something of another nature
+whereof we have no ken, had entered to fill its place. And yet these two
+women were the same, that I _knew_, or at any rate, much of them was the
+same, for who can say what part of us we leave behind as we flit from
+life to life, to find it again elsewhere in the abysms of Time and
+Change? One thing too was quite identical--the birthmark of the new moon
+above the breast which the priests of the Kendah had declared was always
+the seal that marked their prophetess, the guardian of the Holy Child.
+
+
+
+When the procession had quite departed and I could no longer hear the
+sound of singing, I remounted and rode on to my house, or rather to that
+of my mother, the great lady Tiu, which was situated beneath the wall of
+the old palace facing towards the Nile. Indeed my heart was full of this
+mother of mine whom I loved and who loved me, for I was her only child,
+and my father had been long dead; so long that I could not remember him.
+Eight months had gone by since I saw her face and in eight months who
+knew what might have happened? The thought made me cold for she, who
+was aged and not too strong, perhaps had been gathered to Osiris. Oh! if
+that were so!
+
+I shook my tired horse to a canter, Bes riding ahead of me to clear a
+road through the crowded street in which, at this hour of sundown, all
+the idlers of Memphis seemed to have gathered. They stared at me because
+it was not common to see men riding in Memphis, and with little love,
+since from my dress and escort they took me to be some envoy from their
+hated master, the Great King of the East. Some even threatened to bar
+the way; but we thrust through and presently turned into a thoroughfare
+of private houses standing in their own gardens. Ours was the third of
+these. At its gate I leapt from my horse, pushed open the closed door
+and hastened in to seek and learn.
+
+I had not far to go for, there in the courtyard, standing at the head of
+our modest household and dressed in her festal robes, was my mother, the
+stately and white-haired lady Tiu, as one stands who awaits the coming
+of an honoured guest. I ran to her and kneeling, kissed her hand,
+saying,
+
+"My mother! My mother, I have come safe home and greet you."
+
+"I greet you also, my son," she answered, bending down and kissing me
+on the brow, "who have been in far lands and passed so many dangers.
+I greet you and thank the guardian gods who have brought you safe home
+again. Rise, my son."
+
+I rose and kissed her on the face, then looked at the servants who were
+bowing their welcome to me, and said,
+
+"How comes it, Lady of the House, that all are gathered here? Did you
+await some guest?"
+
+"We awaited you, my son. For an hour have we stood here listening for
+the sound of your feet."
+
+"Me!" I exclaimed. "That is strange, seeing that I have ridden fast
+and hard from the East, tarrying only a few minutes, and those since I
+entered Memphis, when I met----" and I stopped.
+
+"Met whom, Shabaka?"
+
+"The lady Amada walking in the procession of Isis."
+
+"Ah! the lady Amada. The mother waits that the son may stop to greet the
+lady Amada!"
+
+"But _why_ did you wait, my mother? Who but a spirit or a bird of
+the air could have told you that I was coming, seeing that I sent no
+messenger before me?"
+
+"You must have done so, Shabaka, since yesterday one came from the holy
+Tanofir, our relative who dwells in the desert in the burial-ground of
+Sekera. He bore a message from Tanofir to me, telling me to make ready
+since before sundown to-night you, my son, would be with me, having
+escaped great dangers, accompanied by the dwarf Bes, your servant, and
+six strange Eastern men. So I made ready and waited; also I prepared
+lodging for the six strange men in the outbuildings behind the house and
+sent a thank offering to the temple. For know, my son, I have suffered
+much fear for you."
+
+"And not without cause, as you will say when I tell you all," I answered
+laughing. "But how Tanofir knew that I was coming is more than I can
+guess. Come, my mother, greet Bes here, for had it not been for him,
+never should I have lived to hold your hand again."
+
+So she greeted him and thanked him, whereon Bes rolled his eyes and
+muttered something about the holy Tanofir, after which we entered the
+house. Thence I despatched a messenger to the Prince Peroa saying that
+if it were his pleasure I would wait on him at once, seeing that I had
+much to tell him. This done I bathed and caused my hair and beard to be
+trimmed and, discarding the Eastern garments, clothed myself in those
+of Egypt, and so felt that I was my own man again. Then I came out
+refreshed and drank a cup of Syrian wine and the night having fallen,
+sat down by my mother in the chamber with a lamp between us, and,
+holding her hand, told her something of my story, showing her the sacks
+of gold that had come with me safely from the East, and the chain of
+priceless, rose-hued pearls that I had won in a wager from the Great
+King.
+
+Now when she learned how Bes by his wit had saved me from a death of
+torment in the boat, my mother clapped her hands to summon a servant and
+sent for Bes, and said to him,
+
+"Bes, hitherto I have looked on you as a slave taken by my son, the
+noble Shabaka, in one of his far journeys that it pleases him to make to
+fight and to hunt. But henceforth I look upon you as a friend and give
+you a seat at my table. Moreover it comes into my mind that although so
+strangely shaped by some evil god, perhaps you are more than you seem to
+be."
+
+Now Bes looked at me to see if I had told my mother anything, and when I
+shook my head answered,
+
+"I thank you, O Lady of the House, who have but done my duty to my
+master. Still it is true that as a goatskin often holds good wine, so a
+dwarf should not always be judged by what can be seen of him."
+
+Then he went away.
+
+"It seems that we are rich again, Son, who have been somewhat poor of
+late years," said my mother, looking at the bags of gold. "Also, there
+are the pearls which doubtless are worth more than the gold. What are
+you going to do with them, Shabaka?"
+
+"I thought of offering them as a gift to the lady Amada," I replied
+hesitatingly, "that is unless you----"
+
+"I? No, I am too old for such gems. Yet, Son, it might be well to keep
+them for a time, seeing that while they are your own they may give you
+more weight in the eyes of the Prince Peroa and others. Whereas if you
+gave them the lady Amada and she took them, perchance it might only be
+to see them return to the East, whither you tell me she is summoned by
+one whose orders may not be disobeyed."
+
+Now I turned white with rage and answered,
+
+"While I live, Mother, Amada shall never go to the East to be the woman
+of yonder King."
+
+"While you live, Son. But those who cross the will of a great king, are
+apt to die. Also this is a matter which her uncle, the Prince Peroa,
+must decide as policy dictates. Now as ever the woman is but a pawn in
+the game. Oh! my son," she went on, "do not pin all your heart to the
+robe of this Amada. She is very fair and very learned, but is she
+one who will love? Moreover, if so she is a priestess and it would be
+difficult for her to wed who is sworn to Isis. Lastly, remember this:
+If Egypt were free, she would be its heiress, not her uncle, Peroa. For
+hers is the true blood, not his. Would he, therefore, be willing to give
+her to any man who, according to the ancient custom, through her would
+acquire the right to rule?"
+
+"I do not seek to rule, Mother; I only seek to wed Amada whom I love."
+
+"Amada whom you love and whose name you, or rather your servant Bes,
+which is the same thing since it will be held that he did it by your
+order, gave to the King of the East, or so I understand. Here is a
+pretty tangle, Shabaka, and rather would I be without all that gold and
+those priceless pearls than have the task of its unravelling."
+
+Before I could answer and explain all the truth to her, the curtain was
+swung aside and through it came a messenger from the Prince Peroa, who
+bade me come to eat with him at once at the palace, since he must see me
+this night.
+
+So my mother having set the rope of rose-hued pearls in a double chain
+about my neck, I kissed her and went, with Bes who was also bidden.
+Outside a chariot was waiting into which we entered.
+
+"Now, Master," said Bes to me as we drove to the palace, "I almost wish
+that we were back in another chariot hunting lions in the East."
+
+"Why?" I asked.
+
+"Because then, although we had much to fear, there was no woman in the
+story. Now the woman has entered it and I think that our real troubles
+are about to begin. Oh! to-morrow I go to seek counsel of the holy
+Tanofir."
+
+"And I come with you," I answered, "for I think it will be needed."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX. THE MESSENGERS
+
+We descended at the great gate of the palace and were led through empty
+halls that were no longer used now when there was no king in Egypt, to
+the wing of the building in which dwelt the Prince Peroa. Here we were
+received by a chamberlain, for the Prince of Egypt still kept some
+state although it was but small, and had about him men who bore the old,
+high-sounding titles of the "Officers of Pharaoh."
+
+The chamberlain led me and Bes to an ante-chamber of the banqueting hall
+and left us, saying that he would summon the Prince who wished to see
+me before he ate. This, however, was not necessary since while he spoke
+Peroa, who as I guessed had been waiting for me, entered by another
+door. He was a majestic-looking man of middle age, for grey showed in
+his hair and beard, clad in white garments with a purple hem and wearing
+on his brow a golden circlet, from the front of which rose the _ur�us_
+in the shape of a hooded snake that might be worn by those of royal
+blood alone. His face was full of thought and his black and piercing
+eyes looked heavy as though with sleeplessness. Indeed I could see that
+he was troubled. His gaze fell upon us and his features changed to a
+pleasant smile.
+
+"Greeting, Cousin Shabaka," he said. "I am glad that you have returned
+safe from the East, and burn to hear your tidings. I pray that they may
+be good, for never was good news more needed in Egypt."
+
+"Greeting, Prince," I answered, bowing my knee. "I and my servant here
+are returned safe, but as for our tidings, well, judge of them for
+yourself," and drawing the letter of the Great King from my robe, I
+touched my forehead with the roll and handed it to him.
+
+"I see that you have acquired the Eastern customs, Shabaka," he said as
+he took it. "But here in my own house which once was the palace of our
+forefathers, the Pharaohs of Egypt, by your leave I will omit them. Amen
+be my witness," he added bitterly, "I cannot bear to lay the letter of a
+foreign king against my brow in token of my country's vassalage."
+
+Then he broke the silk of the seals and read, and as he read his face
+grew black with rage.
+
+"What!" he cried, casting down the roll and stamping on it. "What! Does
+this dog of an Eastern king bid me send my niece, by birth the Royal
+Princess of Egypt, to be his toy until he wearies of her? First I will
+choke her with my own hands. How comes it, Shabaka, that you care to
+bring me such a message? Were I Pharaoh now I think your life would pay
+the price."
+
+"As it would certainly have paid the price, had I not done so. Prince,
+I brought the letter because I must. Also a copy of it has gone, I
+believe, to Idernes the Satrap at Sais. It is better to face the truth,
+Prince, and I think that I may be of more service to you alive than
+dead. If you do not wish to send the lady Amada to the King, marry her
+to someone else, after which he will seek her no more."
+
+He looked at me shrewdly and said,
+
+"To whom then? I cannot marry her, being her uncle and already married.
+Do you mean to yourself, Shabaka?"
+
+"I have loved the lady Amada from a child, Prince," I answered boldly.
+"Also I have high blood in me and having brought much gold from the
+East, am rich again and one accustomed to war."
+
+"So you have brought gold from the East! How? Well, you can tell me
+afterwards. But you fly high. You, a Count of Egypt, wish to marry the
+Royal Lady of Egypt, for such she is by birth and rank, which, if ever
+Egypt were free again, would give you a title to the throne."
+
+"I ask no throne, Prince. If there were one to fill I should be content
+to leave that to you and your heirs."
+
+"So you say, no doubt honestly. But would the children of Amada say the
+same? Would you even say it if you were her husband, and would she say
+it? Moreover she is a priestess, sworn not to wed, though perhaps that
+trouble might be overcome, if she wishes to wed, which I doubt. Mayhap
+you might discover. Well, you are hungry and worn with long travelling.
+Come, let us eat, and afterwards you can tell your story. Amada and the
+others will be glad to hear it, as I shall. Follow me, Count Shabaka."
+
+So we went to the lesser banqueting-hall, I filled with joy because I
+should see Amada, and yet, much afraid because of that story which I
+must tell. Gathered there, waiting for the Prince, we found the Princess
+his wife, a large and kindly woman, also his two eldest daughters and
+his young son, a lad of about sixteen. Moreover, there were certain
+officers, while at the tables of the lower hall sat others of the
+household, men of smaller rank, and their wives, since Peroa still
+maintained some kind of a shadow of the Court of old Egypt.
+
+The Princess and the others greeted me, and Bes also who had always been
+a favourite with them, before he went to take his seat at the lowest
+table, and I greeted them, looking all the while for Amada whom I did
+not see. Presently, however, as we took our places on the couches, she
+entered dressed, not as a priestess, but in the beautiful robes of a
+great lady of Egypt and wearing on her head the _ur�us_ circlet that
+signified her royal blood. As it chanced the only seat left vacant was
+that next to myself, which she took before she recognized me, for
+she was engaged in asking pardon for her lateness of the Prince and
+Princess, saying that she had been detained by the ceremonies at the
+temple. Seeing suddenly that I was her neighbour, she made as though she
+would change her place, then altered her mind and stayed where she was.
+
+"Greeting, Cousin Shabaka," she said, "though not for the first time
+to-day. Oh! my heart was glad when looking up, outside the temple, I
+caught sight of you clad in that strange Eastern armour, and knew that
+you had returned safe from your long wanderings. Yet afterwards I must
+do penance for it by saying two added prayers, since at such a time my
+thoughts should have been with the goddess only."
+
+"Greeting, Cousin Amada," I answered, "but she must be a jealous goddess
+who grudges a thought to a relative--and friend--at such a time."
+
+"She is jealous, Shabaka, as being the Queen of women she must be who
+demands to reign alone in the hearts of her votaries. But tell me of
+your travels in the East and how you came by that rope of wondrous
+pearls, if indeed there can be pearls so large and beautiful."
+
+This at the time I had little chance of doing, however, since the young
+Princess on the other side of her began to talk to Amada about some
+forthcoming festival, and the Prince's son next to me who was fond of
+hunting, to question me about sport in the East and when, unhappily, I
+said that I had shot lions there, gave me no peace for the rest of that
+feast. Also the Princess opposite was anxious to learn what food noble
+people ate in the East, and how it was cooked and how they sat at table,
+and what was the furniture of their rooms and did women attend feasts as
+in Egypt, and so forth. So it came about that what between these things
+and eating and drinking, which, being well-nigh starved, I was obliged
+to do, for, save a cup of wine, I had taken nothing in my mother's
+house, I found little chance of talking with the lovely Amada, although
+I knew that all the while she was studying me out of the corners of her
+large eyes. Or perhaps it was the rose-hued pearls she studied, I was
+not sure.
+
+Only one thing did she say to me when there was a little pause while the
+cup went round, and she pledged me according to custom and passed it on.
+It was,
+
+"You look well, Shabaka, though somewhat tired, but sadder than you
+used, I think."
+
+"Perhaps because I have seen things to sadden me, Amada. But you too
+look well but somewhat lovelier than you used, I think, if that be
+possible."
+
+She smiled and blushed as she replied,
+
+"The Eastern ladies have taught you how to say pretty things. But you
+should not waste them upon me who have done with women's vanities and
+have given myself to learning and--religion."
+
+"Have learning and religion no vanities of their own?" I began, when
+suddenly the Prince gave a signal to end the feast.
+
+Thereon all the lower part of the hall went away and the little tables
+at which we ate were removed by servants, leaving us only wine-cups in
+our hands which a butler filled from time to time, mixing the wine with
+water. This reminded me of something, and having asked leave, I beckoned
+to Bes, who still lingered near the door, and took from him that
+splendid, golden goblet which the Great King had given me, that by my
+command he had brought wrapped up in linen and hidden beneath his robe.
+Having undone the wrappings I bowed and offered it to the Prince Peroa.
+
+"What is this wondrous thing?" asked the Prince, when all had finished
+admiring its workmanship. "Is it a gift that you bring me from the King
+of the East, Shabaka?"
+
+"It is a gift from myself, O Prince, if you will be pleased to accept
+it," I answered, adding, "Yet it is true that it comes from the King of
+the East, since it was his own drinking-cup that he gave me in exchange
+for a certain bow, though not the one he sought, after he had pledged
+me."
+
+"You seem to have found much favour in the eyes of this king, Shabaka,
+which is more than most of us Egyptians do," he exclaimed, then went
+on hastily, "Still, I thank you for your splendid gift, and however you
+came by it, shall value it much."
+
+"Perhaps my cousin Shabaka will tell us his story," broke in Amada, her
+eyes still fixed upon the rose-hued pearls, "and of how he came to win
+all the beauteous things that dazzle our eyes to-night."
+
+Now I thought of offering her the pearls, but remembering my mother's
+words, also that the Princess might not like to see another woman bear
+off such a prize, did not do so. So I began to tell my story instead,
+Bes seated on the ground near to me by the Prince's wish, that he might
+tell his.
+
+The tale was long for in it was much that went before the day when I saw
+myself in the chariot hunting lions with the King of kings, which I, the
+modern man who set down all this vision, now learned for the first time.
+It told of the details of my journey to the East, of my coming to the
+royal city and the rest, all of which it is needless to repeat. Then I
+came to the lion hunt, to my winning of the wager, and all that happened
+to me; of my being condemned to death, of the weighing of Bes against
+the gold, and of how I was laid in the boat of torment, a story at which
+I noticed Amada turn pale and tremble.
+
+Here I ceased, saying that Bes knew better than I what had chanced at
+the Court while I was pinned in the boat, whereon all present cried out
+to Bes to take up the tale. This he did, and much better than I could
+have done, bringing out many little things which made the scene appear
+before them, as Ethiopians have the art of doing. At last he came to the
+place in his story where the king asked him if he had ever seen a woman
+fairer than the dancers, and went on thus:
+
+"O Prince, I told the Great King that I had; that there dwelt in Egypt
+a lady of royal blood with eyes like stars, with hair like silk and long
+as an unbridled horse's tail, with a shape like to that of a goddess,
+with breath like flowers, with skin like milk, with a voice like honey,
+with learning like to that of the god Thoth, with wit like a razor's
+edge, with teeth like pearls, with majesty of bearing like to that of
+the king himself, with fingers like rosebuds set in pink seashells, with
+motion like that of an antelope, with grace like that of a swan floating
+upon water, and--I don't remember the rest, O Prince."
+
+"Perhaps it is as well," exclaimed Peroa. "But what did the King say
+then?"
+
+"He asked her name, O Prince."
+
+"And what name did you give to this wondrous lady who surpasses all the
+goddesses in loveliness and charm, O dwarf Bes?" inquired Amada much
+amused.
+
+"What name, O High-born One? Is it needful to ask? Why, what name could
+I give but your own, for is there any other in the world of whom a man
+whose heart is filled with truth could speak such things?"
+
+Now hearing this I gasped, but before I could speak Amada leapt up,
+crying,
+
+"Wretch! You dared to speak my name to this king! Surely you should be
+scourged till your bones are bare."
+
+"And why not, Lady? Would you have had me sit still and hear those
+fat trollops of the East exalted above you? Would you have had me so
+disloyal to your royal loveliness?"
+
+"You should be scourged," repeated Amada stamping her foot. "My Uncle, I
+pray you cause this knave to be scourged."
+
+"Nay, nay," said Peroa moodily. "Poor simple man, he knew no better and
+thought only to sing your praises in a far land. Be not angry with the
+dwarf, Niece. Had it been Shabaka who gave your name, the thing would be
+different. What happened next, Bes?"
+
+"Only this, Prince," said Bes, looking upwards and rolling his eyes, as
+was his fashion when unloading some great lie from his heart. "The
+King sent his servants to bring my master from the boat, that he might
+inquire of him whether he had always found me truthful. For, Prince,
+those Easterns set much store by truth which here in Egypt is worshipped
+as a goddess. There they do not worship her because she lives in the
+heart of every man, and some women."
+
+Now all stared at Bes who continued to stare at the ceiling, and I rose
+to say something, I know not what, when suddenly the doors opened and
+through them appeared heralds, crying,
+
+"Hearken, Peroa, Prince of Egypt by grace of the Great King. A message
+from the Great King. Read and obey, O Peroa, Prince of Egypt by grace of
+the Great King!"
+
+As they cried thus from between them emerged a man whose long Eastern
+robes were stained with the dust of travel. Advancing without salute he
+drew out a roll, touched his forehead with it, bowing deeply, and handed
+it to the prince, saying,
+
+"Kiss the Word. Read the Word. Obey the Word, O servant of our Master,
+the King of kings, beneath whose feet we are all but dust."
+
+Peroa took the roll, made a semblance of lifting it to his forehead,
+opened and read it. As he did so I saw the veins swell upon his neck and
+his eyes flash, but he only said,
+
+"O Messenger, to-night I feast, to-morrow an answer shall be given to
+you to convey to the Satrap Idernes. My servants will find you food and
+lodging. You are dismissed."
+
+"Let the answer be given early lest you also should be dismissed, O
+Peroa," said the man with insolence.
+
+Then he turned his back upon the prince, as one does on an inferior, and
+walked away, accompanied by the herald.
+
+When they were gone and the doors had been shut, Peroa spoke in a voice
+that was thick with fury, saying,
+
+"Hearken, all of you, to the words of the writing."
+
+Then he read it.
+
+
+ "From the King of kings, the Ruler of all the earth, to Peroa, one
+  of his servants in the Satrapy of Egypt,
+
+ "Deliver over to my servant Idernes without delay, the person of
+  Amada, a lady of the blood of the old Pharaohs of Egypt, who is
+  your relative and in your guardianship, that she may be numbered
+  among the women of my house."
+
+
+Now all present looked at each other, while Amada stood as though she
+had been frozen into stone. Before she could speak, Peroa went on,
+
+"See how the King seeks a quarrel against me that he may destroy me and
+bray Egypt in his mortar, and tan it like a hide to wrap about his feet.
+Nay, hold your peace, Amada. Have no fear. You shall not be sent to the
+East; first will I kill you with my own hands. But what answer shall
+we give, for the matter is urgent and on it hang all our lives? Bethink
+you, Idernes has a great force yonder at Sais, and if I refuse outright,
+he will attack us, which indeed is what the King means him to do before
+we can make preparation. Say then, shall we fight, or shall we fly to
+Upper Egypt, abandoning Memphis, and there make our stand?"
+
+Now the Councillors present seemed to find no answer, for they did not
+know what to say. But Bes whispered in my ear,
+
+"Remember, Master, that you hold the King's seal. Let an answer be sent
+to Idernes under the White Seal, bidding him wait on you."
+
+Then I rose and spoke.
+
+"O Peroa," I said, "as it chances I am the bearer of the private signet
+of the Great King, which all men must obey in the north and in the
+south, in the east and in the west, wherever the sun shines over the
+dominions of the King. Look on it," and taking the ancient White Seal
+from about my neck, I handed it to him.
+
+He looked and the Councillors looked. Then they said almost with one
+voice,
+
+"It is the White Seal, the very signet of the Great Kings of the East,"
+and they bowed before the dreadful thing.
+
+"How you came by this we do not know, Shabaka," said Peroa. "That can
+be inquired of afterwards. Yet in truth it seems to be the old Signet
+of signets, that which has come down from father to son for countless
+generations, that which the King of kings carries on his person and
+affixes to his private orders and to the greatest documents of State,
+which afterwards can never be recalled, that of which a copy is
+emblazoned on his banner."
+
+"It is," I answered, "and from the King's person it came to me for a
+while. If any doubt, let the impress be brought, that is furnished to
+all the officers throughout the Empire, and let the seal be set in the
+impress."
+
+Now one of the officers rose and went to bring the impress which was in
+his keeping, but Peroa continued,
+
+"If this be the true seal, how would you use it, Shabaka, to help us in
+our present trouble?"
+
+"Thus, Prince," I answered. "I would send a command under the seal to
+Idernes to wait upon the holder of the seal here in Memphis. He will
+suspect a trap and will not come until he has gathered a great army.
+Then he will come, but meanwhile, you, Prince, can also collect an
+army."
+
+"That needs gold, Shabaka, and I have little. The King of kings takes
+all in tribute."
+
+"I have some, Prince, to the weight of a heavy man, and it is at the
+service of Egypt."
+
+"I thank you, Shabaka. Believe me, such generosity shall not go
+unrewarded," and he glanced at Amada who dropped her eyes. "But if we
+can collect the army, what then?"
+
+"Then you can put Memphis into a state of defence. Then too when Idernes
+comes I will meet him and, as the bearer of the seal, command him under
+the seal to retreat and disperse his army."
+
+"But if he does, Shabaka, it will only be until he has received fresh
+orders from the Great King, whereon he will advance again."
+
+"No, Prince, _he_ will not advance, or that army either. For when they
+are in retreat we will fall on them and destroy them, and declare you,
+O Prince, Pharaoh of Egypt, though what will happen afterwards I do not
+know."
+
+When they heard this all gasped. Only Amada whispered,
+
+"Well said!" and Bes clapped his big hands softly in the Ethiopian
+fashion.
+
+"A bold counsel," said Peroa, "and one on which I must have the night to
+think. Return here, Shabaka, an hour after sunrise to-morrow, by which
+time I can gather all the wisest men in Memphis, and we will discuss
+this matter. Ah! here is the impress. Now let the seal be tried."
+
+A box was brought and opened. In it was a slab of wood on which was an
+impress of the King's seal in wax, surrounded by those of other seals
+certifying that it was genuine. Also there was a writing describing
+the appearance of the seal. I handed the signet to Peroa who, having
+compared it with the description in the writing, fitted it to the
+impress on the wax.
+
+"It is the same," he said. "See, all of you."
+
+They looked and nodded. Then he would have given it back to me but I
+refused to take it, saying,
+
+"It is not well that this mighty symbol should hang about the neck of a
+private man whence it might be stolen or lost."
+
+"Or who might be murdered for its sake," interrupted Peroa.
+
+"Yes, Prince. Therefore take it and hide it in the safest and most
+secret place in the palace, and with it these pearls that are too
+priceless to be flaunted about the streets of Memphis at night, unless
+indeed----" and I turned to look for Amada, but she was gone.
+
+So the seal and the pearls were taken and locked in the box with the
+impress and borne away. Nor was I sorry to see the last of them, wisely
+as it happened. Then I bade the Prince and his company good night, and
+presently was driving homeward with Bes in the chariot.
+
+Our way led us past some large houses once occupied by officers of the
+Court of Pharaoh, but now that there was no Court, fallen into ruins.
+Suddenly from out of these houses sprang a band of men disguised as
+common robbers, whose faces were hidden by cloths with eye-holes cut
+in them. They seized the horses by the bridles, and before we could do
+anything, leapt upon us and held us fast. Then a tall man speaking with
+a foreign accent, said,
+
+"Search that officer and the dwarf. Take from them the seal upon a gold
+chain and a rope of rose-hued pearls which they have stolen. But do them
+no harm."
+
+So they searched us, the tall man himself helping and, aided by others,
+holding Bes who struggled with them, and searched the chariot also, by
+the light of the moon, but found nothing. The tall man muttered that I
+must be the wrong officer, and at a sign they left us and ran away.
+
+"That was a wise thought of mine, Bes, which caused me to leave certain
+ornaments in the palace," I said. "As it is they have taken nothing."
+
+"Yes, Master," he answered, "though I have taken something from them,"
+a saying that I did not understand at the time. "Those Easterns whom we
+met by the canal told Idernes about the seal, and he ordered this to be
+done. That tall man was one of the messengers who came to-night to the
+palace."
+
+"Then why did they not kill us, Bes?"
+
+"Because murder, especially of one who holds the seal, is an ugly
+business, that is easily tracked down, whereas thieves are many in
+Memphis and who troubles about them when they have failed? Oh! the
+Grasshopper, or Amen, or both, have been with us to-night."
+
+So I thought although I said nothing, for since we had come off
+scatheless, what did it matter? Well, this. It showed me that the signet
+of the Great King was indeed to be dreaded and coveted, even here in
+Egypt. If Idernes could get it into his possession, what might he not do
+with it? Cause himself to be proclaimed Pharaoh perhaps and become the
+forefather of an independent dynasty. Why not, when the Empire of the
+East was taxed with a great war elsewhere? And if this was so why should
+not Peroa do the same, he who had behind him all Old Egypt, maddened
+with its wrongs and foreign rule?
+
+That same night before I slept, but after Bes and I had hidden away the
+bags of gold by burying them beneath the clay floor, I laid the whole
+matter before my mother who was a very wise woman. She heard me out,
+answering little, then said,
+
+"The business is very dangerous, and of its end I will not speak until
+I have heard the counsel of your great-uncle, the holy Tanofir. Still,
+things having gone so far, it seems to me that boldness may be the best
+course, since the great King has his Grecian wars to deal with, and
+whatever he may say, cannot attack Egypt yet awhile. Therefore if Peroa
+is able to overcome Idernes and his army he may cause himself to be
+proclaimed Pharaoh and make Egypt free if only for a time."
+
+"Such is my mind, Mother."
+
+"Not all your mind, Son, I think," she answered smiling, "for you
+think more of the lovely Amada than of these high policies, at any
+rate to-night. Well, marry your Amada if you can, though I misdoubt me
+somewhat of a woman who is so lost in learning and thinks so much about
+her soul. At least if you marry her and Egypt should become free, as it
+was for thousands of years, you will be the next heir to the throne as
+husband of the Great Royal Lady."
+
+"How can that be, Mother, seeing that Peroa has a son?"
+
+"A vain youth with no more in him than a child's rattle. If once Amada
+ceases to think about her soul she will begin to think about her throne,
+especially if she has children. But all this is far away and for the
+present I am glad that neither she nor the thieves have got those
+pearls, though perhaps they might be safer here than where they are.
+And now, my son, go rest for you need it, and dream of nothing, not even
+Amada, who for her part will dream of Isis, if at all. I will wake you
+before the dawn."
+
+So I went, being too tired to talk more, and slept like a crocodile
+in the sun, till, as it seemed to me, but a few minutes later I saw my
+mother standing over me with a lamp, saying that it was time to rise. I
+rose, unwillingly enough, but refreshed, washed and dressed myself,
+by which time the sun had begun to appear. Then I ate some food and,
+calling Bes, made ready to start for the palace.
+
+"My son," said my mother, the lady Tiu, before we parted, "while you
+have been sleeping I have been thinking, as is the way of the old.
+Peroa, your cousin, will be glad enough to make use of you, but he does
+not love you over much because he is jealous of you and fears lest you
+should become his rival in the future. Still he is an honest man and
+will keep a bargain which he once has made. Now it seems that above
+everything on earth you desire Amada on whom you have set your heart
+since boyhood, but who has always played with you and spoken to you with
+her arm stretched out. Also life is short and may come to an end any
+day, as you should know better than most men who have lived among
+dangers, and therefore it is well that a man should take what he
+desires, even if he finds afterwards that the rose he crushes to his
+breast has thorns. For then at least he will have smelt the rose, not
+only have looked on and longed to smell it. Therefore, before you hand
+over your gold, and place your wit and strength at the service of Peroa,
+make your bargain with him; namely, that if thereby you save Amada from
+the King's House of Women and help to set Peroa on the throne, he shall
+promise her to you free of any priestly curse, you giving her as dowry
+the priceless rose-hued pearls that are worth a kingdom. So you will get
+your rose till it withers, and if the thorns prick, do not blame me, and
+one day you may become a king--or a slave, Amen knows which."
+
+Now I laughed and said that I would take her counsel who desired Amada
+and nothing else. As for all her talk about thorns, I paid no heed to
+it, knowing that she loved me very much and was jealous of Amada who she
+thought would take her place with me.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X. SHABAKA PLIGHTS HIS TROTH
+
+Bes and I went armed to the palace, walking in the middle of the road,
+but now that the sun was up we met no more robbers. At the gate a
+messenger summoned me alone to the presence of Peroa, who, he said,
+wished to talk with me before the sitting of the Council. I went and
+found him by himself.
+
+"I hear that you were attacked last night," he said after greeting me.
+
+I answered that I was and told him the story, adding that it was
+fortunate I had left the White Seal and the pearls in safe keeping,
+since without doubt the would-be thieves were Easterns who desired to
+recover them.
+
+"Ah! the pearls," he said. "One of those who handled them, who was once
+a dealer in gems, says that they are without price, unmatched in the
+whole world, and that never in all his life has he seen any to equal the
+smallest of them."
+
+I replied that I believed this was so. Then he asked me of the value of
+the gold of which I had spoken. I told him and it was a great sum, for
+gold was scarce in Egypt. His eyes gleamed for he needed wealth to pay
+soldiers.
+
+"And all this you are ready to hand over to me, Shabaka?"
+
+Now I bethought me of my mother's words, and answered,
+
+"Yes, Prince, at a price."
+
+"What price, Shabaka?"
+
+"The price of the hand of the Royal Lady, Amada, freed from her vows.
+Moreover, I will give her the pearls as a marriage dowry and place at
+your service my sword and all the knowledge I have gained in the East,
+swearing to stand or fall with you."
+
+"I thought it, Shabaka. Well, in this world nothing is given for nothing
+and the offer is a fair one. You are well born, too, as well as myself,
+and a brave and clever man. Further, Amada has not taken her final vows
+and therefore the high priests can absolve her from her marriage to
+the goddess, or to her son Horus, whichever it may be, for I do not
+understand these mysteries. But, Shabaka, if Fortune should chance to go
+with us and I should became the first Pharaoh of a new dynasty in Egypt,
+he who was married to the Royal Princess of the true blood might become
+a danger to my throne and family."
+
+"I shall not be that man, Prince, who am content with my own station,
+and to be your servant."
+
+"And my son's, Shabaka? You know that I have but one lawful son."
+
+"And your son's, Prince."
+
+"You are honest, Shabaka, and I believe you. But how about your sons,
+if you have any, and how about Amada herself? Well, in great businesses
+something must be risked, and I need the gold and the rest which I
+cannot take for nothing, for you won them by your skill and courage and
+they are yours. But how you won the seal you have not told us, nor is
+there time for you to do so now."
+
+He thought a little, walking up and down the chamber, then went on,
+
+"I accept your offer, Shabaka, so far as I can."
+
+"So far as you can, Prince?"
+
+"Yes; I can give you Amada in marriage and make that marriage easy, but
+only if Amada herself consents. The will of a Royal Princess of Egypt of
+full age cannot be forced, save by her father if he reigns as Pharaoh,
+and I am not her father, but only her guardian. Therefore it stands
+thus. Are you willing to fulfil your part of the bargain, save only as
+regards the pearls, if she does not marry you, and to take your chance
+of winning Amada as a man wins a woman, I on my part promising to do all
+in my power to help your suit?"
+
+Now it was my turn to think for a moment. What did I risk? The gold and
+perhaps the pearls, no more, for in any case I should fight for Peroa
+against the Eastern king whom I hated, and through him for Egypt. Well,
+these came to me by chance, and if they went by chance what of it? Also
+I was not one who desired to wed a woman, however much I worshipped
+her, if she desired to turn her back on me. If I could win her in fair
+love--well. If not, it was my misfortune, and I wanted her in no other
+way. Lastly, I had reason to think that she looked on me more favourably
+than she had ever done on any other man, and that if it had not been for
+what my mother called her soul and its longings, she would have given
+herself to me before I journeyed to the East. Indeed, once she had said
+as much, and there was something in her eyes last night which told me
+that in her heart she loved me, though with what passion at the time I
+did not know. So very swiftly I made up my mind and answered,
+
+"I understand and I accept. The gold shall be delivered to you to-day,
+Prince. The pearls are already in your keeping to await the end."
+
+"Good!" he exclaimed. "Then let the matter be reduced to writing and at
+once, that afterwards neither of us may have cause to complain of the
+other."
+
+So he sent for his secret scribe and dictated to him, briefly but
+clearly, the substance of our bargain, nothing being added, and nothing
+taken away. This roll written on papyrus was afterwards copied twice,
+Peroa taking one copy, I another, and a third being deposited according
+to custom, in the library of the temple of Ptah.
+
+When all was done and Peroa and I had touched each other's breasts and
+given our word in the name of Amen, we went to the hall in which we
+had dined, where those whom the Prince had summoned were assembled.
+Altogether there were about thirty of them, great citizens of Memphis,
+or landowners from without who had been called together in the night.
+Some of these men were very old and could remember when Egypt had a
+Pharaoh of its own before the East set its heel upon her neck, of noble
+blood also.
+
+Others were merchants who dealt with all the cities of Egypt; others
+hereditary generals, or captains of fleets of ships; others Grecians,
+officers of mercenaries who were supposed to be in the pay of the King
+of kings, but hated him, as did all the Greeks. Then there were the high
+priests of Ptah, of Amen, of Osiris and others who were still the most
+powerful men in the land, since there was no village between Thebes and
+the mouths of the Nile in which they had not those who were sworn to the
+service of their gods.
+
+Such was the company representing all that remained or could be gathered
+there of the greatness of Egypt the ancient and the fallen.
+
+To these when the doors had been closed and barred and trusty watchmen
+set to guard them, Peroa expounded the case in a low and earnest voice.
+He showed them that the King of the East sought a new quarrel against
+Egypt that he might grind her to powder beneath his heel, and that he
+did this by demanding the person of Amada, his own niece and the Royal
+Lady of Egypt, to be included in his household like any common woman. If
+she were refused then he would send a great army under pretext of taking
+her, and lay the land waste as far as Thebes. And if she were granted
+some new quarrel would be picked and in the person of the royal Amada
+all of them be for ever shamed.
+
+Next he showed the seal, telling them that I--who was known to many of
+them, at least by repute--had brought it from the East, and repeating to
+them the plan that I had proposed upon the previous night. After this he
+asked their counsel, saying that before noon he must send an answer to
+Idernes, the King's Satrap at Sais.
+
+Then I was called upon to speak and, in answer to questions, answered
+frankly that I had stolen the ancient White Seal from the King's servant
+who carried it as a warrant for the King's private vengeance on one who
+had bested him. How I did not mention. I told them also of the state of
+the Great King's empire and that I had heard that he was about to enter
+upon a war with the Greeks which would need all its strength, and that
+therefore if they wished to strike for liberty the time was at hand.
+
+Then the talk began and lasted for two hours, each man giving his
+judgment according to precedence, some one way and some another. When
+all had done and it became clear that there were differences of opinion,
+some being content to live on in slavery with what remained to them and
+others desiring to strike for freedom, among whom were the high priests
+who feared lest the Eastern heretics should utterly destroy their
+worship, Peroa spoke once more.
+
+"Elders of Egypt," he said briefly, "certain of you think one way, and
+certain another, but of this be sure, such talk as we have held together
+cannot be hid. It will come to the ears of spies and through them to
+those of the Great King, and then all of us alike are doomed. If you
+refuse to stir, this very day I with my family and household and the
+Royal Lady Amada, and all who cling to me, fly to Upper Egypt and
+perhaps beyond it to Ethiopia, leaving you to deal with the Great King,
+as you will, or to follow me into exile. That he will attack us there is
+no doubt, either over the pretext of Amada or some other, since Shabaka
+has heard as much from his own lips. Now choose."
+
+Then, after a little whispering together, every man of them voted for
+rebellion, though some of them I could see with heavy hearts, and bound
+themselves by a great oath to cling together to the last.
+
+The matter being thus settled such a letter was written to Idernes as
+I had suggested on the night before, and sealed with the Signet of
+signets. Of the yielding up of Amada it said nothing, but commanded
+Idernes, under the private White Seal that none dared disobey, to wait
+upon the Prince Peroa at Memphis forthwith, and there learn from him,
+the Holder of the Seal, what was the will of the Great King. Then
+the Council was adjourned till one hour after noon, and most of them
+departed to send messengers bearing secret word to the various cities
+and nomes of Egypt.
+
+Before they went, however, I was directed to wait upon my relative,
+the holy Tanofir, whom all acknowledged to be the greatest magician in
+Egypt, and to ask of him to seek wisdom and an oracle from his Spirit
+as to the future and whether in it we should fare well or ill. This I
+promised to do.
+
+When most of the Council were gone the messengers of Idernes were
+summoned, and came proudly, and with them, or rather before them, Bes
+for whom I had sent as he was not present at the Council.
+
+"Master," he whispered to me, "the tallest of those messengers is the
+man who captained the robbers last night. Wait and I will prove it."
+
+Peroa gave the roll to the head messenger, bidding him bear it to the
+Satrap in answer to the letter which he had delivered to him. The man
+took it insolently and thrust it into his robe, as he did so revealing
+a silver chain that had been broken and knotted together, and asked
+whether there were words to bear besides those written in the roll.
+Before Peroa could answer Bes sprang up saying,
+
+"O Prince, a boon, the boon of justice on this man. Last night he and
+others with him attacked my master and myself, seeking to rob us, but
+finding nothing let us go."
+
+"You lie, Abortion!" said the Eastern.
+
+"Oh! I lie, do I?" mocked Bes. "Well, let us see," and shooting out his
+long arm, he grasped the chain about the messenger's neck and broke it
+with a jerk. "Look, O Prince," he said, "you may have noted last night,
+when that man entered the hall, that there hung about his neck this
+chain to which was tied a silver key."
+
+"I noted it," said Peroa.
+
+"Then ask him, O Prince, where is the key now."
+
+"What is that to you, Dwarf?" broke in the man. "The key is my mark of
+office as chief butler to the High Satrap. Must I always bear it for
+your pleasure?"
+
+"Not when it has been taken from you, Butler," answered Bes. "See, here
+it is," and from his sleeve he produced the key hanging to a piece of
+the chain. "Listen, O Prince," he said. "I struggled with this man and
+the key was in my left hand though he did not know it at the time, and
+with it some of the chain. Compare them and judge. Also his mask slipped
+and I saw his face and knew him again."
+
+Peroa laid the pieces of the chain together and observed the workmanship
+which was Eastern and rare. Then he clapped his hands, at which sign
+armed men of his household entered from behind him.
+
+"It is the same," he said. "Butler of Idernes, you are a common thief."
+
+The man strove to answer, but could not for the deed was proved against
+him.
+
+"Then, O Prince," asked Bes, "what is the punishment of those thieves
+who attack passers-by with violence in the streets of Memphis, for such
+I demand on him?"
+
+"The cutting off of the right hand and scourging," answered Peroa, at
+which words the butler turned to fly. But Bes leapt on him like an ape
+upon a bird, and held him fast.
+
+"Seize that thief," said Peroa to his servants, "and let him receive
+fifty blows with the rods. His hand I spare because he must travel."
+
+They laid the man down and the rods having been fetched, gave him the
+blows until at the thirtieth he howled for mercy, crying out that it was
+true and that it was he who had captained the robbers, words which Peroa
+caused to be written down. Then he asked him why he, a messenger from
+the Satrap, had robbed in the streets of Memphis, and as he refused to
+answer, commanded the officer of justice to lay on. After three more
+blows the man said,
+
+"O Prince, this was no common robbery for gain. I did what I was
+commanded to do, because yonder noble had about him the ancient White
+Seal of the Great King which he showed to certain of the Satrap's
+servants by the banks of the canal. That seal is a holy token, O Prince,
+which, it is said, has descended for twice a thousand years in the
+family of the Great King, and as the Satrap did not know how it had come
+into the hands of the noble Shabaka, he ordered me to obtain it if I
+could."
+
+"And the pearls too, Butler?"
+
+"Yes, O Prince, since those gems are a great possession with which any
+Satrap could buy a larger satrapy."
+
+"Let him go," said Peroa, and the man rose, rubbing himself and weeping
+in his pain.
+
+"Now, Butler," he went on, "return to your master with a grateful heart,
+since you have been spared much that you deserve. Say to him that he
+cannot steal the Signet, but that if he is wise he will obey it, since
+otherwise his fate may be worse than yours, and to all his servants say
+the same. Foolish man, how can you, or your master, guess what is in
+the mind of the Great King, or for what purpose the Signet of signets is
+here in Egypt? Beware lest you fall into a pit, all of you together, and
+let Idernes beware lest he find himself at the very bottom of that pit."
+
+"O Prince, I will beware," said the humbled butler, "and whatever is
+written over the seal, that I will obey, like many others."
+
+"You are wise," answered Peroa; "I pray for his own sake that the Satrap
+Idernes may be as wise. Now begone, thanking whatever god you worship
+that your life is whole in you and that your right hand remains upon
+your wrist."
+
+So the butler and those with him prostrated themselves before Peroa
+and bowed humbly to me and even to Bes because in their hearts now they
+believed that we were clothed by the Great King with terrible powers
+that might destroy them all, if so we chose. Then they went, the butler
+limping a little and with no pride left in him.
+
+"That was good work," said Peroa to me afterwards when we were alone,
+"for now yonder knave is frightened and will frighten his master."
+
+"Yes," I answered, "you played that pipe well, Prince. Still, there is
+no time to lose, since before another moon this will all be reported in
+the East, whence a new light may arise and perchance a new signet."
+
+"You say you stole the White Seal?" he asked.
+
+"Nay, Prince, the truth is that Bes bought it--in a certain fashion--and
+I used it. Perhaps it is well that you should know no more at present."
+
+"Perhaps," he answered, and we parted, for he had much to do.
+
+That afternoon the Council met again. At it I gave over the gold and by
+help of it all was arranged. Within a week ten thousand armed men would
+be in Memphis and a hundred ships with their crews upon the Nile; also
+a great army would be gathering in Upper Egypt, officered for the most
+part by Greeks skilled in war. The Greek cities too at the mouths of the
+Nile would be ready to revolt, or so some of their citizens declared,
+for they hated the Great King bitterly and longed to cast off his yoke.
+
+For my part, I received the command of the bodyguard of Peroa in which
+were many Greeks, and a generalship in the army; while to Bes, at my
+prayer, was given the freedom of the land which he accepted with a
+smile, he who was a king in his own country.
+
+At length all was finished and I went out into the palace garden to rest
+myself before I rode into the desert to see my great uncle, the holy
+Tanofir. I was alone, for Bes had gone to bring our horses on which we
+were to ride, and sat myself down beneath a palm-tree, thinking of the
+great adventure on which we had entered with a merry heart, for I loved
+adventures.
+
+Next I thought of Amada and was less merry. Then I looked up and lo!
+she stood before me, unaccompanied and wearing the dress, not of a
+priestess, but of an Egyptian lady with the little circlet of her rank
+upon her hair. I rose and bowed to her and we began to walk together
+beneath the palms, my heart beating hard within me, for I knew that my
+hour had come to speak.
+
+Yet it was she who spoke the first, saying,
+
+"I hear that you have been playing a high part, Shabaka, and doing great
+things for Egypt."
+
+"For Egypt and for you who are Egypt," I answered.
+
+"So I should have been called in the old days, Cousin, because of my
+blood and the rank it gives, though now I am but as any other lady of
+the land."
+
+"And so you shall be called in days to come, Amada, if my sword and wit
+can win their way."
+
+"How so, Cousin, seeing that you have promised certain things to my
+uncle Peroa and his son?"
+
+"I have promised those things, Amada, and I will abide by my promise;
+but the gods are above all, and who knows what they may decree?"
+
+"Yes, Cousin, the gods are above all, and in their hands we will let
+these matters rest, provoking them in no manner and least of all by
+treachery to our oaths."
+
+We walked for a little way in silence. Then I spoke.
+
+"Amada, there are more things than thrones in the world."
+
+"Yes, Cousin, there is that in which all thrones end--death, which it
+seems we court."
+
+"And, Amada, there is that in which all thrones begin--love, which I
+court from you."
+
+"I have known it long," she said, considering me gravely, "and been
+grateful to you who are more to me than any man has been or ever will
+be. But, Shabaka, I am a priestess bound to set the holy One I serve
+above a mortal."
+
+"That holy One was wed and bore a child, Amada, who avenged his father,
+as I trust that we shall avenge Egypt. Therefore she looks with a kind
+eye upon wives and mothers. Also you have not taken your final vows and
+can be absolved."
+
+"Yes," she said softly.
+
+"Then, Amada, will you give yourself into my keeping?"
+
+"I think so, Shabaka, though it has been in my mind for long, as you
+know well, to give myself only to learning and the service of the
+heavenly Lady. My heart calls me to you, it is true, day and night it
+calls, how loudly I will not tell; yet I would not yield myself to that
+alone. But Egypt calls me also, since I have been shown in a dream while
+I watched in the sanctuary, that you are the only man who can free her,
+and I think that this dream came from on high. Therefore I will give
+myself, but not yet."
+
+"Not yet," I said dismayed. "When?"
+
+"When I have been absolved from my vows, which must be done on the night
+of the next new moon, which is twenty-seven days from this. Then, if
+nothing comes between us during those twenty-seven days, it shall be
+announced that the Royal Lady of Egypt is to wed the noble Shabaka."
+
+"Twenty-seven days! In such times much may happen in them, Amada. Still,
+except death, what can come between us?"
+
+"I know of nothing, Shabaka, whose past is shadowless as the noon."
+
+"Or I either," I replied.
+
+Now we were standing in the clear sunlight, but as I said the words a
+wind stirred the palm-trees and the shadow from one of them fell full
+upon me, and she who was very quick, noted it.
+
+"Some might take that for an omen," she said with a little laugh,
+pointing to the line of the shadow. "Oh! Shabaka, if you have aught
+to confess, say it now and I will forgive it. But do not leave me to
+discover it afterwards when I may not forgive. Perchance during your
+journeyings in the East----"
+
+"Nothing, nothing," I exclaimed joyfully, who during all that time had
+scarcely spoken to a youthful woman.
+
+"I am glad that nothing happened in the East that could separate us,
+Shabaka, though in truth my thought was not your own, for there are more
+things than women in the world. Only it seems strange to me that you
+should return to Egypt laden with such priceless gifts from him who is
+Egypt's greatest enemy."
+
+"Have I not told you that I put my country before myself? Those gifts
+were won fairly in a wager, Amada, whereof you heard the story but last
+night. Moreover you know the purpose to which they are to be put," I
+replied indignantly.
+
+"Yes, I know and now I am sure. Be not angry, Shabaka, with her who
+loves you truly and hopes ere long to call you husband. But till that
+day take it not amiss if I keep somewhat aloof from you, who must break
+with the past and learn to face a future of which I did not dream."
+
+For the rest she stretched out her hand and I kissed it, for while she
+was still a priestess her lips she would not suffer me to touch. Another
+moment and smiling happily, she had glided away, leaving me alone in the
+garden.
+
+Then it was for the first time that I bethought me of the warnings of
+Bes and remembered that it was I, not he, who had told the Great
+King the name of the most beautiful woman in Egypt, although in all
+innocence. Yes, I remembered, and felt as if all the shadows on the
+earth had wrapped me round. I thought of finding her, but she had gone
+whither I knew not in that great palace. So I determined that the next
+time we were alone I would tell her of the matter, explaining all, and
+with this thought I comforted myself who did not know that until many
+days were past we should be alone no more.
+
+After this I went home and told my mother all my joy, for in truth there
+was no happier man in Egypt. She listened, then answered, smiling a
+little.
+
+"When your father wished to take me to wife, Shabaka, it was not my hand
+that I gave him to kiss, and as you know, I too have the blood of kings
+in me. But then I was not a priestess of Isis, so doubtless all is well.
+Only in twenty-seven days much may happen, as you said to Amada. Now I
+wonder why did she----? Well, no matter, since priestesses are not like
+other women who only think of the man they have won and of naught before
+or after. The blessing of the gods and mine be on you both, my son," and
+she went away to attend to her household matters.
+
+As we rode to Sekera to find the holy Tanofir I told Bes also, adding
+that I had forgotten to reveal that it was I who had spoken Amada's name
+to the king, but that I intended to do so ere long.
+
+Bes rolled his eyes and answered,
+
+"If I were you, Master, as I had forgotten, I should continue to forget,
+for what is welcome in one hour is not always welcome in another. Why
+speak of the matter at all, which is one hard to explain to a woman,
+however wise and royal? I have already said that _I_ spoke the name to
+the King and that you were brought from the boat to say whether I was
+noted for my truthfulness. Is not that enough?"
+
+While I considered, Bes went on,
+
+"You may remember, Master, that when I told, well--the truth about this
+story, the lady Amada asked earnestly that I should be scourged, even
+to the bones. Now if you should tell another truth which will make mine
+dull as tarnished silver, she will not leave me even my bones, for I
+shall be proved a liar, and what will happen to you I am sure I do
+not know. And, Master, as I am no longer a slave here in Egypt, to say
+nothing of what I may be elsewhere, I have no fancy for scourgings, who
+may not kiss the hand that smites me as you can."
+
+"But, Bes," I said, "what is, is and may always be learned in this way
+or in that."
+
+"Master, if what is were always learned, I think the world would fall
+to pieces, or at least there would be no men left on it. Why should
+this matter be learned? It is known to you and me alone, leaving out the
+Great King who probably has forgotten as he was drunk at the time. Oh!
+Master, when you have neither bow nor spear at hand, it is not wise
+to kick a sleeping lion in the stomach, for then he will remember its
+emptiness and sup off you. Beside, when first I told you that tale
+I made a mistake. I did tell the Great King, as I now remember quite
+clearly, that the beautiful lady was named Amada, and he only sent for
+you to ask if I spoke the truth."
+
+"Bes," I exclaimed, "you worshippers of the Grasshopper wear virtue
+easily."
+
+"Easily as an old sandal, Master, or rather not at all, since the
+Grasshopper has need of none. For ages they have studied the ways of
+those who worship the gods of Egypt, and from them have learned----"
+
+"What?"
+
+"Amongst other things, Master, that woman, being modest, is shocked at
+the sight of the naked Truth."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI. THE HOLY TANOFIR
+
+We entered the City of Graves that is called Sekera. In the centre
+towered pyramids that hid the bones of ancient and forgotten kings,
+and everywhere around upon the desert sands was street upon street of
+monuments, but save for a priest or two hurrying to patter his paid
+office in the funeral chapels of the departed, never a living man. Bes
+looked about him and sniffed with his wide nostrils.
+
+"Is there not death enough in the world, Master," he asked, "that the
+living should wish to proclaim it in this fashion, rolling it on their
+tongues like a morsel they are loth to swallow, because it tastes so
+good? Oh! what a waste is here. All these have had their day and yet
+they need houses and pyramids and painted chambers in which to sleep,
+whereas if they believed the faith they practised, they would have been
+content to give their bones to feed the earth they fed on, and fill
+heaven with their souls."
+
+"Do your people thus, Bes?"
+
+"For the most part, Master. Our dead kings and great ones we enclose in
+pillars of crystal, but we do this that they may serve a double purpose.
+One is that the pillars may support the roof of their successors, and
+the other, that those who inherit their goods may please themselves by
+reflecting how much handsomer they are than those who went before them.
+For no mummy looks really nice, Master, at least with its wrappings off,
+and our kings are put naked into the crystal."
+
+"And what becomes of the rest, Bes?"
+
+"Their bodies go to the earth or the water and the Grasshopper carries
+off their souls to--where, Master?"
+
+"I do not know, Bes."
+
+"No, Master, no one knows, except the lady Amada and perhaps the holy
+Tanofir. Here I think is the entrance to his hole," and he pulled up his
+beast with a jerk at what looked like the doorway of a tomb.
+
+Apparently we were expected, for a tall and proud-looking girl clad in
+white and with extraordinarily dark eyes, appeared in the doorway and
+asked in a soft voice if we were the noble Shabaka and Bes, his slave.
+
+"I am Shabaka," I answered, "and this is Bes, who is not my slave but a
+free citizen of Egypt."
+
+The girl contemplated the dwarf with her big eyes, then said,
+
+"And other things, I think."
+
+"What things?" inquired Bes with interest, as he stared at this
+beautiful lady.
+
+"A very brave and clever man and one perhaps who is more than he seems
+to be?"
+
+"Who has been telling you about me?" exclaimed Bes anxiously.
+
+"No one, O Bes, at least not that I can remember."
+
+"Not that you can remember! Then who and what are you who learn things
+you know not how?"
+
+"I am named Karema and desert-bred, and my office is that of Cup to the
+holy Tanofir."
+
+"If hermits drink from such a cup I shall turn hermit," said Bes,
+laughing. "But how can a woman be a man's cup and what kind of a wine
+does he drink from her?"
+
+"The wine of wisdom, O Bes," she replied colouring a little, for like
+many Arabs of high blood she was very fair in hue.
+
+"Wine of wisdom," said Bes. "From such cups most drink the wine of
+folly, or sometimes of madness."
+
+"The holy Tanofir awaits you," she interrupted, and turning, entered the
+doorway.
+
+A little way down the passage was a niche in which stood three lamps
+ready lighted. One of these she took and gave the others to us. Then we
+followed her down a steep incline of many steps, till at length we
+found ourselves in a hot and enormous hall hewn from the living rock and
+filled with blackness.
+
+"What is this place?" said Bes, who looked frightened, and although he
+spoke in a low whisper, our guide overheard him and turning, answered,
+
+"This is the burial place of the Apis bulls. See, here lies the last,
+not yet closed in," and holding up her lamp she revealed a mighty
+sarcophagus of black granite set in a niche of the mausoleum.
+
+"So they make mummies of bulls as well as of men," groaned Bes. "Oh!
+what a land. But when I have seen the holy Tanofir it was in a brick
+cell beneath the sky."
+
+"Doubtless that was at night, O Bes," answered Karema, "for in such a
+house he sleeps, spending his days in the Apis tomb, because of all the
+evil that is worked beneath the sun."
+
+"Hump," said Bes, "I should have thought that more was worked beneath
+the moon, but doubtless the holy Tanofir knows better, or being asleep
+does not mind."
+
+Now in front of each of the walled-up niches was a little chapel, and at
+the fourth of these whence a light came, the maiden stopped, saying,
+
+"Enter. Here dwells the holy Tanofir. He tended this god during its
+life-days in his youth, and now that the god is dead he prays above its
+bones."
+
+"Prays to the bones of a dead bull in the dark! Well, give me a live
+grasshopper in the light; he is more cheerful," muttered Bes.
+
+"O Dwarf," cried a deep and resounding voice from within the chapel,
+"talk no more of things you do not understand. I do not pray to the
+bones of a dead bull, as you in your ignorance suppose. I pray to the
+spirit whereof this sacred beast was but one of the fleshly symbols,
+which in this haunted place you will do well not to offend."
+
+Then for once I saw Bes grow afraid, for his great jaw dropped and he
+trembled.
+
+"Master," he said to me, "when next you visit tombs where maidens look
+into your heart and hermits hear your very thoughts, I pray you leave me
+behind. The holy Tanofir I love, if from afar, but I like not his house,
+or his----" Here he looked at Karema who was regarding him with a sweet
+smile over the lamp flame, and added, "There is something the matter
+with me, Master; I cannot even lie."
+
+"Cease from talking follies, O Shabaka and Bes, and enter," said the
+tremendous voice from within.
+
+So we entered and saw a strange sight. Against the back wall of the
+chapel which was lit with lamps, stood a life-sized statue of Maat,
+goddess of Law and Truth, fashioned of alabaster. On her head was a tall
+feather, her hair was covered with a wig, on her neck lay a collar of
+blue stones; on her arms and wrists were bracelets of gold. A tight robe
+draped her body. In her right hand that hung down by her side, she held
+the looped Cross of Life, and in her left which was advanced, a long,
+lotus-headed sceptre, while her painted eyes stared fixedly at the
+darkness. Crouched upon the ground, at the feet of the statue, scribe
+fashion, sat my great-uncle Tanofir, a very aged man with sightless
+eyes and long hands, so thin that one might see through them against the
+lamp-flame. His head was shaven, his beard was long and white; white too
+was his robe. In front of him was a low altar, on which stood a shallow
+silver vessel filled with pure water, and on either side of it a burning
+lamp.
+
+We knelt down before him, or rather I knelt, for Bes threw himself flat
+upon his face.
+
+"Am I the King of kings whom you have so lately visited, that you should
+prostrate yourselves before me?" said Tanofir in his great voice, which,
+coming from so frail and aged a man seemed most unnatural. "Or is it
+to the goddess of Truth beyond that you bow yourselves? If so, that is
+well, since one, if not both of you, greatly needs her pardon and her
+help. Or is it to the sleeping god beyond who holds the whole world on
+his horns? Or is it to the darkness of this hallowed place which causes
+you to remember the nearness of the awaiting tomb?"
+
+"Nay, my Uncle," I said, "we would greet you, no more, who are so worthy
+of our veneration, seeing we believe, both of us, that you saved us
+yonder in the East, from that tomb of which you speak, or rather from
+the jaws of lions or a cruel death by torments."
+
+"Perchance I did, I or the gods of which I am the instrument. At least I
+remember that I sent you certain messages in answer to a prayer for help
+that reached me, here in my darkness. For know that since we parted I
+have gone quite blind so that I must use this maiden's eyes to read what
+is written in yonder divining-cup. Well, it makes the darkness of this
+sepulchre easier to bear and prepares me for my own. 'Tis full a hundred
+and twenty years since first I looked upon the light, and now the time
+of sleep draws near. Come hither, my nephew, and kiss me on the brow,
+remembering in your strength that a day will dawn when as I am, so shall
+you be, if the gods spare you so long."
+
+So I kissed him, not without fear, for the old man was unearthly. Then
+he sent Karema from the place and bade me tell him my story, which I
+did. Why he did this I cannot say, since he seemed to know it already
+and once or twice corrected me in certain matters that I had forgotten,
+for instance as to the exact words that I had used to the Great King in
+my rage and as to the fashion in which I was tied in the boat. When I
+had done, he said,
+
+"So you gave the name of Amada to the Great King, did you? Well,
+you could have done nothing else if you wished to go on living, and
+therefore cannot be blamed. Yet before all is finished I think it will
+bring you into trouble, Shabaka, since among many gifts, the gods did
+not give that of reason to women. If so, bear it, since it is better to
+have trouble and be alive than to have none and be dead, that is, for
+those whose work is still to do in the world. And you, or rather Bes,
+stole the White Signet of signets of which, although it is so simple and
+ancient, there is not the like for power in the whole world. That
+was well done since it will be useful for a while. And now Peroa has
+determined to rebel against the King, which also is well done. Oh!
+trouble not to tell me of that business for I know all. But what would
+you learn of me, Shabaka?"
+
+"I am instructed to learn from you the end of these great matters, my
+Uncle."
+
+"Are you mad, Shabaka, that you should think me a god who can read the
+future?"
+
+"Not at all, my Uncle, who know that you can if you will."
+
+"Call the maiden," he said.
+
+So Bes went out and brought her in.
+
+"Be seated, Karema, there in front of the altar, and look into my eyes."
+
+She obeyed and presently seemed to go to sleep for her head nodded. Then
+he said,
+
+"Wake, woman, look into the water in the bowl upon the altar and tell me
+what you see."
+
+She appeared to wake, though I perceived that this was not really so,
+for she seemed a different woman with a fixed face that frightened me,
+and wide and frozen eyes. She stared into the silver bowl, then spoke in
+a new voice, as though some spirit used her tongue.
+
+"I see myself crowned a queen in a land I hate," she said coldly, a
+saying at which I gasped. "I am seated on a throne beside yonder dwarf,"
+a saying at which Bes gasped. "Although so hideous, this dwarf is a
+great man with a good heart, a cunning mind and the courage of a lion.
+Also his blood is royal."
+
+Here Bes rolled his eyes and smiled, but Tanofir did not seem in the
+least astonished, and said,
+
+"Much of this is known to me and the rest can be guessed. Pass on to
+what will happen in Egypt, before the spirit leaves you."
+
+"There will be war in Egypt," she answered. "I see fightings; Shabaka
+and others lead the Egyptians. The Easterns are driven away or slain.
+Peroa rules as Pharaoh, I see him on his throne. Shabaka is driven away
+in his turn, I see him travelling south with the dwarf and with
+myself, looking very sad. Time passes. I see the moons float by; I see
+messengers reach Shabaka, sent by Peroa and you O holy Tanofir; they
+tell of trouble in Egypt. I see Shabaka and the dwarf coming north at
+the head of a great army of black men armed with bows. With them I come
+rejoicing, for my heart seems to shine. He reaches a temple on the Nile
+about which is camped another great army, a countless army of Easterns
+under the command of the King of kings. Shabaka and the dwarf give
+battle to that army and the fray is desperate. They destroy it, they
+drive it into the Nile; the Nile runs red with blood. The Great King
+falls, an arrow from the bow of Shabaka is in his heart. He enters
+the temple, a conqueror, and there lies Peroa, dying or dead. A veiled
+priestess is there before an image, I cannot see her face. Shabaka looks
+on her. She stretches out her arms to him, her eyes burn with woman's
+love, her breast heaves, and above the image frowns and threatens. All
+is done, for Tanofir, Master of spirits, you die, yonder in the temple
+on the Nile, and therefore I can see no more. The power that comes
+through you, has left me."
+
+Then once more she became as a woman asleep.
+
+"You have heard, Shabaka and Bes," said Tanofir quietly and stroking his
+long white beard, "and what that maiden seemed to read in the water you
+may believe or disbelieve as you will."
+
+"What do you believe, O holy Tanofir?" I asked.
+
+"The only part of the story whereof I am sure," he replied, evading a
+direct answer, "is that which said that I shall die, and that when I
+am dead I shall no longer be able to cause the maiden Karema to see
+visions. For the rest I do not know. These things may happen or they may
+not. But," he added with a note of warning in his voice, "whether they
+happen or not, my counsel to you both is that you say nothing of them
+beforehand."
+
+"What then shall we report to those who bid me seek the oracle of your
+wisdom, O Tanofir?"
+
+"You can tell them that my wisdom declared that the omens were mixed
+with good and evil, but that time would show the truth. Hush now, the
+maiden is about to awake and must not be frightened. Also it is time for
+me to be led from this sepulchre to where I sleep, for I think that Ra
+has set and I am weary. Oh! Shabaka, why do you seek to peer into the
+future, which from day to day will unroll itself as does a scroll? Be
+content with the present, man, and take what Fate gives you of good or
+ill, not seeking to learn what offerings he hides beneath his robe in
+the days and the years and the centuries to come."
+
+"Yet you have sought to learn those things, O Tanofir, and not in vain."
+
+"Aye and what have they made of me? A blind old hermit weighed down with
+the weight of years and holding in my fingers but some few threads that
+with pain and grief I have plucked from the fringe of Wisdom's robe. Be
+warned by me, Nephew. While you are a man, live the life of a man, and
+when you become a spirit, live the life of a spirit. But do not seek to
+mix the two together like oil and wine, and thus spoil both. I am glad
+to learn, O Bes, that you are going to make a king's, or a slave's wife,
+whichever it may be, of this maiden, seeing that I love her well and
+hold this trade unwholesome for her. She will be better bearing babes
+than reading visions in a diviner's cup, and I will pray the gods that
+they may not be dwarfs as you are, but take on the likeness of their
+mother, who tells me that she is fair. Hush! she stirs.
+
+"Karema, are you awake? Good. Then lead me from the sepulchre, that I
+may make my evening prayer beneath the stars. Go, Shabaka and Bes, you
+are brave men, both of you, and I am glad to have the one for nephew
+and the other for pupil. My greetings to your mother, Tiu. She is a good
+woman and a true, one to whom you will do well to hearken. To the lady
+Amada also, and bid her study her beauteous face in a mirror and not be
+holy overmuch, since too great holiness often thwarts itself and ends in
+trouble for the unholy flesh. Still she loves pearls like other women,
+does she not, and even the statue of Isis likes to be adorned. As for
+you, Bes, though I think that is not your name, do not lie except when
+you are obliged, for jugglers who play with too many knives are apt
+to cut their fingers. Also give no more evil counsel to your Master
+on matters that have to do with woman. Now farewell. Let me hear how
+fortune favours you from time to time, Shabaka, for you take part in a
+great game, such as I loved in my youth before I became a holy hermit.
+Oh! if they had listened to me, things would have been different in
+Egypt to-day. But it was written otherwise, and as ever, women were the
+scribes. Good night, good night, good night! I am glad that my thought
+reached you yonder in the East, and taught you what to say and do. It
+is well to be wise sometimes, for others' sake, but not for our own, oh!
+not for our own."
+
+
+
+"Master," said Bes as we ambled homewards beneath the stars, "the holy
+Tanofir is a man for thought to feed on, since having climbed to the
+topmost peak of holiness, he does not seem to like its cold air and
+warns off those who would follow in his footsteps."
+
+"Then he might have spared himself the pains in your case, Bes, or in my
+own for that matter, since we shall never come so high."
+
+"No, Master, and I am glad to have his leave to stay lower down, since
+that hot place of dead bulls is not one which I wish to inhabit in my
+age, making use of a maiden to stare into a pot of water, and there read
+marvels, which I could invent better for myself after a jug or two of
+wine. Oh! the holy Tanofir is quite right. If these things are going
+to happen let them happen, for we cannot change them by knowing of them
+beforehand. Who wishes to know, Master, if his throat will be cut?"
+
+"Or that he will be married," I suggested.
+
+"Just so, Master, seeing that such prophecies end in becoming truths
+because we make them true, feeling that we must. Thus, now I must marry
+yonder Karema if she will marry me for fear lest I should prove the holy
+Tanofir to be what he called me--a liar."
+
+I laughed and then asked Bes if he had taken note of what the seeress
+said of our flight south and our return thence with a great army of
+black men armed with bows.
+
+"Yes, Master," he answered gravely, "and I think this army can be none
+other than that of the Ethiopians of whom by right I am the King. This
+very night I send messengers to tell those who rule in my place that I
+still live and am changing my mind on the matter of marriage. Also that
+if I do change it I may return to them, the wisest man who ever wore the
+crown of Ethiopia, having journeyed all about the world and collected
+much knowledge."
+
+"Perhaps, Bes, those who rule in your place may not wish to give it up
+to you. Perhaps they will kill you."
+
+"Have no fear, Master; as I have told you, the Ethiopians are a faithful
+people. Moreover they know that such a deed would bring the curse of the
+Grasshopper on them, since then the locusts would appear and eat up all
+their land, and when they were starving their enemies would attack them.
+Lastly they are a very tall folk and simple-minded and would not wish
+to miss the chance of being ruled over by the wisest dwarf in all the
+world, if only because it would be something new to them, Master."
+
+Again I laughed thinking that Bes was jesting according to his fashion.
+But when that night, chancing to go round the corner of the house, I
+came upon him with a circlet of feathers round his head and his big bow
+in his hand, addressing three great black men who knelt before him as
+though he were a god, I changed my mind. As I withdrew he caught sight
+of me and said,
+
+"I pray you, my lord Shabaka, stay one moment." Then he spoke to the
+three men in his own language, translating sentence by sentence to me
+what he said to them. Briefly it was this:--
+
+"Say to the Lords and Councillors of the Ancient Kingdom that I, the
+Karoon" (for such it seemed was his title) "have a friend named the lord
+Shabaka, he whom you see before you, who again and again has saved my
+life, nursing me in his arms as a mother nurses her babe, and who is,
+after me, the bravest and the wisest man in all the world. Say to them
+that if indeed I double myself by marriage and return having fulfilled
+the law, I will beg this mighty prince to accompany me, and that if he
+consents that will be the most joyful day which the Ethiopians have seen
+for a thousand years, since he will teach them wisdom and lead their
+armies in great and glorious battles. Let the priests of the Grasshopper
+pray therefore that he may consent to do so. Now salute the mighty lord
+Shabaka who can send one arrow through all three of you and two more
+behind, and depart, tarrying not day or night till you reach the land
+of Ethiopia. Then when you have delivered the message of Karoon to the
+Captains and the Councillors, return, or let others return and seek me
+out wherever I may be, bringing of the gold of Ethiopia and other gifts,
+together with their answer, seeing that I and the lord Shabaka who have
+the world beneath our feet, will not come to a land where we are not
+welcome."
+
+So these great men saluted me as though I were the King of kings
+himself, after which they rubbed their foreheads in the dust before Bes,
+said something which I did not understand, leapt to their feet, crying
+"Karoon" and sprang away into the night.
+
+"It is good to have been a slave, Master," said Bes when they had gone,
+"since it teaches one that it is even better to be a king, at least
+sometimes."
+
+Here I may add that during the days which followed Bes was often absent.
+When I asked him where he had gone, he would answer, to drink in the
+wisdom of the holy Tanofir by help of a certain silver vessel that the
+maiden Karema held to his lips. From all of which I gathered that he was
+wooing the lady who had called herself the Cup of Tanofir, and wondered
+how the business went, though as he said no more I did not ask him.
+
+Indeed I had little time to talk with Bes about such light matters,
+since things moved apace in Memphis. Within six days all the great lords
+left in Upper Egypt were sworn to the revolt under the leadership of
+Peroa, and hour by hour their vassals or hired mercenaries flowed into
+the city. These it was my duty to weld into an army, and at this task I
+toiled without cease, separating them into regiments and drilling them,
+also arranging for the arming and victualling of the boats of war. Then
+news came that Idernes was advancing from Sais with a great force of
+Easterns, all the garrison of Lower Egypt indeed, as his messengers
+said, to answer the summons conveyed to him under the private Seal of
+seals.
+
+Of Amada during this time I saw little, only meeting her now and again
+at the table of Peroa, or elsewhere in public. For the rest it pleased
+her to keep away from me. Once or twice I tried to find her alone, only
+to discover that she was engaged in the service of the goddess. Once,
+too, as she left Peroa's table, I whispered into her ear that I wished
+to speak with her. But she shook her head, saying,
+
+"After the new moon, Shabaka. Then you shall speak with me as much as
+you wish."
+
+Thus it came about that never could I find opportunity to tell her of
+that matter of what had happened at the court of the Great King. Still
+every morning she sent me some token, flowers or trifling gifts, and
+once a ring that must have belonged to her forefathers, since on its
+bezel was engraved the royal _ur�us_, together with the signs of long
+life and health, which ring I wore hung about my neck but not upon my
+finger, fearing lest that emblem of royalty might offend Peroa or some
+of his House, if they chanced to see it. So in answer I also sent her
+flowers and other gifts, and for the rest was content to wait.
+
+All of which things my mother noted with a smile, saying that the lady
+Amada showed a wonderful discretion, such as any man would value in
+a wife of so much beauty, which also must be most pleasing to her
+mistress, the goddess Isis. To this I answered that I valued it less as
+a lover than I might do as a husband. My mother smiled again and spoke
+of something else.
+
+Thus things went on while the storm-clouds gathered over Egypt.
+
+One night I could not sleep. It was that of the new moon and I knew that
+during those hours of darkness, before the solemn conclave of the high
+priests, with pomp and ceremony in the sanctuary of the temple, Amada
+had undergone absolution of her vows to Isis and been given liberty
+to wed as other women do. Indeed my mother, in virtue of her rank as a
+Singer of Amen, had been present at the rite, and returning, told me all
+that happened.
+
+She described how Amada had appeared, clad as a priestess, how she had
+put up her prayer to the four high priests seated in state, demanding to
+be loosed from her vow "for the sake of her heart and of Egypt."
+
+Then one of the high priests, he of Amen, I think, as the chief of them
+all, had advanced to the statue of the goddess Isis and whispered the
+prayer to it, whereon after a pause the goddess nodded thrice in the
+sight of all present, thereby signifying her assent. This done the high
+priest returned and proclaimed the absolution in the ancient words "for
+the sake of the suppliant's heart and of Egypt" and with it the blessing
+of the goddess on her union, adding, however, the formula, "at thy
+prayer, daughter and spouse, I, the goddess Isis, cut the rope that
+binds thee to me on earth. Yet if thou should'st tie it again, know that
+it may never more be severed, for if thou strivest so to do, it shall
+strangle thee in whatever shape thou livest on the earth throughout the
+generations, and with thee the man thou choosest and those who give thee
+to him. Thus saith Isis the Queen of Heaven."
+
+"What does that mean?" I asked my mother.
+
+"It means, my son, that if, having broken her vows to Isis, a woman
+should repeat them and once more enter the service of the goddess, and
+then for the second time seek to break them, she and the man for whom
+she did this thing would be like flies in a spider's web, and that not
+only in this life, but in any other that may be given to them in the
+world."
+
+"It seems that Isis has a long arm," I said.
+
+"Without doubt a very long arm, my son, since Isis, by whatever name she
+is called, is a power that does not die or forget."
+
+"Well, Mother, in this case she can have no reason to remember, since
+never again will Amada be her priestess."
+
+"I think not, Shabaka. Yet who can be sure of what a woman will or will
+not do, now or hereafter? For my part I am glad that I have served Amen
+and not Isis, and that after I was wed."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII. THE SLAYING OF IDERNES
+
+Whilst I was still talking to my mother I received an urgent summons to
+the palace. I went and in a little ante-chamber met Amada alone, who,
+I could see, was waiting there for me. She was arrayed in her secular
+dress and wore the insignia of royalty, looking exceedingly beautiful.
+Moreover, her whole aspect had changed, for now she was no longer a
+priestess sworn to mysteries, but just a lovely and a loving woman.
+
+"It is done, Shabaka," she whispered, "and thou art mine and I am
+thine."
+
+Then I opened my arms and she sank upon my breast and for the first time
+I kissed her on the lips, kissed her many times and oh! my heart almost
+burst with joy. But all too fleeting was that sweet moment of love's
+first fruits, whereon I had sown the seed so many years ago, for while
+we yet clung together, whispering sweet things into each other's ears,
+I heard a voice calling me and was forced to go away before I had even
+time to ask when we might be wed.
+
+Within the Council was gathered. The news before it was that the Satrap
+Idernes lay camped upon the Nile with some ten thousand men, not far
+from the great pyramids, that is, within striking distance of Memphis.
+Moreover his messengers announced that he purposed to visit the Prince
+Peroa that day with a small guard only, to inquire into this matter of
+the Signet, for which visit he demanded a safe-conduct sworn in the
+name of the Great King and in those of the gods of Egypt and the
+East. Failing this he would at once attack Memphis notwithstanding
+any commands that might be given him under the Signet, which, until he
+beheld it with his own eyes, he believed to be a forgery.
+
+The question was--what answer should be sent to him? The debate that
+followed proved long and earnest. Some were in favour of attacking
+Idernes at once although his camp was reported to be strongly entrenched
+and flanked on one side by the Nile and on the other by the rising
+ground whereon stood the great sphinx and the pyramids. Others, among
+whom I was numbered, thought otherwise, for I hold that some evil god
+led me to give counsel that day which, if it were good for Egypt was
+most ill for my own fortunes. Perchance this god was Isis, angry at the
+loss of her votary.
+
+I pointed out that by receiving Idernes Peroa would gain time which
+would enable a body of three thousand men, if not more, who were
+advancing down the Nile, to join us before they were perhaps cut off
+from the city, and thus give us a force as large as his, or larger. Also
+I showed that having summoned Idernes under the Signet, we should put
+ourselves in the wrong if we refused to receive him and instead attacked
+him at once.
+
+A third party was in favour of allowing him to enter Memphis with his
+guard and then making him prisoner or killing him. As to this I pointed
+out again that not only would it involve the breaking of a solemn oath,
+which might bring the curse of the gods upon our cause and proclaim us
+traitors to the world, but it would also be foolish since Idernes was
+not the only general of the Easterns and if we cut off him and his
+escort, it would avail us little for then the rest of the Easterns would
+fight in a just cause.
+
+So in the end it was agreed that the safe-conduct should be sent and
+that Peroa should receive Idernes that very day at a great feast given
+in his honour. Accordingly it was sent in the ancient form, the oaths
+being taken before the messengers that neither he nor those with him
+who must not number more than twenty men, would be harmed in Memphis and
+that he would be guarded on the road back until he reached the outposts
+of his own camp.
+
+This done, I was despatched up the Nile bank in a chariot accompanied
+only by Bes, to hurry on the march of those troops of which I have
+spoken, so that they might reach Memphis by sundown. Before I went,
+however, I had some words alone with Peroa. He told me that my immediate
+marriage with the lady Amada would be announced at the feast that night.
+Thereon I prayed him to deliver to Amada the rope of priceless rose-hued
+pearls which was in his keeping, as my betrothal gift, with the prayer
+that she would wear them at the feast for my sake. There was no time for
+more.
+
+The journey up Nile proved long for the road was bad being covered with
+drifted sand in some places and deep in mud from the inundation waters
+in others. At length I found the troops just starting forward after
+their rest, and rejoiced to see that there were more of them than I
+had thought. I told the case to their captains, who promised to make a
+forced march and to be in Memphis two hours before midnight.
+
+As we drove back Bes said to me suddenly,
+
+"Do you know why you could not find me this morning?"
+
+I answered that I did not.
+
+"Because a good slave should always run a pace ahead of his master, to
+clear the road and tell him of its pitfalls. I was being married. The
+Cup of the holy Tanofir is now by law and right Queen of the Ethiopians.
+So when you meet her again you must treat her with great respect, as I
+do already."
+
+"Indeed, Bes," I said laughing, "and how did you manage that business?
+You must have wooed her well during these days which have been so full
+for both of us."
+
+"I did not woo her over much, Master; indeed, the time was lacking. I
+wooed the holy Tanofir, which was more important."
+
+"The holy Tanofir, Bes?" I exclaimed.
+
+"Yes, Master. You see this beautiful Cup of his is after all--his
+beautiful Cup. Her mind is the shadow of his mind and from her he pours
+out his wisdom. So I told him all the case. At first he was angry, for,
+notwithstanding the words he spoke to you and me, when it came to a
+point the holy Tanofir, being after all much like other men, did not
+wish to lose his Cup. Indeed had he been a few score of years younger
+I am not sure but that he would have forgotten some of his holiness
+because of her. Still he came to see matters in the true light at
+last--for your sake, Master, not for mine, since his wisdom told him
+it was needful that I should become King of the Ethiopians again, to do
+which I must be married. At any rate he worked upon the mind of that Cup
+of his--having first settled that she should procure a younger sister of
+her own to fill her place--in such fashion that when at length I spoke
+to her on the matter, she did not say no."
+
+"No doubt because she was fond of you for yourself, Bes. A woman would
+not marry even to please the holy Tanofir."
+
+"Oh! Master," he replied in a new voice, a very sad voice, "I would
+that I could think so. But look at me, a misshapen dwarf, accursed from
+birth. Could a fair lady like this Karema wed such a one for his own
+sake?"
+
+"Well, Bes, there might be other reasons besides the holy Tanofir," I
+said hurriedly.
+
+"Master, there were no other reasons, unless the Cup, when it is awake,
+remembers what it has held in trance, which I do not believe. I wooed
+her as I was, not telling her that I am also King of the Ethiopians, or
+any more than I seem to be. Moreover the holy Tanofir told her nothing,
+for he swore as much to me and he does not lie."
+
+"And what did she say to you, Bes?" I asked, for I was curious.
+
+"She lied fast enough, Master. She said--well, what she said when first
+we met her, that there was more in me than the eye saw and that she who
+had lived so much with spirits looked to the spirit rather than to the
+flesh, and that dwarf or no she loved me and desired nothing better than
+to marry me and be my true and faithful wife and helpmeet. She lied so
+well that once or twice almost I believed her. At any rate I took her
+at her word, not altogether for myself, believe me, Master, but because
+without doubt what the holy Tanofir has shown us will come to pass, and
+it is necessary to you that I should be married."
+
+"You married her to help me, Bes?"
+
+"That is so, Master--after all, but a little thing, seeing that she is
+beautiful, well born and very pleasant, and I am fond of her. Also I do
+her no wrong for she has bought more than she bargained for, and if she
+has any that are not dwarfs, her children may be kings. I do not think,"
+he added reflectively, "that even the faithful Ethiopians could accept
+a second dwarf as their king. One is very well for a change, but not two
+or three. The stomach of a tall people would turn against them."
+
+I took Bes's hand and pressed it, understanding the depth of his
+love and sacrifice. Also some spirit--doubtless it came from the holy
+Tanofir--moved me to say,
+
+"Be comforted, Bes, for I am sure of this. Your children will be strong
+and straight and tall, more so than any of their forefathers that went
+before them."
+
+This indeed proved to be the case, for their father's deformity was but
+an accident, not born in his blood.
+
+"Those are good-omened words, Master, for which I thank you, though the
+holy Tanofir said the like when he wed us with the sacred words this
+morning and gave us his blessing, endowing my wife with certain gifts of
+secret wisdom which he said would be of use to her and me."
+
+"Where is she now, Bes?"
+
+"With the holy Tanofir, Master, until I fetch her, training her younger
+sister to be a diviner's worthy Cup. Only perhaps I shall never send,
+seeing that I think there will be fighting soon."
+
+"Yes, Bes, but being newly married you will do well to leave it to
+others."
+
+"No, no, Master. Battle is better than wives. Moreover, could you think
+that I would leave you to stand alone in the fray? Why if I did and harm
+came to you I should die of shame or hang myself and then Karema would
+never be a queen. So both her trades would be gone, since after marriage
+she cannot be a Cup, and her heart would break. But here are the gates
+of Memphis, so we will forget love and think of war."
+
+
+
+An hour later I and my mother, the lady Tiu, stood in the banqueting
+hall of the palace with many others, and learned that the Satrap Idernes
+and his escort had reached Memphis and would be present at the feast. A
+while later trumpets blew and a glittering procession entered the hall.
+At the head of it was Peroa who led Idernes by the hand. This Eastern
+was a big, strong man with tired and anxious eyes, such as I had noted
+were common among the servants of the Great King who from day to day
+never knew whether they would fill a Satrapy or a grave. He was clad in
+gorgeous silks and wore a cap upon his head in which shone a jewel, but
+beneath his robes I caught the glint of mail.
+
+As he came into the hall and noted the number and quality of the guests
+and the stir and the expectant look upon their faces, he started as
+though he were afraid, but recovering himself, murmured some courteous
+words to his host and advanced towards the seat of honour which was
+pointed out to him upon the Prince's right. After these two followed the
+wife of Peroa with her son and daughters. Then, walking alone in token
+of her high rank, appeared Amada, the Royal Lady of Egypt, wonderfully
+arrayed. Now, however, she wore no emblems of royalty, either because it
+was not thought wise that these should be shown in the presence of the
+Satrap, or because she was about to be given in marriage to one who was
+not royal. Indeed, as I noted with joy, her only ornament was the rope
+of rose-hued pearls which were arranged in a double row upon her breast.
+
+She searched me out with her eyes, smiled, touching the pearls with her
+finger, and passed on to her place next to the daughters of Peroa, at
+one end of the head table which was shaped like a horse's hoof.
+
+After her came the nobles who had accompanied Idernes, grave Eastern
+men. One of these, a tall captain with eyes like a hawk, seemed familiar
+to me. Nor was I mistaken, for Bes, who stood behind me and whose
+business it would be to wait on me at the feast, whispered in my ear,
+
+"Note that man. He was present when you were brought before the Great
+King from the boat and saw and heard all that passed."
+
+"Then I wish he were absent now," I whispered back, for at the words a
+sudden fear shot through me, of what I could not say.
+
+By degrees all were seated in their appointed places. Mine was by that
+of my mother at a long table that stood as it were across the ends of
+the high table but at a little distance from them, so that I was almost
+opposite to Peroa and Idernes and could see Amada, although she was too
+far away for me to be able to speak to her.
+
+The feast began and at first was somewhat heavy and silent, since, save
+for the talk of courtesy, none spoke much. At length wine, whereof I
+noted that Idernes drank a good deal, as did his escort, but Peroa and
+the Egyptians little, loosened men's tongues and they grew merrier.
+For it was the custom of the people of the Great King to discuss both
+private and public business when full of strong drink, but of the
+Egyptians when they were quite sober. This was well known to Peroa and
+many of us, especially to myself who had been among them, which was one
+of the reasons why Idernes had been asked to meet us at a feast, where
+we might have the advantage of him in debate.
+
+Presently the Satrap noted the splendid cup from which he drank and
+asked some question concerning it of the hawk-eyed noble of whom I have
+spoken. When it had been answered he said in a voice loud enough for me
+to overhear,
+
+"Tell me, O Prince Peroa, was this cup ever that of the Great King which
+it so much resembles?"
+
+"So I understand, O Idernes," answered Peroa. "That is, until it became
+mine by gift from the lord Shabaka, who received it from the Great
+King."
+
+An expression of horror appeared upon the face of the Satrap and upon
+those of his nobles.
+
+"Surely," he answered, "this Shabaka must hold the King's favours
+lightly if he passes them on thus to the first-comer. At the least, let
+not the vessel which has been hallowed by the lips of the King of kings
+be dishonoured by the humblest of his servants. I pray you, O Prince,
+that I may be given another cup."
+
+So a new goblet was brought to him, Peroa trying to pass the matter off
+as a jest by appealing to me to tell the story of the cup. Then I said
+while all listened,
+
+"O Prince, the most high Satrap is mistaken. The King of kings did not
+give me the cup, I bought it from him in exchange for a certain famous
+bow, and therefore held it not wrong to pass it on to you, my lord."
+
+Idernes made no answer and seemed to forget the matter.
+
+A while later, however, his eye fell upon Amada and the rose-hued pearls
+she wore, and again he asked a question of the hawk-eyed captain, then
+said,
+
+"Think me not discourteous, O Prince, if I seem to look upon yonder
+lovely lady which in our country, where women do not appear in public,
+we should think it an insult to do. But on her fair breast I see certain
+pearls like to some that are known throughout the world, which for many
+years have been worn by those who sit upon the throne of the East. I
+would ask if they are the same, or others?"
+
+"I do not know, O Idernes," answered Peroa; "I only know that the
+lord Shabaka brought them from the East. Inquire of him, if it be your
+pleasure."
+
+"Shabaka again----" began Idernes, but I cut him short, saying,
+
+"Yes, O Satrap, Shabaka again. I won those pearls in a bet from the
+Great King, and with them a certain weight of gold. This I think you
+knew before, since your messenger of a while ago was whipped for
+trying to steal them, which under the rods he said he did by command, O
+Satrap."
+
+To this bold speech Idernes made no answer. Only his captains frowned
+and many of the Egyptians murmured approval.
+
+After this the feast went on without further incident for a while,
+the Easterns always drinking more wine, till at length the tables were
+cleared and all of the meaner sort departed from the hall, save the
+butlers and the personal servants such as Bes, who stood behind the
+seats of their masters. There came a silence such as precedes the
+bursting of a storm, and in the midst of it Idernes spoke, somewhat
+thickly.
+
+"I did not come here, O Peroa," he said, "from the seat of government
+at Sais to eat your meats and drink your wine. I came to speak of high
+matters with you."
+
+"It is so, O Satrap," answered Peroa. "And now what may be your will?
+Would you retire to discuss them with me and my Councillors?"
+
+"Where is the need, O Peroa, seeing that I have naught to say which may
+not be heard by all?"
+
+"As it pleases you. Speak on, O Satrap."
+
+"I have been summoned here, Prince Peroa, by a writing under what seems
+to be the Signet of signets--the ancient White Seal that for generations
+unknown has been worn by the forefathers of the King of kings. Where is
+this Signet?"
+
+"Here," said the Prince, opening his robe. "Look on it, Satrap, and let
+your lords look, but let none of you dare to touch it."
+
+Idernes looked long and earnestly, and so did some of his people,
+especially the lord with the hawk eyes. Then they stared at each other
+bewildered and whispered together.
+
+"It seems to be the very Seal--the White Seal itself!" exclaimed Idernes
+at length. "Tell me now, Peroa. How came this sacred thing that dwells
+in the East hither into Egypt?"
+
+"The lord Shabaka brought it to me with certain letters from the Great
+King, O Satrap."
+
+"Shabaka for the third time, by the holy Fire!" cried Idernes. "He
+brought the cup; he brought the famous pearls; he brought the gold, and
+he brought the Signet of signets. What is there then that he did not
+bring? Perchance he has the person of the King of kings himself in his
+keeping!"
+
+"Not that, O Satrap, only the commands of the King of kings which
+are prepared ready to deliver to you under the White Seal that you
+acknowledge."
+
+"And what may they be, Egyptian?"
+
+"This, O Satrap: That you and all the army which you have brought with
+you retire to Sais and thence out of Egypt as quickly as you may, or pay
+for disobedience with your lives."
+
+Now Idernes and his captains gasped.
+
+"Why this is rebellion!" he said.
+
+"No, O Satrap, only the command of the Great King given under the White
+Seal," and drawing a roll from his breast, Peroa laid it on his brow and
+cast it down before Idernes, adding,
+
+"Obey the writing and the Signet, or by virtue of my commission, as soon
+as you are returned to your army and your safe-conduct is expired, I
+fall upon you and destroy you."
+
+Idernes looked about him like a wolf in a trap, then asked,
+
+"Do you mean to murder me here?"
+
+"Not so," answered Peroa, "for you have our safe-conduct and Egyptians
+are honourable men. But you are dismissed your office and ordered to
+leave Egypt."
+
+Idernes thought a little while, then said,
+
+"If I leave Egypt, there is at least one whom I am commanded to take
+with me under orders and writings that you will not dispute, a maiden
+named Amada whom the Great King would number among his women. I am told
+it is she who sits yonder--a jewel indeed, fair as the pearls upon her
+breast which thus will return into the King's keeping. Let her be handed
+over, for she rides with me at once."
+
+Now in the midst of an intense silence Peroa answered,
+
+"Amada, the Royal Lady of Egypt, cannot be sent to dwell in the House of
+Women of the Great King without the consent of the lord Shabaka, whose
+she is."
+
+"Shabaka for the fourth time!" said Idernes, glaring at me. "Then let
+Shabaka come too. Or his head in a basket will suffice, since that will
+save trouble afterwards, also some pain to Shabaka. Why, now I remember.
+It was this very Shabaka whom the Great King condemned to death by
+the boat for a crime against his Majesty, and who bought his life by
+promising to deliver to him the fairest and most learned woman in the
+world--the lady Amada of Egypt. And thus does the knave keep his oath!"
+
+Now I leapt to my feet, as did most of those present. Only Amada kept
+her seat and looked at me.
+
+"You lie!" I cried, "and were it not for your safe-conduct I would kill
+you for the lie."
+
+"I lie, do I?" sneered Idernes. "Speak then, you who were present, and
+tell this noble company whether I lie," and he pointed to the hawk-eyed
+lord.
+
+"He does not lie," said the Captain. "I was in the Court of the Great
+King and heard yonder Shabaka purchase pardon by promising to hand over
+his cousin, the lady Amada, to the King. The pearls were entrusted to
+him as a gift to her and I see she wears them. The gold also of which
+mention has been made was to provide for her journey in state to the
+East, or so I heard. The cup was his guerdon, also a sum for his own
+purse."
+
+"It is false," I shouted. "The name of Amada slipped my lips by
+chance--no more."
+
+"So it slipped your lips by chance, did it?" sneered Idernes. "Now, if
+you are wise, you will suffer the lady Amada to slip your hand, and not
+by chance. But let us have done with this cunning knave. Prince, will
+you hand over yonder fair woman, or will you not?"
+
+"Satrap, I will not," answered Peroa. "The demand is an insult put
+forward to force us to rebellion, since there is no man in Egypt who
+will not be ready to die in defence of the Royal Lady of Egypt."
+
+This statement was received with a shout of applause by every Egyptian
+in the hall. Idernes waited until it had died away, then said,
+
+"Prince Peroa and Egyptians, you have conveyed to me certain commands
+sealed with the Signet of signets, which I think was stolen by yonder
+Shabaka. Now hearken; until this matter is made clear I will obey those
+commands thus far. I will return with my army to Sais and there wait
+until I have received the orders of the Great King, after report made to
+him. If so much as an arrow is shot at us on our march, it will be open
+rebellion, as the price of which Egypt shall be crushed as she was never
+crushed before, and every one of you here present shall lose his head,
+save only the lady Amada who is the property of the Great King. Now I
+thank you for your hospitality and demand that you escort me and those
+with me back to my camp, since it seems that here we are in the midst of
+enemies."
+
+"Before you go, Idernes," I shouted, "know that you and your lying
+captain shall pay with your lives for your slander on me."
+
+"Many will pay with their lives for this night's work, O thief of pearls
+and seals," answered the Satrap, and turning, left the hall with his
+company.
+
+Now I searched for Amada, but she also had gone with the ladies of
+Peroa's household who feared lest the feast should end in blows and
+bloodshed, also lest she should be snatched away. Indeed of all the
+women in the hall, only my mother remained.
+
+"Search out the lady Amada," I said to her, "and tell her the truth."
+
+"Yes, my son," she answered thoughtfully; "but what is the truth? I
+understood it was Bes who first gave the name of the lady Amada to the
+Great King. Now we learn from your own lips that it was you. Wise would
+you have been, my son, if you had bitten out your tongue before you said
+it, since this is a matter that any woman may well misunderstand."
+
+"Her name was surprised out of me, Mother. It was Bes who spoke to the
+King of the beauty of a certain lady of Egypt."
+
+"And I think, my son, it was Bes who told Peroa and his guests that he
+and not you had given the King her name, which you do not seem to have
+denied. Well, doubtless both of you are to blame for foolishness, no
+more, since well I know that you would have died ten times over rather
+than buy your life at the price of the honour of the Lady of Egypt. This
+I will say to her as soon as I may, praying that it may not be too late,
+and afterwards you shall tell me everything, which you would have done
+well to do at first, if Bes, as I think, had not been over cunning after
+the fashion of black people, and counselled you otherwise. See, Peroa
+calls you and I must go, for there are greater matters afoot than that
+of who let slip the name of the lady Amada to the King of kings."
+
+So she went and there followed a swift council of war, the question
+being whether we were to strike at the Satrap's army or to allow it to
+retreat to Sais. In my turn I was asked for my judgment of the issue,
+and answered,
+
+"Strike and at once, since we cannot hope to storm Sais, which is far
+away. Moreover such strength as we have is now gathered and if it is
+idle and perhaps unpaid, will disperse again. But if we can destroy
+Idernes and his army, it will be long before the King of kings, who is
+sending all his multitudes against the Greeks, can gather another, and
+during this time Egypt may again become a nation and able to protect
+herself under Peroa her own Pharaoh."
+
+In the end I, and those who thought like me, prevailed, so that before
+the dawn I was sailing down the Nile with the fleet, having two thousand
+men under my command. Also I took with me the six hunters whom I had won
+from the Great King, since I knew them to be faithful, and thought that
+their knowledge of the Easterns and their ways might be of service. Our
+orders were to hold a certain neck of land between the river and the
+hills where the army of Idernes must pass, until Peroa and all his
+strength could attack him from behind.
+
+Four hours later, the wind being very favourable to us, we reached that
+place and there took up our station and having made all as ready as we
+could, rested.
+
+In the early afternoon Bes awakened me from the heavy sleep into which
+I had fallen, and pointed to the south. I looked and through the desert
+haze saw the chariots of Idernes advancing in ordered ranks, and after
+them the masses of his footmen.
+
+Now we had no chariots, only archers, and two regiments armed with long
+spears and swords. Also the sailors on the boats had their slings and
+throwing javelins. Lastly the ground was in our favour since it sloped
+upwards and the space between the river and the hills was narrow,
+somewhat boggy too after the inundation of the Nile, which meant that
+the chariots must advance in a column and could not gather sufficient
+speed to sweep over us.
+
+Idernes and his captains noted all this also, and halted. Then they sent
+a herald forward to ask who we were and to command us in the name of the
+Great King to make way for the army of the Great King.
+
+I answered that we were Egyptians, ordered by Peroa to hold the road
+against the Satrap who had done affront to Egypt by demanding that
+its Royal Lady should be given over to him to be sent to the East as
+a woman-slave, and that if the Satrap wished to clear a road, he could
+come and do so. Or if it pleased him he could go back towards Memphis,
+or stay where he was, since we did not wish to strike the first blow. I
+added this,
+
+"I who speak on behalf of the Prince Peroa, am the lord Shabaka, that
+same man whom but last night the Satrap and a certain captain of his
+named a liar. Now the Easterns are brave men and we of Egypt have
+always heard that among them none is braver than Idernes who gained his
+advancement through courage and skill in war. Let him therefore come out
+together with the lord who named me a liar, armed with swords only, and
+I, who being a liar must also be a coward, together with my servant, a
+black dwarf, will meet them man to man in the sight of both the armies,
+and fight them to the death. Or if it pleases Idernes better, let him
+not come and I will seek him and kill him in the battle, or by him be
+killed."
+
+The herald, having taken stock of me and of Bes at whom he laughed,
+returned with the message.
+
+"Will he come, think you, Master?" asked Bes.
+
+"Mayhap," I answered, "since it is a shame for an Eastern to refuse
+a challenge from any man whom he calls barbarian, and if he did so it
+might cost him his life afterwards at the hands of the Great King. Also
+if he should fall there are others to take his command, but none who can
+wipe away the stain upon his honour."
+
+"Yes," said Bes; "also they will think me a dwarf of no account, which
+makes the task of killing you easy. Well, they shall see."
+
+Now when I sent this challenge I had more in my mind than a desire to
+avenge myself upon Idernes and his captain for the public shame they had
+put upon me. I wished to delay the attack of their host upon our little
+band and give time for the army of Peroa to come up behind. Moreover, if
+I fell it did not greatly matter, except as an omen, seeing that I had
+good officers under me who knew all my plans.
+
+We saw the herald reach the Satrap's army and after a while return
+towards us again, which made us think my challenge had been refused,
+especially as with him was an officer who, I took it, was sent to spy
+out our strength. But this was not so, for the man said,
+
+"The Satrap Idernes has sworn by the Great King to kill the thief of the
+Signet and send his head to the Great King, and fears that if he waits
+to meet him in battle, he may slip away. Therefore he is minded to
+accept your challenge, O Shabaka, and put an end to you, and indeed
+under the laws of the East he may not refuse. But a noble of the Great
+King may not fight against a black slave save with a whip, so how can
+that noble accept the challenge of the dwarf Bes?"
+
+"Quite well," answered Bes, "seeing that I am no slave but a free
+citizen of Egypt. Moreover, in my own country of Ethiopia I am of
+royal blood. Lastly, tell the man this, that if he does not come and
+afterwards falls into my hands or into those of the lord Shabaka, he who
+talks of whips shall be scourged with them till his life creeps out from
+between his bare bones."
+
+Thus spoke Bes, rolling his great eyes and looking so terrible that the
+herald and the officer fell back a step or two. Then I told them that
+if my offer did not please them, I myself would fight, first Idernes and
+then the noble. So they returned.
+
+The end of it was that we saw Idernes and his captain advancing,
+followed by a guard of ten men. Then after I had explained all things to
+my officers, I also advanced with Bes, followed by a guard of ten picked
+men. We met between the armies on a little sandy plain at the foot of
+the rise and there followed talk between the captains of our guards as
+to arms and so forth, but we four said nothing to each other, since the
+time for words was past. Only Bes and I sat down upon the sand and spoke
+a little together of Amada and Karema and of how they would receive the
+news of our victory or deaths.
+
+"It does not much matter, Master," said Bes at last, "seeing that if we
+die we shall never know, and if we live we shall learn for ourselves."
+
+At length all was arranged and we stood up to face each other, the four
+of us being armed in the same way. For as did Idernes and the hawk-eyed
+lord, Bes and I wore shirts of mail and helms, those that we had brought
+with us from the East. For weapons we had short and heavy swords, small
+shields and knives at our girdles.
+
+"Look your last upon the sun, Thieves," mocked Idernes, "for when you
+see it again, it shall be with blind eyes from the points of spears
+fastened to the gateway pillars of the Great King's palace."
+
+"Liars you have lived and liars you shall die," shouted Bes, but I said
+nothing.
+
+Now the agreement was that when the word had been given Idernes and I,
+and the noble and Bes, should fight together, but if they killed one of
+us, or we killed one of them, the two who survived might fall together
+on the remaining man. Remembering this, as he told me afterwards, at the
+signal Bes leapt forward like a flash with working face and foam upon
+his lips, and before ever I could come to Idernes, how I know not,
+had received the blow of the Eastern lord upon his shield and without
+striking back, had gripped him in his long arms and wrapped him
+round with his bowed legs. In an instant they were on the ground, Bes
+uppermost, and I heard the sound of blow upon blow struck with knife or
+sword, I knew not which, upon the Eastern's mail, followed by a shout of
+victory from the Egyptians which told me that Bes had slain him.
+
+Now Idernes and I were smiting at each other. He was a taller and
+a bigger man than myself, but older and one who had lived too well.
+Therefore I thought it wise to keep him at a distance and tire him,
+which I did by retreating and catching his sword-cuts on my shield, only
+smiting back now and again.
+
+"He runs! He runs!" shouted the Easterns. "O Idernes, beware the dwarf!"
+
+"Stand away, Bes," I called; "this is my game," and he obeyed, as often
+he had done when we were hunting together.
+
+Now a shrewd blow from Idernes cut through my helm and staggered me, and
+another before I could recover myself, shore the shield from my hand,
+whereat the Easterns shouted more loudly than before. Then fear of
+defeat entered into me and made me mad, for this Satrap was a great
+fighter. With a shout of "Egypt!" I went at him like a wounded lion and
+soon it was his turn to stagger back. But alas! I struck too hard, for
+my sword snapped upon his mail.
+
+"The knife!" screamed Bes; "the knife!"
+
+I hurled the sword hilt in the Satrap's face and drew the dagger from
+my belt. Then I ran in beneath his guard and stabbed and stabbed and
+stabbed. He gripped me and we went down side by side, rolling over each
+other. The gods know how it ended, for things were growing dim to me
+when some thrust of mine found a rent in his mail made when the sword
+broke and he became weak. His spirit weakened also, for he gasped,
+
+"Spare my life, Egyptian, and my treasure is yours. I swear it by the
+Fire."
+
+"Not for all the treasure in the world, Slanderer," I panted back
+and drove the dagger home to the hilt thrice, until he died. Then I
+staggered to my feet, and when the armies saw that it was I who rose
+while Idernes lay still a roar of triumph went up from the Egyptians,
+answered by a roar of rage from the Easterns.
+
+With a cry of "Well done, Master!" Bes leapt upon the dead man and hewed
+his head from him, as already he had served the hawk-eyed noble. Then
+gripping one head in each hand he held them up for the Easterns to see.
+
+"Men of the Great King," I said, "bear us witness that we have fought
+fairly, man to man, when we need not have done so."
+
+The ten of the Satrap's guard stood silent, but my own shouted,
+
+"Back, Shabaka! The Easterns charge!"
+
+I looked and saw them coming like waves of steel, then supported by my
+men and preceded by Bes who danced in front shaking the severed heads, I
+ran back to my own ranks where one gave me wine to drink and threw
+water over my hurts which were but slight. Scarcely was it done when the
+battle closed in and soon in it I forgot the deaths of Idernes and the
+Eastern liar.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII. AMADA RETURNS TO ISIS
+
+We fought a very terrible fight that evening there by the banks of Nile.
+Our position was good, but we were outnumbered by four or five to one,
+and the Easterns and their mercenaries were mad at the death of the
+Satrap by my hand. Time upon time they came on furiously, charging up
+the slope like wild bulls. For the most part we relied upon our archers
+to drive them back, since our half-trained troops could scarcely hope to
+stand against the onset of veterans disciplined in war. So taking cover
+behind the rocks we rained arrows on them, shooting the horses in the
+chariots, and when these were down, pouring our shafts upon the footmen
+behind. Myself I took my great black bow and drew it thrice, and each
+time I saw a noble fall, for no mail could withstand the arrows which it
+sent, and of that art I was a master. None in Egypt could shoot so far
+or so straight as I did, save perhaps Peroa himself. I had no time to do
+more since always I must be moving up and down the line encouraging my
+men.
+
+Three times we drove them back, after which they grew cunning. Ceasing
+from a direct onslaught and keeping what remained of their chariots in
+reserve, they sent one body of men to climb along the slope of the hill
+where the rocks gave them cover from our arrows, and another to creep
+through the reeds and growing crops upon the bank of the river where we
+could not see to shoot them well, although the slingers in the ships did
+them some damage.
+
+Thus they attacked us on either flank, and while we were thus engaged
+their centre made a charge. Then came the bitterest of the fighting
+for now the bows were useless, and it was sword against sword and spear
+against spear. Once we broke and I thought that they were through. But
+I led a charge against them and drove them back a little way. Still the
+issue was doubtful till I saw Bes rush past me grinning and leaping,
+and with him a small body of Greeks whom we held in reserve, and I
+think that the sight of the terrible dwarf whom they thought a devil,
+frightened the Easterns more than did the Greeks.
+
+At any rate, shouting out something about an evil spirit whom the
+Egyptians worshipped, by which I suppose they meant that god after
+whom Bes was named, they retreated, leaving many dead but taking their
+wounded with them, for they were unbroken.
+
+At the foot of the slope they reformed and took counsel, then sat down
+out of bowshot as though to rest. Now I guessed their plan. It was to
+wait till night closed in, which would be soon for the sun was sinking,
+and then, when we could not see to shoot, either rush through us by
+the weight of numbers, or march back to where the cliffs were lower and
+climb them, thus passing us on the higher open land.
+
+Now we also took counsel, though little came of it, since we did not
+know what to do. We were too few to attack so great an army, nor if we
+climbed the cliffs could we hope to withstand them in the desert sands,
+or to hold our own against them if they charged in the dark. If this
+happened it seemed that all we could do would be to fight as long as we
+could, after which the survivors of us must take refuge on our boats. So
+it came to this, that we should lose the battle and the greater part of
+the Easterns would win back to Sais, unless indeed the main army under
+Peroa came to our aid.
+
+Whilst we talked I caused the wounded to be carried to the ships
+before it grew too dark to move them. Bes went with them. Presently he
+returned, running swiftly.
+
+"Master," he said, "the evening wind is blowing strong and stirs the
+sand, but from a mast-head through it I caught sight of Peroa's banners.
+The army comes round the bend of the river not four furlongs away. Now
+charge and those Easterns will be caught between the hammer and the
+stone, for while they are meeting us they will not look behind."
+
+So I went down the lines of our little force telling them the good news
+and showing them my plan. They listened and understood. We formed up,
+those who were left of us, not more than a thousand men perhaps, and
+advanced. The Easterns laughed when they saw us coming down the slope,
+for they thought that we were mad and that they would kill us every one,
+believing as they did that Peroa had no other army. When we were within
+bowshot we began to shoot, though sparingly, for but few arrows were
+left. Galled by our archery they marshalled their ranks to charge us
+again. With a shout we leapt forward to meet them, for now from the
+higher ground I saw the chariots of Peroa rushing to our rescue.
+
+We met, we fought. Surely there had been no such fighting since the days
+of Thotmes and Rameses the Great. Still they drove us back till unseen
+and unsuspected the chariots and the footmen of Peroa broke on them from
+behind, broke on them like a desert storm. They gave, they fled this way
+and that, some to the banks of the Nile, some to the hills. By the light
+of the setting sun we finished it and ere the darkness closed in the
+Great King's army was destroyed, save for the fugitives whom we hunted
+down next day.
+
+Yes, in that battle perished ten thousand of the Easterns and their
+mercenaries, and upon its field at dawn we crowned Peroa Pharaoh of
+Egypt, and he named me the chief general of his army. There, too, fell
+over a thousand of my men and among them those six hunters whom I had
+won in the wager with the Great King and brought with me from the East.
+Throughout the fray they served me as a bodyguard, fighting furiously,
+who knew that they could hope for no mercy from their own people. One by
+one they were slain, the last two of them in the charge at sunset. Well,
+they were brave and faithful to me, so peace be on their spirits. Better
+to die thus than in the den of lions.
+
+
+
+In triumph we returned to Memphis, I bringing in the rear-guard and the
+spoils. Before Pharaoh and I parted a messenger brought me more good
+news. Sure tidings had come that the King of kings had been driven by
+revolt in his dominions to embark upon a mighty war with Syria, Greece
+and Cyprus and other half-conquered countries, in which, doubtless
+by agreement, the fires of insurrection had suddenly burned up. Also
+already Peroa's messengers had departed to tell them of what was passing
+on the Nile.
+
+"If this be true," said Peroa when he had heard all, "the Great King
+will have no new army to spare for Egypt."
+
+"It is so, Pharaoh," I answered. "Yet I think he will conquer in this
+great war and that within two years you must be prepared to meet him
+face to face."
+
+"Two years are long, Shabaka, and in them, by your help, much may be
+done."
+
+But as it chanced he was destined to be robbed of that help, and this by
+the work of Woman the destroyer.
+
+It happened thus. Amidst great rejoicings Pharaoh reached Memphis and in
+the vast temple of Amen laid down our spoils in the presence of the god,
+thousands of right hands hewn from the fallen, thousands of swords and
+other weapons and tens of chariots, together with much treasure of which
+a portion was given to the god. The high priests blessed us in the name
+of Amen and of the other gods; the people blessed us and threw flowers
+in our path; all the land rejoiced because once more it was free.
+
+There too that day in the temple with ancient form and ceremonial Peroa
+was crowned Pharaoh of Egypt. Sceptres and jewels that had been hid
+for generations were brought out by those who knew the secret of their
+hiding-places; the crowns that had been worn by old Pharaohs, were set
+upon his head; yes, the double crown of the Upper and the Lower Land.
+Thus in a Memphis mad with joy at the casting off of the foreign yoke,
+he was anointed the first of a new dynasty, and with him his queen.
+
+I too received honours, for the story of the slaying of Idernes at
+my hands and of how I held the pass had gone abroad, so that next to
+Pharaoh, I was looked upon as the greatest man in Egypt. Nor was Bes
+forgotten, since many of the common people thought that he was a
+spirit in the form of a dwarf whom the gods had sent to aid us with his
+strength and cunning. Indeed at the close of the ceremony voices cried
+out in the multitude of watchers, demanding that I who was to marry the
+Royal Lady of Egypt should be named next in succession to the throne.
+
+The Pharaoh heard and glanced first at his son and then at me,
+doubtfully, whereon, covered with confusion, I slipped away.
+
+The portico of the temple was deserted, since all, even the guards, had
+crowded into the vast court to watch the coronation. Only in the shadow,
+seated against the pedestal of one of the two colossal statues in front
+of the outer pylon gate and looking very small beneath its greatness,
+was a man wrapped in a dark cloak whom noting vaguely I took to be a
+beggar. As I passed him, he plucked at my robe, and I stopped to search
+for something to give to him but could find naught.
+
+"I have nothing, Father," I said laughing, "except the gold hilt of my
+sword."
+
+"Do not part with that, Son," answered a deep voice, "for I think you
+will need it before all is over."
+
+Then while I stared at him he threw back his hood and I saw that
+beneath was the ancient withered face and the long white beard of my
+great-uncle, the holy Tanofir, the hermit and magician.
+
+"Great things happen yonder, Shabaka. So great that I have come from my
+sepulchre to see, or rather, being blind, to listen, who thrice in my
+life days have known the like before," and he pointed to the glittering
+throng in the court within. "Yes," he went on, "I have seen Pharaohs
+crowned and Pharaohs die--one of them at the hand of a conqueror. What
+will happen to this Pharaoh, think you, Shabaka?"
+
+"You should be better able to answer that question than I, who am no
+prophet, my Uncle."
+
+"How, my Nephew, seeing that your dwarf has borne away my magic Cup? I
+do not grudge her to him for he is a brave dwarf and clever, who may yet
+prove a good prop to you, as he has done before, and to Egypt also. But
+she has gone and the new vessel is not yet shaped to my liking. So how
+can I answer?"
+
+"Out of the store of wisdom gathered in your breast."
+
+"So! my Nephew. Well, my store of wisdom tells me that feasts are
+sometimes followed by want and rejoicings by sorrow and victories by
+defeat, and splendid sins by repentance and slow climbing back to good
+again. Also that you will soon take a long journey. Where is the Royal
+Lady Amada? I did not hear her step among those who passed in to the
+Crowning. But even my hearing has grown somewhat weak of late, except in
+the silence of the night, Shabaka."
+
+"I do not know, my Uncle, who have only been in Memphis one hour. But
+what do you mean? Doubtless she prepares herself for the feast where I
+shall meet her."
+
+"Doubtless. Tell me, what passes at the temple of Isis? As I crept past
+the pylon feeling my way with my beggar's staff, I thought--but how
+can you know who have only been in Memphis an hour? Yet surely I heard
+voices just now calling out that you, Shabaka, should be named as the
+next successor to the throne of Egypt. Was it so?"
+
+"Yes, holy Tanofir. That is why I have left who was vexed and am sworn
+to seek no such honour, which indeed I do not desire."
+
+"Just so, Nephew. Yet gifts have a way of coming to those who do not
+desire them and the last vision that I saw before my Cup left me, or
+rather that she saw, was of you wearing the Double Crown. She said that
+you looked very well in it, Shabaka. But now begone, for hark, here
+comes the procession with the new-anointed Pharaoh whose royal robe you
+won for him yonder in the pass, when you smote down Idernes and held his
+legions. Oh! it was well done and my new Cup, though faulty, was good
+enough to show me all. I felt proud of you, Shabaka, but begone, begone!
+'A gift for the poor old beggar! A gift, my lords, for the poor blind
+beggar who has had none since the last Pharaoh was crowned in Egypt and
+finds it hard to live on memories!'"
+
+
+
+At our house I found my mother just returned from the Coronation, but
+Bes I did not find and guessed that he had slipped away to meet his
+new-made wife, Karema. My mother embraced me and blessed me, making much
+of me and my deeds in the battle; also she doctored such small hurts as
+I had. I put the matter by as shortly as I could and asked her if she
+had seen aught of Amada. She answered that she had neither seen nor
+heard of her which I was sure she thought strange, as she began to
+talk quickly of other things. I said to her what I had said to the holy
+Tanofir, that doubtless she was making ready for the feast since I could
+not find her at the Crowning.
+
+"Or saying good-bye to the goddess," answered my mother nodding, "since
+there are some who find it even harder to fall from heaven to earth than
+to climb from earth to heaven, and after all you are but a man, my son."
+
+Then she slipped away to attire herself, leaving me wondering, because
+my mother was shrewd and never spoke at random.
+
+There was the holy Tanofir, too, with his talk about the temple of Isis,
+and he also did not speak at random. Oh! now I felt as I had done when
+the shadow of the palm-tree fell on me yonder in the palace garden.
+
+The mood passed for my blood still tingled with the glory of that great
+fight, and my heart shut its doors to sadness, knowing as I did, that I
+was the most praised man in Memphis that day. Indeed had I not, I should
+have learned it when with my mother I entered the great banqueting-hall
+of the palace somewhat late, for she was long in making ready.
+
+The first thing I saw there was Bes gorgeously arrayed in Eastern silks
+that he had plundered from the Satrap's tent, standing on a table so
+that all might see and hear him, and holding aloft in one hand the
+grisly head of Idernes and in the other that of the hawk-eyed noble whom
+he had slain, while in his thick, guttural voice he told the tale of
+that great fray. Catching sight of me, he called aloud,
+
+"See! Here comes the man! Here comes the hero to whom Egypt owes its
+liberty and Pharaoh his crown."
+
+Thereon all the company and the soldiers and servants who were gathered
+about the door began to shout and acclaim me, till I wished that I could
+vanish away as the holy Tanofir was said to be able to do. Since this
+was impossible I rushed at Bes who leapt from the table like a monkey
+and, still waving the heads and talking, slipped from the hall, I know
+not how, followed by the loud laughter of the guests.
+
+Then heralds announced the coming of Pharaoh and all grew silent. He and
+his company entered with pomp and we, his subjects, prostrated ourselves
+in the ancient fashion.
+
+"Rise, my guests," he cried. "Rise, my people. Above all do you rise,
+Shabaka, my beloved cousin, to whom Egypt and I owe so much."
+
+So we rose and I took my seat in a place of honour having my mother
+at my side, and looked about me for Amada, but in vain. There was
+the carven chair upon which she should have been among those of the
+princesses, but it was empty. At first I thought that she was late, but
+when time went by and she did not appear, I asked if she were ill, a
+question that none seemed able to answer.
+
+The feast went on with all the ancient ceremonies that attended the
+crowning of a Pharaoh of Egypt, since there were old men who remembered
+these, also the scribes and priests had them written in their books.
+
+I took no heed of them and will not set them down. At length Pharaoh
+pledged his subjects, and his subjects pledged Pharaoh. Then the doors
+were opened and through them came a company of white-robed, shaven
+priests bearing on a bier the body of a dead man wrapped in his
+mummy-cloths. At first some laughed for this rite had not been performed
+in Egypt since she passed into the hands of the Great Kings of the East
+and therefore was strange to them. Then they grew silent since after
+all it was solemn to see those death-bearing priests flitting in and out
+between the great columns, now seen and now lost in the shadows, and to
+listen to their funeral chants.
+
+In the hush my mother whispered to me that this body was that of the
+last Pharaoh of Egypt brought from his tomb, but whether this were so
+I cannot say for certain. At length they brought the mummy which was
+crowned with a snake-headed circlet of the royal _ur�us_ and still
+draped with withered funeral wreaths, and stood it on its feet opposite
+to Peroa just behind and between my mother and me in such a fashion that
+it cut off the light from us.
+
+The faint and heavy smell of the embalmer's spices struck upon my
+nostrils, a dead flower from the chaplets fell upon my head and,
+glancing over my shoulder, I saw the painted or enamelled eyes in the
+gilded mask staring at me. The thing filled me with fear, I knew not
+of what. Not of death, surely, for that I had faced a score of times of
+late and thought nothing of it. Indeed I am not sure that it was fear I
+felt, but rather a deep sense of the vanity of all things. It seemed
+to come home to me--Shabaka or Allan Quatermain, for in my dream the
+inspiration or whatever it might be, struck through the spirit that
+animated both of us--as it had never done before, that everything is
+_nothing_, that victory and love and even life itself have no meaning;
+that naught really exists save the soul of man and God, of whom
+perchance that soul is a part sent forth for a while to do His work
+through good and ill. The thought lifted me up and yet crushed me,
+since for a moment all that makes a man passed away, and I felt myself
+standing in utter loneliness, naked before the glory of God, watched
+only by the flaming stars that light his throne. Yes, and at that moment
+suddenly I learned that all the gods are but one God, having many shapes
+and called by many names.
+
+Then I heard the priests saying,
+
+"Pharaoh the Osiris greets Pharaoh the living on the Earth and sends to
+him this message--'As I am, so shalt thou be, and where I am, there thou
+shalt dwell through all the ages of Eternity.'"
+
+Then Pharaoh the living rose and bowed to Pharaoh the dead and Pharaoh
+the dead was taken away back to his Eternal House and I wondered whether
+his Ka or his spirit, or whatever is the part of him that lives on, were
+watching us and remembering the feasts whereof he had partaken in his
+pomp in this pillared hall, as his forefathers had done before him for
+hundreds or thousands of years.
+
+Not until the mummy had gone and the last sound of the chanting of the
+priests had died, did the hearts of the feasters grow light again. But
+soon they forgot, as men alive always forget death and those whom Time
+has devoured, for the wine was good and strong and the eyes of the women
+were bright and victory had crowned our spears, and for a while Egypt
+was once more free.
+
+So it went on till Pharaoh rose and departed, the great gold earrings
+in his ears jingling as he walked, and the trumpets sounding before and
+after him. I too rose to go with my mother when a messenger came and
+bade me wait upon Pharaoh, and with me the dwarf Bes. So we went,
+leaving an officer to conduct my mother to our home. As I passed her she
+caught me by the sleeve and whispered in my ear,
+
+"My son, whatever chances to you, be brave and remember that the world
+holds more than women."
+
+"Yes," I answered, "it holds death and God, or they hold it," though
+what put the words into my mind I do not know, since I did not
+understand and had no time to ask her meaning.
+
+The messenger led us to the door of Peroa's private chamber, the same in
+which I had seen him on my return from the East. Here he bade me enter,
+and Bes to wait without. I went in and found two men and a woman in the
+chamber, all standing very silent. The men were Pharaoh who still wore
+his glorious robe and Double Crown, and the high priest of Isis clothed
+in white; the other was the lady Amada also clothed in the snowy robes
+of Isis.
+
+At the sight of her thus arrayed my heart stopped and I stood silent
+because I could not speak. She too stood silent and I saw that beneath
+her thin veil her beautiful face was set and pale as that of an
+alabaster statue. Indeed she might have been not a lovely living woman,
+but the goddess Isis herself whose symbols she bore about her.
+
+"Shabaka," said Pharaoh at length, "the Royal Lady of Egypt, Amada,
+priestess of Isis, has somewhat to say to you."
+
+"Let the Royal Lady of Egypt speak on to her servant and affianced
+husband," I answered.
+
+"Count Shabaka, General of the armies," she began in a cold clear voice
+like to that of one who repeats a lesson, "learn that you are no more my
+affianced husband and that I who am gathered again to Isis the divine,
+am no more your affianced wife."
+
+"I do not understand. Will it please you to be more plain?" I said
+faintly.
+
+"I will be more plain, Count Shabaka, more plain than you have been with
+me. Since we speak together for the last time it is well that I should
+be plain. Hear me. When first you returned from the East, in yonder hall
+you told us of certain things that happened to you there. Then the dwarf
+your servant took up the tale. He said that he gave my name to the Great
+King. I was wroth as well I might be, but even when I prayed that he
+should be scourged, you did not deny that it was he who gave my name to
+the King, although Pharaoh yonder said that if you had spoken the name
+it would have been another matter."
+
+"I had no time," I answered, "for just then the messengers came from
+Idernes and afterwards when I sought you you were gone."
+
+"Had you then no time," she asked coldly, "beneath the palms in the
+garden of the palace when we were affianced? Oh! there was time in
+plenty but it did not please you to tell me that you had bought safety
+and great gifts at the price of the honour of the Lady of Egypt whose
+love you stole."
+
+"You do not understand!" I exclaimed wildly.
+
+"Forgive me, Shabaka, but I understand very well indeed, since from
+your own words I learned at the feast given to Idernes that 'the name
+of Amada' slipped your lips by chance and thus came to the ears of the
+Great King."
+
+"The tale that Idernes and his captain told was false, Lady, and for it
+Bes and I took their lives with our own hands."
+
+"It had perhaps been better, Shabaka, if you had kept them living that
+they might confess that it was false. But doubtless you thought them
+safer dead, since dead men cannot speak, and for this reason challenged
+them to single combat."
+
+I gasped and could not answer for my mind seemed to leave me, and she
+went on in a gentler voice,
+
+"I do not wish to speak angrily to you, my cousin Shabaka, especially
+when you have just wrought such great deeds for Egypt. Moreover by the
+law I serve I may speak angrily to no man. Know then that on learning
+the truth, since I could love none but you according to the flesh and
+therefore can never give myself in marriage to another, I sought refuge
+in the arms of the goddess whom for your sake I had deserted. She was
+pleased to receive me, forgetting my treason. On this very day for the
+second time I took the oaths which may no more be broken, and that I may
+dwell where I shall never see you more, Pharaoh here has been pleased,
+at my request to name me high priestess and prophetess of Isis and to
+appoint me as a dwelling-place her temple at Amada where I was born far
+away in Upper Egypt. Now all is said and done, so farewell."
+
+"All is not said and done," I broke out in fury. "Pharaoh, I ask your
+leave to tell the full story of this business of the naming of the lady
+Amada to the King of kings, and that in the presence of the dwarf Bes.
+Even a slave is allowed to set out his tale before judgment is passed
+upon him."
+
+Peroa glanced at Amada who made no sign, then said,
+
+"It is granted, General Shabaka."
+
+So Bes was called into the chamber and having looked about him
+curiously, seated himself upon the ground.
+
+"Bes," I said, "you have heard nothing of what has passed." (Here I was
+mistaken, for as he told me afterwards he had heard everything through
+the door which was not quite closed.) "It is needful, Bes, that you
+should repeat truly all that happened at the court of the King of kings
+before and after I was brought from the boat."
+
+Bes obeyed, telling the tale very well, so well that all listened
+earnestly, without error moreover. When he had finished I also told my
+story and how, shaken by all I had gone through and already weak from
+the torment of the boat, the name of Amada was surprised from me who
+never dreamed that the King would at once make demand of her, and who
+would have perished a thousand times rather than such a thing should
+happen. I added what I had learned afterwards from our escort, that this
+name was already well known to the Great King who meant to make use of
+it as a cause of quarrel with Egypt. Further, that he had let me escape
+from a death by horrible torments because of some dream that he had
+dreamed while he rested before the banquet, in which a god appeared and
+told him that it was an evil thing to slay a man because that man had
+bested him at a hunting match and one of which heaven would keep an
+account. Still because of the law of his land he must find a public
+pretext for loosing one whom he had once condemned, and therefore chose
+this matter of the lady Amada whom he pretended to send me to bring to
+him.
+
+When I had finished, as Amada still remained silent, Pharaoh asked of
+Bes how it came about that he told one story on the night of our return
+and another on this night.
+
+"Because, O Pharaoh," answered Bes rolling his eyes, "for the first time
+in my life I have been just a little too clever and shot my arrow just
+a little too far. Hearken, Pharaoh, and Royal Lady, and High Priest. I
+knew that my master loves the lady Amada and knew also that she is quick
+of tongue and temper, one who readily takes offence even if thereby
+she breaks her own heart and so brings her life to ruin, and with it
+perchance her country. Therefore, knowing women whom I have studied in
+my own land, I saw in this matter just such a cause of offence as she
+would lay hold of, and counselled my master to keep silent as to the
+story of the naming of her before the King. Some evil spirit made him
+listen to this bad counsel, so far at least, that when I lied as to
+what had chanced, for which lie the lady Amada prayed that I might be
+scourged till my bones broke through the skin, he did not at once tell
+all the truth. Nor did he do so afterwards because he feared that if he
+did I should in fact be scourged, for my master and I love each other.
+Neither of us wishes to see the other scourged, though such is my lot
+to-night," and he glanced at Amada. "I have said."
+
+Then at last Amada spoke.
+
+"Had I known all this story from the first, perhaps I should not have
+done what I have done to-day and perhaps I should have forgiven and
+forgotten, for in truth even if the dwarf still lies, I believe your
+word, O Shabaka, and understand how all came about. But now it is too
+late to change. Say, O Priest of the Mother, is it not too late?"
+
+"It is too late," said the priest solemnly, "seeing that if such vows
+as yours are broken for the second time, O Prophetess, the curse of the
+goddess will pursue you and him for whom they were broken, yes, through
+this life and all other lives that perchance may be given to you upon
+the earth or elsewhere."
+
+"Pharaoh," I cried in despair, "I made a bond with you. It is recorded
+in writing and sealed. I have kept my part of the bond; my treasure you
+have spent; your enemies I have slain; your army I have commanded not so
+ill. Will you not keep yours and bid the priests release this lady from
+her vow and give her to me to whom she was promised? Or must I believe
+that you refuse, not because of goddesses and vows, but because yonder
+is the Royal Lady of Egypt, the true heiress to the throne who might
+perchance bear children, which as prophetess of Isis she can never do.
+Yes, because of this and because of certain cries that came to your ears
+in the hour of your crowning before Amen-ra and all the gods?"
+
+Peroa flushed as he heard me and answered,
+
+"You speak roughly, Cousin, and were you any other man I might be
+tempted to answer roughly. But I know that you suffer and therefore I
+forgive. Nay, you must believe no such things. Rather must you remember
+that in this bond of which you speak, it was set down that I only
+promised you the lady Amada with her own consent, and this she has
+withdrawn."
+
+"Then, Pharaoh, hearken! To-morrow I leave Egypt for another land,
+giving you back your generalship and sheathing the sword that I had
+hoped to wield in its defence and yours when the last great day of trial
+by battle comes, as come it will. I tell you that I go to return no
+more, unless the lady Amada yonder shall summon me back to fight for her
+and you, promising herself to me in guerdon."
+
+"That can never be," said Amada.
+
+Then I became aware of another presence in the room, though how and when
+it appeared I do not know, but I suppose that it had crept in while we
+were lost in talk. At least between me and Pharaoh, crouched upon the
+ground, was the figure of a man wrapped in a beggar's cloak. It threw
+back the hood and there appeared the ashen face and snowy beard of the
+holy Tanofir.
+
+"You know me, Pharaoh," he said in his deep, solemn voice. "I am
+Tanofir, the King's son; Tanofir the hermit, Tanofir the seer. I have
+heard all that passes, it matters not how and I come to you with a
+message, I who read men's hearts. Of vows and goddesses and women I say
+nothing. But this I say to you, that if you break the spirit of your
+bond and suffer yonder Shabaka to go hence with a bitter heart, trouble
+shall come on you. All the Great King's armies did not die yonder by the
+banks of Nile, and mayhap one day he will journey to bury the bones of
+those who fell, and with them _yours_, O Pharaoh. I do not think that
+you will listen to me to-night, and I am sure that yonder lady, full of
+the new-fanned flame of the jealous goddess, will not listen. Still let
+her take counsel and remember my words: In the hour of desperate danger
+let her send to Shabaka and demand his help, promising in return what he
+has asked and remembering that if Isis loves her, that goddess was born
+upon the Nile and loves Egypt more."
+
+"Too late, too late, _too late!_" wailed Amada
+
+Then she burst into tears and turning fled away with the high priest.
+Pharaoh went also leaving me and Bes alone. I looked for the holy
+Tanofir to speak with him, but he too was gone.
+
+"It is time to sleep, Master," said Bes, "for all this talk is more
+wearisome than any battle. Why! what is this that has your name upon
+it?" and he picked a silk-wrapped package from the floor and opened it.
+
+Within were the priceless rose-hued pearls!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV. SHABAKA FIGHTS THE CROCODILE
+
+"Where to?" I said to Bes when we were outside the palace, for I was so
+broken with grief that I scarcely knew what I did.
+
+"To the house of the lady Tiu, I think, Master, since there you must
+make preparations for your start on the morrow, also bid her farewell.
+Oh!" he went on in a kind of rapture which afterwards I knew was feigned
+though at the time I did not think about it, "Oh! how happy should you
+be who now are free from all this woman-coil, with life new and fresh
+before you. Reflect, Master, on the hunting we will have yonder in
+Ethiopia. No more cares, no more plannings for the welfare of Egypt,
+no more persuading of the doubtful to take up arms, no more desperate
+battle-ventures with your country's honour on your sword-point. And if
+you must see women--well, there are plenty in Ethiopia who come and go
+lightly as an evening breeze laden with the odour of flowers, and never
+trouble in the morning."
+
+"At any rate _you_ are not free from such coils, Bes," I said and in the
+moonlight I saw his great face fall in.
+
+"No, Master, I am tying them about my throat. See, such is the way of
+the world, or of the gods that rule the world, I know not which. For
+years I have been happy and free, I have enjoyed adventures and visited
+strange countries and have gathered learning, till I think I am the
+wisest man upon the Nile, at the side of one whom I loved and holding
+nothing at risk, except my own life which mattered no more than that of
+a gnat dancing in the sun. Now all is changed. I have a wife whom I love
+also, more than I can tell you," and he sighed, "but who still must
+be looked after and obeyed--yes, obeyed. Further, soon I shall have a
+people and a crown to wear, and councillors and affairs of state, and
+an ancient religion to support and the Grasshopper itself knows what
+besides. The burden has rolled from your back to mine, Master, making my
+heart which was so light, heavy, and oh! I wish it had stopped where it
+was."
+
+Even then I laughed, sad as I was, for truth lived in the philosophy of
+Bes.
+
+"Master," he went on in a changed voice, "I have been a fool and my
+folly has worked you ill. Forgive me since I acted for the best, only
+until the end no one ever knows what is the best. Now here is the house
+and I go to meet my wife and to make certain arrangements. By dawn
+perhaps you will be ready to start to Ethiopia."
+
+"Do you really desire that I should accompany you there, Bes?"
+
+"Certainly, Master. That is unless you should desire that I accompany
+you somewhere else instead, by sea southward for instance. If so, I do
+not know that I would refuse, since Ethiopia will not run away and there
+is much of the world that I should still like to visit. Only then there
+is Karema to be thought about, who expects, or, when she learns all,
+soon will expect, to be a queen," he added doubtfully.
+
+"No, Bes, I am too tired to make new plans, so let us go to Ethiopia and
+not disappoint Karema, who after holding a cup so long naturally would
+like to try a sceptre."
+
+"I think that is wisest, Master; at any rate the holy Tanofir thinks
+it wisest, and he is the voice of Fate. Oh! why do we trouble who after
+all, every one of us, are nothing but pieces upon the board of Fate."
+
+Then he turned and left me and I entered the house where I found my
+mother sitting, still in her festal robes, like one who waits. She
+looked at my face, then asked what troubled me. I sat down on a stool at
+her feet and told her everything.
+
+"Much as I thought," she said when I had finished. "These over-learned
+women are strange fish to catch and hold, and too much soul is like too
+much sail upon a boat when the desert wind begins to blow across the
+Nile. Well, do not let us blame her or Bes, or Peroa who is already
+anxious for his dynasty and would rather that Amada were a priestess
+than your wife, or even the goddess Isis, who no doubt is anxious for
+her votaries. Let us rather blame the Power that is behind the veil, or
+to it bow our heads, seeing that we know nothing of the end for which it
+works. So Egypt shuts her doors on you, my Son, and whither away? Not
+to the East again, I trust, for there you would soon grow shorter by a
+head."
+
+"I go to Ethiopia, my Mother, where it seems that Bes is a great man and
+can shelter me."
+
+"So we go to Ethiopia, do we? Well, it is a long journey for an old
+woman, but I weary of Memphis where I have lived for so many years and
+doubtless the sands of the south make good burial grounds."
+
+"We!" I exclaimed. "_We?_"
+
+"Surely, my Son, since in losing a wife you have again found a mother
+and until I die we part no more."
+
+When I heard this my eyes filled with tears. My conscience smote me also
+because of late, and indeed for years past, I had thought so much of
+Amada and so little of my mother. And now it was Amada who had cast me
+out, unjustly, without waiting to learn the truth, because at the worst
+I, who worshipped her, had saved myself from death in slow torment by
+speaking her name, while my mother, forgetting all, took me to her bosom
+again as she had done when I was a babe. I knew not what to say,
+but remembering the pearls, I drew them out and placed them round my
+mother's neck.
+
+She looked at the wonderful things and smiled, then said,
+
+"Such gems as these become white locks and withered breasts but ill.
+Yet, my Son, I will keep them for you till you find a wife, if not
+Amada, then another."
+
+"If not Amada, I shall never find a wife," I said bitterly, whereat she
+smiled.
+
+Then she left me to make ready before she slept a while.
+
+
+
+Work as we would noon had passed two hours, on the following day, before
+we were prepared to start, for there was much to do. Thus the house must
+be placed in charge of friends and the means of travel collected. Also a
+messenger came from Pharaoh praying me for his and Egypt's sake to think
+again before I left them, and an answer sent that go I must, whither
+the holy Tanofir would know if at any time Pharaoh desired to learn. In
+reply to this came another messenger who brought me parting gifts from
+Pharaoh, a chain of honour, a title of higher nobility, a commission
+as his envoy to whatever land I wandered, and so forth, which I must
+acknowledge. Lastly as we were leaving the house to seek the boat which
+Bes had made ready on the Nile, there came yet another messenger at the
+sight of whom my heart leapt, for he was priest of Isis.
+
+He bowed and handed me a roll. I opened it with a trembling hand and
+read:
+
+
+ "From the Prophetess of Isis whose house is at Amada, aforetime
+  Royal Lady of Egypt, to the Count Shabaka,
+
+ "I learn, O my Cousin, that you depart from Egypt and knowing the
+  reason my heart is sore. Believe me, my Cousin, I love you well,
+  better than any who lives upon the earth, nor will that love ever
+  change, since the goddess who holds my future in her hands, knows
+  of what we are made and is not jealous of the past. Therefore she
+  will not be wroth at the earthly love of one who is gathered to
+  her heavenly arms. Her blessing and mine be on you and if we see
+  each other no more face to face in the world, may we meet again in
+  the halls of Osiris. Farewell, beloved Shabaka. Oh! why did you
+  suffer that black master of lies, the dwarf Bes, to persuade you
+  to hide the truth from me?"
+
+
+So the writing ended and below it were two stains still wet, which I
+knew were caused by tears. Moreover, wrapped in a piece of silk and
+fastened to the scroll was a little gold ring graven with the royal
+_ur�us_ that Amada had always worn from childhood. Only on the previous
+night I had noted it on the first finger of her right hand.
+
+I took my stylus and my waxen tablets and wrote on one of them:
+
+
+ "Had you been a man, Amada, and not a woman, I think you would have
+  judged me differently but, learned priestess and prophetess as you
+  are, a woman you remain. Perchance a time may come when once more
+  you will turn to me in the hour of your need; if so and I am
+  living, I will come. Yea, if I am dead I think that I still shall
+  come, since nothing can really part us. Meanwhile by day and by
+  night I wear your ring and whenever I look on it I think of Amada
+  the woman whose lips have pressed my own, and forget Amada the
+  priestess who for her soul's sake has been pleased to break the
+  heart of the man who loved her and whom she misjudged so sorely in
+  her pride and anger."
+
+
+This tablet I wrapped up and sealed, using clay and her own ring to make
+the seal, and gave it for delivery to the priest.
+
+At length we drew near to the river and here, gathered on the open land,
+I found the most of those who had fought with me in the battle against
+the Easterns, and with them a great concourse of others from the
+city. These collected round me, some of them wounded and hobbling upon
+crutches, praying me not to go, as did the others who foresaw sorrow to
+Egypt from my loss. But I broke away from them almost in tears and
+with my mother hid myself beneath the canopy of the boat. Here Bes was
+waiting, also his beautiful wife who, although she seemed sad at leaving
+Egypt, smiled a greeting to us while the steersmen and rowers of the
+boat, tall Ethiopians every one of them, rose and gave me a General's
+salute. Then, as the wind served, we hoisted the sail and glided away up
+Nile, till presently the temples and palm-groves of Memphis were lost to
+sight.
+
+
+
+Of that long, long journey there is no need to tell. Up the Nile we
+travelled slowly, dragging the boat past the cataracts till Egypt was
+far behind us. In the end, many days after we had passed the mouth of
+another river that was blue in colour which flowed from the northern
+mountain lands down into the Nile, we came to a place where the rapids
+were so long and steep that we must leave the boat and travel overland.
+Drawing near to it at sunset I saw a multitude of people gathered on the
+sand and beyond them a camp in which were set many beautiful pavilions
+that seemed to be broidered with silk and gold, as were the banners that
+floated above them whereon appeared the effigy of a grasshopper, also
+done in gold with silver legs.
+
+"It seems that my messengers travelled in safety," said Bes to me, "for
+know, that yonder are some of my subjects who have come here to meet
+us. Now, Master, I must no longer call you master since I fear I am once
+more a king. And you must no longer call me Bes, but Karoon. Moreover,
+forgive me, but when you come into my presence you must bow, which I
+shall like less than you do, but it is the custom of the Ethiopians.
+Oh! I would that you were the king and that I were your friend, for
+henceforth good-bye to ease and jollity."
+
+I laughed, but Bes did not laugh at all, only turned to his wife who
+already ruled him as though he were indeed a slave, and said, "Lady
+Karema, make yourself as beautiful as you can and forget that you have
+ever been a Cup or anything useful, since henceforth you must be a
+queen, that is if you please my people."
+
+"And what happens if I do not please them, Husband?" asked Karema
+opening her fine eyes.
+
+"I do not quite know, Wife. Perhaps they may refuse to accept me, at
+which I shall not weep. Or perhaps they may refuse to accept you, at
+which of course I should weep very much, for you see you are so very
+white and, heretofore, all the queens of the Ethiopians have been
+black."
+
+"And if they refuse to accept me because I am white, or rather brown,
+instead of black like oiled marble, what then, O Husband?"
+
+"Then--oh! then I cannot say, O Wife. Perhaps they will send you back
+to your own country. Or perhaps they will separate us and place you in
+a temple where you will live alone in all honour. I remember that once
+they did that to a white woman, making a goddess of her until she died
+of weariness. Or perhaps--well, I do not know."
+
+Then Karema grew angry.
+
+"Now I wish I had remained a Cup," she said, "and the servant of the
+holy Tanofir who at least taught me many secret things, instead of
+coming to dwell among black barbarians in the company of a dwarf who,
+even if he be a king, it seems has no power to protect the wife whom he
+has chosen."
+
+"Why will women always grow wroth before there is need?" asked Bes
+humbly. "Surely it would be time to rate me when any of these things had
+happened."
+
+"If any of them do happen, Husband, I shall say much worse things than
+that," she replied, but the talk went no further, for at this moment our
+boat grounded and singing a wild song, many of those who waited rushed
+into the water to drag it to the bank.
+
+Then Bes stood up on the prow, waving his bow and there arose a mighty
+shout of, "_Karoon! Karoon!_ It is he, it is he returned after many
+years!"
+
+Twice they shouted thus and then, every one of them, threw themselves
+face downwards in the sand.
+
+"Yes, my people," cried Bes, "it is I, Karoon, who having been
+miraculously preserved from many dangers in far lands by the help of the
+Grasshopper in heaven, and, as my messengers will have told you, of my
+beloved friend, lord Shabaka the Egyptian, who has deigned to come to
+dwell with us for a while, have at length returned to Ethiopia that I
+may shed my wisdom on you like the sun and pour it on your heads like
+melted honey. Moreover, mindful of our laws which aforetime I defied and
+therefore left you, I have searched the whole world through till I found
+the most beautiful woman that it contained, and made her my wife. She
+too has deigned to come to this far country to be your queen. Advance,
+fair Karema, and show yourself to these my Ethiopians."
+
+So Karema stepped forward and stood on the prow of the boat by the side
+of Bes, and a strange couple they looked. The Ethiopians who had risen,
+considered her gravely, then one of them said,
+
+"Karoon called her beautiful, but in truth she is almost white and very
+ugly."
+
+"At least she is a woman," said another, "for her shape is female."
+
+"Yes, and he has married her," remarked a third, "and even a king
+may choose his own wife sometimes. For in such matters who can judge
+another's taste?"
+
+"Cease," said Bes in a lordly way. "If you do not think her beautiful
+to-night, you will to-morrow. And now let us land and rest."
+
+So we landed and while I did so I took note of these Ethiopians. They
+were great men, black as charcoal with thick lips, white teeth and flat
+noses. Their eyes were large and the whites of them somewhat yellow,
+their hair curled like wool, their beards were short and on their faces
+they wore a continual smile. Of dress most of them had little, but their
+elders or leaders wore lion and leopard skins and some were clad in a
+kind of silken tunic belted about the middle. All were armed for war
+with long bows, short swords and small shields round in shape and made
+from the hide of the hippopotamus or of the unicorn. Gold was plentiful
+amongst them since even the humblest wore bracelets of that metal, while
+about the necks of the chieftains it was wound in great torques, also
+sometimes on their ankles. They wore sandals on their feet and some
+of them had ostrich feathers stuck in their hair, a few also had
+grasshoppers fashioned of gold bound on the top of their heads, and
+these I took to be the priests. There were no women in their number.
+
+As the sun was sinking we were led at once to a very beautiful tent made
+of woven flax and ornamented as I have described, where we found food
+made ready for us in plenty, milk in bowls and the flesh of sheep and
+oxen boiled and roasted. Bes, however, was taken to a place apart, which
+made Karema even more angry than she was before.
+
+Scarcely had we finished eating when a herald rushed into the tent
+crying, "Prostrate yourselves! Yea, be prostrated, the Grasshopper
+comes! Karoon comes."
+
+Here I must say that I found that the title of Karoon meant "Great
+Grasshopper," but Karema who did not know this, asked indignantly why
+she should prostrate herself to a grasshopper. Indeed she refused to
+do so even when Bes entered the pavilion wonderfully attired in a
+gorgeous-coloured robe of which the train was held by two huge men. So
+absurd did he look that my mother and I must bow very deeply to hide our
+laughter while Karema said,
+
+"It would be better, Husband, if you found children to carry your robe
+instead of two giants. Moreover, if it is meant to copy the colours of
+a grasshopper, 'tis badly done, since grasshoppers are green and you
+are gold and scarlet. Also they do not wear feathers set awry upon their
+heads."
+
+Bes rolled his eyes as though in agony, then turning, bade his
+attendants be gone. They obeyed, though doubtfully as though they did
+not like to leave him alone with us, whereon he let down the flap of the
+pavilion, threw off his gorgeous coverings and said,
+
+"You must learn to understand, Wife, that our customs are different from
+those of Egypt. There I was happy as a slave and you were held to
+be beautiful as the Cup of the holy Tanofir, also learned. Here I am
+wretched as a king and you are held to be ugly, also ignorant as a
+stranger. Oh! do not answer, I pray you, but learn that all goes well.
+For the time you are accepted as my wife, subject to the decision of a
+council of matrons, aged relatives of my family, who will decide when
+we reach the City of the Grasshopper whether or not you shall be
+acknowledged as the Queen of the Ethiopians. No, no, I pray you say
+nothing since I must go away at once, as according to the law of the
+Ethiopians the time has come for the Grasshopper to sleep, alone,
+Karema, as you are not yet acknowledged as my wife. You also can sleep
+with the lady Tiu and for Shabaka a tent is provided. Rest sweetly,
+Wife. Hark! They fetch me."
+
+"Now, if I had my way," said Karema, "I would rest in that boat going
+back to Egypt. What say you, lord Shabaka?"
+
+But I made no answer who followed Bes out of the tent, leaving her to
+talk the matter over with my mother. Here I found a crowd of his people
+waiting to convey him to sleep and watching, saw them place him in
+another tent round which they ranged themselves, playing upon musical
+instruments. After this someone came and led me to my own place where
+was a good bed in which I lay down to sleep. This however I could not do
+for a long while because of my own laughter and the noise of the drums
+and horns that were soothing Bes to his rest. For now I understood why
+he had preferred to be a slave in Egypt rather than a king in Ethiopia.
+
+In the morning I rose before the dawn and went out to the river-bank to
+bathe. While I was making ready to wash myself, who should appear but
+Bes, followed, but at a distance, by a number of his people.
+
+"Never have I spent such a night, Master," he said, "at least not since
+you took me prisoner years ago, since by law I may not stop those horns
+and musical instruments. Now, however, also according to the law of the
+Ethiopians, I am my own lord until the sun rises. So I have come here
+to gather some of those blue lilies which she loves as a present for
+Karema, because I fear that she is angry and must be appeased."
+
+"Certainly she is very angry," I said, "or at least was so when I left
+her last night. Oh! Bes, why did you let your people tell her that she
+was ugly?"
+
+"How can I help it, Master? Have you not always heard that the
+Ethiopians are chiefly famous for one thing, namely that they speak
+nothing but the truth. To them she, being different, seems to be ugly.
+Therefore when they say that she is ugly, they speak the truth."
+
+"If so, it is a truth that she does not like, Bes, as I have no doubt
+she will tell you by and by. Do they think me ugly also?"
+
+"Yes, they do, Master; but they think also that you look like a man who
+can draw a bow and use a sword, and that goes far with the Ethiopians.
+Of your mother they say nothing because she is old and they venerate the
+aged whom the Grasshopper is waiting to carry away."
+
+Now I began to laugh again and went with Bes to gather the lilies. These
+grew at the end of a mass of reeds woven together by the pressure of the
+current and floating on the water. Bes lay down upon his stomach while
+his people watched from a distance on the bank amazed into silence, and
+stretched out his long arms to reach the blue lotus flowers. Suddenly
+the reeds gave way beneath him just as he had grasped two of the flowers
+and was dragging at them, so that he fell into the river.
+
+Next instant I saw a swirl in the brown water and perceived a huge
+crocodile. It rushed at Bes open-mouthed. Being a good swimmer he
+twisted his body in order to avoid it, but I heard the great teeth
+close with a snap on the short leathern garment which he wore about his
+middle.
+
+"The devil has me! Farewell!" he cried and vanished beneath the water.
+
+Now, as I have said, I was almost stripped for bathing, but had not
+yet taken off my short sword which was girded round me by a belt. In an
+instant I drew it and amidst the yells of horror of the Ethiopians who
+had seen all from the bank, I plunged into the river. There are few able
+to swim as I could and I had the art of diving with my eyes open and
+remaining long beneath the surface without drawing breath, for this I
+had practised from a child.
+
+Immediately I saw the great reptile sinking to the mud and dragging Bes
+with him to drown him there. But here the river was very deep and with
+a few swift strokes I was able to get under the crocodile. Then with all
+my strength I stabbed upwards, driving the sword far into the soft part
+of the throat. Feeling the pain of the sharp iron the beast let go of
+Bes and turned on me. How it happened I do not know but presently I
+found myself upon its back and was striking at its eyes. One thrust at
+least went home, for the blinded brute rose to the surface, bearing me
+with him, and oh! the sweetness of the air as I breathed again.
+
+Thus we appeared, I riding the crocodile like a horse and stabbing
+furiously, while close by was Bes rolling his yellow eyes but helpless,
+for he had no weapon. Still the devil was not dead although blood
+streamed from him, only mad with pain and rage. Nor could the shouting
+Ethiopians help me since they had only bows and dared not shoot lest
+their shafts should pierce me. The crocodile began to sink again,
+snapping furiously at my legs. Then I bethought me of a trick I had seen
+practised by natives on the Nile.
+
+Waiting till its huge jaws were open I thrust my arm between them,
+grasping the short sword in such fashion that the hilt rested on its
+tongue and the point against the roof of its mouth. It tried to close
+its jaws and lo! the good iron was fixed between them, holding them wide
+open. Then I withdrew my hand and floated upwards with nothing worse
+than a cut upon the wrist from one of its sharp fangs. I appeared upon
+the surface and after me the crocodile spouting blood and wallowing in
+its death agonies. I remembered no more till I found myself lying on the
+bank surrounded by a multitude with Bes standing over me. Also in the
+shallow water was the crocodile dead, my sword still fixed between its
+jaws.
+
+"Are you harmed, Master" cried Bes in a voice of agony.
+
+"Very little I think," I answered, sitting up with the blood pouring
+from my arm.
+
+Bes thrust aside Karema who had come lightly clothed from her tent,
+saying,
+
+"All is well, Wife. I will bring you the lilies presently."
+
+Then he flung his arms about me, kissed my hands and my brow and turning
+to the crowd, shouted,
+
+"Last night you were disputing as to whether this Egyptian lord should
+be allowed to dwell with me in the land of Ethiopia. Which of you
+disputes it now?"
+
+"No one!" they answered with a roar. "He is not a man but a god. No man
+could have done such a deed."
+
+"So it seems," answered Bes quietly. "At least none of you even tried
+to do it. Yet he is not a god but only that kind of man who is called
+a hero. Also he is my brother, and while I reign in Ethiopia either he
+shall reign at my side, or I go away with him."
+
+"It shall be so, Karoon!" they shouted with one voice. And after this I
+was carried back to the tent.
+
+In front of it my mother waited and kissed me proudly before them all,
+whereat they shouted again.
+
+
+
+So ended this adventure of the crocodile, except that presently Bes went
+back and recovered the two lilies for Karema, this time from a boat,
+which caused the Ethiopians to call out that he must love her very much,
+though not as much as he did me.
+
+That afternoon, borne in litters, we set out for the City of the
+Grasshopper, which we reached on the fourth day. As we drew near the
+place regiments of men to the number of twelve thousand or more, came
+out to meet us, so that at last we arrived escorted by an army who sang
+their songs of triumph and played upon their musical instruments until
+my head ached with the noise.
+
+This city was a great place whereof the houses were built of mud and
+thatched with reeds. It stood upon a wide plain and in its centre rose
+a natural, rocky hill upon the crest of which, fashioned of blocks of
+gleaming marble and roofed with a metal that shone as gold, was the
+temple of the Grasshopper, a columned building very like to those of
+Egypt. Round it also were other public buildings, among them the palace
+of the Karoon, the whole being surrounded by triple marble walls as a
+protection from attack by foes. Never had I seen anything so beautiful
+as that hill with its edifices of shining white roofed with gold or
+copper and gleaming in the sun.
+
+Descending from my litter I walked to those of my mother and Karema, for
+Bes in his majesty might not be approached, and said as much to them.
+
+"Yes, Son," answered my mother, "it is worth while to have travelled so
+far to see such a sight. I shall have a fine sepulchre, Son."
+
+"I have seen it all before," broke in Karema.
+
+"When?" I asked.
+
+"I do not know. I suppose it must have been when I was the Cup of the
+holy Tanofir. At least it is familiar to me. Already I weary of it, for
+who can care for a land or a city where they think white people hideous
+and scarcely allow a wife to go near her husband, save between midnight
+and dawn when they cease from their horrible music?"
+
+"It will be your part to change these customs, Karema."
+
+"Yes," she exclaimed, "certainly that will be my part," after which I
+went back to my litter.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV. THE SUMMONS
+
+Now at the gates of the City of the Grasshopper we were royally
+received. The priests came out to meet us, pushing a colossal image
+of their god before them on a kind of flat chariot, and I remember
+wondering what would be the value of that huge golden locust, if it were
+melted down. Also the Council came, very ancient men all of them,
+since the Ethiopians for the most part lived more than a hundred years.
+Perhaps that is why they were so glad to welcome Bes since they were too
+old to care about retaining power in their own hands as they had done
+during his long absence. For save Bes there was no other man living of
+the true royal blood who could take the throne.
+
+Then there were thousands of women, broad-faced and smiling whose black
+skins shone with scented oils, for they wore little except a girdle
+about their waists and many ornaments of gold. Thus their earrings
+were sometimes a palm in breadth and many of them had great gold rings
+through their noses, such as in Egypt are put in those of bulls. My
+mother laughed at them, but Karema said that she thought them hideous
+and hateful.
+
+They were a strange people, these Ethiopians, like children, most of
+them, being merry and kind and never thinking of one thing for more
+than a minute. Thus one would see them weep and laugh almost in the same
+breath. But among them was an upper class who had great learning and
+much ancient knowledge. These men made their laws wherein there was
+always sense under what seemed to be folly, designed the temples,
+managed the mines of gold and other metals and followed the arts. They
+were the real masters of the land, the rest were but slaves content to
+live in plenty, for in that fertile soil want never came near them, and
+to do as they were bid.
+
+Thus they passed from the cradle to the grave amidst song and flowers,
+carrying out their light, allotted tasks, and for the rest, living as
+they would and loving those they would, especially their children, of
+whom they had many. By nature and tradition the men were warriors and
+hunters, being skilled in the use of the bow and always at war when they
+could find anyone to fight. Indeed when we came among them their trouble
+was that they had no enemies left, and at once they implored Bes to lead
+them out to battle since they were weary of herding kine and tilling
+fields.
+
+All of these things I found out by degrees, also that they were a great
+people who could send out an army of seventy thousand men and yet leave
+enough behind them to defend their land. Of the world beyond their
+borders the most of them knew little, but the learned men of whom I have
+spoken, a great deal, since they travelled to Egypt and elsewhere to
+study the customs of other countries. For the rest their only god was
+the Grasshopper and like that insect they skipped and chirruped through
+life and when the winter of death came sprang away to another of which
+they knew nothing, leaving their young behind them to bask in the sun of
+unborn summers. Such were the Ethiopians.
+
+Now of all the ceremonies of the reception of Bes and his re-crowning
+as Karoon, I knew little, for the reason that the tooth of the crocodile
+poisoned my blood and made me very ill, so that I remained for a moon
+or more lying in a fine room in the palace where gold seemed to be as
+plentiful as earthen pots are in Egypt, and all the vessels were of
+crystal. Had it not been for the skill of the Ethiopian leeches and
+above all for the nursing of my mother, I think that I must have died.
+She it was who withstood them when they wished to cut off my arm, and
+wisely, for it recovered and was as strong as it had ever been. In the
+end I grew well again and from the platform in front of the temple was
+presented to the people by Bes as his saviour and the next greatest to
+him in the kingdom, nor shall I ever forget the shoutings with which I
+was received.
+
+Karema also was presented as his wife, having passed the Ordeal of the
+Matrons, but only, I think, because it was found that she was in the way
+to give an heir to the throne. For to them her beauty was ugliness, nor
+could they understand how it came about that their king, who contrary
+to the general customs of the land, was only allowed one wife lest the
+children should quarrel, could have chosen a lady who was not black.
+So they received her in silence with many whisperings which made Karema
+very angry.
+
+When in due course, however, the child came and proved to be a son black
+as the best of them and of perfect shape, they relented towards her and
+after the birth of a second, grew to love her. But she never forgave and
+loved them not at all. Nor was she over-fond of these children of hers
+because they were so black which, she said, showed how poisonous was the
+blood of the Ethiopians. And indeed this is so, for often I have noticed
+that if an Ethiopian weds with one of another colour, their offspring
+is black down to the third or fourth generation. Therefore Karema longed
+for Egypt notwithstanding the splendour in which she dwelt.
+
+So greatly did she long that she had recourse to the magic lore which
+she had learned from the holy Tanofir, and would sit for hours gazing
+into water in a crystal bowl, or sometimes into a ball of crystal
+without the water, trying to see visions therein that had to do with
+what passed in Egypt. Moreover in time much of her gift returned to her
+and she did see many things which she repeated to me, for she would tell
+no one else of them, not even her husband.
+
+Thus she saw Amada kneeling in a shrine before the statue of Isis and
+weeping: a picture that made me sad. Also she saw the holy Tanofir
+brooding in the darkness of the Cave of the Bulls, and read in his mind
+that he was thinking of us, though what he thought she could not read.
+Again she saw Eastern messengers delivering letters to Pharaoh and knew
+from his face that he was disturbed and that Egypt was threatened with
+calamities. And so forth.
+
+Soon the news of her powers of divination spread abroad, so that all the
+Ethiopians grew to fear her as a seeress and thenceforth, whatever they
+may have thought, none of them dared to say that she was ugly. Further,
+her gift was real, since if she told me of a certain thing such as that
+messengers were approaching, in due course they would arrive and make
+clear much that she had not been able to understand in her visions.
+
+Now from the time that I grew strong again and as soon as Bes was firmly
+seated on his throne, he and I set to work to train and drill the army
+of the Ethiopians, which hitherto had been little more than a mob of men
+carrying bows and swords. We divided it into phalanxes after the Greek
+fashion, and armed these bodies with long lances, swords, and large
+shields in the place of the small ones they had carried before. Also we
+trained the archers, teaching them to advance in open order and shoot
+from cover, and lastly chose the best soldiers to be captains and
+generals. So it came about that at the end of the two years that I
+spent in Ethiopia there was a force of sixty thousand men or more whom
+I should not have been afraid to match against any troops in the world,
+since they were of great strength and courage, and, as I have said, by
+nature lovers of war. Also their bows being longer and more powerful,
+they could shoot arrows farther than the Easterns or the Egyptians.
+
+The Ethiopian lords wondered why their King and I did these things,
+since they saw no enemy against which so great an army could be led to
+battle. On that matter Bes and I kept our own counsel, telling them only
+that it was good for the men to be trained to war, since, hearing of
+their wealth, one day the King of kings might attempt to invade their
+country. So month by month I laboured at this task, leading armies into
+distant regions to accustom them to travelling far afield, carrying with
+them what was necessary for their sustenance.
+
+So it went on until a sad thing happened, since on returning from one
+of these forays in which I had punished a tribe that had murdered some
+Ethiopian hunters and we had taken many thousands of their cattle, I
+found my mother dying. She had been smitten by a fever which was common
+at that season of the year, and being old and weak had no strength to
+throw it off.
+
+As medicine did not help her, the priests of the Grasshopper prayed day
+and night in their temple for her recovery. Yes, there they prayed to a
+golden locust standing on an altar in a sanctuary that was surrounded by
+crystal coffins wherein rested the flesh of former kings of the land.
+To me the sight was pitiful, but Bes asked me what was the difference
+between praying to a locust and praying to images with the heads of
+beasts, or to a dwarf shaped as he was like we did in Egypt, and I could
+not answer him.
+
+"The truth is, Brother," he said, for so he called me now, "that all
+peoples in the world do not offer petitions to what they see and have
+been taught to revere, but to something beyond of which to them it is
+a sign. But why the Ethiopians should have chosen a grasshopper as a
+symbol of God who is everywhere, is more than I can tell. Still they
+have done so for thousands of years."
+
+When I came to my mother's bedside she was wandering and I saw that she
+could not live long. In a little while, however, her mind cleared so
+that she knew me and tears of joy ran down her pale cheeks because I had
+returned before she died. She reminded me that she had always said that
+she would find a grave in Ethiopia, and asked to be buried and not kept
+above ground in crystal, as was the custom there. Then she said that she
+had been dreaming of my father and of me; also that she did not think
+that I need fret myself overmuch about Amada, since she was sure that
+before long I should kiss her on the lips.
+
+I asked if she meant that I should marry her and that we should be happy
+and fortunate. She replied that she supposed that I should marry her,
+but of the rest would say nothing. Indeed her face grew troubled, as
+though some thought hurt her, and leaving the matter of Amada she bade
+Karema bring me the rose-hued pearls, blessed me, prayed for our reunion
+in the halls of Osiris, and straightway died.
+
+So I caused her to be embalmed after the Egyptian fashion and enclosed
+in a coffin of crystal with a scarab on her heart that Karema had
+discovered somewhere in the city, for always she was searching for
+things that reminded her of Egypt, whereof many were to be found brought
+from time to time by travellers or strangers. Then with such ceremony
+as we could without the services of the priests of Osiris, Karema and I
+buried her in a tomb that Bes had caused to be made near to the steps of
+the temple of the Grasshopper, while Bes and his nobles watched from a
+distance.
+
+And so farewell to my beloved mother, the lady Tiu.
+
+
+
+After she was gone I grew very sad and lonely. While she lived I had a
+home, but now I was an exile, a stranger in a strange land with no one
+of my own people to talk to except Karema, with whom, as there were
+gossips even in Ethiopia, I thought it well not to talk too much. There
+was Bes it was true, but now he was a great king and the time of kings
+is not their own. Moreover Bes was Bes and an Ethiopian and I was I and
+an Egyptian, and therefore notwithstanding our love and brotherhood, we
+could never be like men of the same blood and country.
+
+I grew weary of Ethiopia with its useless gold and damp eternal green
+and heat, and longed for the sand and the keen desert air. Bes noted it
+and offered me wives, but I shrank from these black women however buxom
+and kindly, and wished for no offspring of their race whom afterwards I
+could never leave. To Egypt I had sworn not to return unless one voice
+called me and it remained silent. What then was I to do, being no longer
+content to discipline and command an army that I might not lead into
+battle?
+
+At length I made up my mind. By nature I was a hunter as much as a
+soldier; I would beg from Bes a band of brave men whom I knew, lovers
+of adventure who sought new things, and with them strike down south,
+following the path of the elephants to wherever the gods might lead us.
+Doubtless in the end it would be to death, but what matter when there is
+nothing for which one cares to live?
+
+While I was brooding over these plans Karema read my mind, perhaps
+because it was her own, perhaps by help of her strange arts, which I do
+not know. At least one day when I was sitting alone looking at the city
+beneath from one of the palace window-places, she came to me looking
+very beautiful and very mystic in the white robes she always loved to
+wear, and said,
+
+"My lord Shabaka, you tire of this land of honey and sweetness and soft
+airs and flowers and gold and crystal and black people who grin and
+chatter and are not pleasant to be near, is it not so?"
+
+"Yes, Queen," I answered.
+
+"Do not call me queen, my lord Shabaka, for I weary of that name, as we
+both do of the rest. Call me Karema the Arab, or Karema the Cup, which
+you will, but by the name of Thoth, god of learning, do _not_ call me
+queen."
+
+"Karema then," I said. "Well, how do you know that I tire of all this,
+Karema?"
+
+"How could you do otherwise who are not a barbarian and who have Egypt
+in your heart, and Egypt's fate and----" here she looked me straight in
+the eye's, "Egypt's Lady. Besides, I measure you by myself."
+
+"You at least should be happy, Karema, who are great and rich and
+beloved, and the wife of a King who is one of the best of men, and the
+mother of children."
+
+"Yes, Shabaka, I should be but I am not, for who can live on sweetmeats
+only, especially when they like what is sour? See now how strangely we
+are made. When I was a girl, the daughter of an Arab chief, well bred
+and well taught as it chanced, I tired of the hard life of the desert
+and the narrow minds about me, I who longed for wisdom and to know great
+men. Then I became the Cup of the holy Tanofir and wisdom was all about
+me, strange wisdom from another world, rough, sharp wisdom from Tanofir,
+and the quiet wisdom of the dead among whom I dwelt. I wearied of that
+also, Shabaka. I was beautiful and knew it and I longed to shine in
+a Court, to be admired among men, to be envied of women, to rule. My
+husband came my way. He was clever with a great heart. He was your
+friend and therefore I was sure that he must be loyal and true. He was,
+or might be, a king, as I knew, though he thought that I did not. I
+married him and the holy Tanofir laughed but he did not say me nay, and
+I became a queen. And now I wish sometimes that I were dead, or back
+holding the cup of the holy Tanofir with the wisdom of the heavens
+flowing round me and the soft darkness of the tombs about me. It seems
+that in this world we never can be content, Shabaka."
+
+"No, Karema, we only think that we should be if things were otherwise
+than they are. But how can I help you, Karema?"
+
+"Least of all by going away and leaving me alone," she answered with the
+tears starting to her eyes.
+
+Looking at her, I began to think that the best thing I could do would be
+to go away and at once, but as ever she read my thought, shook her head
+and laughed.
+
+"No, no, I have put on my yoke and will carry it to the end. Have I not
+two black children and a husband who is a hero, a wit and a mountebank
+in one, and a throne and more gold and crystal than I ever wish to see
+again even in a dream, and shall I not cling to these good things? If
+you went I should only be a little more unhappy than before, that is
+all. Not for my sake do I ask you to stay, but for your own."
+
+"How for my own, Karema? I have done all that I can do here. I have
+built the army afresh from cook-boys to generals. Bes needs me no longer
+who has you, his children and his country, and I die of weariness."
+
+"You can stop to make use of that army you have built afresh, Shabaka."
+
+"Against whom? There are none to fight."
+
+"Against the Great King of the East. Listen. My gift of vision has grown
+strong and clear of late. Only to-day I have seen a meeting between
+Pharaoh, the holy Tanofir and the lady Amada. They were all disturbed,
+I know not at what, and the end of it was that Amada wrote in a roll
+and gave the writing to messengers, who I think even now are speeding
+southward--to you, Shabaka. Nay, do not look doubtfully on me, it is
+true."
+
+"Then you did well to tell me, Karema, for within a moon of this day I
+should have been where perhaps no messengers would have found me. Now
+I will wait and let it be your part to prepare the mind of Bes. Do you
+think that he would give me an army to lead to Egypt, if there were
+need?"
+
+She nodded and answered,
+
+"He would do so for three reasons. The first is because he loves you,
+the second because he too wearies of Ethiopia and this rich, fat life of
+peace, and the third, because I shall tell him that he must."
+
+"Then why trouble to speak of the other two?" I said laughing.
+
+So I stayed on in the City of the Grasshopper, and busied myself with
+the questions of how to transport and feed a great army that must hold
+the field for six months or a year; also with the setting of hundreds of
+skilled men to the making of bows, arrows, swords and shields. Nor did
+Bes say me no in these matters. Indeed he helped them forward by issuing
+the orders as his own, wherein I saw the hand of Karema.
+
+Three months went by and I began to think that Karema's power had been
+at fault, or that her vision was one that came from her lips and not
+from her heart, to keep me in Ethiopia. But again she read my mind and
+smiled.
+
+"Not so, Shabaka," she said. "Those messengers have come to trouble and
+are detained by a petty tribe beyond our borders over some matter of a
+woman. Ten days ago the frontier guards marched to set them free."
+
+So again I waited and at length the messengers came, three of them
+Egyptians and three men of Ethiopia who dwelt in Egypt to learn its
+wisdom, reporting that as Karema had said, through the foolishness of a
+servant they had been held prisoner by an Arab chief and thus delayed.
+Then they delivered the writings which they had kept safe. One was from
+Pharaoh to the Karoon of Ethiopia; one from the holy Tanofir to Karema;
+and one from the lady Amada to myself.
+
+With a trembling hand I broke the silk and seals and read. It ran thus:
+
+
+ "Shabaka, my Cousin,
+
+ "You departed from Egypt saying that never would you return unless
+  I, Amada the priestess, called you, and I told you that I should
+  never call. You said, moreover, that if you came at my call you
+  would demand me in guerdon, and I told you that never would I give
+  myself to you who was doubly sworn to Isis. Yet now I call and now
+  I say that if you come and conquer and I yet live, then, if you
+  still will it, I am yours. Thus stands the case: The Great King
+  advances upon Egypt with an army countless as the sands, nor can
+  Egypt hope to battle against him unaided and alone. He comes to
+  make of her a slave, to kill her children, to burn her temples, to
+  sack her cities and to defile her gods with blasphemies. Moreover
+  he comes to seize me and to drag me away to shame in his House of
+  Women.
+
+ "Therefore for the sake of the gods, for Egypt's sake and for my
+  own, I pray you come and save us. Moreover I still love you,
+  Shabaka, yes, more a thousand times, then ever I did, though
+  whether you still love me I know not. For that love's sake,
+  therefore, I am ready to break my vows to Isis and to dare her
+  vengeance, if she should desire to be avenged upon me who would
+  save her and her worship, praying that it may fall on my head and
+  not on yours. This will I do by the counsel of the holy Tanofir,
+  by command of Pharaoh, and with the consent of the high priests of
+  Egypt.
+
+ "Now I, Amada, have written. Choose, Shabaka, beloved of my heart."
+
+
+Such was the letter that caused my head to swim and set my soul on fire.
+Still I said nothing, but thrust it into my robe and waited. Presently
+Bes, who had been reading in his roll, looked up and spoke, saying,
+
+"Are you minded to see arrows fly and swords shine in war, Brother?
+If so, here is opportunity. Pharaoh writes to me above his own seal,
+seeking an alliance between Egypt and Ethiopia. He says that the King of
+kings invades him and that if he conquers Egypt he has sworn to travel
+on and conquer Ethiopia also, since he learns that it is now ruled by a
+certain dwarf who once stole his White Signet, and by a certain Egyptian
+who once killed his Satrap, Idernes."
+
+"What says the Karoon?" I asked.
+
+Bes rolled his eyes and turning to Karema, asked,
+
+"What says the Karoon's wife?"
+
+Karema laid down the roll she had been studying and answered,
+
+"She says that she has received a command from her master the holy
+Tanofir to wait upon him forthwith, for reasons that he will explain
+when she arrives, or to brave his curse upon her, her children, her
+country and her husband, and not only his but that of the spirits who
+serve him."
+
+"The curse of the holy Tanofir is not a thing to mock at," said Bes, "as
+I who revere him, know as well as any man."
+
+"No, Husband, and therefore I leave for Egypt as soon as may be. It
+seems that my sister is dead, this year past, and the holy Tanofir has
+no one to hold his cup."
+
+"And what shall I do?" asked Bes.
+
+"That is for you to say, Husband. But if you will, you can stay here
+and guard our children, giving the command of your army to the lord
+Shabaka."
+
+Now, for we were alone, Bes twisted himself about, rolling his eyes and
+laughing as he used to do before he became Karoon of Ethiopia.
+
+"O-ho-ho! Wife," he said, "so you are to go to Egypt, leaving me to play
+the nurse to babes, and my brother here is to command my armies, leaving
+me to look after the old men and the women. Nay, I think otherwise. I
+think that I shall come also, that is if my brother wishes it. Did he
+not save my life and is it not his and with it all I have? Oh! have
+done. Once more we will stand side by side in the battle, Brother, and
+afterwards let Fate do as it will with us. Tell me now, what is the tale
+of archers and of swordsmen with which we can march against the Great
+King with whom, like you, I have a score to settle?"
+
+"Seventy and five thousand," I answered.
+
+"Good! On the fifth day from now the army marches for Egypt."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI. TANOFIR FINDS HIS BROKEN CUP
+
+March we did, but on the fifteenth day, not the fifth, since there
+was much to make ready. First the Council of the Ethiopians must be
+consulted and through them the people. In the beginning there was
+trouble over the matter, since many were against a distant war, and this
+even after Bes had urged that it was better to attack than wait to be
+attacked. For they answered, and justly, that here in Ethiopia distance
+and the desert were their shields, since the King of kings, however
+great his strength, would be weary and famished before he set foot
+within their borders.
+
+In the end the knot was cut with a sword, for when the army came to
+learn of the dispute, from the generals down to the common soldiers,
+every man clamoured to be led to war, since, as I have said, these
+Ethiopians were fighters all of them, and near at hand there were none
+left with whom they could fight. So when the Council came to see that
+they must choose between war abroad and revolt at home, they gave way,
+bargaining only that the children of the Karoon should not leave the
+land so that if aught befell him, there would be some of the true blood
+left to succeed.
+
+Also the Grasshopper was consulted by the priests who found the omens
+favourable. Indeed I was told that this great golden locust sat up upon
+its hind legs upon the altar and waved its feelers in the air, which
+only happened when wonderful fortune was about to bless the land. The
+tale reminded me of the nodding of the statues of our own gods in Egypt
+when a new Pharaoh was presented to them, and of that of Isis when Amada
+put up her prayer to the divine Mother. To tell the truth, I suspected
+Karema of having some hand in the business. However, so it happened.
+
+At length we set forth, a mighty host, Bes commanding the swordsmen and
+I, under him, the archers, of whom there were more than thirty thousand
+men, and glad was I when all the farewells were said and we were free of
+the weeping crowds of women. At first Bes and Karema were somewhat sad
+at parting from their children, but in a little while they grew gay
+again since the one longed for battle and the other for the sands of
+Egypt.
+
+Now of our advance I need say little, except that it was slow, though
+none dared to bar the road of so mighty an array. Since we must go on
+foot, we were not able to cover more than five leagues a day, for even
+after we reached the river boats could not be found for so many, though
+Karema travelled in one with her ladies. Also cattle and corn must
+always be sent forward for food. Still we crept on to Egypt without
+sickness, accident, or revolt.
+
+When we drew near to its frontiers messengers met us from Pharaoh
+bearing letters in answer to those which we had sent with the tidings
+of our coming. These contained little but ill news. It seemed that the
+Great King with a countless host had taken all the cities of the Delta
+and, after a long siege, had captured Memphis and put it to the sack,
+and that the army of Egypt, fighting desperately by land and upon the
+Nile was being driven southwards towards Thebes. Pharaoh added that he
+proposed to make his last stand at the strong city of Amada, since he
+doubted whether the troops from Lower Egypt would not rather surrender
+to the Easterns than retreat further up the Nile. He thanked and blessed
+us for our promised aid and prayed that it might come in time to save
+Egypt from slavery and himself from death.
+
+Also there was a letter for me from Amada in which she said,
+
+
+ "Oh! come quickly. Come quickly, beloved Shabaka, lest of me you
+  should find but bones for never will I fall living into the hands
+  of the Great King. We are sore pressed and although Amada has been
+  made very strong, it can stand but a little while against such a
+  countless multitude armed with all the engines of war."
+
+
+For Karema, too, there were messages from the holy Tanofir of the same
+meaning, saying that unless we appeared within a moon of their receipt,
+all was lost.
+
+We read and took counsel. Then we pressed forward by double marches,
+sending swift runners forward to bid Pharaoh and his army hold on to the
+last spear and arrow.
+
+On the twenty-fifth day from the receipt of this news we came to the
+great frontier city which we found in tumult for its citizens were
+mad with fear. Here we rested one night and ate of the food that was
+gathered there in plenty. Then leaving a small rear-guard of five
+thousand men who were tired out, to hold the place, we pressed onwards,
+for Amada was still four days' march away. On the morning of the fourth
+day we were told that it was falling, or had fallen, and when at length
+we came in sight of the place we saw that it was beleaguered by an
+innumerable host of Easterns, while on the Nile was a great fleet of
+Grecian and Cyprian mercenaries. Moreover, heralds from the King of
+kings reached us, saying:
+
+"Surrender, Barbarians, or before the second day dawns you shall sleep
+sound, every one of you."
+
+To these we answered that we would take counsel on the matter and that
+perhaps on the morrow we would surrender, since when we had marched from
+Ethiopia, we did not know how great was the King's strength, having been
+deceived as to it by the letters of the Pharaoh. Meanwhile that the
+King of kings would do well to let us alone, since we were brave men and
+meant to die hard, and it would be better for him to leave us to march
+back to Ethiopia, rather than lose an army in trying to kill us.
+
+With these words which were spoken by Bes himself, the messengers
+departed. One of them however, who seemed to be a great lord, called in
+a loud voice to his companions, saying it was hard that nobles should
+have to do the errands, not of a man but of an ape who would look better
+hanging to a pole. Bes made no answer, only rolled his yellow eyes and
+said when the lord was out of hearing,
+
+"Now by the Grasshopper and all the gods of Egypt I swear that in
+payment for this insult I will choke the Nile with the army of the Great
+King, and hang that knave to a pole from the prow of the royal ship."
+Which last thing I hope he did.
+
+
+
+When the embassy had gone Bes gave orders that the whole army should eat
+and lie down to sleep.
+
+"I am sure," said he, "that the Great King will not attack us at once,
+since he will hope that we shall flee away during the night, having seen
+his strength."
+
+So the Ethiopians filled themselves and then lay down to sleep, which
+these people can do at any time, even if not tired as they were. But
+while they rested Bes and I and Karema, with some of the generals
+consulted together long and earnestly. For in truth we knew not what
+to do. But a league away lay the town of Amada beset by hundreds of
+thousands of the Easterns so that none could come in or out, and within
+its walls were the remains of Pharaoh's army, not more than twenty
+thousand men, all told, if what we heard were true. On the Nile also
+was the great Grecian and Cyprian fleet, two hundred vessels and more,
+though as we could see by the light of the setting sun the most of these
+were made fast to the western bank where the Egyptians could not come at
+them.
+
+For the rest our position was good, being on high desert beyond the
+cultivated land which bordered the eastern bank. But in front of us,
+separating us from the southern army of the King, stretched a swamp hard
+to cross, so that we could not hope to make an attack by night as there
+was no moon. Lastly, the main Eastern strength, to the number of two
+hundred thousand or more, lay to the north beyond Amada.
+
+All these things we considered, talking low and earnestly there in the
+tent, till it grew so dark that we could not see each other's faces
+while behind us slumbered our army that now numbered some seventy
+thousand men.
+
+"We are in a trap," said Bes at length. "If we await attack they will
+weigh us down with numbers. If we flee they have camels and horses and
+will overtake us; also ships of which we have none. If we attack it must
+be without cover through swamp where we shall be bogged.
+
+"Meanwhile Pharaoh is perishing within yonder walls of Amada which the
+engines batter down. By the Grasshopper! I know not what to do. It seems
+that our journey is vain and that few of us will see Ethiopia more; also
+that Egypt is sped."
+
+I made no answer, for here my generalship failed me and I had nothing
+to say. The captains, too, were silent, only woman-like, Karema wept a
+little, and I too went near to weeping who thought of Amada penned in
+yonder temple like a lamb that awaits the butcher's knife.
+
+Suddenly, coming from the door of the tent which I thought was closed, I
+heard a deep voice say,
+
+"I have ever noted that those of Ethiopian blood are melancholy after
+sundown, though of Egyptians I had thought better things."
+
+Now about this voice there was something familiar to me, still I said
+nothing, nor did the others, for to speak the truth, all of us were
+frightened and thought that we must dream. For how could any thing that
+breathed approach this tent through a triple line of sentries? So we sat
+still, staring at the darkness, till presently in that darkness appeared
+a glow of light, such as comes from the fire-flies of Ethiopia. It grew
+and grew while we gasped with fear, till presently it took shape, and
+the shape it took was that of the ancient withered face, the sightless
+eyes, and the white beard of the holy Tanofir. Yes, there not two feet
+from the ground seemed to float the head of the holy Tanofir, limned in
+faint flame, which I suppose must have been reflected on to it from the
+light of some camp-fire without.
+
+"O my beloved master!" cried Karema, and threw herself towards him.
+
+"O my beloved Cup!" answered Tanofir. "Glad am I to know you well and
+unshattered."
+
+Then a torch was lit and lo! there before us, wrapped in his dark cloak
+sat the holy Tanofir.
+
+"Whence come you, my Great-uncle?" I asked amazed.
+
+"From less far than you do, Nephew," he answered. "Namely out of Amada
+yonder. Oh! ask me not how. It is easy if you are a blind old beggar
+who knows the path. And by the way, if you have aught to eat I should be
+glad of a bite and a sup, since in Amada food has been scarce for this
+last month, and to-night there is little left."
+
+Karema sped from the tent and presently returned with bread and wine of
+which Tanofir partook almost greedily.
+
+"This is the first strong drink that I have tasted for many a year," he
+said as he drained the goblet; "but better a broken vow than broken wits
+when one has much to plan and do. At least I hope the gods will think so
+when I meet them presently. There--I am strong again. Now, say, what is
+your force?"
+
+We told him.
+
+"Good. And what is your plan?"
+
+We shook our heads, having none.
+
+"Bes," he said sternly, "I think you grow dull since you became a
+king--or perhaps it is marriage that makes you so. Why, in bygone years
+schemes would have come so fast that they would have choked each other
+between those thick lips of yours. And Shabaka, tell me, have you lost
+all your generalship whereof once you had plenty, in the soft air of
+Ethiopia? Or is it that even the shadow of marriage makes _you_ dull?
+Well, I must turn to the woman, for that is always the lot of man. Your
+plan, Karema, and quickly for there is no time to lose."
+
+Now the face of Karema grew fixed and her eyes dreamy as she spoke in a
+slow, measured voice like one who knows not what she says.
+
+"My plan is to destroy the armies of the Great King and to relieve the
+city of Amada."
+
+"A very good plan," said holy Tanofir, "but the question is, how?"
+
+"I think," went on Karema, "that about a league above this place there
+is a spot where at this season the Nile can be forded by tall men
+without the wetting of their shoulders. First then, I would send five
+thousand swordsmen across that ford and let them creep down on the navy
+of the Great King where the sailors revel in safety, or sleep sound, and
+fire the ships. The wind blows strongly from the south and the flames
+will leap fast from one of them to the other. Most of their crews will
+be burned and the rest can be slain by our five thousand."
+
+"Good, very good," said the holy Tanofir, "but not enough, seeing that
+on the eastern bank is gathered the host of over two hundred thousand
+men. Now how will you deal with _them_, Karema?"
+
+"I seem to see a road yonder beyond the swamp. It runs on the edge of
+the desert but behind the sand-hills. I would send the archers of whom
+there are more than thirty thousand, under the command of Shabaka along
+that road which leads them past Amada. On its farther side are low hills
+strewn with rocks. Here I would let the archers take cover and wait for
+the breaking of the dawn. Then beneath them they will see the most of
+the Eastern host and with such bows as ours they can sweep the plain
+from the hills almost to the Nile, and having a hundred arrows to a man,
+should slaughter the Easterns by the ten thousand, for when these turn
+to charge a shaft should pierce through two together."
+
+"Good again," said Tanofir. "But what of the army of the Great King
+which lies upon this side of Amada?"
+
+"I think that before the dawn, believing us so few, it will advance and
+with the first light begin to thread the swamp, and therefore we must
+keep five thousand archers to gall it as it comes. Still it will win
+through, though with loss, and find us waiting for it here shoulder to
+shoulder, rank upon rank with locked shields, against which horse
+and foot shall break in vain, for who shall drive a wedge through the
+Ethiopian squares that Shabaka has trained and that Bes, the Karoon,
+commands? I say that they shall roll back like waves from a cliff; yes,
+again and again, growing ever fewer till the clamour of battle and
+the shouts of fear and agony reach their ears from beyond Amada where
+Shabaka and the archers do their work and the sight of the burning ships
+strikes terror in them and they fly."
+
+"Good again," said the holy Tanofir. "But still many on both fronts will
+be left, for this army of Easterns is very vast. And how will you deal
+with these, O Karema?"
+
+"On these I would have Pharaoh with all his remaining strength pour
+from the northern and the southern gates of Amada, for so shall they be
+caught like wounded lions between two wild bulls and torn and trampled
+and utterly destroyed. Only I know not how to tell Pharaoh what he must
+do, and when."
+
+"Good again," said the holy Tanofir, "very good. And as for the telling
+of Pharaoh, well, I shall see him presently. It is strange, my chipped
+Cup which I had almost thrown away as useless, that although broken, you
+still hold so much wisdom. For know, wonderful though it may seem, that
+just such plans as you have spoken have grown up in my own mind, only I
+wished to learn if you thought them wise."
+
+Then he laughed a little and Karema stretched her arms as one does who
+awakes from sleep, rubbed her eyes and asked if he would not eat more
+food.
+
+In an instant Tanofir was speaking again in a quick, clear voice.
+
+"Bes, or King," he said, "doubtless you will do your wife's will.
+Therefore let the host be aroused and stand to its arms. As it chances
+I have four men without who can be trusted. Two of these will guide the
+five thousand to the ford and across it; also down upon the ships. The
+other two will guide Shabaka and the archers along the road which Karema
+remembers so well; perhaps she trod it as a child. For my part I return
+to Amada to make sure that Pharaoh does his share and at the right time.
+For mark, unless all this is carried through to-night Amada will fall
+to-morrow, a certain priestess will die, and you, Bes, and your soldiers
+will never look on Ethiopia again. Is it agreed?"
+
+I nodded who did not wish to waste time in words, and Bes rolled his
+eyes and answered,
+
+"When one can think of nothing, it is best to follow the counsel of
+those who can think of something; also to hunt rather than to be hunted.
+Especially is this so if that something comes from the holy Tanofir or
+his broken Cup. Generals, you have heard. Rouse the host and bid them
+stand to their arms company by company!"
+
+The generals leapt away into the darkness like arrows from a bow, and
+presently we heard the noise of gathering men.
+
+"Where are these guides of yours, holy Tanofir?" asked Bes.
+
+Tanofir beckoned over his shoulder, and out of the gloom, one by one,
+four men stole into the tent. They were strange, quiet men, but I can
+say no more of them since their faces were veiled, nor as it chances,
+did I ever see any of them after the battle, in which I suppose that
+they were killed. Or perhaps they appeared after--well, never mind!
+
+"You have heard," said Tanofir, whereupon all four of them bowed their
+mysterious veiled heads.
+
+"Now, my Brother," whispered Bes into my ear, "tell me, I pray you, how
+did four men who were not in the tent, hear what was said in this tent,
+and how did they come through the guards who have orders to kill anyone
+who does not know the countersign, especially men whose faces are
+wrapped in napkins?"
+
+"I do not know," I answered, whereon Bes groaned, only Karema smiled a
+little as though to herself.
+
+"Then, having heard, obey," said the holy Tanofir, whereon the four
+veiled ones bowed again.
+
+"Will you not give them their orders, O most Venerable?" inquired Bes
+doubtfully.
+
+"I think it is needless," said Tanofir in a dry voice. "Why try to teach
+those who know?"
+
+"Will you not offer them something to eat, since they also must be
+hungry?" I asked of Karema.
+
+"Fool, be silent," she replied, looking on me with contempt. "Do
+the--friends--of Tanofir need to eat?"
+
+"I should have thought so after being beleaguered for a month in a
+starving town. If the master wants to eat, why should not his men?" I
+murmured.
+
+Then a thought struck me and I was silent.
+
+A general returned and reported that the orders had been executed and
+that all the army was afoot.
+
+"Good," said Bes. "Then start forthwith with five thousand men, and burn
+those ships, according to the plan laid down by the Queen Karema, which
+you heard her speak but now," and he named certain regiments that he
+should take with him, those of the general's own command, adding: "Save
+some of the ships if you can, and afterwards cross the Nile in them with
+your men, and join yourself either to my force or to that of the lord
+Shabaka, according to what you see. May the Grasshopper give you victory
+and wisdom."
+
+The general saluted and asked,
+
+"Who guides us to and across the ford of the great river?"
+
+Two of the veiled men stepped forward whereon the general muttered into
+my ear,
+
+"I like not the look of them. I pray the Grasshopper they do not guide
+us across the River of Death."
+
+"Have no fear, General," said the holy Tanofir from the other end of the
+tent. "If you and your men play their parts as well as the guides will
+play theirs, the ships are already burned together with their companies.
+Only take fire with you."
+
+So that general departed with the two guides, looking somewhat
+frightened, and soon was marching up Nile at the head of five thousand
+swordsmen.
+
+Now Bes looked at me and said,
+
+"It seems that you had better be gone also, my Brother, with the
+archers. Perchance the holy Tanofir will show you whither."
+
+"No, no," answered Tanofir, "my guides will show him. Look not so
+doubtful, Shabaka. Did I fail you when you were in the grip of the King
+of kings in the East, and only your own life and that of Bes were at
+stake?"
+
+"I do not know," I answered.
+
+"You do not know, but I know, as I think do Bes and Karema, since the
+one received the messages which the other sent. Well, if I did not fail
+you then, shall I fail you now when Egypt is at stake? Follow these
+guides I give you, and----" here he took hold of the quiver of arrows
+that lay beside me on the ground, and as certainly as though he could
+see it with his blind eyes, touched one of them, on the shaft of which
+were two black and a white feather, "remember my words after you have
+loosed this arrow from your great black bow and noted where it strikes."
+
+Then I turned to Bes and asked,
+
+"Where do we meet again?"
+
+"I cannot say, Brother," he answered. "In Amada if that may be. If not,
+at the Table of Osiris, or in the fields of the Grasshopper, or in the
+blackness which swallows all, gods and men together."
+
+"Does Karema come with me or bide with you?" I asked again.
+
+"She does neither," interrupted Tanofir, "she accompanies me to Amada,
+where I have need of her and she will be more safe. Oh! fear nothing,
+for every hermit however poor, still carries his staff and his cup, even
+if it be cracked."
+
+Then I shook Bes by the hand and went my way, wondering if I were awake
+or dreaming, and the last thing I saw in that tent was the beautiful
+face of Karema smiling at me. This I took to be a good omen, since I
+knew that it was the heart of the holy Tanofir which smiled, and that
+her eyes were but its mirror.
+
+Already my thirty thousand archers were marshalling, and having made
+sure that there was ample store of arrows and that all their gourds
+were filled with water, I set myself at their head while in front of me
+walked the two veiled guides. I looked upon them doubtfully, since it
+seemed dangerous to trust an army to unknown men who for aught I knew,
+might lead us into the midst of our foes. Then I remembered that they
+were vouched for by the holy Tanofir, my own great-uncle whom I trusted
+above any man on earth, and took heart again.
+
+How had he come into our tent, I wondered, and how, blind as he was,
+would he get back into Amada with Karema, if he took her? Well, who
+could account for the goings or the comings of the holy Tanofir, who was
+more of a spirit than a man? Perhaps it was not really he whom we had
+seen, but what we Egyptians called his _Ka_ or Double which can pass
+to and fro at will. Only do _Kas_ eat? Of this matter I knew only that
+offerings of food and drink are made to them in tombs. So leaving the
+holy Tanofir to guard himself, I turned my mind to our own business,
+which was to surprise the army of the Great King.
+
+Skirting the swamp we came to rough and higher ground and though I could
+see little in that darkness, I knew that we were walking up a hill.
+Presently we crossed its crest and descending for three bowshots or so,
+I felt that my feet were on a road. Now the guides turned to the left
+and after them in a long line came my army of thirty thousand archers.
+In utter silence we went since we had no beasts with us and our
+sandalled feet made little noise; moreover orders had been passed down
+the line that the man who made a sound should die.
+
+For two hours or more we marched thus, then bore to the left again and
+climbed a slope, by which time I judged we must be well past the town
+of Amada. Here suddenly the guides halted and we after them at whispered
+words of command. One of them took me by the cloak, led me forward a
+little way to the crest of the ridge, and pointed with his white-sleeved
+arm. I looked and there beneath me, well within bowshot, were thousands
+of the watchfires of the King's army, flaring, some of them, in the
+strong wind. For a full league those fires burned and we were opposite
+to the midmost of them.
+
+"See now, General Shabaka," said the guide, speaking for the first time
+in a curious hissing whisper such as might come from a man who had no
+lips, "beneath you sleeps the Eastern host, which being so great, has
+not thought it needful to guard this ridge. Now marshal your archers in
+a fourfold line in such fashion that at the first break of dawn they
+can take cover behind the rocks and shoot, every man of them without
+piercing his fellow. Do you bide here with the centre where your
+standard can be seen by all to north and south. I and my companion will
+lead your vanguard farther on to where the ridge draws nearer to the
+Nile, so that with their arrows they can hold back and slay any who
+strive to escape down stream. The rest is in your hands, for we are
+guides, not generals. Summon your captains and issue your commands."
+
+So we went back again and I called the officers together and told them
+what they were to do, then despatched them to their regiments.
+
+Presently the vanguard of ten thousand men drew away and vanished, and
+with them the white-robed guides on whom I never looked again. Then I
+marshalled my centre as well as I could in the gloom, and bade them lie
+down to rest and sleep if they were able; also, within thirty minutes of
+the sunrise, to eat and drink a little of the food they carried, to
+see that every bow was ready and that the arrows were loosened in every
+quiver. This done, with a few whom I trusted to serve me as messengers
+and guard, I crept up to the brow of the hill or slope, and there we
+laid us down and watched.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII. THE BATTLE--AND AFTER
+
+Two hours went by and I knew by the stars that the dawn could not be far
+away. My eyes were fixed upon the Nile and on the lights that hung to
+the prows of the Great King's ships. Where were those who had been sent
+to fire them, I wondered, for of them I saw nothing. Well, their journey
+would be long as they must wade the river. Perhaps they had not yet
+arrived, or perhaps they had miscarried. At least the fleet seemed very
+quiet. None were alarmed there and no sentry challenged.
+
+At length it grew near to dawn and behind me I heard the gentle stir of
+the Ethiopians arising and eating as they had been bidden, whereon I
+too ate and drank a little, though never had I less wished for food. The
+East brightened and far up the Nile of a sudden there appeared what at
+first I took to be a meteor or a lantern waving in the wind that now was
+blowing its strongest, as it does at this season of the year just at the
+time of dawn. Yet that lantern seemed to travel fast and lo! now I saw
+that it was fire running up the rigging of a ship.
+
+It leapt from rope to rope and from sail to sail till they blazed
+fiercely, and in other ships also nearer to us, flame appeared that grew
+to a great red sheet. Our men had not failed; the navy of the King of
+kings was burning! Oh! how it burned fanned by the breath of that strong
+wind. From vessel to vessel leapt the fire like a thing alive, for all
+of them were drawn up on the bank with prows fastened in such fashion
+that they could not readily be made loose. Some broke away indeed, but
+they were aflame and only served to spread the fire more quickly. Before
+the rim of the sun appeared for a league or more there was nothing but
+blazing ships from which rose a hideous crying, and still more and more
+took fire lower down the line.
+
+I had no time to watch for now I must be up and doing. The sky grew
+grey, there was light enough to see though faintly. I cast my eyes about
+me and perceived that no place in the world could have been better for
+archery. In front the hill was steep for a hundred paces or more and
+scattered over with thousands of large stones behind which bowmen might
+take shelter. Then came a gentle slope of loose sand up which attackers
+would find it hard to climb. Then the long flat plain whereon the
+Easterns were camped, and beyond it, scarce two furlongs away, the banks
+of Nile.
+
+Indeed the place was ill-chosen for so great an army, nor could it have
+held them all, had not the camping ground been a full league in length,
+and even so they were crowded. Out of the mist their tents appeared,
+thousands of them, farther than my eye could reach, and almost opposite
+to me, near to the banks of the river, was a great pavilion of silk
+and gold that I guessed must shelter the majesty of the King of kings.
+Indeed this was certain since now I saw that over it floated his royal
+banner which I knew so well, I who had stolen the little White Signet
+of signets from which it was taken. Truly the holy Tanofir, or his Cup,
+Karema, or his messengers, or the spirits with whom he dwelt, I know not
+which, had a general's eye and knew how to plan an ambuscade.
+
+So, thought I to myself as I ran back to my army to meet the gathered
+captains and set all things in order. It was soon done for they were
+ready, as were the fierce Ethiopians fresh from their rest and food,
+and stringing their bows, every one of them, or loosening the arrows in
+their quivers. As I came they lifted their hands in salute, for speak
+they dared not and I sent a whisper down their ranks, that this day
+they must fight and conquer, or fall for the glory of Ethiopia and their
+king. Then I gave my orders and before the sun rose and revealed them
+they crept forward in a fourfold line and took shelter behind the
+stones, lying there invisible on their bellies until the moment came.
+
+The red rim of Ra appeared glorious in the East, and I, from behind the
+rocks that I had chosen, sat down and watched. Oh! truly Tanofir or
+the gods of Egypt were ordering things aright for us. The huge camp was
+awake now and aware of what was happening on the Nile. They could not
+see well because of the tall reeds upon the river's rim and therefore,
+without order or discipline, by the thousand and the ten thousand, for
+their numbers were countless, some with arms and some without, they ran
+to the slope of sand beneath our station and began to climb it to have a
+better view of the burning ships.
+
+The sun leapt up swiftly as it does in Egypt. His glowing edge appeared
+over the crest of the hill though the hollows beneath were still filled
+with shadow. The moment was at hand. I waited till I had counted ten,
+glancing to the right and left of me to see that all were ready and to
+suffer the crowd to thicken on the slope, but not to reach the lowest
+rocks, whither they were climbing. Then I gave the double signal that
+had been agreed.
+
+Behind me the banner of the golden Grasshopper was raised upon a tall
+pole and broke upon the breeze. That was the first signal whereat every
+man rose to his knees and set shaft on string. Next I lifted my bow, the
+black bow, the ancient bow that few save I could bend, and drew it to my
+ear.
+
+Far away, out of arrow-reach as most would have said, floated the Great
+King's standard over his pavilion. At this I aimed, making allowance for
+the wind, and shot. The shaft leapt forward, seen in the sunlight, lost
+in the shadow, seen in the sunlight again and lastly seen once more,
+pinning that golden standard against its pole!
+
+At the sight of the omen a roar went up that rolled to right and left of
+us, a roar from thirty thousand throats. Now it was lost in a sound like
+to the hissing of thunder rain in Ethiopia, the sound of thirty thousand
+arrows rushing through the wind. Oh! they were well aimed, those arrows
+for I had not taught the Ethiopians archery in vain.
+
+How many went down before them? The gods of Egypt know alone. I do not.
+All I know is that the long slope of sand which had been crowded with
+standing men, was now thick with fallen men, many of whom lay as though
+they were asleep. For what mail could resist the iron-pointed shafts
+driven by the strong bows of the Ethiopians?
+
+And this was but a beginning, for, flight after flight, those arrows
+sped till the air grew dark with them. Soon there were no more to shoot
+at on the slope, for these were down, and the order went to lift the
+bows and draw upon the camp, and especially upon the parks of baggage
+beasts. Presently these were down also, or rushing maddened to and fro.
+
+At last the Eastern generals saw and understood. Orders were shouted
+and in a mad confusion the scores of thousands who were unharmed, rushed
+back towards the banks of Nile where our shafts could not reach them.
+Here they formed up in their companies and took counsel. It was soon
+ended, for all the vast mass of them, preceded by a cloud of archers,
+began to advance upon the hill.
+
+Now I passed a command to the Ethiopians, of whom so far not one
+had fallen, to lie low and wait. On came the glittering multitude of
+Easterns, gay with purple and gold, their mail and swords shining in the
+risen sun. On they came by squadron and by company, more than the eye
+could number. They reached the sand slope thick with their own dead and
+wounded and paused a little because they could see no man, since the
+black bodies of the Ethiopians were hid behind the black stones and the
+black bows did not catch the light.
+
+Then from a gorgeous group that I guessed hid the person of the Great
+King surrounded by his regiment of guards, ten thousand of them who were
+called Immortals, messengers sprang forth screaming the order to charge.
+The host began to climb the slippery sand slope but still I held my hand
+till their endless lines were within fifty paces of us and their arrows
+rattled harmlessly against our stones. Then I caused the banner of the
+Grasshopper that had been lowered, to be lifted thrice, and at the third
+lifting once more thirty thousand arrows rushed forth to kill.
+
+They went down, they went down in lines and heaps, riddled through and
+through. But still others came on for they fought under the eye of the
+Great King, and to fly meant death with shame and torture. We could not
+kill them all, they were too many. We could not kill the half of them.
+Now their foremost were within ten paces of us and since we must stand
+up to shoot, our men began to fall, also pierced with arrows. I caused
+the blast of retreat to be sounded on the ivory horn and step by step we
+drew back to the crest of the ridge, shooting as we went. On the crest
+we re-formed rapidly in a double line standing as close as we could
+together and my example was followed all down the ranks to right and
+left. Then I bethought me of a plan that I had taught these archers
+again and again in Ethiopia.
+
+With the flag I signalled a command to stop shooting and also passed the
+word down the line, so that presently no more arrows flew. The Easterns
+hesitated, wondering whether this were a trap, or if we lacked shafts,
+and meanwhile I sent messengers with certain orders to the vanguard, who
+sped away at speed behind the hill, running as they never ran before.
+Presently I heard a voice below cry out,
+
+"The Great King commands that the barbarians be destroyed. Let the
+barbarians be destroyed!"
+
+Now with a roar they came on like a flood. I waited till they were
+within twenty paces of us, and shouted, "Shoot and fall!"
+
+The first line shot and oh! fearful was its work, for not a shaft missed
+those crowded hosts and many pinned two together. My archers shot and
+fell down, setting new arrows to the string as they fell, whereon the
+second line also shot over them. Then up we sprang and loosed again, and
+again fell down, whereon the second line once more poured in its deadly
+hail.
+
+Now the Easterns stayed their advance, for their front ranks lay prone,
+and those behind must climb over them if they could. Yes, standing there
+in glittering groups they rocked and hesitated although their officers
+struck them with swords and lances to drive them forward. Once more our
+front rank rose and loosed, and once more we dropped and let the shafts
+of the second speed over us. It was too much, flesh and blood could not
+bear more of those arrows. Thousands upon thousands were down and the
+rest began to flee in confusion.
+
+Then at my command the ivory horns sounded the charge. Every man slung
+his bow upon his back and drew his short sword.
+
+"On to them!" I cried and leapt forward.
+
+Like a black torrent we rushed down the hill, leaping over the dead and
+wounded. The retreat became a rout since before these ebon, great-eyed
+warriors the soft Easterns did not care to stand. They fled screaming,
+
+"These are devils! These are devils!"
+
+We were among them now, hacking and stabbing with the short swords upon
+their heads and backs. There was no need to aim the blow, they were so
+many. Like a huddled mob of cattle they turned and fled down Nile. But
+my orders had reached the vanguard and these, hidden in the growing
+crops on the narrow neck of swampy land between the hills and the Nile,
+met them with arrows as they came, also raked them from the steep cliff
+side. Their chariot wheels sank into the mud till the horses were slain;
+their footmen were piled in heaps about them, till soon there was a
+mighty wall of dead and dying. And our centre and rearguard came up
+behind. Oh! we slew and slew, till before the sun was an hour high over
+half the army of the Great King was no more. Then we re-formed, having
+suffered but little loss, and drank of the water of the Nile.
+
+"All is not done," I cried.
+
+For the Immortals still remained behind us, gathered in massed ranks
+about their king. Also there were many thousands of others between these
+and the walls of Amada, and to the south of the city yet a second army,
+that with which Bes had been left to deal, with what success I knew not.
+
+"Ethiopians," I shouted, "cease crying Victory, since the battle is
+about to begin. Strike, and at once before the Easterns find their heart
+again."
+
+So we advanced upon the Immortals, all of us, for now the vanguard had
+joined our strength.
+
+In long lines we advanced over that blood-soaked plain, and as we came
+the Great King loosed his remaining chariots against us. It availed him
+nothing, since the horses could not face our arrows whereof, thanks
+be to the gods! I had prepared so ample a store, carried in bundles
+by lads. Scarce a chariot reached our lines, and those that did were
+destroyed, leaving us unbroken.
+
+The chariots were done with and their drivers dead, but there still
+frowned the squares of the Immortals. We shot at them till nearly all
+our shafts were spent, and, galled to madness, they charged. We did
+not wait for the points of those long spears, but ran in beneath them
+striking with our short swords, and oh! grim and desperate was that
+battle, since the Easterns were clad in mail and the Ethiopians had but
+short jerkins of bull's hide.
+
+Fight as we would we were driven back. The fray turned against us and
+we fell by hundreds. I bethought me of flight to the hills, since now
+we were outnumbered and very weary. But behold! when all seemed lost a
+great shouting rose from Amada and through her opened gates poured forth
+all that remained of the army of Pharaoh, perhaps eighteen or twenty
+thousand men. I saw, and my heart rose again.
+
+"Stand firm!" I cried. "Stand firm!" and lo! we stood.
+
+The Egyptians were on them now and in their midst I saw Pharaoh's
+banner. By degrees the battle swayed towards the banks of Nile, we to
+the north, the Egyptians to the south and the Easterns between us. They
+were trying to turn our flank; yes, and would have done it, had there
+not suddenly appeared upon the Nile a fleet of ships. At first I thought
+that we were lost, for these ships were from Greece and Cyprus, till I
+saw the banner of the Grasshopper wave from a prow, and knew that they
+were manned by our five thousand who had gone out to burn the fleet,
+and had saved these vessels. They beached and from their crowded holds
+poured the five thousand, or those that were left of them, and ranging
+themselves upon the bank, raised their war-shout and attacked the ends
+of the Easterns' lines.
+
+Now we charged for the last time and the Egyptians charged from the
+south. Ha-ha! the ranks of the Immortals were broken at length. We
+were among them. I saw Pharaoh, his _ur�us_ circlet on his helm. He was
+wounded and sore beset. A tall Immortal rushed at him with a spear and
+drove it home.
+
+Pharaoh fell.
+
+I leapt over him and killed that Eastern with a blow upon the neck, but
+my sword shattered on his armour. The tide of battle rolled up and swept
+us apart and I saw Pharaoh being carried away. Look! yonder was the
+Great King himself standing in a golden chariot, the Great King in all
+his glory whom last I had seen far away in the East. He knew me and shot
+at me with a bow, the bow he thought my own, shouting, "Die, dog of an
+Egyptian!"
+
+His arrow pierced my helm but missed my head. I strove to come at him
+but could not.
+
+The real rout began. The Immortals were broken like an earthen jar. They
+retreated in groups fighting desperately and of these the thickest was
+around the Great King. He whom I hated was about to escape me. He still
+had horses; he would fly down Nile, gain his reserves and so away back
+to the East, where he would gather new and yet larger armies, since men
+in millions were at his command. Then he would return and destroy Egypt
+when perchance there were no Ethiopians to help her, and perhaps after
+all drag Amada to his House of Women. See, they were breaking through
+and already I was far away with a wound in my breast, a hurt leg and a
+shattered sword.
+
+What could I do? My arrows were spent and the bearers had none left to
+give me. No, there was one still in the quiver. I drew it out. On its
+shaft were two black feathers and one white. Who had spoken of that
+arrow? I remembered, Tanofir. I was to think of certain things that he
+had said when I noted what it pierced. I unslung my bow, strung it and
+set that arrow on the string.
+
+By now the Great King was far away, out of reach for most archers. His
+chariot forging ahead amidst the remnant of his guards and the nobles
+who attended on his sacred person, travelled over a little rise where
+doubtless once there had been a village, long since rotted down to its
+parent clay. The sunlight glinted on his shining armour and silken robe,
+whereof the back was toward me.
+
+I aimed, I drew, I loosed! Swift and far the shaft sped forward. By
+Osiris! it struck him full between the shoulders, and lo! the King of
+kings, the Monarch of the World, lurched forward, fell on to the rail of
+his chariot, and rolled to the ground. Next instant there arose a roar
+of, "The King is dead! The Great King is dead! _Fly, fly, fly!_"
+
+So they fled and after them thundered the pursuers slaying and slaying
+till they could lift their arms no more. Oh! yes, some escaped though
+the men of Thebes and country folk murdered many of them and but a few
+ever won back to the East to tell the tale of the blotting out of the
+mighty army of the King of kings and of the doom dealt to him by the
+great black bow of Shabaka the Egyptian.
+
+I stood there gasping, when suddenly I heard a voice at my side. It
+said,
+
+"You seem to have done very well, Brother, even better than we did
+yonder on the other side of the town, though some might think that fray
+a thing whereof to make a song. Also that last shot of yours was worthy
+of a good archer, for I marked it, I marked it. A great lord was laid
+low thereby. Let us go and see who it was."
+
+I threw my arm round the bull neck of Bes and leaning on him, advanced
+to where the King lay alone save for the fallen about him.
+
+"This man is not yet sped," said Bes. "Let us look upon his face," and
+he turned him over, and stretched him there upon the sand with the arrow
+standing two spans beyond his corselet.
+
+"Why," said Bes, "this is a certain High one with whom we had dealings
+in the East!" and he laughed thickly.
+
+Then the Great King opened his eyes and knew us and on his dying
+features came a look of hate.
+
+"So you have conquered, Egyptian," he said. "Oh! if only I had you again
+in the East, whence in my folly I let you go----"
+
+"You would set me in your boat, would you not, whence by the wisdom of
+Bes I escaped."
+
+"More than that," he gasped.
+
+"I shall not serve you so," I went on. "I shall leave you to die as a
+warrior should upon a fair fought field. But learn, tyrant and murderer,
+that the shaft which overthrew you came from the black bow you coveted
+and thought you had received, and that this hand loosed it--not at
+hazard."
+
+"I guessed it," he whispered.
+
+"Know, too, King, that the lady Amada whom you also coveted, waits to be
+my wife; that your mighty army is destroyed, and that Egypt is free by
+the hands of Shabaka the Egyptian and Bes the dwarf."
+
+"Shabaka the Egyptian," he muttered, "whom I held and let go because of
+a dream and for policy. So, Shabaka, you will wed Amada whom I desired
+because I could not take her, and doubtless you will rule in Egypt, for
+Pharaoh, I think, is as I am to-day. O Shabaka, you are strong and
+a great warrior, but there is something stronger than you in the
+world--that which men call Fate. Such success as yours offends the gods.
+Look on me, Shabaka, look on the King of kings, the Ruler of the earth,
+lying shamed in the dust before you, and, accursed Shabaka! do not call
+yourself happy until you see death as near as I do now."
+
+Then he threw his arms wide and died.
+
+
+
+We called to soldiers to bear his body and having set the pursuit, with
+that royal clay entered into Amada in triumph. It was not a very great
+town and the temple was its finest building and thither we wended. In
+the outer court we found Pharaoh lying at the point of death, for from
+many wounds his life drained out with his flowing blood, nor could the
+leeches help him.
+
+"Greeting, Shabaka," he said, "you and the Ethiopians have saved Egypt.
+My son is slain in the battle and I too am slain, and who remains to
+rule her save you, you and Amada? Would that you had married her at
+once, and never left my side. But she was foolish and headstrong and
+I--was jealous of you, Shabaka. Forgive me, and farewell."
+
+He spoke no more although he lived a little while.
+
+Karema came from the inner court. She greeted her husband, then turned
+and said,
+
+"Lord Shabaka, one waits to welcome you."
+
+I rested myself upon her shoulder, for I could not walk alone.
+
+"What happened to the army of the Karoon?" I asked as we went slowly.
+
+"That happened, Lord, which the holy Tanofir foretold. The Easterns
+attacked across the swamp, thinking to bear us down by numbers. But the
+paths were too narrow and their columns were bogged in the mud.
+Still they struggled on against the arrows to its edge and there the
+Ethiopians fell on them and being lighter-footed and without armour, had
+the mastery of them, who were encumbered by their very multitude. Oh! I
+saw it all from the temple top. Bes did well and I am proud of him, as I
+am proud of you."
+
+"It is of the Ethiopians that you should be proud, Karema, since with
+one to five they have won a great battle."
+
+We came to the end of the second court where was a sanctuary.
+
+"Enter," said Karema and fell back.
+
+I did so and though the cedar door was left a little ajar, at first
+could see nothing because of the gloom of the place. By degrees my eyes
+grew accustomed to the darkness and I perceived an alabaster statue
+of the goddess Isis of the size of life, who held in her arms an ivory
+child, also lifesize. Then I heard a sigh and, looking down, saw a
+woman clad in white kneeling at the feet of the statue, lost in prayer.
+Suddenly she rose and turned and the ray of light from the door ajar
+fell upon her. It was Amada draped only in the transparent robe of a
+priestess, and oh! she was beautiful beyond imagining, so beautiful that
+my heart stood still.
+
+She saw me in my battered mail and the blood flowed up to her breast
+and brow and in her eyes there came a light such as I had never known
+in them before, the light that is lit only by the torch of woman's love.
+Yes, no longer were hers the eyes of a priestess; they were the eyes of
+a woman who burns with mortal passion.
+
+"Amada," I whispered, "Amada found at last."
+
+"Shabaka," she whispered back, "returned at last, to me, your home," and
+she stretched out her arms toward me.
+
+But before I could take her into mine, she uttered a little cry and
+shrank away.
+
+"Oh! not here," she said, "not here in the presence of this Holy One who
+watches all that passes in heaven and earth."
+
+"Then perchance, Amada, she has watched the freeing of Egypt on yonder
+field to-day, and knows for whose sake it was done."
+
+"Hearken, Shabaka. I am your guerdon. Moreover as a woman I am yours.
+There is naught I desire so much as to feel your kiss upon me. For it
+and it alone I am ready to risk my spirit's death and torment. But for
+you I fear. Twice have I sworn myself to this goddess and she is very
+jealous of those who rob her of her votaries. I fear that her curse will
+fall not only on me, but on you also, and not only for this life but for
+all lives that may be given to us. For your own sake, I pray you leave
+me. I hear that Pharaoh my uncle is dead or dying, and doubtless they
+will offer you the throne. Take it, Shabaka, for in it I ask no share.
+Take it and leave me to serve the goddess till my death."
+
+"I too serve a goddess," I answered hoarsely, "and she is named Love,
+and you are her priestess. Little I care for Isis who serve the goddess
+Love. Come, kiss me here and now, ere perchance I die. Kiss me who have
+waited long enough, and so let us be wed."
+
+One moment she paused, swaying in the wind of passion, like a tall reed
+on the banks of Nile, and then, ah! then she sank upon my breast and
+pressed her lips against my own.
+
+
+
+                              AND AFTER
+
+For a few moments I, Shabaka, seemed to be lost in a kind of delirium
+and surrounded by a rose-hued mist. Then I, Allan Quatermain, heard a
+sharp quick sound as of a clock striking, and looked up. It was a lock,
+a beautiful old clock on a mantelpiece opposite to me and the hands
+showed that it had just struck the hour of ten.
+
+Now I remembered that centuries ago, as I was dropping asleep, I did not
+know why, I had seen that clock and those hands in the same position and
+known that it was striking the second stroke of ten. Oh! what did it all
+mean? Had thousands of years gone by or--only eight seconds?
+
+There was a weight upon my shoulder. I glanced round to see what it
+was and discovered the beautiful head of Lady Ragnall who was sweetly
+sleeping there. Lady Ragnall! and in that very strange dream which I had
+dreamed she was the priestess called Amada. Look, there was the mark
+of the new moon above her breast. And not a second ago I had been in a
+shrine with Amada dressed as Lady Ragnall was to-night, in circumstances
+so intimate that it made me blush to think of them. Lady Ragnall!
+Amada!--Amada! Lady Ragnall! A shrine! A boudoir! Oh! I must be going
+mad!
+
+I could not disturb her, it would have been--well, unseemly. So
+I, Shabaka, or Allan Quatermain, just sat still feeling curiously
+comfortable, and tried to piece things together, when suddenly Amada--I
+mean Lady Ragnall woke.
+
+"I wonder," she said without lifting her head from my shoulder, "what
+happened to the holy Tanofir. I think that I heard him outside the shine
+giving directions for the digging of Pharaoh's grave at that spot, and
+saying that he must do so at once as his time was very short. Yes, and
+I wished that he would go away. Oh! my goodness!" she exclaimed, and
+suddenly sprang up.
+
+I too rose and we stood facing each other.
+
+Between us, in front of the fire stood the tripod and the bowl of black
+stone at the bottom of which lay a pinch of white ashes, the remains of
+the _Taduki_. We stared at it and at each other.
+
+"Oh! where have we been, Shaba--I mean, Mr. Quatermain?" she gasped,
+looking at me round-eyed.
+
+"I don't know," I answered confusedly. "To the East I suppose. That
+is--it was all a dream."
+
+"A dream!" she said. "What nonsense! Tell me, were you or were you not
+in a sanctuary just now with me before the statue of Isis, the same that
+fell on George two years ago and killed him, and did you or did you not
+give me a necklace of wonderful rosy pearls which we put upon the neck
+of the statue as a peace-offering because I had broken my vows to the
+goddess--those that you won from the Great King?"
+
+"No," I answered triumphantly, "I did nothing of the sort. Is it likely
+that I should have taken those priceless pearls into battle? I gave them
+to Karema to keep after my mother returned them to me on her death-bed;
+I remember it distinctly."
+
+"Yes, and Karema handed them to me again as your love-token when she
+appeared in the city with the holy Tanofir, and what was more welcome at
+the moment--something to eat. For we were near starving, you know. Well,
+I threw them over your neck and my own in the shrine to be the symbol
+of our eternal union. But afterwards we thought that it might be wise
+to offer them to the goddess--to appease her, you know. Oh! how dared we
+plight our mortal troth there in her very shrine and presence, and I her
+twice-sworn servant? It was insult heaped on sacrilege."
+
+"At a guess, because love is stronger than fear," I replied. "But it
+seems that you dreamed a little longer than I did. So perhaps you can
+tell me what happened afterwards. I only got as far as--well, I forget
+how far I got," I added, for at that moment full memory returned and I
+could not go on.
+
+She blushed to her eyes and grew disturbed.
+
+"It is all mixed up in my mind too," she exclaimed. "I can only remember
+something rather absurd--and affectionate. You know what strange things
+dreams are."
+
+"I thought you said it wasn't a dream."
+
+"Really I don't know what it was. But--your wound doesn't hurt you, does
+it? You were bleeding a good deal. It stained me here," and she touched
+her breast and looked down wonderingly at her sacred, ancient robe as
+though she expected to see that it was red.
+
+"As there is no stain now it _must_ have been a dream. But my word! that
+was a battle," I answered.
+
+"Yes, I watched it from the pylon top, and oh! it was glorious. Do you
+remember the charge of the Ethiopians against the Immortals? Why of
+course you must as you led it. And then the fall of Pharaoh Peroa--he
+was George, you know. And the death of the Great King, killed by your
+black bow; you were a wonderful shot even then, you see. And the burning
+of the ships, how they blazed! And--a hundred other things."
+
+"Yes," I said, "it came off. The holy Tanofir was a good strategist--or
+his Cup was, I don't know which."
+
+"And you were a good general, and so for the matter of that was Bes. Oh!
+what agonies I went through while the fight hung doubtful. My heart was
+on fire, yes, I seemed to burn for----" and she stopped.
+
+"For whom?" I asked.
+
+"For Egypt of course, and when, reflected in the alabaster, I saw
+you enter that shrine, where you remember I was praying for your
+success--and safety, I nearly died of joy. For you know I had been,
+well, attached to you--to Shabaka, I mean--all the time--that's my part
+of the story which I daresay you did not see. Although I seemed so cold
+and wayward I could love, yes, in that life I knew how to love. And
+Shabaka looked, oh! a hero with his rent mail and the glory of triumph
+in his eyes. He was very handsome, too, in his way. But what nonsense I
+am talking."
+
+"Yes, great nonsense. Still, I wish we were sure how it ended. It is a
+pity that you forget, for I am crazed with curiosity. I suppose there is
+no more _Taduki_, is there?"
+
+"Not a scrap," she answered firmly, "and if there were it would be fatal
+to take it twice on the same day. We have learned all there is to learn.
+Perhaps it is as well, though I should like to know what happened after
+our--our marriage."
+
+"So we _were_ married, were we?"
+
+"I mean," she went on ignoring my remark, "whether you ruled long in
+Egypt. For you, or rather Shabaka, did rule. Also whether the Easterns
+returned and drove us out, or what. You see the Ivory Child went away
+somehow, for we found it again in Kendah Land only a few years ago."
+
+"Perhaps we retired to Ethiopia," I suggested, "and the worship of the
+Child continued in some part of that country after the Ethiopian kingdom
+passed away."
+
+"Perhaps, only I don't think Karema would ever have gone back to
+Ethiopia unless she was obliged. You remember how she hated the place.
+No, not even to see those black children of hers. Well, as we can never
+tell, it is no use speculating."
+
+"I thought there _was_ more _Taduki_," I remarked sadly. "I am sure I
+saw some in the coffer."
+
+"Not one bit," she answered still more firmly than before, and,
+stretching out her hand, she shut down the lid of the coffer before I
+could look into it. "It may be best so, for as it stands the story had
+a happy ending and I don't want to learn, oh! I don't want to learn how
+the curse of Isis fell on you and me."
+
+"So you believe in that?"
+
+"Yes, I do," she answered with passion, "and what is more, I believe
+it is working still, which perhaps is why we have all come down in the
+world, you and I and George and Hans, yes, and even old Har�t whom we
+knew in Kendah Land, who, I think, was the holy Tanofir. For as surely
+as I live I _know_ beyond possibility of doubt that whatever we may
+be called to-day, you were the General Shabaka and I was the priestess
+Amada, Royal Lady of Egypt, and between us and about us the curse of
+Isis wavers like a sword. That is why George was killed and that is
+why--but I feel very tired, I think I had better go to bed."
+
+
+As I recall that I have explained, I was obliged to leave Ragnall Castle
+early the next morning to keep a shooting engagement. O heavens! to keep
+a shooting engagement!
+
+
+But whatever Amada, I mean Lady Ragnall, said, there _was_ plenty more
+_Taduki_, as I have good reason to know.
+
+
+Allan Quatermain.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Ancient Allan, by H. Rider Haggard
+
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+<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
+
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+   PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN"
+   "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd" >
+
+<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" lang="en">
+  <head>
+    <title>
+      The Ancient Allan, by H. Rider Haggard
+    </title>
+    <style type="text/css" xml:space="preserve">
+
+    body { margin:5%; background:#faebd0; text-align:justify}
+    P { text-indent: 1em; margin-top: .25em; margin-bottom: .25em; }
+    H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 { text-align: center; margin-left: 15%; margin-right: 15%; }
+    hr  { width: 50%; text-align: center;}
+    .foot { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; text-indent: -3em; font-size: 90%; }
+    blockquote {font-size: 97%; font-style: italic; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;}
+    .mynote    {background-color: #DDE; color: #000; padding: .5em; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 95%;}
+    .toc       { margin-left: 10%; margin-bottom: .75em;}
+    .toc2      { margin-left: 20%;}
+    div.fig    { display:block; margin:0 auto; text-align:center; }
+    div.middle { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; }
+    .figleft   {float: left; margin-left: 0%; margin-right: 1%;}
+    .figright  {float: right; margin-right: 0%; margin-left: 1%;}
+    .pagenum   {display:inline; font-size: 70%; font-style:normal;
+               margin: 0; padding: 0; position: absolute; right: 1%;
+               text-align: right;}
+    pre        { font-style: italic; font-size: 90%; margin-left: 10%;}
+
+</style>
+  </head>
+  <body>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Ancient Allan, by H. Rider Haggard
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Ancient Allan
+
+Author: H. Rider Haggard
+
+Release Date: March 20, 2009 [EBook #5746]
+Last Updated: September 23, 2016
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: UTF-8
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ANCIENT ALLAN ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by John Bickers, Dagny, and David Widger
+
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <h1>
+      THE ANCIENT ALLAN
+    </h1>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <h2>
+      By H. Rider Haggard
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <h3>
+      First Published 1920.
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br />
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br />
+    </p>
+    <blockquote>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <big><b>CONTENTS</b></big>
+      </p>
+      <p>
+        <br /> <a href="#link2HCH0001"> CHAPTER I. </a>&nbsp;&nbsp;AN OLD FRIEND
+        <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0002"> CHAPTER II. </a>&nbsp;&nbsp;RAGNALL
+        CASTLE <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0003"> CHAPTER III. </a>&nbsp;&nbsp;ALLAN
+        GIVES HIS WORD <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0004"> CHAPTER IV. </a>&nbsp;&nbsp;THROUGH
+        THE GATES <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0005"> CHAPTER V. </a>&nbsp;&nbsp;THE
+        WAGER <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0006"> CHAPTER VI. </a>&nbsp;&nbsp;THE
+        DOOM OF THE BOAT <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0007"> CHAPTER VII. </a>&nbsp;&nbsp;BES
+        STEALS THE SIGNET <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0008"> CHAPTER VIII. </a>&nbsp;&nbsp;THE
+        LADY AMADA <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0009"> CHAPTER IX. </a>&nbsp;&nbsp;THE
+        MESSENGERS <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0010"> CHAPTER X. </a>&nbsp;&nbsp;SHABAKA
+        PLIGHTS HIS TROTH <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0011"> CHAPTER XI. </a>&nbsp;&nbsp;THE
+        HOLY TANOFIR <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0012"> CHAPTER XII. </a>&nbsp;&nbsp;THE
+        SLAYING OF IDERNES <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0013"> CHAPTER XIII.
+        &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;AMADA RETURNS TO ISIS <br /><br /> <a
+        href="#link2HCH0014"> CHAPTER XIV. </a>&nbsp;&nbsp;SHABAKA FIGHTS THE
+        CROCODILE <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0015"> CHAPTER XV. </a>&nbsp;&nbsp;THE
+        SUMMONS <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0016"> CHAPTER XVI. </a>&nbsp;&nbsp;TANOFIR
+        FINDS HIS BROKEN CUP <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0017"> CHAPTER XVII.
+        </a>&nbsp;&nbsp;THE BATTLE&mdash;AND AFTER <br /><br />
+      </p>
+    </blockquote>
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br />
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br /> <a name="link2HCH0001" id="link2HCH0001">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER I. AN OLD FRIEND
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      Now I, Allan Quatermain, come to the weirdest (with one or two exceptions
+      perhaps) of all the experiences which it has amused me to employ my idle
+      hours in recording here in a strange land, for after all England is
+      strange to me. I grow elderly. I have, as I suppose, passed the period of
+      enterprise and adventure and I should be well satisfied with the lot that
+      Fate has given to my unworthy self.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      To begin with, I am still alive and in health when by all the rules I
+      should have been dead many times over. I suppose I ought to be thankful
+      for that but, before expressing an opinion on the point, I should have to
+      be quite sure whether it is better to be alive or dead. The religious
+      plump for the latter, though I have never observed that the religious are
+      more eager to die than the rest of us poor mortals.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      For instance, if they are told that their holy hearts are wrong, they
+      spend time and much money in rushing to a place called Nauheim in Germany,
+      to put them right by means of water-drinking, thereby shortening their
+      hours of heavenly bliss and depriving their heirs of a certain amount of
+      cash. The same thing applies to Buxton in my own neighbourhood and gout,
+      especially when it threatens the stomach or the throat. Even archbishops
+      will do these things, to say nothing of such small fry as deans, or stout
+      and prominent lay figures of the Church.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      From common sinners like myself such conduct might be expected, but in the
+      case of those who are obviously poised on the topmost rungs of the
+      Jacobean&mdash;I mean, the heavenly&mdash;ladder, it is legitimate to
+      inquire why they show such reluctance in jumping off. As a matter of fact
+      the only persons that, individually, I have seen quite willing to die,
+      except now and again to save somebody else whom they were so foolish as to
+      care for more than they did for themselves, have been not those &ldquo;upon whom
+      the light has shined&rdquo; to quote an earnest paper I chanced to read this
+      morning, but, to quote again, &ldquo;the sinful heathen wandering in their
+      native blackness,&rdquo; by which I understand the writer to refer to their
+      moral state and not to their sable skins wherein for the most part they
+      are also condemned to wander, that is if they happen to have been born
+      south of a certain degree of latitude.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      To come to facts, the staff of Faith which each must shape for himself, is
+      often hewn from unsuitable kinds of wood, yes, even by the very best among
+      us. Willow, for instance, is pretty and easy to cut, but try to support
+      yourself with it on the edge of a precipice and see where you are. Then of
+      a truth you will long for ironbark, or even homely oak. I might carry my
+      parable further, some allusions to the proper material of which to fashion
+      the helmet of Salvation suggest themselves to me for example, but I won&rsquo;t.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The truth is that we fear to die because all the religions are full of
+      uncomfortable hints as to what may happen to us afterwards as a reward for
+      our deviations from their laws and we half believe in something, whereas
+      often the savage, not being troubled with religion, fears less, because he
+      half believes in nothing. For very few inhabitants of this earth can
+      attain either to complete belief or to its absolute opposite. They can
+      seldom lay their hands upon their hearts, and say they <i>know</i> that
+      they will live for ever, or sleep for ever; there remains in the case of
+      most honest men an element of doubt in either hypothesis.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      That is what makes this story of mine so interesting, at any rate to me,
+      since it does seem to suggest that whether or no I have a future, as
+      personally I hold to be the case and not altogether without evidence,
+      certainly I have had a past, though, so far as I know, in this world only;
+      a fact, if it be a fact, from which can be deduced all kinds of arguments
+      according to the taste of the reasoner.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      And now for my experience, which it is only fair to add, may after all
+      have been no more than a long and connected dream. Yet how was I to dream
+      of lands, events and people where of I have only the vaguest knowledge, or
+      none at all, unless indeed, as some say, being a part of this world, we
+      have hidden away somewhere in ourselves an acquaintance with everything
+      that has ever happened in the world. However, it does not much matter and
+      it is useless to discuss that which we cannot prove.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Here at any rate is the story.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In a book or a record which I have written down and put away with others
+      under the title of &ldquo;The Ivory Child,&rdquo; I have told the tale of a certain
+      expedition I made in company with Lord Ragnall. Its object was to search
+      for his wife who was stolen away while travelling in Egypt in a state of
+      mental incapacity resulting from shock caused by the loss of her child
+      under tragic and terrible circumstances. The thieves were the priests of a
+      certain bastard Arab tribe who, on account of a birthmark shaped like the
+      young moon which was visible above her breast, believed her to be the
+      priestess or oracle of their worship. This worship evidently had its
+      origin in Ancient Egypt since, although they did not seem to know it, the
+      priestess was nothing less than a personification of the great goddess
+      Isis, and the Ivory Child, their fetish, was a statue of the infant Horus,
+      the fabled son of Isis and Osiris whom the Egyptians looked upon as the
+      overcomer of Set or the Devil, the murderer of Osiris before his
+      resurrection and ascent to Heaven to be the god of the dead.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I need not set down afresh all that happened to us on this remarkable
+      adventure. Suffice it to say that in the end we recovered the lady and
+      that her mind was restored to her. Before she left the Kendah country,
+      however, the priesthood presented her with two ancient rolls of papyrus,
+      also with a quantity of a certain herb, not unlike tobacco in appearance,
+      which by the Kendah was called <i>Taduki</i>. Once, before we took our
+      great homeward journey across the desert, Lady Ragnall and I had a curious
+      conversation about this herb whereof the property is to cause the person
+      who inhales its fumes to become clairvoyant, or to dream dreams, whichever
+      the truth may be. It was used for this purpose in the mystical ceremonies
+      of the Kendah religion when under its influence the priestess or oracle of
+      the Ivory Child was wont to announce divine revelations. During her tenure
+      of this office Lady Ragnall was frequently subjected to the spell of the
+      <i>Taduki</i> vapour, and said strange things, some of which I heard with
+      my own ears. Also myself once I experienced its effects and saw a curious
+      vision, whereof many of the particulars were afterwards translated into
+      facts.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Now the conversation which I have mentioned was shortly to the effect,
+      that she, Lady Ragnall, believed a time would come when she or I or both
+      of us, were destined to imbibe these <i>Taduki</i> fumes and see wonderful
+      pictures of some past or future existence in which we were both concerned.
+      This knowledge, she declared, had come to her while she was officiating in
+      an apparently mindless condition as the priestess of the Kendah god called
+      the Ivory Child.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At the time I did not think it wise to pursue so exciting a subject with a
+      woman whose mind had been recently unbalanced, and afterwards in the
+      stress of new experiences, I forgot all about the matter, or at any rate
+      only thought of it very rarely.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Once, however, it did recur to me with some force. Shortly after I came to
+      England to spend my remaining days far from the temptations of adventure,
+      I was beguiled into becoming a steward of a Charity dinner and, what was
+      worse, into attending the said dinner. Although its objects were
+      admirable, it proved one of the most dreadful functions in which I was
+      ever called upon to share. There was a vast number of people, some of them
+      highly distinguished, who had come to support the Charity or to show off
+      their Orders, I don&rsquo;t know which, and others like myself, not at all
+      distinguished, just common subscribers, who had no Orders and stood about
+      the crowded room like waiters looking for a job.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At the dinner, which was very bad, I sat at a table so remote that I could
+      hear but little of the interminable speeches, which was perhaps fortunate
+      for me. In these circumstances I drifted into conversation with my
+      neighbour, a queer, wizened, black-bearded man who somehow or other had
+      found out that I was acquainted with the wilder parts of Africa. He proved
+      to be a wealthy scientist whose passion it was to study the properties of
+      herbs, especially of such as grow in the interior of South America where
+      he had been travelling for some years.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Presently he mentioned a root named Yagé, known to the Indians which, when
+      pounded up into a paste and taken in the form of pills, had the effect of
+      enabling the patient to see events that were passing at a distance. Indeed
+      he alleged that a vision thus produced had caused him to return home,
+      since in it he saw that some relative of his, I think a twin-sister, was
+      dangerously ill. In fact, however, he might as well have stayed away, as
+      he only arrived in London on the day after her funeral.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As I saw that he was really interested in the subject and observed that he
+      was a very temperate man who did not seem to be romancing, I told him
+      something of my experiences with <i>Taduki</i>, to which he listened with
+      a kind of rapt but suppressed excitement. When I affected disbelief in the
+      whole business, he differed from me almost rudely, asking why I rejected
+      phenomena simply because I was too dense to understand them. I answered
+      perhaps because such phenomena were inconvenient and upset one&rsquo;s ideas. To
+      this he replied that all progress involved the upsetting of existent
+      ideas. Moreover he implored me, if the chance should ever come my way, to
+      pursue experiments with <i>Taduki</i> fumes and let him know the results.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Here our conversation came to an end for suddenly a band that was braying
+      near by, struck up &ldquo;God save the Queen,&rdquo; and we hastily exchanged cards
+      and parted. I only mention it because, had it not occurred, I think it
+      probable that I should never have been in a position to write this
+      history.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The remarks of my acquaintance remained in my mind and influenced it so
+      much that when the occasion came, I did as a kind of duty what, however
+      much I was pressed, I am almost sure I should never have done for any
+      other reason, just because I thought that I ought to take an opportunity
+      of trying to discover what was the truth of the matter. As it chanced it
+      was quick in coming.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Here I should explain that I attended the dinner of which I have spoken
+      not very long after a very lengthy absence from England, whither I had
+      come to live when King Solomon&rsquo;s Mines had made me rich. Therefore it
+      happened that between the conclusion of my Kendah adventure some years
+      before and this time I saw nothing and heard little of Lord and Lady
+      Ragnall. Once a rumour did reach me, however, I think through Sir Henry
+      Curtis or Captain Good, that the former had died as a result of an
+      accident. What the accident was my informant did not know and as I was
+      just starting on a far journey at the time, I had no opportunity of making
+      inquiries. My talk with the botanical scientist determined me to do so;
+      indeed a few days later I discovered from a book of reference that Lord
+      Ragnall was dead, leaving no heir; also that his wife survived him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I was working myself up to write to her when one morning the postman
+      brought me here at the Grange a letter which had &ldquo;Ragnall Castle&rdquo; printed
+      on the flap of the envelope. I did not know the writing which was very
+      clear and firm, for as it chanced, to the best of my recollection, I had
+      never seen that of Lady Ragnall. Here is a copy of the letter it
+      contained:
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+ &ldquo;My dear Mr. Quatermain,&mdash;Very strangely I have just seen at a
+  meeting of the Horticultural Society, a gentleman who declares
+  that a few days ago he sat next to you at some public dinner.
+  Indeed I do not think there can be any doubt for he showed me your
+  card which he had in his purse with a Yorkshire address upon it.
+
+ &ldquo;A dispute had arisen as to whether a certain variety of Crinum
+  lily was first found in Africa, or Southern America. This
+  gentleman, an authority upon South American flora, made a speech
+  saying that he had never met with it there, but that an
+  acquaintance of his, Mr. Quatermain, to whom he had spoken on the
+  subject, said that he had seen something of the sort in the
+  interior of Africa.&rdquo; (This was quite true for I remembered the
+  incident.) &ldquo;At the tea which followed the meeting I spoke to this
+  gentleman whose name I never caught, and to my astonishment learnt
+  that he must have been referring to you whom I believed to be
+  dead, for so we were told a long time ago. This seemed certain,
+  for in addition to the evidence of the name, he described your
+  personal appearance and told me that you had come to live in
+  England.
+
+ &ldquo;My dear friend, I can assure you it is long since I heard anything
+  which rejoiced me so much. Oh! as I write all the past comes back,
+  flowing in upon me like a pent-up flood of water, but I trust that
+  of this I shall soon have an opportunity of talking to you. So let
+  it be for a while.
+
+ &ldquo;Alas! my friend, since we parted on the shores of the Red Sea,
+  tragedy has pursued me. As you will know, for both my husband and
+  I wrote to you, although you did not answer the letters&rdquo; (I never
+  received them), &ldquo;we reached England safely and took up our old
+  life again, though to tell you the truth, after my African
+  experiences things could never be quite the same to me, or for the
+  matter of that to George either. To a great extent he changed his
+  pursuits and certain political ambitions which he once cherished,
+  seemed no longer to appeal to him. He became a student of past
+  history and especially of Egyptology, which under all the
+  circumstances you may think strange, as I did. However it suited
+  me well enough, since I also have tastes that way. So we worked
+  together and I can now read hieroglyphics as well as most people.
+  One year he said that he would like to go to Egypt again, if I
+  were not afraid. I answered that it had not been a very lucky
+  place for us, but that personally I was not in the least afraid
+  and longed to return there. For as you know, I have, or think I
+  have, ties with Egypt and indeed with all Africa. Well, we went
+  and had a very happy time, although I was always expecting to see
+  old Harût come round the corner.
+
+ &ldquo;After this it became a custom with us who, since George
+  practically gave up shooting and attending the House of Lords, had
+  nothing to keep us in England, to winter in Egypt. We did this for
+  five years in succession, living in a bungalow which we built at a
+  place in the desert, not far from the banks of the Nile, about
+  half way between Luxor which was the ancient Thebes, and Assouan.
+  George took a great fancy to this spot when first he saw it, and
+  so in truth did I, for, like Memphis, it attracted me so much that
+  I used to laugh and say I believed that once I had something to do
+  with it.
+
+ &ldquo;Now near to our villa that we called &lsquo;Ragnall&rsquo; after this house,
+  are the remains of a temple which were almost buried in the sand.
+  This temple George obtained permission to excavate. It proved to
+  be a long and costly business, but as he did not mind spending the
+  money, that was no obstacle. For four winters we worked at it,
+  employing several hundred men. As we went on we discovered that
+  although not one of the largest, the temple, owing to its having
+  been buried by the sand during, or shortly after the Roman epoch,
+  remained much more perfect than we had expected, because the early
+  Christians had never got at it with their chisels and hammers.
+  Before long I hope to show you pictures and photographs of the
+  various courts, etc., so I will not attempt to describe them now.
+
+ &ldquo;It is a temple to Isis&mdash;built, or rather rebuilt over the remains
+  of an older temple on a site that seems to have been called Amada,
+  at any rate in the later days, and so named after a city in Nubia,
+  apparently by one of the Amen-hetep Pharaohs who had conquered it.
+  Its style is beautiful, being of the best period of the Egyptian
+  Renaissance under the last native dynasties.
+
+ &ldquo;At the beginning of the fifth winter, at length we approached the
+  sanctuary, a difficult business because of the retaining walls
+  that had to be built to keep the sand from flowing down as fast as
+  it was removed, and the great quantities of stuff that must be
+  carried off by the tramway. In so doing we came upon a shallow
+  grave which appeared to have been hastily filled in and roughly
+  covered over with paving stones like the rest of the court, as
+  though to conceal its existence. In this grave lay the skeleton of
+  a large man, together with the rusted blade of an iron sword and
+  some fragments of armour. Evidently he had never been mummified,
+  for there were no wrappings, canopic jars, <i>ushapti</i> figures or
+  funeral offerings. The state of the bones showed us why, for the
+  right forearm was cut through and the skull smashed in; also an
+  iron arrow-head lay among the ribs. The man had been buried
+  hurriedly after a battle in which he had met his death. Searching
+  in the dust beneath the bones we found a gold ring still on one of
+  the fingers. On its bezel was engraved the cartouche of &lsquo;Peroa,
+  beloved of Ra.&rsquo; Now Peroa probably means Pharaoh and perhaps he
+  was Khabasha who revolted against the Persians and ruled for a
+  year or two, after which he is supposed to have been defeated and
+  killed, though of his end and place of burial there is no record.
+  Whether these were the remnants of Khabasha himself, or of one of
+  his high ministers or generals who wore the King&rsquo;s cartouche upon
+  his ring in token of his office, of course I cannot say.
+
+ &ldquo;When George had read the cartouche he handed me the ring which I
+  slipped upon the first finger of my left hand, where I still wear
+  it. Then leaving the grave open for further examination, we went
+  on with the work, for we were greatly excited. At length, this was
+  towards evening, we had cleared enough of the sanctuary, which was
+  small, to uncover the shrine that, if not a monolith, was made of
+  four pieces of granite so wonderfully put together that one could
+  not see the joints. On the curved architrave as I think it is
+  called, was carved the symbol of a winged disc, and beneath in
+  hieroglyphics as fresh as though they had only been cut yesterday,
+  an inscription to the effect that Peroa, Royal Son of the Sun,
+  gave this shrine as an &lsquo;excellent eternal work,&rsquo; together with the
+  statues of the Holy Mother and the Holy Child to the &lsquo;emanations
+  of the great Goddess Isis and the god Horus,&rsquo; Amada, Royal Lady,
+  being votaress or high-priestess.
+
+ &ldquo;We only read the hieroglyphics very hurriedly, being anxious to
+  see what was within the shrine that, the cedar door having rotted
+  away, was filled with fine, drifted sand. Basketful by basketful
+  we got it out and then, my friend, there appeared the most
+  beautiful life-sized statue of Isis carved in alabaster that ever
+  I have seen. She was seated on a throne-like chair and wore the
+  vulture cap on which traces of colour remained. Her arms were held
+  forward as though to support a child, which perhaps she was
+  suckling as one of the breasts was bare. But if so, the child had
+  gone. The execution of the statue was exquisite and its tender and
+  mystic face extraordinarily beautiful, so life-like also that I
+  think it must have been copied from a living model. Oh! my friend,
+  when I looked upon it, which we did by the light of the candles,
+  for the sun was sinking and shadows gathered in that excavated
+  hole, I felt&mdash;never mind what I felt&mdash;perhaps <i>you</i> can guess who
+  know my history.
+
+ &ldquo;While we stared and stared, I longing to go upon my knees, I knew
+  not why, suddenly I felt a faint trembling of the ground. At the
+  same moment, the head overseer of the works, a man called Achmet,
+  rushed up to us, shouting out&mdash;&lsquo;Back! Back! The wall has burst.
+  The sand runs!&rsquo; 
+
+ &ldquo;He seized me by the arm and dragged me away beside of and behind
+  the grave, George turning to follow. Next instant I saw a kind of
+  wave of sand, on the crest of which appeared the stones of the
+  wall, curl over and break. It struck the shrine, overturned and
+  shattered it, which makes me think it was made of four pieces, and
+  shattered also the alabaster statue within, for I saw its head
+  strike George upon the back and throw him forward. He reeled and
+  fell into the open grave which in another moment was filled and
+  covered with the débris that seemed to grip me to my middle in its
+  flow. After this I remembered nothing more until hours later I
+  found myself lying in our house.
+
+ &ldquo;Achmet and his Egyptians had done nothing; indeed none of them
+  could be persuaded to approach the place till the sun rose
+  because, as they said, the old gods of the land whom they looked
+  upon as devils, were angry at being disturbed and would kill them
+  as they had killed the Bey, meaning George. Then, distracted as I
+  was, I went myself for there was no other European there, to find
+  that the whole site of the sanctuary was buried beneath hundreds
+  of tons of sand, that, beginning at the gap in the broken wall,
+  had flowed from every side. Indeed it would have taken weeks to
+  dig it out, since to sink a shaft was impracticable and so
+  dangerous that the local officials refused to allow it to be
+  attempted. The end of it was that an English bishop came up from
+  Cairo and consecrated the ground by special arrangement with the
+  Government, which of course makes it impossible that this part of
+  the temple should be further disturbed. After this he read the
+  Burial Service over my dear husband.
+
+ &ldquo;So there is the end of a very terrible story which I have written
+  down because I do not wish to have to talk about it more than is
+  necessary when we meet. For, dear Mr. Quatermain, we shall meet,
+  as I always knew that we should&mdash;yes, even after I heard that you
+  were dead. You will remember that I told you so years ago in
+  Kendah Land and that it would happen after a great change in my
+  life, though what that change might be I could not say....&rdquo;
+ </pre>
+    <p>
+      This is the end of the letter except for certain suggested dates for the
+      visit which she took for granted I should make to Ragnall.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0002" id="link2HCH0002">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER II. RAGNALL CASTLE
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      When I had finished reading this amazing document I lit my pipe and set to
+      work to think it over. The hypothetical inquirer might ask why I thought
+      it amazing. There was nothing odd in a dilettante Englishman of highly
+      cultivated mind taking to Egyptology and, being, as it chanced, one of the
+      richest men in the kingdom, spending a fraction of his wealth in
+      excavating temples. Nor was it strange that he should have happened to die
+      by accident when engaged in that pursuit, which I can imagine to be very
+      fascinating in the delightful winter climate of Egypt. He was not the
+      first person to be buried by a fall of sand. Why, only a little while ago
+      the same fate overtook a nursery-governess and the child in her charge who
+      were trying to dig out a martin&rsquo;s nest in a pit in this very parish. Their
+      operations brought down a huge mass of the overhanging bank beneath which
+      the sand-vein had been hollowed by workmen who deserted the pit when they
+      saw that it had become unsafe. Next day I and my gardeners helped to
+      recover their bodies, for their whereabouts was not discovered until the
+      following morning, and a sad business it was.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Yet, taken in conjunction with the history of this couple, the whole
+      Ragnall affair was very strange. When but a child Lady Ragnall, then the
+      Hon. Miss Holmes, had been identified by the priests of a remote African
+      tribe as the oracle of their peculiar faith, which we afterwards proved to
+      be derived from old Egypt, in short the worship of Isis and Horus.
+      Subsequently they tried to steal her away and through the accident of my
+      intervention, failed. Later on, after her marriage when shock had deprived
+      her of her mind, these priests renewed the attempt, this time in Egypt,
+      and succeeded. In the end we rescued her in Central Africa, where she was
+      playing the part of the Mother-goddess Isis and even wearing her ancient
+      robes. Next she and her husband came home with their minds turned towards
+      a branch of study that took them back to Egypt. Here they devote
+      themselves to unearthing a temple and find out that among all the gods of
+      Egypt, who seem to have been extremely numerous, it was dedicated to Isis
+      and Horus, the very divinities with whom they recently they had been so
+      intimately concerned if in traditional and degenerate forms.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Moreover that was not the finish of it. They come to the sanctuary. They
+      discover the statue of the goddess with the child gone, as their child was
+      gone. A disaster occurs and both destroys and buries Ragnall so
+      effectually that nothing of him is ever seen again: he just vanishes into
+      another man&rsquo;s grave and remains there.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A common sort of catastrophe enough, it is true, though people of
+      superstitious mind might have thought that it looked as though the
+      goddess, or whatever force was behind the goddess, was working vengeance
+      on the man who desecrated her ancient shrine. And, by the way, though I
+      cannot remember whether or no I mentioned it in &ldquo;The Ivory Child,&rdquo; I
+      recall that the old priest of the Kendah, Harût, once told me he was sure
+      Ragnall would meet with a violent death. This seemed likely enough in that
+      country under our circumstances there, still I asked him why. He answered,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Because he has laid hands on that which is holy and not meant for man,&rdquo;
+       and he looked at Lady Ragnall.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I remarked that all women were holy, whereon he replied that he did not
+      think so and changed the subject.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Well, Ragnall, who had married the lady who once served as the last
+      priestess of Isis upon earth, was killed, whereas she, the priestess, was
+      almost miraculously preserved from harm. And&mdash;oh! the whole story was
+      deuced odd and that is all. Poor Ragnall! He was a great English gentleman
+      and one whom when first I knew him, I held to be the most fortunate person
+      I ever met, endowed as he was with every advantage of mind, body and
+      estate. Yet in the end this did not prove to be the case. Well, while he
+      lived he was a good friend and a good fellow and none can hope for a
+      better epitaph in a world where all things are soon forgotten.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      And now, what was I to do? To tell the truth I did not altogether desire
+      to reopen this chapter in past history, or to have to listen to painful
+      reminiscences from the lips of a bereaved woman. Moreover, beautiful as
+      she had been, for doubtless she was <i>passée</i> now, and charming as of
+      course she remained&mdash;I do not think I ever knew anyone who was quite
+      so charming&mdash;there was something about Lady Ragnall which alarmed me.
+      She did not resemble any other woman. Of course no woman is ever quite
+      like another, but in her case the separateness, if I may so call it, was
+      very marked. It was as though she had walked out of a different age, or
+      even world, and been but superficially clothed with the attributes of our
+      own. I felt that from the first moment I set eyes upon her and while
+      reading her letter the sensation returned with added force.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Also for me she had a peculiar attraction and not one of the ordinary
+      kind. It is curious to find oneself strangely intimate with a person of
+      whom after all one does not know much, just as if one really knew a great
+      deal that was shut off by a thin but quite impassable door. If so, I did
+      not want to open that door for who could tell what might be on the other
+      side of it? And intimate conversations with a lady in whose company one
+      has shared very strange experiences, not infrequently lead to the opening
+      of every kind of door.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Further I had made up my mind some time ago to have no more friendships
+      with women who are so full of surprises, but to live out the rest of my
+      life in a kind of monastery of men who have few surprises, being creatures
+      whose thoughts are nearly always open and whose actions can always be
+      foretold.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Lastly there was that <i>Taduki</i> business. Well, there at any rate I
+      was clear and decided. No earthly power would induce me to have anything
+      more to do with <i>Taduki</i> smoke. Of course I remembered that Lady
+      Ragnall once told me kindly but firmly that I would if she wished. But
+      that was just where she made a mistake. For the rest it seemed unkind to
+      refuse her invitation now when she was in trouble, especially as I had
+      once promised that if ever I could be of help, she had only to command me.
+      No, I must go. But if that word&mdash;<i>Taduki</i>&mdash;were so much as
+      mentioned I would leave again in a hurry. Moreover it would not be, for
+      doubtless she had forgotten all about the stuff by now, even if it were
+      not lost.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The end of it was that as I did not wish to write a long letter entering
+      into all that Lady Ragnall had told me, I sent her a telegram, saying that
+      if convenient to her, I would arrive at the Castle on the following
+      Saturday evening and adding that I must be back here on the Tuesday
+      afternoon, as I had guests coming to stay with me on that day. This was
+      perfectly true as the season was mid-November and I was to begin shooting
+      my coverts on the Wednesday morning, a function that once fixed, cannot be
+      postponed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In due course an answer arrived&mdash;&ldquo;Delighted, but hoped that you would
+      have been able to stay longer.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Behold me then about six o&rsquo;clock on the said Saturday evening being once
+      more whirled by a splendid pair of horses through the gateway arch of
+      Ragnall Castle. The carriage stopped beneath the portico, the great doors
+      flew open revealing the glow of the hall fire and lights within, the
+      footman sprang down from the box and two other footmen descended the steps
+      to assist me and my belongings out of the carriage. These, I remember,
+      consisted of a handbag with my dress clothes and a yellow-backed novel.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      So one of them took the handbag and the other had to content himself with
+      the novel, which made me wish I had brought a portmanteau as well, if only
+      for the look of the thing. The pair thus burdened, escorted me up the
+      steps and delivered me over to the butler who scanned me with a critical
+      eye. I scanned him also and perceived that he was a very fine specimen of
+      his class. Indeed his stately presence so overcame me that I remarked
+      nervously, as he helped me off with my coat, that when last I was here
+      another had filled his office.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Indeed, Sir,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;and what was his name, Sir?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Savage,&rdquo; I replied.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And where might he be now, Sir?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Inside a snake!&rdquo; I answered. &ldquo;At least he was inside a snake but now I
+      hope he is waiting upon his master in Heaven.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The man recoiled a little, pulling off my coat with a jerk. Then he
+      coughed, rubbed his bald head, stared and recovering himself with an
+      effort, said,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Indeed, Sir! I only came to this place after the death of his late
+      lordship, when her ladyship changed all the household. Alfred, show this
+      gentleman up to her ladyship&rsquo;s boudoir, and William, take his&mdash;baggage&mdash;to
+      the blue room. Her ladyship wishes to see you at once, Sir, before the
+      others come.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      So I went up the big staircase to a part of the Castle that I did not
+      remember, wondering who &ldquo;the others&rdquo; might be. Almost could I have sworn
+      that the shade of Savage accompanied me up those stairs; I could feel him
+      at my side.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Presently a door was thrown open and I was ushered into a room somewhat
+      dimly lit and full of the scent of flowers. By the fire near a tea-table,
+      stood a lady clad in some dark dress with the light glinting on her
+      rich-hued hair. She turned and I saw that she still wore the necklace of
+      red stones, and beneath it on her breast a single red flower. For this was
+      Lady Ragnall; about that there was no doubt at all, so little doubt indeed
+      that I was amazed. I had expected to see a stout, elderly woman whom I
+      should only know by the colour of her eyes and her voice, and perhaps
+      certain tricks of manner. But, this was the mischief of it, I could not
+      perceive any change, at any rate in that light. She was just the same!
+      Perhaps a little fuller in figure, which was an advantage; perhaps a
+      little more considered in her movements, perhaps a little taller or at any
+      rate more stately, and that was all.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      These things I learned in a flash. Then with a murmured &ldquo;Mr. Quatermain,
+      my Lady,&rdquo; the footman closed the door and she saw me.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Moving quickly towards me with both her hands outstretched, she exclaimed
+      in that honey-soft voice of hers,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh! my dear friend&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo; stopped and added, &ldquo;Why, you haven&rsquo;t
+      changed a bit.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Fossils wear well,&rdquo; I replied, &ldquo;but that is just what I was thinking of
+      you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then it is very rude of you to call me a fossil when I am only
+      approaching that stage. Oh! I am glad to see you. I <i>am</i> glad!&rdquo; and
+      she gave me both the outstretched hands.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Upon my word I felt inclined to kiss her and have wondered ever since if
+      she would have been very angry. I am not certain that she did not divine
+      the inclination. At any rate after a little pause she dropped my hands and
+      laughed. Then she said,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I must tell you at once. A most terrible catastrophe has happened&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Instantly it occurred to me that she had forgotten having informed me by
+      letter of all the details of her husband&rsquo;s death. Such things chance to
+      people who have once lost their memory. So I tried to look as sympathetic
+      as I felt, sighed and waited.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It&rsquo;s not so bad as all that,&rdquo; she said with a little shake of her head,
+      reading my thought as she always had the power to do from the first moment
+      we met. &ldquo;We can talk about <i>that</i> afterwards. It&rsquo;s only that I hoped
+      we were going to have a quiet two days, and now the Atterby-Smiths are
+      coming, yes, in half an hour. Five of them!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The Atterby-Smiths!&rdquo; I exclaimed, for somehow I too felt disappointed.
+      &ldquo;Who are the Atterby-Smiths?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Cousins of George&rsquo;s, his nearest relatives. They think he ought to have
+      left them everything. But he didn&rsquo;t, because he could never bear the sight
+      of them. You see his property was unentailed and he left it all to me. Now
+      the entire family is advancing to suggest that I should leave it to them,
+      as perhaps I might have done if they had not chosen to come just now.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why didn&rsquo;t you put them off?&rdquo; I asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Because I couldn&rsquo;t,&rdquo; she answered with a little stamp of her foot,
+      &ldquo;otherwise do you suppose they would have been here? They were far too
+      clever. They telegraphed after lunch giving the train by which they were
+      to arrive, but no address save Charing Cross. I thought of moving up to
+      the Berkeley Square house, but it was impossible in the time, also I
+      didn&rsquo;t know how to catch you. Oh! it&rsquo;s <i>most</i> vexatious.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Perhaps they are very nice,&rdquo; I suggested feebly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Nice! Wait till you have seen them. Besides if they had been angels I did
+      not want them just now. But how selfish I am! Come and have some tea. And
+      you can stop longer, that is if you live through the Atterby-Smiths who
+      are worse than both the Kendah tribes put together. Indeed I wish old
+      Harût were coming instead. I should like to see Harût again, wouldn&rsquo;t
+      you?&rdquo; and suddenly the mystical look I knew so well, gathered on her face.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, perhaps I should,&rdquo; I replied doubtfully. &ldquo;But I must leave by the
+      first train on Tuesday morning; it goes at eight o&rsquo;clock. I looked it up.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then the Atterby-Smiths leave on Monday if I have to turn them out of the
+      house. So we shall get one evening clear at any rate. Stop a minute,&rdquo; and
+      she rang the bell.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The footman appeared as suddenly as though he had been listening at the
+      door.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Alfred,&rdquo; she said, &ldquo;tell Moxley&rdquo; (he, I discovered, was the butler) &ldquo;that
+      when Mr. and Mrs. Atterby-Smith, the two Misses Atterby-Smith and the
+      young Mr. Atterby-Smith arrive, they are to be shown to their rooms. Tell
+      the cook also to put off dinner till half-past eight, and if Mr. and Mrs.
+      Scroope arrive earlier, tell Moxley to tell them that I am sorry to be a
+      little late, but that I was delayed by some parish business. Now do you
+      understand?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, my Lady,&rdquo; said Alfred and vanished.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He doesn&rsquo;t understand in the least,&rdquo; remarked Lady Ragnall, &ldquo;but so long
+      as he doesn&rsquo;t show the Atterby-Smiths up here, in which case he can go
+      away with them on Monday, I don&rsquo;t care. It will all work out somehow. Now
+      sit down by the fire and let&rsquo;s talk. We&rsquo;ve got nearly an hour and twenty
+      minutes and you can smoke if you like. I learnt to in Egypt,&rdquo; and she took
+      a cigarette from the mantelpiece and lit it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      That hour and twenty minutes went like a flash, for we had so much to say
+      to each other that we never even got to the things we wanted to say. For
+      instance, I began to tell her about King Solomon&rsquo;s Mines, which was a long
+      story; and she to tell me what happened after we parted on the shores of
+      the Red Sea. At least the first hour and a quarter went, when suddenly the
+      door opened and Alfred in a somewhat frightened voice announced&mdash;&ldquo;Mr.
+      and Mrs. Atterby-Smith, the Misses Atterby-Smith and Mr. Atterby-Smith
+      junior.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Then he caught sight of his mistress&rsquo;s eye and fled.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I looked and felt inclined to do likewise if only there had been another
+      door. But there wasn&rsquo;t and that which existed was quite full. In the
+      forefront came A.-S. senior, like a bull leading the herd. Indeed his
+      appearance was bull-like as my eye, travelling from the expanse of white
+      shirt-front (they were all dressed for dinner) to his red and massive
+      countenance surmounted by two horn-like tufts of carroty hair, informed me
+      at a glance. Followed Mrs. A.-S., the British matron incarnate. Literally
+      there seemed to be acres of her; black silk below and white skin above on
+      which set in filigree floated big green stones, like islands in an ocean.
+      Her countenance too, though stupid was very stern and frightened me.
+      Followed the progeny of this formidable pair. They were tall and thin,
+      also red haired. The girls, whose age I could not guess in the least, were
+      exactly like each other, which was not strange as afterwards I discovered
+      that they were twins. They had pale blue eyes and somehow reminded me of
+      fish. Both of them were dressed in green and wore topaz necklaces. The
+      young man who seemed to be about one or two and twenty, had also pale blue
+      eyes, in one of which he wore an eye-glass, but his hair was sandy as
+      though it had been bleached, parted in the middle and oiled down flat.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      For a moment there was a silence which I felt to be dreadful. Then in a
+      big, pompous voice A.-S. <i>père</i> said,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How do you do, my dear Luna? As I ascertained from the footman that you
+      had not yet gone to dress, I insisted upon his leading us here for a
+      little private conversation after we have been parted for so many years.
+      We wished to offer you our condolences in person on your and our still
+      recent loss.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Thank you,&rdquo; said Lady Ragnall, &ldquo;but I think we have corresponded on the
+      subject which is painful to me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I fear that we are interrupting a smoking party, Thomas,&rdquo; said Mrs. A.-S.
+      in a cold voice, sniffing at the air for all the world like a suspicious
+      animal, whereon the five of them stared at Lady Ragnall&rsquo;s cigarette which
+      she held between her fingers.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; said Lady Ragnall. &ldquo;Won&rsquo;t you have one? Mr. Quatermain, hand Mrs.
+      Smith the box, please.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I obeyed automatically, proffering it to the lady who nearly withered me
+      with a glance, and then to each to each in turn. To my relief the young
+      man took one.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Archibald,&rdquo; said his mother, &ldquo;you are surely not going to make your
+      sisters&rsquo; dresses smell of tobacco just before dinner.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Archibald sniggered and replied,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;A little more smoke will not make any difference in this room, Ma.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That is true, darling,&rdquo; said Mrs. A.-S. and was straightway seized with a
+      fit of asthma.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      After this I am sure I don&rsquo;t know what happened, for muttering something
+      about its being time to dress, I rushed from the room and wandered about
+      until I could find someone to conduct me to my own where I lingered until
+      I heard the dinner-bell ring. But even this retreat was not without
+      disaster, for in my hurry I trod upon one of the young lady&rsquo;s dresses; I
+      don&rsquo;t know whether it was Dolly&rsquo;s or Polly&rsquo;s (they were named Dolly and
+      Polly) and heard a dreadful crack about her middle as though she were
+      breaking in two. Thereon Archibald giggled again and Dolly and Polly
+      remarked with one voice&mdash;they always spoke together,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh! clumsy!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      To complete my misfortunes I missed my way going downstairs and strayed to
+      and fro like a lost lamb until I found myself confronted by a green baize
+      door which reminded me of something. I stood staring at it till suddenly a
+      vision arose before me of myself following a bell wire through that very
+      door in the darkness of the night when in search for the late Mr. Savage
+      upon a certain urgent occasion. Yes, there could be no doubt about it, for
+      look! there was the wire, and strange it seemed to me that I should live
+      to behold it again. Curiosity led me to push the door open just to
+      ascertain if my memory served me aright about the exact locality of the
+      room. Next moment I regretted it for I fell straight into the arms of
+      either Polly or Dolly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh!&rdquo; said she, &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve just been sewn up.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I reflected that this was my case also in another sense, but asked feebly
+      if she knew the way downstairs.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She didn&rsquo;t; neither of us did, till at length we met Mrs. Smith coming to
+      look for her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      If I had been a burglar she could not have regarded me with graver
+      suspicions. But at any rate <i>she</i> knew the way downstairs. And there
+      to my joy I found my old friend Scroope and his wife, both of them grown
+      stout and elderly, but as jolly as ever, after which the Smith family
+      ceased to trouble me.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Also there was the rector of the parish, Dr. Jeffreys and an absurdly
+      young wife whom he had recently married, a fluffy-headed little thing with
+      round eyes and a cheerful, perky manner. The two of them together looked
+      exactly like a turkey-cock and a chicken. I remembered him well enough and
+      to my astonishment he remembered me, perhaps because Lady Ragnall, when
+      she had hastily invited him to meet the Smith family, mentioned that I was
+      coming. Lastly there was the curate, a dark, young man who seemed to be
+      always brooding over the secrets of time and eternity, though perhaps he
+      was only thinking about his dinner or the next day&rsquo;s services.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Well, there we stood in that well-remembered drawing-room in which first I
+      had made the acquaintance of Harût and Marût; also of the beautiful Miss
+      Holmes as Lady Ragnall was then called. The Scroopes, the Jeffreys and I
+      gathered in one group and the Atterby-Smiths in another like a force about
+      to attack, while between the two, brooding and indeterminate, stood the
+      curate, a neutral observer.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Presently Lady Ragnall arrived, apologizing for being late. For some
+      reason best known to herself she had chosen to dress as though for a great
+      party. I believe it was out of mischief and in order to show Mrs.
+      Atterby-Smith some of the diamonds she was firmly determined that family
+      should never inherit. At any rate there she stood glittering and lovely,
+      and smiled upon us.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then came dinner and once more I marched to the great hall in her company;
+      Dr. Jeffreys got Mrs. Smith; Papa Smith got Mrs. Jeffreys who looked like
+      a Grecian maiden walking into dinner with the Minotaur; Scroope got one of
+      the Miss Smiths, she who wore a pink bow, the gloomy curate got the other
+      with a blue bow, and Archibald got Mrs. Scroope who departed making faces
+      at us over his shoulder.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You look very grand and nice,&rdquo; I said to Lady Ragnall as we followed the
+      others at a discreet distance.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am glad,&rdquo; she answered, &ldquo;as to the nice, I mean. As for the grand, that
+      dreadful woman is always writing to me about the Ragnall diamonds, so I
+      thought that she should see some of them for the first and last time. Do
+      you know I haven&rsquo;t worn these things since George and I went to Court
+      together, and I daresay shall never wear them again, for there is only one
+      ornament I care for and I have got <i>that</i> on under my dress.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I stared and her and with a laugh said that she was very mischievous.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I suppose so,&rdquo; she replied, &ldquo;but I detest those people who are pompous
+      and rude and have spoiled my party. Do you know I had half a mind to come
+      down in the dress that I wore as Isis in Kendah Land. I have got it
+      upstairs and you shall see me in it before you go, for old time&rsquo;s sake.
+      Only it occurred to me that they might think me mad, so I didn&rsquo;t. Dr.
+      Jeffreys, will you say grace, please?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Well, it was a most agreeable dinner so far as I was concerned, for I sat
+      between my hostess and Mrs. Scroope and the rest were too far off for
+      conversation. Moreover as Archibald developed an unexpected quantity of
+      small talk, and Scroope on the other side amused himself by filling
+      pink-bow Miss Smith&rsquo;s innocent mind with preposterous stories about
+      Africa, as had happened to me once before at this table, Lady Ragnall and
+      I were practically left undisturbed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Isn&rsquo;t it strange that we should find ourselves sitting here again after
+      all these years, except that you are in my poor mother&rsquo;s place? Oh! when
+      that scientific gentleman convinced me the other day that you whom I had
+      heard were dead, were not only alive and well but actually in England,
+      really I could have embraced him.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I thought of an answer but did not make it, though as usual she read my
+      mind for I saw her smile.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The truth is,&rdquo; she went on, &ldquo;I am an only child and really have no
+      friends, though of course being&mdash;well, you know,&rdquo; and she glanced at
+      the jewels on her breast, &ldquo;I have plenty of acquaintances.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And suitors,&rdquo; I suggested.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; she replied blushing, &ldquo;as many as Penelope, not one of whom cares
+      twopence about me any more than I care for them. The truth is, Mr.
+      Quatermain, that nobody and nothing interest me, except a spot in the
+      churchyard yonder and another amid ruins in Egypt.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You have had sad bereavements,&rdquo; I said looking the other way.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Very sad and they have left life empty. Still I should not complain for I
+      have had my share of good. Also it isn&rsquo;t true to say that nothing
+      interests me. Egypt interests me, though after what has happened I do not
+      feel as though I could return there. All Africa interests me and,&rdquo; she
+      added dropping her voice, &ldquo;I can say it because I know you will not
+      misunderstand, you interest me, as you have always done since the first
+      moment I saw you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;<i>I!</i>&rdquo; I exclaimed, staring at my own reflection in a silver plate
+      which made me look&mdash;well, more unattractive than usual. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s very
+      kind of you to say so, but I can&rsquo;t understand why I should. You have seen
+      very little of me, Lady Ragnall, except in that long journey across the
+      desert when we did not talk much, since you were otherwise engaged.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I know. That&rsquo;s the odd part of it, for I feel as though I had seen you
+      for years and years and knew everything about you that one human being can
+      know of another. Of course, too, I do know a good lot of your life through
+      George and Harût.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Harût was a great liar,&rdquo; I said uneasily.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Was he? I always thought him painfully truthful, though how he got at the
+      truth I do not know. Anyhow,&rdquo; she added with meaning, &ldquo;don&rsquo;t suppose I
+      think the worse of you because others have thought so well. Women who seem
+      to be all different, generally, I notice, have this in common. If one or
+      two of them like a man, the rest like him also because something in him
+      appeals to the universal feminine instinct, and the same applies to their
+      dislike. Now men, I think, are different in that respect.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Perhaps because they are more catholic and charitable,&rdquo; I suggested, &ldquo;or
+      perhaps because they like those who like them.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She laughed in her charming way, and said,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;However these remarks do not apply to you and me, for as I think I told
+      you once before in that cedar wood in Kendah Land where you feared lest I
+      should catch a chill, or become&mdash;odd again, it is another you with
+      whom something in me seems to be so intimate.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That&rsquo;s fortunate for your sake,&rdquo; I muttered, still staring at and
+      pointing to the silver plate.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Again she laughed. &ldquo;Do you remember the <i>Taduki</i> herb?&rdquo; she asked. &ldquo;I
+      have plenty of it safe upstairs, and not long ago I took a whiff of it,
+      only a whiff because you know it had to be saved.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And what did you see?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Never mind. The question is what shall we <i>both</i> see?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Nothing,&rdquo; I said firmly. &ldquo;No earthly power will make me breathe that
+      unholy drug again.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Except me,&rdquo; she murmured with sweet decision. &ldquo;No, don&rsquo;t think about
+      leaving the house. You can&rsquo;t, there are no Sunday trains. Besides you
+      won&rsquo;t if I ask you not.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;&lsquo;In vain is the net spread in the sight of any bird,&rsquo;&rdquo; I replied, firm as
+      a mountain.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Is it? Then why are so many caught?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      At that moment the Bull of Bashan&mdash;I mean Smith, began to bellow
+      something at his hostess from the other end of the table and our
+      conversation came to an end.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I say, old chap,&rdquo; whispered Scroope in my ear when we stood up to see the
+      ladies out. &ldquo;I suppose you are thinking of marrying again. Well, you might
+      do worse,&rdquo; and he glanced at the glittering form of Lady Ragnall vanishing
+      through the doorway behind her guests.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Shut up, you idiot!&rdquo; I replied indignantly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why?&rdquo; he asked with innocence. &ldquo;Marriage is an honourable estate,
+      especially when there is lots of the latter. I remember saying something
+      of the sort to you years ago and at this table, when as it happened you
+      also took in her ladyship. Only there was George in the wind then; now it
+      has carried him away.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Without deigning any reply I seized my glass and went to sit down between
+      the canon and the Bull of Bashan.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0003" id="link2HCH0003">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER III. ALLAN GIVES HIS WORD
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      Mr. Atterby-Smith proved on acquaintance to be even worse than unfond
+      fancy painted him. He was a gentleman in a way and of good family whereof
+      the real name was Atterby, the Smith having been added to secure a
+      moderate fortune left to him on that condition. His connection with Lord
+      Ragnall was not close and through the mother&rsquo;s side. For the rest he lived
+      in some south-coast watering-place and fancied himself a sportsman because
+      he had on various occasions hired a Scottish moor or deer forest.
+      Evidently he had never done anything nor earned a shilling during all his
+      life and was bringing his family up to follow in his useless footsteps.
+      The chief note of his character was that intolerable vanity which so often
+      marks men who have nothing whatsoever about which to be vain. Also he had
+      a great idea of his rights and what was due to him, which he appeared to
+      consider included, upon what ground I could not in the least understand,
+      the reversal of all the Ragnall properties and wealth. I do not think I
+      need say any more about him, except that he bored me to extinction,
+      especially after his fourth glass of port.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Perhaps, however, the son was worse, for he asked questions without number
+      and when at last I was reduced to silence, lectured me about shooting.
+      Yes, this callow youth who was at Sandhurst, instructed me, Allan
+      Quatermain, how to kill elephants, he who had never seen an elephant
+      except when he fed it with buns at the Zoo. At last Mr. Smith, who to
+      Scroope&rsquo;s great amusement had taken the end of the table and assumed the
+      position of host, gave the signal to move and we adjourned to the
+      drawing-room.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I don&rsquo;t know what had happened but there we found the atmosphere
+      distinctly stormy. The ample Mrs. Smith sat in a chair fanning herself,
+      which caused the barbaric ornaments she wore to clank upon her fat arm.
+      Upon either side of her, pale and indeterminate, stood Polly and Dolly
+      each pretending to read a book. Somehow the three of them reminded me of a
+      coat-of-arms seen in a nightmare, British Matron <i>sejant</i> with
+      Modesty and Virtue as supporters. Opposite, on the other side of the fire
+      and evidently very angry, stood Lady Ragnall, <i>regardant</i>.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do I understand you to say, Luna,&rdquo; I heard Mrs. A.-S. ask in resonant
+      tones as I entered the room, &ldquo;that you actually played the part of a
+      heathen goddess among these savages, clad in a transparent bed-robe?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, Mrs. Atterby-Smith,&rdquo; replied Lady Ragnall, &ldquo;and a nightcap of
+      feathers. I will put it on for you if you won&rsquo;t be shocked. Or perhaps one
+      of your daughters&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh!&rdquo; said both the young ladies together, &ldquo;please be quiet. Here come the
+      gentlemen.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      After this there was a heavy silence broken only by the stifled giggles in
+      the background of Mrs. Scroope and the canon&rsquo;s fluffy-headed wife, who to
+      do her justice had some fun in her. Thank goodness the evening, or rather
+      that part of it did not last long, since presently Mrs. Atterby-Smith,
+      after studying me for a long while with a cold eye, rose majestically and
+      swept off to bed followed by her offspring.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Afterwards I ascertained from Mrs. Scroope that Lady Ragnall had been
+      amusing herself by taking away my character in every possible manner for
+      the benefit of her connections, who were left with a general impression
+      that I was the chief of a native tribe somewhere in Central Africa where I
+      dwelt in light attire surrounded by the usual accessories. No wonder,
+      therefore, that Mrs. A.-S. thought it best to remove her &ldquo;Twin Pets,&rdquo; as
+      she called them, out of my ravening reach.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then the Scroopes went away, having arranged for me to lunch with them on
+      the morrow, an invitation that I hastily accepted, though I heard Lady
+      Ragnall mutter&mdash;&ldquo;Mean!&rdquo; beneath her breath. With them departed the
+      canon and his wife and the curate, being, as they said, &ldquo;early birds with
+      duties to perform.&rdquo; After this Lady Ragnall paid me out by going to bed,
+      having instructed Moxley to show us to the smoking room, &ldquo;where,&rdquo; she
+      whispered as she said good night, &ldquo;I hope you will enjoy yourself.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Over the rest of the night I draw a veil. For a solid hour and
+      three-quarters did I sit in that room between this dreadful pair, being
+      alternately questioned and lectured. At length I could stand it no longer
+      and while pretending to help myself to whiskey and soda, slipped through
+      the door and fled upstairs.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I arrived late to breakfast purposely and found that I was wise, for Lady
+      Ragnall was absent upstairs, recovering from &ldquo;a headache.&rdquo; Mr. A.-Smith
+      was also suffering from a headache downstairs, the result of champagne,
+      port and whisky mixed, and all his family seemed to have pains in their
+      tempers. Having ascertained that they were going to the church in the
+      park, I departed to one two miles away and thence walked straight on to
+      the Scroopes&rsquo; where I had a very pleasant time, remaining till five in the
+      afternoon. I returned to tea at the Castle where I found Lady Ragnall so
+      cross that I went to church again, to the six o&rsquo;clock service this time,
+      only getting back in time to dress for dinner. Here I was paid out for I
+      had to take in Mrs. Atterby-Smith. Oh! what a meal was that. We sat for
+      the most part in solemn silence broken only by requests to pass the salt.
+      I observed with satisfaction, however, that things were growing lively at
+      the other end of the table where A.-Smith <i>père</i> was drinking a good
+      deal too much wine. At last I heard him say,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We had hoped to spend a few days with you, my dear Luna. But as you tell
+      us that your engagements make this impossible&rdquo;&mdash;and he paused to
+      drink some port, whereon Lady Ragnall remarked inconsequently,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I assure you the ten o&rsquo;clock train is far the best and I have ordered the
+      carriage at half-past nine, which is not very early.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;As your engagements make this impossible,&rdquo; he repeated, &ldquo;we would ask for
+      the opportunity of a little family conclave with you to-night.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Here all of them turned and glowered at me.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Certainly,&rdquo; said Lady Ragnall, &ldquo;&lsquo;the sooner &lsquo;tis over the sooner to
+      sleep.&rsquo; Mr. Quatermain, I am sure, will excuse us, will you not? I have
+      had the museum lit up for you, Mr. Quatermain. You may find some Egyptian
+      things there that will interest you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, with pleasure!&rdquo; I murmured, and fled away.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I spent a very instructive two hours in the museum, studying various
+      Egyptian antiquities including a couple of mummies which rather terrified
+      me. They looked so very corpse-like standing there in their wrappings. One
+      was that of a lady who was a &ldquo;Singer of Amen,&rdquo; I remember. I wondered
+      where she was singing now and what song. Presently I came to a glass case
+      which riveted my attention, for above it was a label bearing the following
+      words: &ldquo;Two Papyri given to Lady Ragnall by the priests of the Kendah
+      Tribe in Africa.&rdquo; Within were the papyri unrolled and beneath each of the
+      documents, its translation, so far as they could be translated for they
+      were somewhat broken. No. 1, which was dated, &ldquo;In the first year of
+      Peroa,&rdquo; appeared to be the official appointment of the Royal Lady Amada,
+      to be the prophetess to the temple of Isis and Horus the Child, which was
+      also called Amada, and situated on the east bank of the Nile above Thebes.
+      Evidently this was the same temple of which Lady Ragnall had written to me
+      in her letter, where her husband had met his death by accident, a
+      coincidence which made me start when I remembered how and where the
+      document had come into her hands and what kind of office she filled at the
+      time.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The second papyrus, or rather its translation, contained a most
+      comprehensive curse upon any man who ventured to interfere with the
+      personal sanctity of this same Royal Lady of Amada, who, apparently in
+      virtue of her office, was doomed to perpetual celibacy like the vestal
+      virgins. I do not remember all the terms of the curse, but I know that it
+      invoked the vengeance of Isis the Mother, Lady of the Moon, and Horus the
+      Child upon anyone who should dare such a desecration, and in so many words
+      doomed him to death by violence &ldquo;far from his own country where first he
+      had looked on Ra,&rdquo; (i.e. the sun) and also to certain spiritual sufferings
+      afterwards.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The document gave me the idea that it was composed in troubled days to
+      protect that particularly sacred person, the Prophetess of Isis whose
+      cult, as I have since learned, was rising in Egypt at the time, from
+      threatened danger, perhaps at the hands of some foreign man. It occurred
+      to me even that this Princess, for evidently she was a descendant of
+      kings, had been appointed to a most sacred office for that very purpose.
+      Men who shrink from little will often fear to incur the direct curse of
+      widely venerated gods in order to obtain their desires, even if they be
+      not their own gods. Such were my conclusions about this curious and
+      ancient writing which I regret I cannot give in full as I neglected to
+      copy it at the time.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I may add that it seemed extremely strange to me that it and the other
+      which dealt with a particular temple in Egypt should have passed into Lady
+      Ragnall&rsquo;s hands over two thousand years later in a distant part of Africa,
+      and that subsequently her husband should have been killed in her presence
+      whilst excavating the very temple to which they referred, whence too in
+      all probability they were taken. Moreover, oddly enough Lady Ragnall had
+      herself for a while filled the rôle of Isis in a shrine whereof these two
+      papyri had been part of the sacred appurtenances for unknown ages, and one
+      of her official titles there was Prophetess and Lady of the Moon, whose
+      symbol she wore upon her breast.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Although I have always recognized that there are a great many more things
+      in the world than are dreamt of in our philosophy, I say with truth and
+      confidence that I am not a superstitious man. Yet I confess that these
+      papers and the circumstances connected with them, made me feel afraid.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Also they made me wish that I had not come to Ragnall Castle.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Well, the Atterby-Smiths had so far effectually put a stop to any talk of
+      such matters and even if Lady Ragnall should succeed in getting rid of
+      them by that morning train, as to which I was doubtful, there remained but
+      a single day of my visit during which it ought not to be hard to stave off
+      the subject. Thus I reflected, standing face to face with those mummies,
+      till presently I observed that the Singer of Amen who wore a staring, gold
+      mask, seemed to be watching me with her oblong painted eyes. To my fancy a
+      sardonic smile gathered in them and spread to the mouth.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That&rsquo;s what <i>you</i> think,&rdquo; this smile seemed to say, &ldquo;as once before
+      you thought that Fate could be escaped. Wait and see, my friend. Wait and
+      see!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not in this room any way,&rdquo; I remarked aloud, and departed in a hurry down
+      the passage which led to the main staircase.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Before I reached its end a remarkable sight caused me to halt in the
+      shadow. The Atterby-Smith family were going to bed <i>en bloc</i>. They
+      marched in single file up the great stair, each of them carrying a hand
+      candle. Papa led and young Hopeful brought up the rear. Their countenances
+      were full of war, even the twins looked like angry lambs, but something
+      written on them informed me that they had suffered defeat recent and
+      grievous. So they vanished up the stairway and out of my ken for ever.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When they had gone I started again and ran straight into Lady Ragnall. If
+      her guests had been angry, it was clear that <i>she</i> was furious,
+      almost weeping with rage, indeed. Moreover, she turned and rent me.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You are a wretch,&rdquo; she said, &ldquo;to run away and leave me all day long with
+      those horrible people. Well, they will never come here again, for I have
+      told them that if they do the servants have orders to shut the door in
+      their faces.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Not knowing what to say I remarked that I had spent a most instructive
+      evening in the museum, which seemed to make her angrier than ever. At any
+      rate she whisked off without even saying &ldquo;good night&rdquo; and left me standing
+      there. Afterwards I learned that the A.-S.&lsquo;s had calmly informed Lady
+      Ragnall that she had stolen their property and demanded that &ldquo;as an act of
+      justice&rdquo; she should make a will leaving everything she possessed to them,
+      and meanwhile furnish them with an allowance of £4,000 a year. What I did
+      not learn were the exact terms of her answer.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Next morning Alfred, when he called me, brought me a note from his
+      mistress which I fully expected would contain a request that I should
+      depart by the same train as her other guests. Its real contents, however,
+      were very different.
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+ &ldquo;My dear Friend,&rdquo; it ran, &ldquo;I am so ashamed of myself and so sorry
+  for my rudeness last night, for which I deeply apologise. If you
+  knew all that I had gone through at the hands of those dreadful
+  mendicants, you would forgive me.&mdash;L.R.&rdquo;
+ 
+ &ldquo;P.S.&mdash;I have ordered breakfast at 10. Don&rsquo;t go down much before,
+  for your own sake.&rdquo;
+ </pre>
+    <p>
+      Somewhat relieved in my mind, for I thought she was really angry with me,
+      not altogether without cause, I rose, dressed and set to work to write
+      some letters. While I was doing so I heard the wheels of a carriage
+      beneath and opening my window, saw the Atterby-Smith family in the act of
+      departing in the Castle bus. Smith himself seemed to be still enraged, but
+      the others looked depressed. Indeed I heard the wife of his bosom say to
+      him,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Calm yourself, my dear. Remember that Providence knows what is best for
+      us and that beggars on horseback are always unjust and ungrateful.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      To which her spouse replied,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Hold your infernal tongue, will you,&rdquo; and then began to rate the servants
+      about the luggage.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Well, off they went. Glaring through the door of the bus, Mr. Smith caught
+      sight of me leaning out of the window, seeing which I waved my hand to him
+      in adieu. His only reply to this courtesy was to shake his fist, though
+      whether at me or at the Castle and its inhabitants in general, I neither
+      know nor care.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When I was quite sure that they had gone and were not coming back again to
+      find something they had forgotten, I went downstairs and surprised a
+      conclave between the butler, Moxley, and his satellites, reinforced by
+      Lady Ragnall&rsquo;s maid and two other female servants.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Gratuities!&rdquo; Moxley was exclaiming, which I thought a fine word for tips,
+      &ldquo;not a smell of them! His gratuities were&mdash;&lsquo;Damn your eyes, you fat
+      bottle-washer,&rsquo; being his name for butler. <i>My</i> eyes, mind you, Ann,
+      not Alfred&rsquo;s or William&rsquo;s, and that because he had tumbled over his own
+      rugs. Gentleman! Why, I name him a hog with his litter.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Hogs don&rsquo;t have litters, Mr. Moxley,&rdquo; observed Ann smartly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, young woman, if there weren&rsquo;t no hogs, there&rsquo;d be no litters, so
+      there! However, he won&rsquo;t root about in this castle no more, for I happened
+      to catch a word or two of what passed between him and her Ladyship last
+      night. He said straight out that she was making love to that little Mr.
+      Quatermain who wanted her money, and probably not for the first time as
+      they had forgathered in Africa. A gentleman, mind you, Ann, who although
+      peculiar, I like, and who, the keeper Charles tells me, is the best shot
+      in the whole world.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And what did she say to that?&rdquo; asked Ann.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What did she say? What didn&rsquo;t she say, that&rsquo;s the question. It was just
+      as though all the furniture in the room got up and went for them Smiths.
+      Well, having heard enough, and more than I wanted, I stepped off with the
+      tray and next minute out they all come and grab the bedroom candlesticks.
+      That&rsquo;s all and there&rsquo;s her Ladyship&rsquo;s bell. Alfred, don&rsquo;t stand gaping
+      there but go and light the hot-plates.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      So they melted away and I descended from the landing, indignant but
+      laughing. No wonder that Lady Ragnall lost her temper!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Ten minutes later she arrived in the dining-room, waving a lighted ribbon
+      that disseminated perfume.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What on earth are you doing?&rdquo; I asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Fumigating the house,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;It is unnecessary as I don&rsquo;t think they
+      were infectious, but the ceremony has a moral significance&mdash;like
+      incense. Anyway it relieves my feelings.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Then she laughed and threw the remains of the ribbon into the fire,
+      adding,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If you say a word about those people I&rsquo;ll leave the room.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I think we had one of the jolliest breakfasts I ever remember. To begin
+      with we were both hungry since our miseries of the night before had
+      prevented us from eating any dinner. Indeed she swore that she had
+      scarcely tasted food since Saturday. Then we had such a lot to talk about.
+      With short intervals we talked all that day, either in the house or while
+      walking through the gardens and grounds. Passing through the latter I came
+      to the spot on the back drive where once I had saved her from being
+      abducted by Harût and Marût, and as I recognized it, uttered an
+      exclamation. She asked me why and the end of it was that I told her all
+      that story which to this moment she had never heard, for Ragnall had
+      thought well to keep it from her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She listened intently, then said,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;So I owe you more than I knew. Yet, I&rsquo;m not sure, for you see I was
+      abducted after all. Also if I had been taken there, probably George would
+      never have married me or seen me again, and that might have been better
+      for him.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why?&rdquo; I asked. &ldquo;You were all the world to him.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Is any woman ever all the world to a man, Mr. Quatermain?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I hesitated, expecting some attack.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Don&rsquo;t answer,&rdquo; she went on, &ldquo;it would be too long and you wouldn&rsquo;t
+      convince me who have been in the East. However, he was all the world to
+      me. Therefore his welfare was what I wished and wish, and I think he would
+      have had more of it if he had never married me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why?&rdquo; I asked again.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Because I brought him no good luck, did I? I needn&rsquo;t go through all the
+      story as you know it. And in the end it was through me that he was killed
+      in Egypt.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Or through the goddess Isis,&rdquo; I broke in rather nervously.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, the goddess Isis, a part I have played in my time, or something like
+      it. And he was killed in the temple of the goddess Isis. And those papyri
+      of which you read the translations in the museum, which were given to me
+      in Kendah Land, seem to have come from that same temple. And&mdash;how
+      about the Ivory Child? Isis in the temple evidently held a child in her
+      arms, but when we found her it had gone. Supposing this child was the same
+      as that of which I was guardian! It might have been, since the papyri came
+      from that temple. What do you think?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think anything,&rdquo; I answered, &ldquo;except that it is all very odd. I
+      don&rsquo;t even understand what Isis and the child Horus represent. They were
+      not mere images either in Egypt or Kendah Land. There must be an idea
+      behind them somewhere.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh! there was. Isis was the universal Mother, Nature herself with all the
+      powers, seen and unseen, that are hidden in Nature; Love personified also,
+      although not actually the queen of Love like Hathor, her sister goddess.
+      The Horus child, whom the old Egyptians called Heru-Hennu, signified
+      eternal regeneration, eternal youth, eternal strength and beauty. Also he
+      was the Avenger who overthrew Set, the Prince of Darkness, and thus in a
+      way opened the Door of Life to men.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It seems to me that all religions have much in common,&rdquo; I said.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, a great deal. It was easy for the old Egyptians to become Christian,
+      since for many of them it only meant worshipping Isis and Horus under new
+      and holier names. But come in, it grows cold.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      We had tea in Lady Ragnall&rsquo;s boudoir and after it had been taken away our
+      conversation died. She sat there on the other side of the fire with a
+      cigarette between her lips, looking at me through the perfumed smoke till
+      I began to grow uncomfortable and to feel that a crisis of some sort was
+      at hand. This proved perfectly correct, for it was. Presently she said,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We took a long journey once together, Mr. Quatermain, did we not?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Undoubtedly,&rdquo; I answered, and began to talk of it until she cut me short
+      with a wave of her hand, and went on,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, we are going to take a longer one together after dinner to-night.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What! Where! How!&rdquo; I exclaimed much alarmed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know where, but as for how&mdash;look in that box,&rdquo; and she
+      pointed to a little carved Eastern chest made of rose or sandal wood, that
+      stood upon a table between us.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      With a groan I rose and opened it. Inside was another box made of silver.
+      This I opened also and perceived that within lay bundles of dried leaves
+      that looked like tobacco, from which floated an enervating and
+      well-remembered scent that clouded my brain for a moment. Then I shut down
+      the lids and returned to my seat.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;<i>Taduki</i>,&rdquo; I murmured.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, <i>Taduki</i>, and I believe in perfect order with all its virtue
+      intact.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Virtue!&rdquo; I exclaimed. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think there is any virtue about that
+      hateful and magical herb which I believe grew in the devil&rsquo;s garden.
+      Moreover, Lady Ragnall, although there are few things in the world that I
+      would refuse you, I tell you at once that nothing will induce me to have
+      anything more to do with it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She laughed softly and asked why not.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Because I find life so full of perplexities and memories that I have no
+      wish to make acquaintance with any more, such as I am sure lie hid by the
+      thousand in that box.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If so, don&rsquo;t you think that they might clear up some of those which
+      surround you to-day?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, for in such things there is no finality, since whatever one saw would
+      also require explanation.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Don&rsquo;t let us argue,&rdquo; she replied. &ldquo;It is tiring and I daresay we shall
+      need all our strength to-night.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I looked at her speechless. Why could she not take No for an answer? As
+      usual she read my thought and replied to it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why did not Adam refuse the apple that Eve offered him?&rdquo; she inquired
+      musingly. &ldquo;Or rather why did he eat it after many refusals and learn the
+      secret of good and evil, to the great gain of the world which
+      thenceforward became acquainted with the dignity of labour?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Because the woman tempted him,&rdquo; I snapped.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Quite so. It has always been her business in life and always will be.
+      Well, I am tempting you now, and not in vain.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do you remember who was tempting the woman?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Certainly. Also that he was a good school-master since he caused the
+      thirst for knowledge to overcome fear and thus laid the foundation-stone
+      of all human progress. That allegory may be read two ways, as one of a
+      rise from ignorance instead of a fall from innocence.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You are too clever for me with your perverted notions. Also, you said we
+      were not to argue. I have therefore only to repeat that I will not eat
+      your apple, or rather, breathe your <i>Taduki</i>.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Adam over again,&rdquo; she replied, shaking her head. &ldquo;The same old beginning
+      and the same old end, because you see at last you will do exactly what
+      Adam did.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Here she rose and standing over me, looked me straight in the eyes with
+      the curious result that all my will power seemed to evaporate. Then she
+      sat down again, laughing softly, and remarked as though to herself,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Who would have thought that Allan Quatermain was a moral coward!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Coward,&rdquo; I repeated. &ldquo;Coward!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, that&rsquo;s the right word. At least you were a minute ago. Now courage
+      has come back to you. Why, it&rsquo;s almost time to dress for dinner, but
+      before you go, listen. I have some power over you, my friend, as you have
+      some power over me, for I tell you frankly if you wished me very much to
+      do anything, I should have to do it; and the same applies conversely. Now,
+      to-night we are, as I believe, going to open a great gate and to see
+      wonderful things, glorious things that will thrill us for the rest of our
+      lives, and perhaps suggest to us what is coming after death. You will not
+      fail me, will you?&rdquo; she continued in a pleading voice. &ldquo;If you do I must
+      try alone since no one else will serve, and then I <i>know</i>&mdash;how I
+      cannot say&mdash;that I shall be exposed to great danger. Yes, I think
+      that I shall lose my mind once more and never find it again this side the
+      grave. You would not have that happen to me, would you, just because you
+      shrink from digging up old memories?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Of course not,&rdquo; I stammered. &ldquo;I should never forgive myself.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, of course not. There was really no need for me to ask you. Then you
+      promise you will do all I wish?&rdquo; and once more she looked at me, adding,
+      &ldquo;Don&rsquo;t be ashamed, for you remember that I have been in touch with hidden
+      things and am not quite as other women are. You will recollect I told you
+      that which I have never breathed to any other living soul, years ago on
+      that night when first we met.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I promise,&rdquo; I answered and was about to add something, I forget what,
+      when she cut me short, saying,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That&rsquo;s enough, for I know your word is rather better than your bond. Now
+      dress as quickly as you can or the dinner will be spoiled.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0004" id="link2HCH0004">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER IV. THROUGH THE GATES
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      Short as was the time at my disposal before the dinner-gong sounded, it
+      proved ample for reflection. With every article of attire that I discarded
+      went some of that boudoir glamour till its last traces vanished with my
+      walking-boots. I was fallen indeed. I who had come to this place so full
+      of virtuous resolutions, could now only reflect upon the true and
+      universal meaning of our daily prayer that we might be kept from
+      temptation. And yet what had tempted me? For my life&rsquo;s sake I could not
+      say. The desire to please a most charming woman and to keep her from
+      making solitary experiments of a dangerous nature, I suppose, though
+      whether they should be less dangerous carried out jointly remained to be
+      seen. Certainly it was not any wish to eat of her proffered apple of
+      Knowledge, for already I knew a great deal more than I cared for about
+      things in general. Oh! the truth was that woman is the mightiest force in
+      the world, at any rate where the majority of us poor men is concerned. She
+      commanded and I must obey.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I grew desperate and wondered if I could escape. Perhaps I might slip out
+      of the back door and run for it, without my great coat or hat although the
+      night was so cold and I should probably be taken up as a lunatic. No, it
+      was impossible for I had forged a chain that might not be broken. I had
+      passed my word of honour. Well, I was in for it and after all what was
+      there of which I need be afraid that I should tremble and shrink back as
+      though I were about to run away with somebody&rsquo;s wife, or rather to be run
+      away with quite contrary to my own inclination? Nothing at all. A mere
+      nonsensical ordeal much less serious than a visit to the dentist.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Probably that stuff had lost its strength by now&mdash;that is, unless it
+      had grown more powerful by keeping, as is the case with certain sorts of
+      explosives. And if it had not, the worst to be expected was a silly dream,
+      followed perhaps by headache. That is, unless I did not chance to wake up
+      again at all in this world, which was a most unpleasant possibility.
+      Another thing, suppose I woke and she didn&rsquo;t! What should I say then? Of a
+      certainty I should find myself in the dock. Yes, and there were further
+      dreadful eventualities, quite conceivable, every one of them, the very
+      thought of which plunged me into a cold perspiration and made me feel so
+      weak that I was obliged to sit down.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then I heard the gong; to me it sounded like the execution bell to a
+      prisoner under sentence of death. I crept downstairs feebly and found Lady
+      Ragnall waiting for me in the drawing-room, clothed with gaiety as with a
+      garment. I remember that it made me most indignant that she could be so
+      happy in such circumstances, but I said nothing. She looked me up and down
+      and remarked,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Really from your appearance you might have seen the Ragnall ghost, or be
+      going to be married against your will, or&mdash;I don&rsquo;t know what. Also
+      you have forgotten to fasten your tie.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I looked in the glass. It was true, for there hung the ends down my shirt
+      front. Then I struggled with the wretched thing until at last she had to
+      help me, which she did laughing softly. Somehow her touch gave me
+      confidence again and enabled me to say quite boldly that I only wanted my
+      dinner.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; she replied, &ldquo;but you are not to eat much and you must only drink
+      water. The priestesses in Kendah Land told me that this was necessary
+      before taking <i>Taduki</i> in its strongest form, as we are going to do
+      to-night. You know the prophet Harût only gave us the merest whiff in this
+      room years ago.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I groaned and she laughed again.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      That dinner with nothing to drink, although to avoid suspicion I let
+      Moxley fill my glass once or twice, and little to eat for my appetite had
+      vanished, went by like a bad dream. I recall no more about it until I
+      heard Lady Ragnall tell Moxley to see that there was a good fire in the
+      museum where we were going to study that night and must not be disturbed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Another minute and I was automatically opening the door for her. As she
+      passed she paused to do something to her dress and whispered,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Come in a quarter of an hour. Mind&mdash;no port which clouds the
+      intellect.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have none left to cloud,&rdquo; I remarked after her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then I went back and sat by the fire feeling most miserable and staring at
+      the decanters, for never in my life do I remember wanting a bottle of wine
+      more. The big clock ticked and ticked and at last chimed the quarter,
+      jarring on my nerves in that great lonely banqueting hall. Then I rose and
+      crept upstairs like an evil-doer and it seemed to me that the servants in
+      the hall looked on me with suspicion, as well they might.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I reached the museum and found it brilliantly lit, but empty except for
+      the cheerful company of the two mummies who also appeared to regard me
+      with gleaming but doubtful eyes. So I sat down there in front of the fire,
+      not even daring to smoke lest tobacco should complicate <i>Taduki</i>.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Presently I heard a low sound of laughter, looked up and nearly fell
+      backwards, that is, metaphorically, for the chair prevented such a
+      physical collapse.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was not wonderful since before me, like a bride of ancient days adorned
+      for her husband, stood the goddess Isis&mdash;white robes, feathered
+      headdress, ancient bracelets, gold-studded sandals on bare feet, scented
+      hair, ruby necklace and all the rest. I stared, then there burst from me
+      words which were the last I meant to say,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Great Heavens! how beautiful you are.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Am I?&rdquo; she asked. &ldquo;I am glad,&rdquo; and she glided across the room and locked
+      the door.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Now,&rdquo; she said, returning, &ldquo;we had better get to business, that is unless
+      you would like to worship the goddess Isis a little first, to bring
+      yourself into a proper frame of mind, you know.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No,&rdquo; I replied, my dignity returning to me. &ldquo;I do not wish to worship any
+      goddess, especially when she isn&rsquo;t a goddess. It was not a part of the
+      bargain.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Quite so,&rdquo; she said, nodding, &ldquo;but who knows what you will be worshipping
+      before an hour is over? Oh! forgive me for laughing at you, but I can&rsquo;t
+      help it. You are so evidently frightened.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Who wouldn&rsquo;t be frightened?&rdquo; I answered, looking with gloomy apprehension
+      at the sandal-wood box which had appeared upon a case full of scarabs.
+      &ldquo;Look here, Lady Ragnall,&rdquo; I added, &ldquo;why can&rsquo;t you leave all this unholy
+      business alone and let us spend a pleasant evening talking, now that those
+      Smith people have gone? I have lots of stories about my African adventures
+      which would interest you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Because I want to hear my own African adventures, and perhaps yours too,
+      which I am sure will interest me a great deal more,&rdquo; she exclaimed
+      earnestly. &ldquo;You think it is all foolishness, but it is not. Those Kendah
+      priestesses told me much when I seemed to be out of my mind. For a long
+      time I did not remember what they said, but of late years, especially
+      since George and I began to excavate that temple, plenty has come back to
+      me bit by bit, fragments, you know, that make me desire to learn the rest
+      as I never desired anything else on earth. And the worst of it has always
+      been that from the beginning I have known&mdash;and know&mdash;that this
+      can only happen with you and through you, why I cannot say, or have
+      forgotten. That&rsquo;s what sent me nearly wild with joy when I heard that you
+      were not only alive, but in this country. You won&rsquo;t disappoint me, will
+      you? There is nothing I can offer you which would have any value for you,
+      so I can only beg you not to disappoint me&mdash;well, because I am your
+      friend.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I turned away my head, hesitating, and when I looked up again I saw that
+      her beautiful eyes were full of tears. Naturally that settled the matter,
+      so I only said,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Let us get on with the affair. What am I to do? Stop a bit. I may as well
+      provide against eventualities,&rdquo; and going to a table I took a sheet of
+      notepaper and wrote:
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+ &ldquo;Lady Ragnall and I, Allan Quatermain, are about to make an
+  experiment with an herb which we discovered some years ago in
+  Africa. If by any chance this should result in accident to either
+  or both of us, the Coroner is requested to understand that it is
+  not a case of murder or of suicide, but merely of unfortunate
+  scientific research.&rdquo;
+ </pre>
+    <p>
+      This I dated, adding the hour, 9.47 P.M., and signed, requesting her to do
+      the same.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She obeyed with a smile, saying it was strange that one who had lived a
+      life of such constant danger as myself, should be so afraid to die.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Look here, young lady,&rdquo; I replied with irritation, &ldquo;doesn&rsquo;t it occur to
+      you that <i>I</i> may be afraid lest <i>you</i> should die&mdash;and <i>I</i>
+      be hanged for it,&rdquo; I added by an afterthought.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh! I see,&rdquo; she answered, &ldquo;that is really very nice of you. But, of
+      course, you would think like that; it is your nature.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; I replied. &ldquo;Nature, not merit.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She went to a cupboard which formed the bottom of one of the mahogany
+      museum cases, and extracted from it first of all a bowl of ancient
+      appearance made of some black stone with projecting knobs for handles that
+      were carved with the heads of women wearing ceremonial wigs; and next a
+      low tripod of ebony or some other black wood. I looked at these articles
+      and recognized them. They had stood in front of the sanctuary in the
+      temple in Kendah Land, and over them I had once seen this very woman
+      dressed as she was to-night, bend her head in the magic smoke before she
+      had uttered the prophecy of the passing of the Kendah god.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;So you brought these away too,&rdquo; I said.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; she replied with solemnity, &ldquo;that they might be ready at the
+      appointed hour when we needed them.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Then she spoke no more for a while, but busied herself with certain rather
+      eerie preparations. First she set the tripod and its bowl in an open space
+      which I was glad to note was at some distance from the fire, since if
+      either of us fell into that who would there be to take us off before
+      cremation ensued? Then she drew up a curved settee with a back and arms, a
+      comfortable-looking article having a seat that sloped backwards like those
+      in clubs, and motioned to me to sit down. This I did with much the same
+      sensations that are evoked by taking one&rsquo;s place upon an operation-table.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Next she brought that accursed <i>Taduki</i> box, I mean the inner silver
+      one, the contents of which I heartily wished I had thrown upon the fire,
+      and set it down, open, near the tripod. Lastly she lifted some glowing
+      embers of wood from the grate with tongs, and dropped them into the stone
+      bowl.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I think that&rsquo;s all. Now for the great adventure,&rdquo; she said in a voice
+      that was at once rapt and dreamy.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What am I to do?&rdquo; I asked feebly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That is quite simple,&rdquo; she replied, as she sat herself down beside me
+      well within reach of the <i>Taduki</i> box, the brazier being between us
+      with its tripod stand pressed against the edge of the couch, and in its
+      curve, so that we were really upon each side of it. &ldquo;When the smoke begins
+      to rise thickly you have only to bend your head a little forward, with
+      your shoulders still resting against the settee, and inhale until you find
+      your senses leaving you, though I don&rsquo;t know that this is necessary for
+      the stuff is subtle. Then throw your head back, go to sleep and dream.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What am I to dream about?&rdquo; I inquired in a vacuous way, for my senses
+      were leaving me already.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You will dream, I think, of past events in which both of us played a
+      part, at least I hope so. I dreamt of them before in Kendah Land, but then
+      I was not myself, and for the most part they are forgotten. Moreover, I
+      learned that we can only see them all when we are together. Now speak no
+      more.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      This command, by the way, at once produced in me an intense desire for
+      prolonged conversation. It was not to be gratified, however, for at that
+      moment she stood up again facing the tripod and me, and began to sing in a
+      rich and thrilling voice. What she sang I do not know for I could not
+      understand the language, but I presume it was some ancient chant that she
+      learned in Kendah Land. At any rate, there she stood, a lovely and
+      inspired priestess clad in her sacerdotal robes, and sang, waving her arms
+      and fixing her eyes upon mine. Presently she bent down, took a little of
+      the <i>Taduki</i> weed and with words of incantation, dropped it upon the
+      embers in the bowl. Twice she did this, then sat herself upon the couch
+      and waited.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A clear flame sprang up and burned for thirty seconds or so, I suppose
+      while it consumed the volatile oils in the weed. Then it died down and
+      smoke began to come, white, rich and billowy, with a very pleasant odour
+      resembling that of hot-house flowers. It spread out between us like a fan,
+      and though its veil I heard her say,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The gates are wide. Enter!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I knew what she meant well enough, and though for a moment I thought of
+      cheating, there is no other word for it, knew also that she had detected
+      the thought and was scorning me in her mind. At any rate I felt that I
+      must obey and thrust my head forward into the smoke, as a green ham is
+      thrust into a chimney. The warm vapour struck against my face like fog, or
+      rather steam, but without causing me to choke or my eyes to smart. I drew
+      it down my throat with a deep inhalation&mdash;once, twice, thrice, then
+      as my brain began to swim, threw myself back as I had been instructed to
+      do. A deep and happy drowsiness stole over me, and the last thing I
+      remember was hearing the clock strike the first two strokes of the hour of
+      ten. The third stroke I heard also, but it sounded like to that of the
+      richest-throated bell that ever boomed in all the world. I remember
+      becoming aware that it was the signal for the rolling up of some vast
+      proscenium, revealing behind it a stage that was the world&mdash;nothing
+      less.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      What did I see? What did I see? Let me try to recall and record.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      First of all something chaotic. Great rushes of vapour driven by mighty
+      winds; great seas, for the most part calm. Then upheavals and volcanoes
+      spouting fire. Then tropic scenes of infinite luxuriance. Terrific
+      reptiles feeding on the brinks of marshes, and huge elephant-like animals
+      moving between palms beyond. Then, in a glade, rough huts and about them a
+      jabbering crowd of creatures that were only half human, for sometimes they
+      stood upright and sometimes ran on their hands and feet. Also they were
+      almost covered with hair which was all they had in the way of clothes, and
+      at the moment that I met them, were terribly frightened by the appearance
+      of a huge mammoth, if that is the right name for it, which walked into the
+      glade and looked at us. At any rate it was a beast of the elephant tribe
+      which I judged to be nearly twenty feet high, with enormous curving tusks.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The point of the vision was that I recognized myself among those hairy
+      jabberers, not by anything outward and visible, but by something inward
+      and spiritual. Moreover, I was being urged by a female of the race, I can
+      scarcely call her a woman, to justify my existence by tackling the mammoth
+      in her particular interest, or to give her up to someone who would. In the
+      end I tackled it, rushing forward with a weapon, I think it was a sharp
+      stone tied to a stick, though how I could expect to hurt a beast twenty
+      feet high with such a thing is more than I can understand, unless perhaps
+      the stone was poisoned.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At any rate the end was sudden. I threw the stone, whereat a great trunk
+      shot out from between the tusks and caught me. Round and round I went in
+      the air, reflecting as I did so, for I suppose at the time my normal
+      consciousness had not quite left me, that this was my first encounter with
+      the elephant Jana, also that it was very foolish to try to oblige a female
+      regardless of personal risk....
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      All became dark, as no doubt it would have done, but presently, that is
+      after a lapse of a great many thousands of years, or so it appeared to me,
+      light grew again. This time I was a black man living in something not
+      unlike a Kaffir kraal on the top of a hill.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      There was shouting below and enemies attacked us; a woman rushed out of a
+      hut and gave me a spear and a shield, the latter made of wood with white
+      spots on it, and pointed to the path of duty which ran down the hill. I
+      followed in company with others, though without enthusiasm, and presently
+      met a roaring giant of a man at the bottom. I stuck my spear into him and
+      he stuck his into me, through the stomach, which hurt me most abominably.
+      After this I retired up the hill where the woman pulled the spear out and
+      gave it to another man. I remember no more.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then followed a whole maze of visions, but really I cannot disentangle
+      them. Nor is it worth while doing so since after all they were only of the
+      nature of an overture, jumbled incidents of former lives, real or
+      imaginary, or so I suppose, having to do, all of them, with elementary
+      things, such as hunger and wounds and women and death.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At length these broken fragments of the past were swept away out of my
+      consciousness and I found myself face to face with something connected and
+      tangible, not too remote or unfamiliar for understanding. It was the
+      beginning of the real story.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I, please remember always that I knew it was I, Allan, and no one else,
+      that is, the same personality or whatever it may be which makes each man
+      different from any other man, saw myself in a chariot drawn by two horses
+      with arched necks and driven by a charioteer who sat on a little seat in
+      front. It was a highly ornamented, springless vehicle of wood and gilded,
+      something like a packing-case with a pole, or as we should call it in
+      South Africa, a disselboom, to which the horses were harnessed. In this
+      cart I stood arrayed in flowing robes fastened round my middle by a
+      studded belt, with strips of coloured cloth wound round my legs and
+      sandals on my feet. To my mind the general effect of the attire was
+      distinctly feminine and I did not like it at all.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I was glad to observe, however, that the I of those days was anything but
+      feminine. Indeed I could never have believed that once I was so
+      good-looking, even over two thousand years ago. I was not very tall but
+      extremely stalwart, burly almost, with an arm that as I could observe,
+      since it projected from the sleeve of my lady&rsquo;s gown, would have done no
+      discredit to a prize-fighter, and a chest like a bull.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The face also I admired very much. The brow was broad; the black eyes were
+      full and proud-looking, the features somewhat massive but well-cut and
+      highly intelligent; the mouth firm and shapely, with lips that were
+      perhaps a trifle too thick; the hair&mdash;well, there was rather a
+      failure in the hair, at least according to modern ideas, for it curled so
+      beautifully as to suggest that one of my ancestors might have fallen in
+      love with a person of negroid origin. However there was lots of it,
+      hanging down almost to the shoulders and bound about the brow by a very
+      neat fillet of blue cloth with silver studs. The colour of my skin, I was
+      glad to note, was by no means black, only a light and pleasing brown such
+      as might have been produced by sunburn. My age, I might add, was anywhere
+      between five and twenty and five and thirty, perhaps nearer the latter
+      than the former, at any rate, the very prime of life.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      For the rest, I held in my left hand a very stout, long bow of black wood
+      which seemed to have seen much service, with a string of what looked like
+      catgut, on which was set a broad-feathered, barbed arrow. This I kept in
+      place with the fingers of my right hand, on one of which I observed a
+      handsome gold ring with strange characters carved upon the bezel.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Now for the charioteer.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He was black as night, black as a Sunday hat, with yellow rolling eyes set
+      in a countenance of extraordinary ugliness and I may add, extraordinary
+      humour. His big, wide mouth with thick lips ran up the left side of his
+      face towards an ear that was also big and projecting. His hair, that had a
+      feather stuck in it, was real nigger wool covering a skull like a cannon
+      ball and I should imagine as hard. This head, by the way, was set plumb
+      upon the shoulders, as though it had been driven down between them by a
+      pile hammer. They were very broad shoulders suggesting enormous strength,
+      but the gaily-clad body beneath, which was supported by two bowed legs and
+      large, flat feet, was that of a dwarf who by the proportions of his limbs
+      Nature first intended for a giant; yes, an Ethiopian dwarf.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Looking through this remarkable exterior, as it were, I recognized that
+      inside of it was the soul, or animating principle, of&mdash;whom do you
+      think? None other than my beloved old servant and companion, the Hottentot
+      Hans whose loss I had mourned for years! Hans himself who died for me,
+      slaying the great elephant, Jana, in Kendah Land, the elephant I could not
+      hit, and thereby saving my life. Oh! although I had been obliged to go
+      back to the days of I knew not what ancient empire to do so in my trance,
+      or whatever it was, I could have wept with joy at finding him again,
+      especially as I knew by instinct that as he loved the Allan Quatermain of
+      to-day, so he loved this Egyptian in a wheeled packing-case, for I may as
+      well say at once that such was my nationality in the dream.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Now I looked about me and perceived that my chariot was the second of a
+      cavalcade. Immediately in front of it was one infinitely more gorgeous in
+      which stood a person who even if I had not known it, I should have guessed
+      to be a king, and who, as a matter of fact, was none other than the King
+      of kings, at that time the absolute master of most of the known world,
+      though what his name may have been, I have no notion. He wore a long
+      flowing robe of purple silk embroidered with gold and bound in at the
+      waist by a jewelled girdle from which hung the private, sacred seal; the
+      little &ldquo;White Seal&rdquo; that, as I learned afterwards, was famous throughout
+      the earth.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      On his head was a stiff cloth cap, also purple in colour, round which was
+      fastened a fillet of light blue stuff spotted with white. The best idea
+      that I can give of its general appearance is to liken it to a tall hat of
+      fashionable shape, without a brim, slightly squashed in so that it bulged
+      at the top, and surrounded by a rather sporting necktie. Really, however,
+      it was the <i>kitaris</i> or headdress of these monarchs worn by them
+      alone. If anyone else had put on that hat, even by mistake in the dark,
+      well, his head would have come off with it, that is all.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This king held a bow in his hand with an arrow set upon its string, just
+      as I did, for we were out hunting, and as I shall have to narrate
+      presently, lions are no respecters of persons. By his side, leaning
+      against the back of the chariot, was a tall, sharp-pointed wand of cedar
+      wood with a knob of some green precious stone, probably an emerald,
+      fashioned to the likeness of an apple. This was the royal sceptre.
+      Immediately behind the chariot walked several great nobles. One of them
+      carried a golden footstool, another a parasol, furled at the moment;
+      another a spare bow and a quiver of arrows, and another a jewelled
+      fly-whisk made of palm fibre.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The king, I should add, was young, handsome with a curled beard and
+      clear-cut, high-bred looking features; his face, however, was bad, cruel
+      and stamped with an air of weariness, or rather, satiety, which was
+      emphasized by the black circles beneath his fine dark eyes. Moreover pride
+      seemed to emanate from him and yet there was something in his bearing and
+      glances which suggested fear. He was a god who knows that he is mortal and
+      is therefore afraid lest at any moment he may be called upon to lose his
+      godship in his mortality.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Not that he dreaded the perils of the chase; he was too much of a man for
+      that. But how could he tell lest among all that crowd of crawling nobles,
+      there was not one who had a dagger ready for his back, or a phial of
+      poison to mix with his wine or water? He with all the world in the hollow
+      of his hand, was filled with secret terrors which as I learned since first
+      I seemed to see him thus, fulfilled themselves at the appointed time. For
+      this man of blood was destined to die in blood, though not by murder.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The cavalcade halted. Presently a fat eunuch glittering in his
+      gold-wrought garments like some bronzed beetle in the sunlight, came
+      waddling back towards me. He was odious and I knew that we hated each
+      other.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Greeting, Egyptian,&rdquo; he said, mopping his brow with his sleeve for the
+      sun was hot. &ldquo;An honour for you! A great honour! The King of kings
+      commands your presence. Yes, he would speak with you with his own lips,
+      and with that abortion of a servant of yours also. Come! Come swiftly!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Swift as an arrow, Houman,&rdquo; I answered laughing, &ldquo;seeing that for three
+      moons I, like an arrow, have rested upon the string and flown no nearer to
+      his Majesty.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Three moons!&rdquo; screeched the eunuch. &ldquo;Why, many wait three years and many
+      go to the grave still waiting; bigger men than you, Egyptian, though I
+      hear you do claim to be of royal blood yonder on the Nile. But talk not of
+      arrows flying towards the most High, for surely it is ill-omened and might
+      earn you another honour, that of the string,&rdquo; and he made a motion
+      suggestive of a cord encircling his throat. &ldquo;Man, leave your bow behind!
+      Would you appear before the King armed? Yes, and your dagger also.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Perchance a lion might appear before the King and he does not leave his
+      claws and teeth behind,&rdquo; I answered drily as I divested myself of my
+      weapons.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then we started, the three of us, leaving the chariot in charge of a
+      soldier.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Draw your sleeves over your hands,&rdquo; said the eunuch. &ldquo;None must appear
+      before the King showing his hands, and, dwarf, since you have no sleeves,
+      thrust yours into your robe.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What am I to do with my feet?&rdquo; he answered in a thick, guttural voice.
+      &ldquo;Will it offend the King of kings to see my feet, most noble eunuch?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Certainly, certainly,&rdquo; answered Houman, &ldquo;since they are ugly enough to
+      offend even me. Hide them as much as possible. Now we are near, down on
+      your faces and crawl forward slowly on your knees and elbows, as I do.
+      Down, I say!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      So down I went, though with anger in my heart, for be it remembered that
+      I, the modern Allan Quatermain, knew every thought and feeling that passed
+      through the mind of my prototype.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was as though I were a spectator at a play, with this difference. I
+      could read the motives and reflections of this former <i>ego</i> as well
+      as observe his actions. Also I could rejoice when he rejoiced, weep when
+      he wept and generally feel all that he felt, though at the same time I
+      retained the power of studying him from my own modern standpoint and with
+      my own existing intelligence. Being two we still were one, or being one we
+      still were two, whichever way you like to put it. Lastly I lacked these
+      powers with reference to the other actors in the piece. Of these I knew
+      just as much, or as little as my former self knew, that is if he ever
+      really existed. There was nothing unnatural in my faculties where they
+      were concerned. I had no insight into their souls any more than I have
+      into those of the people about me to-day. Now I hope that I have made
+      clear my somewhat uncommon position with reference to these pages from the
+      Book of the Past.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Well, preceded by the eunuch and followed by the dwarf, I crawled though
+      the sand in which grew some thorny plants that pricked my knees and
+      fingers, towards the person of the Monarch of the World. He had descended
+      from his chariot by help of a footstool, and was engaged in drinking from
+      a golden cup, while his attendants stood around in various attitudes of
+      adoration, he who had handed him the cup being upon his knees. Presently
+      he looked up and saw us.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Who are these?&rdquo; he asked in a high voice that yet was not unmusical, &ldquo;and
+      why do you bring them into my presence?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;May it please the King,&rdquo; answered our guide, knocking his head upon the
+      ground in a very agony of humiliation, &ldquo;may it please the King&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It would please me better, dog, if you answered my question. Who are
+      they?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;May it please the King, this is the Egyptian hunter and noble, Shabaka.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I hear,&rdquo; said his Majesty with a gleam of interest in his tired eyes,
+      &ldquo;and what does this Egyptian here?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;May it please the King, the King bade me bring him to the presence, but
+      now when the chariots halted.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I forgot; you are forgiven. But who is that with him? Is it a man or an
+      ape?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Here I screwed my head round and saw that my slave in his efforts to obey
+      the eunuch&rsquo;s instructions and hide his feet, had made himself into a kind
+      of ball, much as a hedgehog does, except that his big head appeared in
+      front of the ball.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;O King, that I understand is the Egyptian&rsquo;s servant and charioteer.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Again he looked interested, and exclaimed,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Is it so? Then Egypt must be a stranger country than I thought if such
+      ape-men live there. Stand up, Egyptian, and bid your ape stand up also,
+      for I cannot hear men who speak with their mouths in the dust.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      So I rose and saluted by lifting both my hands and bowing as I had
+      observed others do, trying, however, to keep them covered by my sleeves.
+      The King looked me up and down, then said briefly,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Set out your name and the business that brought you to my city.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;May the King live for ever,&rdquo; I replied. &ldquo;As this lord said,&rdquo; and I
+      pointed to the eunuch&mdash;&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He is not a lord but a dog,&rdquo; interrupted the Monarch, &ldquo;who wears the robe
+      of women. But continue.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;As this dog who wears the robe of women said&rdquo;&mdash;here the King
+      laughed, but the eunuch, Houman, turned green with rage and glowered at me&mdash;&ldquo;my
+      name is Shabaka. I am a descendant of the Ethiopian king of Egypt of that
+      same name.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It seems from all I hear that there are too many descendants of kings in
+      Egypt. When I visit that land which perhaps soon I must do with an army at
+      my back,&rdquo; here he stared at me coldly, &ldquo;it may be well to lessen their
+      number. There is a certain Peroa for instance.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He paused, but I made no answer, since Peroa was my father&rsquo;s cousin and of
+      the fallen Royal House; also the protector of my youth.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, Shabaka,&rdquo; he went on, &ldquo;in Persia royal blood is common also, though
+      some of us think it looks best when it is shed. What else are you?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;A slayer of royal beasts, O King of kings, a hunter of lions and of
+      elephants,&rdquo; (this statement interested me, Allan Quatermain, intensely,
+      showing me as it did that our tastes are very persistent); &ldquo;also when I am
+      at home, a breeder of cattle and a grower of grain.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Good trades, all of them, Shabaka. But why came you here?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Idernes the satrap of Egypt, servant of the King of kings, sought for one
+      who would travel to the East because the King of kings desired to hear of
+      the hunting of lions in the lands that lie to the south of Egypt towards
+      the beginnings of the great river. Then I, who desired to see new
+      countries, said, &lsquo;Here am I. Send me.&rsquo; So I came and for three moons have
+      dwelt in the royal city, but till this hour have scarcely so much as seen
+      the face of the great King, although by many messengers I have announced
+      my presence, showing them the letters of Idernes giving me safe-conduct.
+      Therefore I propose to-morrow or the next day to return to Egypt.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The King said a word and a scribe appeared whom he commanded to take note
+      of my words and let the matter be inquired of, since some should suffer
+      for this neglect, a saying at which I saw Houman and certain of the nobles
+      turn pale and whisper to each other.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Now I remember,&rdquo; he exclaimed, &ldquo;that I did desire Idernes to send me an
+      Egyptian hunter. Well, you are here and we are about to hunt the lion of
+      which there are many in yonder reeds, hungry and fierce beasts, since for
+      three days they have been herded in so that they can kill no food. How
+      many lions have you slain, Shabaka?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Fifty and three in all, O King, not counting the cubs.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He stared at me, answering with a sneer,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You Egyptians have large mouths. I have always heard it of you. Well,
+      to-day we will see whether you can kill a fifty-fourth. In an hour when
+      the sun begins to sink, the hounds will be loosed in yonder reeds and
+      since the water is behind them, the lions will come out, and then we shall
+      see.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Now I saw that the King thought me to be a liar and the blood rose to my
+      head.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why wait till the sun begins to sink, O King of kings?&rdquo; I said. &ldquo;Why not
+      enter the reeds, as is our fashion in the Land of Kush, and rouse the
+      lions from sleep in their own lair?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Now the King laughed outright and called in a loud voice to his courtiers,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do ye hear this boasting Egyptian, who talks of entering the reeds and
+      facing the lions in their lair, a thing that no man dare do where none can
+      see to shoot? What say ye now? Shall we ask him to prove his words?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Some great lord stepped forward, one who was a hunter though he looked
+      little like it, for the scent on his hair reached me from four paces away
+      and there was paint upon his face.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, O King,&rdquo; he said in a mincing voice, &ldquo;let him enter and kill a lion.
+      But if he fail, then let a lion kill him. There are some hungry in the
+      palace den and it is not fit that the King&rsquo;s ears should be filled with
+      empty words by foreigners from Egypt.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;So be it,&rdquo; said the King. &ldquo;Egyptian, you have brought it on your own
+      head. Prove that you can do what you say and I will give you great honour.
+      Fail, and to the lions with him who lies of lions. Still,&rdquo; he added, &ldquo;it
+      is not right that you should go alone. Choose therefore one of these lords
+      to keep you company; he who would put you to the test, if you will.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Now I looked at the scented noble who turned pale beneath his paint. Then
+      I looked at the fat eunuch, Houman, who opened his mouth and gasped like a
+      fish, and when I had looked, I shook my head and said as though to myself,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not so, no woman and no eunuch shall be my companion on this quest,&rdquo;
+       whereat the King and all the rest laughed out loud. &ldquo;The dwarf and I will
+      go alone.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The dwarf!&rdquo; said the King. &ldquo;Can he hunt lions also?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, O King, but perchance he can smell them, for otherwise how shall I
+      find them in that thicket within an hour?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Perchance they can smell him. How is the ape-man named?&rdquo; asked the King.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Bes, O King, after the god of the Egyptians whom he resembles.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Dare you accompany your master on this hunt, O Bes?&rdquo; inquired the King.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then Bes looked up, rolling his yellow eyes, and answered in his thick and
+      guttural voice,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am my master&rsquo;s slave and dare I refuse to accompany him? If I did he
+      might kill me, as the King of kings kills his slaves. It is better to die
+      with honour by the teeth of a lion, than with dishonour beneath the whip
+      of a master. So at least we think in Ethiopia.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well spoken, dwarf Bes!&rdquo; exclaimed the King. &ldquo;So would I have all men
+      think throughout the East. Let the words of this Ethiop be written down
+      and copies of them sent to the satraps of all the provinces that they may
+      be read to the peoples of the earth. I the King have decreed it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0005" id="link2HCH0005">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER V. THE WAGER
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      While the scribes were at their work I bowed before the King and prayed
+      his leave and I and the dwarf Bes might get to ours.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Go,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;and return here within an hour. If you do not return
+      tidings of your death shall be sent to the satrap of Egypt to be told to
+      your wives.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I thank the King, but it is needless, for I have no wives, which are ill
+      company for a hunter.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Strange,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;since many women would be glad to name such a man
+      their husband, at least here among us Easterns.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Walking backwards and bowing as we went, Bes and I returned to our
+      chariot. There we stripped off our outer garments till Bes was naked save
+      for his waistcloth and I was clad only in a jerkin. Then I took my bow, my
+      arrows and my knife, and Bes took two spears, one light for throwing and
+      the other short, broad and heavy for stabbing. Thus armed we passed back
+      before the Easterns who stared at us, and advanced to the edge of the
+      thicket of tall reeds that was full of lions.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Here Bes took dust and threw it into the air that we might learn from
+      which quarter the light wind blew.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We will go against the breeze, Lord,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;that I may smell the
+      lions before they smell us.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I nodded, and answered,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Hearken, Bes. Well may it be that we kill no lions in this place where it
+      is hard to shoot. Yet I would not return to be thrown to wild beasts by
+      yonder evil king. Therefore if we fail in this or in any other way, do you
+      kill me, if you still live.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He rolled his eyes and grinned.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not so, Master. Then we will win through the reeds and lie hid in their
+      edge till darkness comes, for in them those half-men will never dare to
+      seek for us. Afterwards we will swim the water and disguise ourselves as
+      jugglers and try to reach the coast, and so back to Egypt, having learned
+      much. Never stretch out your hand to Death till he stretches out his to
+      you, which he will do soon enough, Master.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Again I nodded and said,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And if a lion should kill me, Bes, what then?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then, Master, I will kill that lion if I can and go report the matter to
+      the King.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And if he should wish to throw you to the beasts, Bes, what then?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then, first I will drag him down to the greatest of all beasts, he who
+      waits to devour evil-doers in the Under-world, be they kings or slaves,&rdquo;
+       and he stretched out his long arms and made a motion as of clutching a man
+      by the throat. &ldquo;Oh! have no fear, Master, I can break him like a stick,
+      and afterwards we will talk the matter over among the dead, for I shall
+      swallow my tongue and die also. It is a good trick, Master, which I wish
+      you would learn.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Then he took my hand and kissed it and we entered the reeds, I, who was a
+      hunter, feeling more happy than I had done since we set foot in the East.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Yet the quest was desperate for the reeds were tall and often I could not
+      see more than a bow&rsquo;s length in front of me. Presently, however, we found
+      a path made perchance by game coming down to drink, or by crocodiles
+      coming up to sleep, and followed it, I with an arrow on my string and Bes
+      with the throwing spear in his right hand and the stabbing spear in his
+      left, half a pace ahead of me. On we crept, Bes drawing in the air through
+      his great nostrils as a hound might do, till suddenly he stopped and
+      sniffed towards the north.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I smell lion near,&rdquo; he whispered, searching among the reed stems with his
+      eyes. &ldquo;I see lion,&rdquo; he whispered again, and pointed, but I could see
+      nothing save the stems of the reeds.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Rouse him,&rdquo; I whispered back, &ldquo;and I will shoot as he bounds.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Then Bes poised the spear, shook it till it quivered, and threw. There was
+      a roar and a lioness appeared with the spear fast in her flank. I loosed
+      the arrow but it cut into the thick reeds and stuck there.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Forward!&rdquo; whispered Bes, &ldquo;for where woman is, there look for man. The
+      lion will be near.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      We crept on, Bes stopping to cut the arrow from a reed and set it back in
+      the quiver, for it was a good arrow made by himself. But now he shifted
+      the broad spear to his right hand and in his left held his knife. We heard
+      the wounded lioness roar not far away.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;She calls her man to help her,&rdquo; whispered Bes, and as the words left his
+      lips the reeds down wind began to sway, for we were smelt.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They swayed, they parted and, half seen, half hid between their stems,
+      appeared the head of a great, black-maned lion. I drew the string and
+      shot, this time not in vain, for I heard the arrow thud upon his hide.
+      Then before I could set another he was on us, reared upon his hind legs
+      and roaring. As I drew my dagger he struck at me, but I bent down and his
+      paw went over my head. Then his weight came against me and I fell beneath
+      him, stabbing him in the belly as I fell. I saw his mighty jaws open to
+      crush my head. Then they shut again and through them burst a whine like
+      that of a hurt dog.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Bes had driven his spear into the lion&rsquo;s breast, so deep that the point of
+      it came out through the back. Still he was not dead, only now it was Bes
+      he sought. The dwarf ran at him as he reared up again, and casting his
+      great arms about the brute&rsquo;s body, wrestled with him as man with man.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then it was, for the first time I think, that I learned all the
+      Ethiopian&rsquo;s strength. For he, a dwarf, threw that lion on its back and
+      thrusting his big head beneath the jaws, struggled with it madly. I was
+      up, the knife still in my hand, and oh! I too was strong. Into the throat
+      I drove it, dragging it this way and that, and lo! the lion moaned and
+      died and his blood gushed out over both of us. Then Bes sat up and
+      laughed, and I too laughed, since neither of us had more than scratches
+      and we had done what men could scarcely do.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do you remember, Master,&rdquo; said Bes when he had finished laughing, as he
+      wiped his brow with some damp moss, &ldquo;how, once far away up the Nile you
+      charged a mad elephant with a spear and saved me who had fallen, from
+      being trampled to death?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I, Shabaka, answered that I did. (And I, Allan Quatermain, observing all
+      these things in my psychic trance in the museum of Ragnall Castle,
+      reflected that I also remembered how a certain Hans had saved me from a
+      certain mad elephant, to wit, Jana, not so long before, which just shows
+      how things come round.)
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; went on Bes, &ldquo;you saved me from that elephant, though it seemed
+      death to you. And, Master, I will tell you something now. That very
+      morning I had tried to poison you, only you would not wait to eat because
+      the elephants were near.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Did you?&rdquo; I asked idly. &ldquo;Why?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Because two years before you captured me in battle with some of my
+      people, and as I was misshapen, or for pity&rsquo;s sake, spared my life and
+      made me your slave. Well, I who had been a chief, a very great chief,
+      Master, did not wish to remain a slave and did wish to avenge my people&rsquo;s
+      blood. Therefore I tried to poison you, and that very day you saved my
+      life, offering for it your own.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I think it was because I wanted the tusks of the elephant, Bes.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Perhaps, Master, only you will remember that this elephant was a young
+      cow and had no tusks worth anything. Still had it carried tusks, it might
+      have been so, since one white tusk is worth many black dwarfs. Well,
+      to-day I have paid you back. I say it lest you should forget that had it
+      not been for me, that lion would have eaten you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, Bes, you have paid me back and I thank you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Master, hitherto I always thought you one who worshipped Maat, goddess of
+      Truth. Now I see that you worship the god of Lies, whoever he may be, that
+      god who dwells in the breasts of women and most men, but has no name. For,
+      Master, it was <i>you</i> who saved <i>me</i> from the lion and not I you,
+      since you cut its throat at the last. So that debt of mine is still to pay
+      and by the great Grasshopper which we worship in my country, who is much
+      better than all the gods of the Egyptians put together, I swear that I
+      will pay it soon, or mayhap ten thousand years hence. At the last it shall
+      be paid.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why do you worship a grasshopper and why is he better than the gods of
+      the Egyptians?&rdquo; I asked carelessly, for I was tired and his talk amused me
+      while we rested.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We worship the Grasshopper, Master, because he jumps with men&rsquo;s spirits
+      from one life to another, or from this world to the next, yes, right
+      through the blue sky. And he is better than your Egyptian gods because
+      they leave you to find your own way there, and then eat you alive, that is
+      if you have tried to poison people, as of course we have all done. But,
+      Master, we are fresh again now, so let us be going, for the hour will soon
+      be finished. Also when she has eaten the spear handle, that lioness may
+      return.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; I said; &ldquo;let us go and report to the King of kings that we have
+      killed a lion.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Master, it is not enough. Even common kings believe little that they do
+      not see, wherefore it is certain that a King of kings will believe nothing
+      and still more certain that he will not come here to look. So as we cannot
+      carry the lion, we must take a bit of it,&rdquo; and straightway he cut off the
+      end of the brute&rsquo;s tail.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Following the crocodile path, presently we reached the edge of the reeds
+      opposite to the camp where the King now sat in state beneath a purple
+      pavilion that had been reared, eating a meal, with his courtiers standing
+      at a distance and looking very hungry.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Out of the reeds bounded Bes, naked and bloody, waving the lion&rsquo;s tail and
+      singing some wild Ethiopian chant, while I, also bloody and half naked,
+      for the lion&rsquo;s claws had torn my jerkin off me, followed with bow
+      unstrung.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The King looked up and saw us.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What! Do you live, Egyptian?&rdquo; he asked. &ldquo;Of a surety I thought that by
+      now you would be dead.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It was the lion that died, O King,&rdquo; I answered, pointing to Bes who,
+      having ceased from his song, was jumping about carrying the beast&rsquo;s tail
+      in his mouth as a dog carries a bone.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It seems that this Egyptian has killed a lion,&rdquo; said the King to one of
+      his lords, him of the painted face and scented hair.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;May be please the King,&rdquo; he answered, bowing, &ldquo;a tail is not the whole
+      beast and may have been taken thither, or cut from a lion lying dead
+      already. The King knows that the Egyptians are great liars.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      So he spoke because he was jealous of the deed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;These men look as though they had met a live one, not one that is dead,&rdquo;
+       said the King, scanning our blood-stained shapes. &ldquo;Still, as you doubt it,
+      you will wish to put the matter to the proof. Therefore, Cousin, take six
+      men with you, enter the reeds and search. In that soft ground it will be
+      easy to follow their footmarks.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is dangerous, O King,&rdquo; began the prince, for such he was, no less.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And therefore the task will be the more to your taste, Cousin. Go now,
+      and be swift.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      So six hunters were called and the prince went, cursing me beneath his
+      breath as he passed us. For he was terribly afraid, and with reason.
+      Suddenly Bes ceased from his antics and prostrating himself, cried,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;A boon, O King. This noble lord throws doubt upon my master&rsquo;s word.
+      Suffer that I may lead him to where the lion lies dead, since otherwise
+      wandering in those reeds the great King&rsquo;s cousin might come to harm and
+      the great King be grieved.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have many cousins,&rdquo; said the King. &ldquo;Still go if you wish, Dwarf.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      So Bes ran after the prince and catching him up, tapped him on the
+      shoulder with the lion&rsquo;s tail to point out the way. Then they vanished
+      into the reeds and I went to the chariot to wash off the blood from my
+      body and clothes. As I fastened my robe I heard a sound of roaring, then
+      one scream, after which all grew still. Now I drew near to the reeds and
+      stood between them and the King&rsquo;s camp.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Presently on their edge appeared Bes dancing and singing as before, but
+      this time he held a lion&rsquo;s tail in either hand. After him came the six
+      hunters dragging between them the body of the lion we had killed. They
+      staggered with it towards the King, and I followed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I see the dwarf,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I see the dead lion and I see the hunters.
+      But where is my cousin? Make report, O Bes.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;O King of kings,&rdquo; replied Bes, &ldquo;the mighty prince your cousin lies flat
+      yonder beneath the body of that lion&rsquo;s wife. She sprang upon him and
+      killed him, and I sprang upon her and killed her with my spear. Here is
+      her tail, O King of kings.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Is this true?&rdquo; he asked of the hunters.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is true, O King,&rdquo; answered their captain. &ldquo;The lioness, which was
+      wounded, leapt upon the prince, choosing him although he was behind us
+      all. Then this dwarf leapt upon the lioness, being behind the prince and
+      nearest to him, and drove his spear through her shoulders to her heart. So
+      we brought the first lion as the King commanded us, since we could carry
+      no more.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The face of the King grew red with rage.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Seven of my people and one black dwarf!&rdquo; he exclaimed. &ldquo;Yet the lioness
+      kills my cousin and the dwarf kills the lioness. Such is the tale that
+      will go to Egypt concerning the hunters of the King of the world. Seize
+      those men, Guards, and let them be fed to the wild beasts in the palace
+      dens.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      At once the unfortunates were seized and led away. Then the King called
+      Bes to him, and taking the gold chain he wore about his neck, threw it
+      over his head, thereby, though I knew nothing of it at the time,
+      conferring upon him some noble rank. Next he called to me and said,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It would seem that you are skilled in the use of the bow and in the
+      hunting of lions, Egyptian. Therefore I will honour you, for this
+      afternoon your chariot shall drive with my chariot, and we will hunt side
+      by side. Moreover, I will lay you a wager as to which of us will kill the
+      most lions, for know, Shabaka, that I also am skilled in the use of the
+      bow, more skilled than any among the millions of my subjects.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then, O King, it is of little use for me to match myself against you,
+      seeing that I have met men who can shoot better than I do, or, since in
+      the East all must speak nothing but the truth, not being liars as the dead
+      prince said we Egyptians are, one man.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Who was that man, Shabaka?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The Prince Peroa, O King.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The King frowned as though the name displeased him, then answered,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Am I not greater than this Peroa and cannot I therefore shoot better?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Doubtless, O King of kings, and therefore how can I who shoot worse than
+      Peroa, match myself against you?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;For which reason I will give you odds, Shabaka. Behold this rope of
+      rose-hued pearls I wear. They are unequalled in the whole world, for
+      twenty years the merchants sought them in the days of my father; half of
+      them would buy a satrapy. I wager them&rdquo;&mdash;here the listening nobles
+      gasped and the fat eunuch, Houman, held up his hands in horror.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Against what, O King?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Your slave Bes, to whom I have taken a fancy.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Now I trembled and Bes rolled his yellow eyes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Your pardon, O King of kings,&rdquo; I said, &ldquo;but it is not enough. I am a
+      hunter and to such, priceless pearls are of little use. But to me that
+      dwarf is of much use in my hunting.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;So be it, Shabaka, then I will add to the wager. If you win, together
+      with the pearls I will give you the dwarf&rsquo;s weight in solid gold.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The King is bountiful,&rdquo; I answered, &ldquo;but it is not enough, for even if I
+      win against one who can shoot better than Peroa, which is impossible, what
+      should I do with so much gold? Surely for the sake of it I should be
+      murdered or ever I saw the coasts of Egypt.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What shall I add then?&rdquo; asked the King. &ldquo;The most beauteous maiden in the
+      House of Women?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I shook my head. &ldquo;Not so, O King, for then I must marry who would remain
+      single.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There is no need, you might sell her to your friend, Peroa. A satrapy?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not so, O King, for then I must govern it, which would keep me from my
+      hunting, until it pleased the King to take my head.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;By the name of the holy ones I worship what then do you ask added to the
+      pearls and the pure gold?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Now I tried to bethink me of something that the King could not grant,
+      since I had no wish for this match which my heart warned me would end in
+      trouble. As no thought came to me I looked at Bes and saw that he was
+      rolling his eyes towards the six doomed hunters who were being led away,
+      also in pretence of driving off a fly, pointing to them with one of the
+      lion tails. Then I remembered that a decree once uttered by the King of
+      the East could not be altered, and saw a road of escape.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;O King,&rdquo; I said, &ldquo;together with the pearls and the gold I ask that the
+      lives of those six hunters be added to the wager, to be spared if by
+      chance I should win.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why?&rdquo; asked the King amazed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Because they are brave men, O King, and I would not see the bones of such
+      cracked by tame beasts in a cage.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Is my judgment registered?&rdquo; asked the King.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not yet, O King,&rdquo; answered the head scribe.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then it has no weight and can be suspended without the breaking of the
+      law. Shabaka, thus stands our wager. If I kill more lions than you do this
+      day, or, should but two be slain, I kill the first, or should none be
+      slain, I plant more arrows in their bodies, I take your slave, Bes the
+      dwarf, to be my slave. But should you have the better of me in any of
+      these ways, then I give to you this girdle of rose pearls and the weight
+      of the dwarf Bes in gold and the six hunters free of harm, to do with what
+      you will. Let it be recorded, and to the hunt.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Soon Bes and I were in our chariot which by command took place in line
+      with that of the King, but at a distance of some thirty steps. Bending
+      over the dwarf who drove, I spoke with him, saying,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Our luck is ill to-day, Bes, seeing that before the end of it we may well
+      be parted.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not so, Master, our luck is good to-day seeing that before the end of it
+      you will be the richer by the finest pearls in the whole world, by my
+      weight in pure gold (and Master, I am twice as heavy as the king thought
+      and will stuff myself with twenty pounds of meat before the weighing, if I
+      have the chance, or at least with water, though in this hot place that
+      will not last for long), and by six picked huntsmen, brave men as you
+      thought, who will serve to escort us and our treasure to the coast.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;First I must win the match, Bes.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Which you could do with one eye blinded, Master, and a sore finger. Kings
+      think that they can shoot because all the worms that crawl about them and
+      are named men, dare not show themselves their betters. Oh! I have heard
+      tales in yonder city. There have been days when this Lord of the world has
+      missed six lions with as many arrows, and they seated smiling in his face,
+      being but tamed brutes brought from far in cages of wood, yes, smiling
+      like cats in the sun. Look you, Master, he drinks too much wine and sits
+      up too late in his Women&rsquo;s house&mdash;there are three hundred of them
+      there, Master&mdash;to shoot as you and I can. If you doubt it, look at
+      his eyes and hands. Oh! the pearls and the gold and the men are yours, and
+      that painted prince who mocked us is where he ought to be&mdash;dead in
+      the mud.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Did I tell you how I managed that, Master? As you know better than I do,
+      lions hate those that have on them the smell of their own blood.
+      Therefore, while I pointed out the way to him, I touched the painted
+      prince with the bleeding tail of that which we killed, pretending that it
+      was by chance, for which he cursed me, as well he might. So when we came
+      to the dead lion and, as I had expected, met there the lioness you had
+      wounded, she charged through the hunters at him who smelt of her husband,
+      and bit his head off.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But, Bes, you smelt of him also, and worse.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, Master, but that painted cousin of the King came first. I kept well
+      behind him, pretending to be afraid,&rdquo; and he chuckled quietly, adding, &ldquo;I
+      expect that he is now telling an angry tale about me to Osiris, or to the
+      Grasshopper that takes him there, as it may happen.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;These Easterns worship neither Osiris, nor your Grasshopper, Bes, but a
+      flame of fire.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then he is telling the tale to the fire, and I hope that it will get
+      tired and burn him.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      So we talked merrily enough because we had done great deeds and thought
+      that we had outwitted the Easterns and the King, not knowing all their
+      craft. For none had told us that that man who hunted with the King and yet
+      dared to draw arrow upon the quarry before the King should be put to death
+      as one who had done insult to his Majesty. This that royal fox remembered
+      and therefore was sure that he would win the wager.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Now the chariots turned and passing down a path came to an open space that
+      was cleared of reeds. Here they halted, that of the King and my own side
+      by side with ten paces between them, and those of the court behind.
+      Meanwhile huntsmen with dogs entered the great brake far away to the right
+      and left of us, also in front, so that the lions might be driven backwards
+      and forwards across the open space.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Soon we heard the hounds baying on all sides. Then Bes made a sucking
+      noise with his great lips and pointed to the edge of the reeds in front of
+      us some sixty paces away. Looking, I saw a yellow shape creeping along
+      between their dark stems, and although the shot was far, forgetting all
+      things save I was a hunter and there was my game, I drew the arrow to my
+      ear, aimed and loosed, making allowance for its fall and for the wind.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Oh! that shot was good. It struck the lion in the body and pierced him
+      through. Out he came, roaring, rolling, and tearing at the ground. But by
+      now I had another arrow on the string, and although the King lifted his
+      bow, I loosed first. Again it struck, this time in the throat, and that
+      lion groaned and died.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The King looked at me angrily, and from the court behind rose a murmur of
+      wonder mingled with wrath, wonder at my marksmanship, and wrath because I
+      had dared to shoot before the King.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The wager looks well for us,&rdquo; muttered Bes, but I bade him be silent, for
+      more lions were stirring.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Now one leapt across the open space, passing in front of the King and
+      within thirty paces of us. He shot and missed it, sending his shaft two
+      spans above its back. Then I shot and drove the arrow through it just
+      where the head joins the neck, cutting the spine, so that it died at once.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Again that murmur went up and the King struck the charioteer on the head
+      with his clenched fist, crying out that he had suffered the horses to move
+      and should be scourged for causing his hand to shake.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This charioteer, although he was a lord&mdash;since in the East men of
+      high rank waited on the King like slaves and even clipped his nails and
+      beard&mdash;craved pardon humbly, admitting his fault.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is a lie,&rdquo; whispered Bes. &ldquo;The horses never stirred. How could they
+      with those grooms holding their heads? Nevertheless, Master, the pearls
+      are as good as round your neck.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Silence,&rdquo; I answered. &ldquo;As we have heard, in the East all men speak the
+      truth; it is only Egyptians who lie. Also in the East men&rsquo;s necks are
+      encircled with bowstrings as well as pearls, and ears are long.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The hounds continued to bay, drawing nearer to us. A lioness bounded out
+      of the reeds, ran towards the King&rsquo;s chariot and as though amazed, sat
+      down like a dog, so near that a man might have hit it with a stone. The
+      King shot short, striking it in the fore-paw only, whereon it shook out
+      the arrow and rushed back into the reeds, while the court behind cried,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;May the King live for ever! The beast is dead.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We shall see if it is dead presently,&rdquo; said Bes, and I nodded.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Another lion appeared to the right of the King. Again he shot and missed
+      it, whereon he began to curse and to swear in his own royal oaths, and the
+      charioteer trembled. Then came the end.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      One of the hounds drew quite close and roused the lioness that had been
+      pricked in the foot. She turned and killed it with a blow of her paw,
+      then, being mad, charged straight at the King&rsquo;s chariot. The horses
+      reared, lifting the grooms off their feet. The King shot wildly and fell
+      backwards out of the chariot, as even Kings of the world must do when they
+      have nothing left to stand on. The lioness saw that he was down and leapt
+      at him, straight over the chariot. As she leapt I shot at her in the air
+      and pierced her through the loins, paralysing her, so that although she
+      fell down near the King, she could not come at him to kill him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I sprang from my chariot, but before I could reach the lioness hunters had
+      run up with spears and stabbed her, which was easy as she could not move.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The King rose from the ground, for he was unharmed, and said in a loud
+      voice,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Had not that shaft of mine gone home, I think that the East would have
+      bowed to another lord to-night.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Now, forgetting that I was speaking to the King of the earth, forgetting
+      the wager and all besides, I exclaimed,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Nay, your shaft missed; mine went home,&rdquo; whereon one of the courtiers
+      cried,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;This Egyptian is a liar, and calls the King one!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;A liar?&rdquo; I said astonished. &ldquo;Look at the arrow and see from whose quiver
+      it came,&rdquo; and I drew one from my own of the Egyptian make and marked with
+      my mark.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then a tumult broke out, all the courtiers and eunuchs talking at once,
+      yet all bowing to the mud-stained person of the King, like ears of wheat
+      to a tree in a storm. Not wishing to urge my claims further, for my part I
+      returned to the chariot and the hunting being done, as I supposed,
+      unstrung my bow which I prized above all things, and set it in its case.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      While I was thus employed the eunuch Houman approached me with a sickly
+      smile, saying,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The King commands your presence, Egyptian, that you may receive your
+      reward.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I nodded, saying that I would come, and he returned.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Bes,&rdquo; I said when he was out of hearing, &ldquo;my heart sinks. I do not trust
+      that King who I think means mischief.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;So do I, Master. Oh! we have been great fools. When a god and a man climb
+      a tree together, the man should allow the god to come first to the top,
+      and thence tell the world that he is a god.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; I answered, &ldquo;but who ever sees Wisdom until she is flying away? Now
+      perhaps, the god being the stronger, will cast down the man.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Then both together we advanced towards the King, leaving the chariot in
+      charge of soldiers. He was seated on a gilded chair which served him as a
+      throne, and behind him were his officers, eunuchs and attendants, though
+      not all of them, since at a little distance some of them were engaged in
+      beating the lord who had served as his charioteer upon the feet with rods.
+      We prostrated ourselves before him and waited till he spoke. At length he
+      said,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Shabaka the Egyptian, we made a wager with you, of which you will
+      remember the terms. It seems that you have won the wager, since you slew
+      two lions, whereas we, the King, slew but one, that which leapt upon us in
+      the chariot.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Here Bes groaned at my side and I looked up.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Fear nothing,&rdquo; he went on, &ldquo;it shall be paid.&rdquo; Here he snatched off the
+      girdle of priceless, rose-hued pearls and threw it in my face.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;At the palace too,&rdquo; he went on, &ldquo;the dwarf shall be set in the scales and
+      his full weight in pure gold shall be given to you. Moreover, the lives of
+      the six hunters are yours, and with them the men themselves.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;May the King live for ever!&rdquo; I exclaimed, feeling that I must say
+      something.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I hope so,&rdquo; he answered cruelly, &ldquo;but, Egyptian, you shall not, who have
+      broken the laws of the land.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;In what way, O King?&rdquo; I asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;By shooting at the lions before the King had time to draw his bow, and by
+      telling the King that he lied to his face, for both of which things the
+      punishment is death.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Now my heart swelled till I thought it would burst with rage. Then of a
+      sudden, a certain spirit entered into me and I rose to my feet and said,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;O King, you have declared that I must die and as this is so, I will kneel
+      to you no more who soon shall sup at the table of Osiris, and there be far
+      greater than any king, going before him with clean hands. Is it not your
+      law that he who is condemned to die has first the right to set out his
+      case for the honour of his name?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is,&rdquo; said the King, I think because he was curious to hear what I had
+      to say. &ldquo;Speak on.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;O King, although my blood is as high as your own, of that I say nothing,
+      for at the wish of your satrap I came to the East from Egypt as a hunter,
+      to show you how we of Egypt kill lions and other beasts. For three months
+      I have waited in the royal city seeking admission to the presence of the
+      King, and in vain. At length I was bidden to this hunt when I was about to
+      depart to my own land, and being taunted by your servants, entered the
+      reeds with my slave, and there slew a lion. Then it pleased you to thrust
+      a wager upon me which I did not wish to take, as to which of us would
+      shoot the most lions; a wager as I now understand you did not mean that I
+      should win, whatever might be my skill, since you thought I knew that I
+      must shoot at nothing till you had first shot and killed the beasts or
+      scared them away.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;So I matched myself against you, as hunter against hunter, for in the
+      field, as before the gods, all are equal, not as a slave against a king
+      who is determined to avenge defeat by death. We were posted and the lions
+      came. I shot at those which appeared opposite to me, or upon my side,
+      leaving those that appeared opposite to you, or on your side unshot at, as
+      is the custom of hunters. My skill, or my fortune, was better than yours
+      and I killed, whereas you missed or only wounded. In the end a lioness
+      sprang at you and I shot it lest it should kill you; as could easily be
+      proved by the arrow in its body. Now you say that I must die because I
+      have broken some laws of yours which men should be ashamed to make, and to
+      save your honour, pay me what I have won, knowing that pearls and gold and
+      slaves are of no value to a dying man and can be taken back again. That is
+      all the story.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yet I would add one word. You Easterns have two sayings which you teach
+      to your children; that they should learn to shoot with the bow, and to
+      tell the truth. O King, they are my last lessons to you. Learn to shoot
+      with the bow&mdash;which you cannot do, and to tell the truth which you
+      have not done. Now I have spoken and am ready to die and I thank you for
+      the patience with which you have heard my words, that, as the King does <i>not</i>
+      live for ever, I hope one day to repeat to you more fully beyond the
+      grave.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Now at this bold speech of mine all those nobles and attendants gasped,
+      for never had they heard such words addressed to his Majesty. The King
+      turned red as though with shame, but made no answer, only he asked of
+      those about him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What fate for this man?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Death, O King!&rdquo; they cried with one voice.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What death?&rdquo; he asked again.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then his Councillors consulted together and one of them answered,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The slowest known to our law, <i>death by the boat</i>.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Hearing this and not knowing what was meant, it came into my mind that I
+      was to be turned adrift in a boat and there left to starve.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Behold the reward of good hunting!&rdquo; I mocked in my rage. &ldquo;O King, because
+      of this deed of shame I call upon you the curse of all the gods of all the
+      peoples. Henceforth may your sleep be ever haunted by evil dreams of what
+      shall follow the last sleep, and in the end may you also die in blood.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The King opened his mouth as though to answer, but from it came nothing
+      but a low cry of fear. Then guards rushed up and seized me.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0006" id="link2HCH0006">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER VI. THE DOOM OF THE BOAT
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      The guards led me to my chariot and thrust me into it, and with me Bes. I
+      asked them if they would murder him also, to which the eunuch, Houman,
+      answered No, since he had committed no crime, but that he must go with me
+      to be weighed. Then soldiers took the horses by the bridles and led them,
+      while others, having first snatched away my bow and all our other weapons,
+      surrounded the chariot lest we should escape. So Bes and I were able to
+      talk together in a Libyan tongue that none of them understood, even if
+      they heard our words.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Your life is spared,&rdquo; I said to him, &ldquo;that the King may take you as a
+      slave.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then he will take an ill slave, Master, since I swear by the Grasshopper
+      that within a moon I will find means to kill him, and afterwards come to
+      join you in a land where men hunt fair.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I smiled and Bes went on,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Now I wish I had time to teach you that trick of swallowing your own
+      tongue, since perhaps you will need it in this boat of which they talk.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Did you not say to me an hour or two ago, Bes, that we are fools to
+      stretch out our hands to Death until he stretches out his to us? I will
+      not die until I must&mdash;now.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why &lsquo;now,&rsquo; Master, seeing that only this afternoon you bade me kill you
+      rather than let you be thrown to the wild beasts?&rdquo; he asked peering at me
+      curiously.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do you remember the old hermit, the holy Tanofir, who dwells in a cell
+      over the sepulchre of the Apis bulls in the burial ground of the desert
+      near to Memphis, Bes?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The magician and prophet who is the brother of your grandfather, Master,
+      and the son of a king; he who brought you up before he became a hermit?
+      Yes, I know him well, though I have seldom been very near to him because
+      his eyes frighten me, as they frightened Cambyses the Persian when Tanofir
+      cursed him and foretold his doom after he had stabbed the holy Apis,
+      saying that by a wound from that same sword in his own body he should die
+      himself, which thing came to pass. As they have frightened many another
+      man also.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, Bes, when yonder king told me that I must die, fear filled me who
+      did not wish to die thus, and after the fear came a blackness in my mind.
+      Then of a sudden in that blackness I saw a picture of Tanofir, my great
+      uncle, seated in a sepulchre looking towards the East. Moreover I heard
+      him speak, and to me, saying, &lsquo;Shabaka, my foster-son, fear nothing. You
+      are in great danger but it will pass. Speak to the great King all that
+      rises in your heart, for the gods of Vengeance make use of your tongue and
+      whatever you prophesy to him shall be fulfilled.&rsquo; So I spoke the words you
+      heard and I feared nothing.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Is it so, Master? Then I think that the holy Tanofir must have entered my
+      heart also. Know that I was minded to leap upon that king and break his
+      neck, so that all three of us might end together. But of a sudden
+      something seemed to tell me to leave him alone and let things go as they
+      are fated. But how can the holy Tanofir who grows blind with age, see so
+      far?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I do not know, Bes, save that he is not as are other men, for in him is
+      gathered all the ancient wisdom of Egypt. Moreover he lives with the gods
+      while still upon earth, and like the gods can send his <i>Ka</i>, as we
+      Egyptians call the spirit, or invisible self which companions all from the
+      cradle to the grave and afterwards, whither he will. So doubtless to-day
+      he sent it hither to me whom he loves more than anything on earth. Also I
+      remember that before I entered on this journey he told me that I should
+      return safe and sound. Therefore, Bes, I say I fear nothing.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Nor do I, Master. Yet if you see me do strange things, or hear me speak
+      strange words, take no note of them, since I shall be but playing a part
+      as I think wisest.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      After this we talked of that day&rsquo;s adventure with the lions, and of others
+      that we had shared together, laughing merrily all the while, till the
+      soldiers stared at us as though we were mad. Also the fat eunuch, Houman,
+      who was mounted on an ass, rode up and said,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What, Egyptian who dared to twist the beard of the Great King, you laugh,
+      do you? Well, you will sing a different song in the boat to that which you
+      sing in the chariot. Think of my words on the eighth day from this.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I will think of them, Eunuch,&rdquo; I answered, looking at him fiercely in the
+      eyes, &ldquo;but who knows what kind of a song you will be singing before the
+      eighth day from this?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What I do is done under the authority of the ancient and holy Seal of
+      Seals,&rdquo; he answered in a quavering voice, touching the little cylinder of
+      white shell which I had noted upon the person of the King, but that now
+      hung from a gold chain about the eunuch&rsquo;s neck.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then he made the sign which Easterns use to avert evil and rode off again,
+      looking very frightened.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      So we came to the royal city and went up to a wonderful palace. Here we
+      were taken from the chariot and led into a room where food and drink in
+      plenty were given to me as though I were an honoured guest, which caused
+      me to wonder. Bes also, seated on the ground at a distance, ate and drank,
+      for his own reasons filling himself to the throat as though he were a
+      wineskin, until the serving slaves mocked at him for a glutton.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When we had finished eating, slaves appeared bearing a wooden framework
+      from which hung a great pair of scales. Also there appeared officers of
+      the King&rsquo;s Treasury, carrying leather bags which they opened, breaking the
+      seals to show that the contents were pure gold coin. They set a number of
+      these bags on one of the scales, and then ordered Bes to seat himself in
+      the other. So much heavier did he prove than they expected him to be, that
+      they were obliged to send back to the Treasury to fetch more bags of gold,
+      for although Bes was so short in height, his weight was that of a large
+      man. One of the treasurers grumbled, saying he should have been weighed
+      before he had eaten and drunk. But the officer to whom he spoke grinned
+      and answered that it mattered little, since the King was heir to criminals
+      and that these bags would soon return to the Treasury, only they would
+      need washing first, a remark that made me wonder.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At length, when the scales were even, the six hunters whose lives I had
+      won and who had been given to me as slaves, were brought in and ordered to
+      shoulder the bags of gold. I too was seized and my hands were bound behind
+      me. Then I was led out in charge of the eunuch Houman, who informed me
+      with a leer that it would be his duty to attend to my comfort till the
+      end. With him were four black men all dressed in the same way. These, he
+      said, were the executioners. Lastly came Bes watched by three of the
+      king&rsquo;s guards armed with spears, lest he should attempt to rescue me or to
+      do anyone a mischief.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Now my heart began to sink and I asked Houman what was to happen to me.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;This, O Egyptian slayer of lions. You will be laid upon a bed in a little
+      boat upon the river and another boat will be placed over you, for these
+      boats are called the Twins, Egyptian, in such a fashion that your head and
+      your hands will project at one end and your feet at the other. There you
+      will be left, comfortable as a baby in its cradle, and twice every day the
+      best of food and drink will be brought to you. Should your appetite fail,
+      moreover, it will be my duty to revive it by pricking your eyes with the
+      point of a knife until it returns. Also after each meal I shall wash your
+      face, your hands and your feet with milk and honey, lest the flies that
+      buzz about them should suffer hunger, and to preserve your skin from
+      burning by the sun. Thus slowly you will grow weaker and at length fall
+      asleep. The last one who went into the boat&mdash;he, unlucky man, had by
+      accident wandered into the court of the House of Women and seen some of
+      the ladies there unveiled&mdash;only lived for twelve days, but you, being
+      so strong, may hope to last for eighteen. Is there anything more that I
+      can tell you? If so, ask it quickly for we draw near to the river.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Now when I heard this and understood all the horror of my fate, I forgot
+      the vision of my great uncle, the holy Tanofir, and his comfortable
+      prophecies, and my heart failed me altogether, so that I stood stock
+      still.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What, Lion-hunter and Bearder of kings, do you think it is too early to
+      go to bed?&rdquo; mocked this devilish eunuch. &ldquo;On with you!&rdquo; and he began to
+      beat me about the face with the handle of his fly-whisk.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then my manhood came back to me.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;When did the King tell you to touch me, you fatted swine?&rdquo; I roared, and
+      turning, since I could not reach him with my bound hands, kicked him in
+      the body with all my strength, so that he fell down, writhing and
+      screaming with agony. Indeed, had not the executioners leapt upon me, I
+      would have trampled the life out of him where he lay. But they held me
+      fast and presently, after he had been sick, Houman recovered enough to
+      come forward leaning on the shoulders of two guards. Only now he mocked me
+      no more.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We reached a quay just as the sun was setting. There in charge of a
+      one-eyed black slave, a little square-ended boat floated at the river&rsquo;s
+      edge, while on the quay itself lay a similar but somewhat shorter boat,
+      bottom uppermost. Now the hunters whom I had won in the wager, with many
+      glances of compassion, for they were brave men and knew that it was I who
+      had saved their lives, placed the bags of gold in the bottom of the
+      floating boat, and on the top of these a mattress stuffed with straw. Then
+      the girdle of rose-hued pearls was made fast about my middle, my hands
+      were untied, I was seized by the executioners and laid on my back on the
+      mattress, and my wrists and ankles were fixed by cords to iron rings that
+      were screwed to the thwarts of the boat. After this the other, shorter
+      boat was laid over me in such a manner that it did not touch me, leaving
+      my head, my hands and my feet exposed as the eunuch had said.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      While this wicked work was going forward Bes sat on the quay, watching,
+      till presently, after I had been made fast and covered up, he burst into
+      shouts of laughter, clapped his hands and began to dance about as though
+      with joy, till the eunuch, who had now recovered somewhat from my kick,
+      grew curious and asked him why he behaved thus.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;O noble Eunuch,&rdquo; he answered, &ldquo;once I was free and that man made me a
+      slave, so that for many years I have been obliged to toil for him whom I
+      hate. Moreover, often he has beaten me and starved me, which was why you
+      saw me eat so much not long ago, and threatened to kill me, and now at
+      last I have my revenge upon him who is about to die miserably. That is why
+      I laugh and sing and dance and clap my hands, O most noble Eunuch, I who
+      shall become the follower and servant of the glorious King of all the
+      earth, and perhaps your friend, too, O Eunuch of eunuchs, whose sacred
+      person my brutal master dared to kick.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I understand,&rdquo; said Houman smiling, though with a twisted face, &ldquo;and will
+      make report of all you say to the King, and ask him to grant that you
+      shall sometimes prick this Egyptian in the eye. Now go spit in his face
+      and tell him what you think of him.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      So Bes waded into the water which was quite shallow here, and spat into my
+      face, or pretended to, while amid a torrent of vile language, he
+      interpolated certain words in the Libyan tongue, which meant,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;O my most beloved father, mother, and other relatives, have no fear.
+      Though things look very black, remember the vision of the holy Tanofir,
+      who doubtless allows these things to happen to you to try your faith by
+      direct order of the gods. Be sure that I will not leave you to perish, or
+      if there should be no escape, that I will find a way to put you out of
+      your misery and to avenge you. Yes, yes, I will yet see that accursed
+      swine, Houman, take your place in this boat. Now I go to the Court to
+      which it seems that this gold chain gives me a right of entry, or so the
+      eunuch says, but soon I will be back again.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Then followed another stream or most horrible abuse and more spitting,
+      after which he waded back to land and embraced Houman, calling him his
+      best friend.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They went, leaving me alone in the boat save for the guard upon the quay
+      who, now that darkness had come, soon grew silent. It was lonely, very
+      lonely, lying there staring at the empty sky with only the stinging gnats
+      for company, and soon my limbs began to ache. I thought of the poor
+      wretches who had suffered in this same boat and wondered if their lot
+      would be my lot.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Bes was faithful and clever, but what could a single dwarf do among all
+      these black-hearted fiends? And if he could do nothing, oh! if he could do
+      nothing!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The seconds seemed minutes, the minutes seemed hours, and the hours seemed
+      years. What then would the days be, passed in torture and agony while
+      waiting for a filthy death? Where now were the gods I had worshipped and&mdash;was
+      there any god? Or was man but a self-deceiver who created gods instead of
+      the gods creating him, because he did not love to think of an eternal
+      blackness in which he would soon be swallowed up and lost? Well, at least
+      that would mean sleep, and sleep is better than torment of mind or body.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It came to me, I think, who was so weary. At any rate I opened my eyes to
+      see that the low moon had vanished and that some of the stars which I knew
+      as a hunter who had often steered his way by them, had moved a little.
+      While I was wondering idly why they moved, I heard the tramp of soldiers
+      on the quay and the voice of an officer giving a command. Then I felt the
+      boat being drawn in by the cord with which it was attached to the quay.
+      Next the other boat that lay over me was lifted off, the ropes that bound
+      we were undone and I was set upon my feet, for already I was so stiff that
+      I could scarcely stand. A voice which I recognised as that of the eunuch
+      Houman, addressed me in respectful tones, which made me think I must be
+      dreaming.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Noble Shabaka,&rdquo; said the voice, &ldquo;the Great King commands your presence at
+      his feast.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Is it so?&rdquo; I answered in my dream. &ldquo;Then my absence from their feast will
+      vex the gnats of the river,&rdquo; a saying at which Houman and others with him
+      laughed obsequiously.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Next I heard the bags of gold being removed from the boat, after which we
+      walked away, guards supporting me by either elbow until I found my
+      strength again, and Houman following just behind, perhaps because he
+      feared my foot if he went in front.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What has chanced, Eunuch,&rdquo; I asked presently, &ldquo;that I am disturbed from
+      the bed where I was sleeping so well?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I do not know, Lord,&rdquo; he answered. &ldquo;I only know that the King of kings
+      has suddenly commanded that you should be brought before him as a guest
+      clothed in a robe of honour, even if to do so, you must be awakened from
+      your rest, yes, to his own royal table, for he holds a feast this night.
+      Lord,&rdquo; he went on in a whining voice, &ldquo;if perchance fortune should have
+      changed her face to you, I pray you bear no malice to those who, when she
+      frowned, were forced, yes, under the private Seal of Seals, against their
+      will to carry out the commands of the King. Be just, O Lord Shabaka.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Say no more. I will try to be just,&rdquo; I answered. &ldquo;But what is justice in
+      the East? I only know of it in Egypt.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Now we reached one of the doors of the palace and I was taken to a chamber
+      where slaves who were waiting, washed and anointed me with scents, after
+      which they clad me in a beautiful robe of silk, setting the girdle of
+      rose-hued pearls about me.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When they had finished, preceded by Houman I was led to a great pillared
+      hall closed in with silk hangings, where many feasted. Through them I went
+      to a dais at the head of the hall where between half-drawn curtains
+      surrounded by cup-bearers and other officers, the King sat in all his
+      glory upon a cushioned golden throne. He had a glittering wine-cup in his
+      hand and at a glance I saw that he was drunk, as it is the fashion for
+      these Easterns to be at their great feasts, for he looked happy and human
+      which he did not do when he was sober. Or perchance, as sometimes I
+      thought afterwards, he only pretended to be drunk. Also I saw something
+      else, namely, Bes, wondrously attired with the gold chain about his neck
+      and wearing a red headdress. He was seated on the carpet before the
+      throne, and saying things that made the King laugh and even caused the
+      grave officers behind to smile.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I came to the dais and at a little sign from Bes who yet did not seem to
+      see me, such a sign as he often made when he caught sight of game before I
+      did, I prostrated myself. The King looked at me, then asked,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Who is this?&rdquo; adding, &ldquo;Oh, I remember, the Egyptian whose arrows do not
+      miss, the wonderful hunter whom Idernes sent to me from Memphis, which I
+      hope to visit ere long. We quarrelled, did we not, Egyptian, something
+      about a lion?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not so, King,&rdquo; I answered. &ldquo;The King was angry and with justice, because
+      I could not kill a lion before it frightened his horses.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      This I said because my hours in the boat had made me humble, also because
+      the words came to my lips.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, yes, something like that, or at least you lie well. Whatever it may
+      have been, it is done with now, a mere hunters&rsquo; difference,&rdquo; and taking
+      from his side his long sceptre that was headed with the great emerald, he
+      stretched it out for me to touch in token of pardon.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then I knew that I was safe for he to whom the King has extended his
+      sceptre is forgiven all crimes, yes, even if he had attempted the royal
+      life. The Court knew it also, for every man who saw bowed towards me, yes,
+      even the officers behind the King. One of the cup-bearers too brought me a
+      goblet of the King&rsquo;s own wine, which I drank thankfully, calling down
+      health on the King.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That was a wonderful shot of yours, Egyptian,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;when you sent an
+      arrow through the lioness that dared to attack my Majesty. Yes, the King
+      owes his life to you and he is grateful as you shall learn. This slave of
+      yours,&rdquo; and he pointed to Bes in his gaudy attire, &ldquo;has brought the whole
+      matter to my mind whence it had fallen, and, Shabaka,&rdquo; here he hiccupped,
+      &ldquo;you may have noted how differently things look to the naked eye and when
+      seen through a wine goblet. He has told me a wonderful story&mdash;what
+      was the story, Dwarf?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;May it please the great King,&rdquo; answered Bes, rolling his big eyes, &ldquo;only
+      a little tale of another king of my own country whom I used to think great
+      until I came to the East and learned what kings could be. That king had a
+      servant with whom he used to hunt, indeed he was my own father. One day
+      they were out together seeking a certain elephant whose tusks were bigger
+      than those of any other. Then the elephant charged the king and my father,
+      at the risk of his life, killed it and claimed the tusks, as is the custom
+      among the Ethiopians. But the king who greatly desired those tusks, caused
+      my father to be poisoned that he might take them as his heir. Only before
+      he died, my father, who could talk the elephant language, told all the
+      other elephants of this wickedness, at which they were very angry, because
+      they knew well that from the beginning of time their tusks have belonged
+      to him who killed them, and the elephants are a people who do not like
+      ancient laws to be altered. So the elephants made a league together and
+      when the king next went out hunting, taking heed of nothing else they
+      rushed at the king and tore him into pieces no bigger than a finger, and
+      then killed the prince his son, who was behind him. That is the tale of
+      the elephants who love Law, O King.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, yes,&rdquo; said his Majesty, waking up from a little doze, &ldquo;but what
+      became of the great tusks? I should like to have them.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I inherited them as my father&rsquo;s son, O King, and gave them to my master,
+      who doubtless will send them to you when he gets back to Egypt.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;A strange tale,&rdquo; said the King. &ldquo;A very strange tale which seems to
+      remind me of something that happened not long ago. What was it? Well, it
+      does not matter. Egyptian, do you seek any reward for that shot of yours
+      at the lioness? If so, it shall be given to you. Have you a grudge against
+      anyone, for instance?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;O King,&rdquo; I answered, &ldquo;I do seek justice against a certain man. This
+      evening I was led to the bank of the river in charge of the eunuch Houman,
+      who desired to take me for a row in a boat. On the road, for no offence he
+      struck me on the head with the handle of his fly-whip. See, here are the
+      marks of it, O King. Unless the King commanded him to strike me which I do
+      not remember, I seek justice against this eunuch.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Now the King grew very angry and cried,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What! Did the dog dare to strike a freeborn noble Egyptian?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Here Houman threw himself upon his face in terror and began to babble out
+      I know not what about the punishment of the boat, which was unlucky for
+      him, for it put the matter into the King&rsquo;s mind.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The boat!&rdquo; he cried. &ldquo;Ah! yes, the boat; being so fat you will fit it
+      well, Eunuch. To the boat with him, and before he enters it a hundred
+      blows upon the feet with the rods,&rdquo; and he pointed at him with his
+      sceptre.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then guards sprang upon Houman and dragged him away. As he went he
+      clutched at Bes, but hissing something into his ear, the dwarf bit him
+      through the hand till he let go. So Houman departed and the King&rsquo;s guests
+      laughed at the sight, for he had worked mischief to many.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When he had gone the King stared at me and asked,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But why did I disturb you from your sleep, Egyptian? Oh! I remember. This
+      dwarf says that he has seen the fairest woman in the whole world, and the
+      most learned, some lady of Egypt, but that he does not know her name, that
+      you alone know her name. I disturbed you that you might tell it to me but
+      if you have forgotten it, you can go back to your bed and rest there till
+      it returns to you. There are plenty of boats in the river, Egyptian.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The fairest and most learned woman in the world?&rdquo; I said astonished. &ldquo;Who
+      can that be, unless he means the lady Amada?&rdquo; and I paused, wishing I had
+      bitten out my tongue before I spoke, for I smelt a trap.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, Master,&rdquo; said Bes in a clear voice. &ldquo;That was the name, the lady
+      Amada.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Who is this lady Amada?&rdquo; asked the King, seeming to grow suddenly sober.
+      &ldquo;And what is she like?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I can tell you that, O King,&rdquo; said Bes. &ldquo;She is like a willow shaken in
+      the wind for slenderness and grace. She has eyes like those of a buck at
+      gaze; she has lips like rosebuds; she has hair black as the night and soft
+      as silk, the odour of which floats round her like that of flowers. She has
+      a voice that whispers like the evening wind, and yet is rich as honey. Oh!
+      she is beautiful as a goddess and when men see her their hearts melt like
+      wax in the sun and for a long while they can look upon no other woman, not
+      till the next day indeed if they meet her in the evening,&rdquo; and Bes smacked
+      his thick lips and gazed upwards.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;By the holy Fire,&rdquo; laughed the King, &ldquo;I feel my heart melting already.
+      Say, Shabaka, what do you know of this Amada? Is she married or a maiden?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Now I answered because I must, for after all that boat was not far away,
+      nor did I dare to lie.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;She is married, O King of kings, to the goddess Isis whom she loves
+      alone.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;A woman married to a woman, or rather to the Queen of women,&rdquo; he answered
+      laughing, &ldquo;well, that matters little.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Nay, O King, it matters much since she is under the protection of Isis
+      and inviolate.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That remains to be seen, Shabaka. I think that I would dare the wrath of
+      every false goddess in heaven to win such a prize. Learned also, you say,
+      Shabaka.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Aye, O King, full of learning to the finger tips, a prophetess also, one
+      in whom the divine fire burns like a lamp in a vase of alabaster, one to
+      whom visions come and who can read the future and the past.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Still better,&rdquo; said the King. &ldquo;One, then, who would be a fitting consort
+      for the King of kings, who wearies of fat, round-eyed, sweetmeat-sucking
+      fools whereof there are hundreds yonder,&rdquo; and he pointed towards the House
+      of Women. &ldquo;Who is this maid&rsquo;s father?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He is dead but she is the niece of the Prince Peroa, and by birth the
+      Royal Lady of Egypt, O King.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Good, then she is well born also. Hearken, O Shabaka, to-morrow you start
+      back to Egypt, bearing letters from me to my vassal Peroa, and to my
+      Satrap Idernes, bidding Peroa to hand over this lady Amada to Idernes and
+      bidding Idernes to send her to the East with all honour and without delay,
+      that she may enter my household as one of my wives.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Now I was filled with rage and horror, and about to refuse this mission
+      when Bes broke in swiftly,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Will the King of kings be pleased to give command as to my master&rsquo;s safe
+      and honourable escort to Egypt?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is commanded with all things necessary for Shabaka the Egyptian and
+      the dwarf his servant, with the gold and gems and slaves he won from me in
+      a wager, and everything else that is his. Let it be recorded.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Scribes sprang forward and wrote the King&rsquo;s words down, while like one in
+      a dream I thought to myself that they could not now be altered. The King
+      watched them sleepily for a while, then seemed to wake up and grow
+      clear-minded again. At least he said to me,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Fortune has shown you smiles and frowns to-day, Egyptian, and the smiles
+      last. Yet remember that she has teeth behind her lips wherewith to tear
+      out the throat of the faithless. Man, if you play me false or fail in your
+      mission, be sure that you shall die and in such a fashion that will make
+      you think of yonder boat as a pleasant bed, and with you this woman Amada
+      and her uncle Peroa, and all your kin and hers; yes,&rdquo; he added with a
+      burst of shrewdness, &ldquo;and even that abortion of a dwarf to whom I have
+      listened because he amused me, but who perhaps is more cunning than he
+      seems.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;O King of kings,&rdquo; I said, &ldquo;I will not be false.&rdquo; But I did not add to
+      whom I would be true.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Good. Ere long I shall visit Egypt, as I have told you, and there I shall
+      pass judgment on you and others. Till then, farewell. Fear nothing, for
+      you have my safe-conduct. Begone, both of you, for you weary me. But first
+      drink and keep the cup, and in exchange, give me that bow of yours which
+      shoots so far and straight.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is the King&rsquo;s,&rdquo; I answered as I pledged him in the golden, jewelled
+      cup which a butler had handed to me.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then the curtain fell in front of the throne and chamberlains came forward
+      to lead me and Bes back to our lodging, one of whom took the cup and bore
+      it in front of us. Down the hall we went between the feasting nobles who
+      all bowed to one to whom the Great King had shown favour, and so out of
+      the palace through the quiet night back to the house where I had dwelt
+      while waiting audience of the King. Here the chamberlains bade me
+      farewell, giving the cup to Bes to carry, and saying that on the morrow
+      early my gold should be brought to me together with all that was needed
+      for my journey, also one who would receive the bow I had promised to the
+      King, which had already been returned to my lodgings with everything that
+      was ours. Then they bowed and went.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We entered the house, climbing a stair to an upper chamber. Here Bes
+      barred the door and the shutters, making sure that none could see or hear
+      us.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then he turned, threw his arms about me, kissed my hand and burst into
+      tears.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0007" id="link2HCH0007">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER VII. BES STEALS THE SIGNET
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh! my Master,&rdquo; gulped Bes, &ldquo;I weep because I am tired, so take no
+      notice. The day was long and during it twice at least there has been but
+      the twinkling of an eyelid, but the thickness of a finger nail, but the
+      weight of a hair between you and death.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; I said, &ldquo;and you were the eyelid, the finger nail and the hair.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, Master, not I, but something beyond me. The tool carves the statue
+      and the hand holds the tool but the spirit guides the hand. Not once only
+      since the sun rose has my mind been empty as a drum. Then something struck
+      on it, perhaps the holy Tanofir, perhaps another, and it knew what note to
+      sound. So it was when I cursed you in the boat. So it was when I walked
+      back with the eunuch, meaning to kill him on the road, and then remembered
+      that the death of one vile eunuch would not help you at all, whereas alive
+      he could bring me to the presence of the King, if I paid him, as I did out
+      of the gold in your purse which I carried. Moreover he earned his hire,
+      for when the King grew dull, wine not yet having taken a hold on him, it
+      was he who brought me to his mind as one who might amuse him, being so
+      ugly and different from others, if only for a few minutes, after the women
+      dancers had failed to do so.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And what happened then, Bes?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then I was fetched and did my juggling tricks with that snake I caught
+      and tamed, which is in my pouch now. You should not hate it any more,
+      Master, for it played your game well. After this the King began to talk to
+      me and I saw that his mind was ill at ease about you whom he knew that he
+      had wronged. So I told him that story of an elephant that my father killed
+      to save a king&mdash;it grew up in my mind like a toadstool in the night,
+      Master, did this story of an ungrateful king and what befell him. Then the
+      King became still more unquiet in his heart about you and asked the
+      eunuch, Houman, where you were, to which he answered that by his order you
+      were sleeping in a boat and might not be disturbed. So that arrow of mine
+      missed its mark because the King did not like to eat his own words and
+      cause you to be brought from out the boat, whither he had sent you. Now
+      when everything seemed lost, some god, or perhaps the holy Tanofir who is
+      ever present with me to see that I have not forgotten him, put it into the
+      King&rsquo;s mouth to begin to talk about women and to ask me if I had ever seen
+      any fairer than those dancers whom I met going out as I came in. I
+      answered that I had not noticed them much because they were so ugly, as
+      indeed all women had seemed to me since once upon the banks of Nile I had
+      looked upon one who was as Hathor herself for beauty. The King asked me
+      who this might be and I answered that I did not know since I had never
+      dared to ask the name of one whom even my master held to be as a goddess,
+      although as boy and girl they had been brought up together.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then the King saw his opportunity to ease his conscience and inquired of
+      an old councillor if there were not a law which gave the king power to
+      alter his decree if thereby he could satisfy his soul and acquire
+      knowledge. The councillor answered that there was such a law and began to
+      give examples of its working, till the King cut him short and said that by
+      virtue of it he commanded that you should be brought out of your bed in
+      the boat and led before him to answer a question.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;So you were sent for, Master, but I did not go with the messengers,
+      fearing lest if I did the King would forget all about the matter before
+      you came. Therefore I stayed and amused him with tales of hunting, till I
+      could not think of any more, for you were long in coming. Indeed I began
+      to fear lest he should declare the feast at an end. But at the last, just
+      as he was yawning and spoke to one of his councillors, bidding him send to
+      the House of Women that they might make ready to receive him there, you
+      came, and the rest you know.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Now I looked at Bes and said,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;May the blessing of all the gods of all the lands be on your head, since
+      had it not been for you I should now lie in torment in that boat. Hearken,
+      friend: If ever we reach Egypt again, you will set foot on it, not as a
+      slave but as a free man. You will be rich also, Bes, that is, if we can
+      take the gold I won with us, since half of it is yours.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Bes squatted down upon the floor and looked up at me with a strange smile
+      on his ugly face.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You have given me three things, Master,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Gold, which I do not
+      want at present; freedom, which I do not want at present and mayhap, never
+      shall while you live and love me; and the title of friend. This I do want,
+      though why I should care to hear it from your lips I am not sure, seeing
+      that for a long while I have known that it was spoken in your heart. Since
+      you have said it, however, I will tell you something which hitherto I have
+      hid even from you. I have a right to that name, for if your blood is high,
+      O Shabaka, so is mine. Know that this poor dwarf whom you took captive and
+      saved long years ago was more than the petty chief which he declared
+      himself to be. He was and is by right the King of the Ethiopians and that
+      throne with all its wealth and power he could claim to-morrow if he
+      would.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The King of the Ethiopians!&rdquo; I said. &ldquo;Oh! friend Bes, I pray you to
+      remember that we no longer stand in yonder court lying for our lives.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I speak no lie, O Shabaka, I before you am King of the Ethiopians.
+      Moreover, I laid that kingship down of my own will and should I so desire,
+      can take it up again when I will, since the Ethiopians are faithful to
+      their kings.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why?&rdquo; I asked, astonished.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Master, for so I will still call you who am not yet upon the land of
+      Egypt where you have promised me freedom, do you remember anything strange
+      about the people of that tribe from among whom you and the Egyptian
+      soldiers captured me by surprise, because they wished to drive you and
+      your following from their country?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Now I thought and answered,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, one thing. I saw no women in their camp, nor any sign of children.
+      This I know because I gave orders that such were to be spared and it was
+      reported to me that there were none, so I supposed that they had fled
+      away.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There were none to fly, Master. That tribe was a brotherhood which had
+      abjured women. Look on me now. I am misshapen, hideous, am I not? Born
+      thus, it is said, because before my birth my mother was frightened by a
+      dwarf. Yet the law of the Ethiopians is that their kings must marry within
+      a year of their crowning. Therefore I chose a woman to be the queen whom I
+      had long desired in secret. She scorned me, vowing that not for all the
+      thrones of all the world would she be mated to a monster, and that if it
+      were done by force she would kill herself, a saying that went abroad
+      throughout the land. I said that she had spoken well and sent her in
+      safety from the country, after which I too laid down my crown and departed
+      with some who loved me, to form a brotherhood of women-haters further down
+      the Nile, beyond the borders of Ethiopia. There the Egyptian force of
+      which you were in command, attacked us unprepared, and you made me your
+      slave. That is all.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But why did you do this, Bes, seeing that maidens are many and all would
+      not have thought thus?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Because I wished for that one only, Master; also I feared lest I should
+      become the father of a breed of twisted dwarfs. So I who was a king am now
+      a slave, and yet, who knows which way the Grasshopper will jump? One day
+      from a slave I may again grow into a king. And now let us seek that
+      wherein kings are as slaves and slaves as kings&mdash;sleep.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      So we lay down and slept, I thanking the gods that my bed was not yonder
+      in the boat upon the great river.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When I woke refreshed, though after all I had gone through on the
+      yesterday my brain still swam a little, the light was pouring through the
+      carved work of the shuttered windows. By it I saw Bes seated on the floor
+      engaged in doing something to his bow, which, as I have said, had been
+      restored to us with our other weapons, and asked him sleepily what it was.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Master,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;yonder King demanded your bow and therefore a bow must
+      be sent to him. But there is no need for it to be that with which you shot
+      the lions, which, too, you value above anything you have, seeing that it
+      came down to you from your forefather who was a Pharaoh of Egypt, and has
+      been your companion from boyhood ever since you were strong enough to draw
+      it. As you may remember I copied that bow out of a somewhat lighter wood,
+      which I could bend with ease, and it is the copy that we will give to the
+      King. Only first I must set your string upon it, for that may have been
+      noted; also make one or two marks that are on your bow which I am
+      finishing now, having begun the task with the dawn.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You are clever,&rdquo; I said laughing, &ldquo;and I am glad. The holy Tanofir,
+      looking on my bow, once had a vision. It was that an arrow loosed from it
+      would drink the blood of a great king and save Egypt. But what king and
+      when, he did not see.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The dwarf nodded and answered,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have heard that tale and so have others. Therefore I play this trick
+      since it is better that yonder palace dweller should get the arrow than
+      the bow. There, it is finished to the last scratch, and none, save you and
+      I, would know them apart. Till we are clear of this cursed land your bow
+      is mine, Master, and you must find you another of the Eastern make.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Master,&rdquo; I repeated after him. &ldquo;Say, Bes, did I dream or did you in truth
+      tell me last night that you are by birth and right the king of a great
+      country?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I told you that, Master and it is true, no dream, since joy and suffering
+      mixed unseal the lips and from them comes that at times which the heart
+      would hide. Now I ask a favour of you, that you will speak no more of this
+      matter either to me or to any other, man or woman, unless I should speak
+      of it first. Let it be as though it were indeed a dream.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is granted,&rdquo; I said as I rose and clothed myself, not in my own
+      garments which had been taken from me in the palace, but in the splendid
+      silken robes that had been set upon me after I was loosed from the boat.
+      When this was done and I had washed and combed my long, curling hair, we
+      descended to a lower chamber and called for the woman of the house to
+      bring us food, of which I ate heartily. As we finished our meal we heard
+      shouts in the street outside of, &ldquo;Make way for the servants of the King!&rdquo;
+       and looking through the window-place, saw a great cavalcade approaching,
+      headed by two princes on horseback.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Now I pray that yonder Tyrant has not changed his mind and that these do
+      not come to take me back to the boat,&rdquo; I said in a low voice.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Have no fear, Master,&rdquo; answered Bes, &ldquo;seeing that you have touched his
+      sceptre and drunk from his cup which he gave to you. After these things no
+      harm can happen to you in any land he rules. Therefore be at ease and deal
+      with these fellows proudly.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      A minute later two princes entered followed by slaves who bore many
+      things, among them those hide bags filled with gold that had been set
+      beneath me in the boat. The elder of them bowed, greeting me with the
+      title of &ldquo;Lord,&rdquo; and I bowed back to him. Then he handed me certain rolls
+      tied up with silk and sealed, which he said I was to deliver as the King
+      had commanded to the King&rsquo;s Satrap in Egypt, and to the Prince Peroa. Also
+      he gave me other letters addressed to the King&rsquo;s servants on the road and
+      written on tablets of clay in a writing I could not read, with all of
+      which I touched my forehead in the Eastern fashion.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      After this he told me that by noon all would be ready for my journey which
+      I should make with the rank of the King&rsquo;s Envoy, duly provisioned and
+      escorted by his servants, with liberty to use the royal horses from post
+      to post. Then he ordered the slaves to bring in the gifts which the King
+      sent to me, and these were many, including even suits of flexible armour
+      that would turn any sword-thrust or arrow.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I thanked him, saying that I would be ready to start by noon, and asked
+      whether the King wished to see me before I rode. He replied that he had so
+      wished, but that as he was suffering in his head from the effects of the
+      sun, he could not. He bade me, however, remember all that he had said to
+      me and to be sure that the beauteous lady Amada, of whom I had spoken, was
+      sent to him without delay. In that case my reward should be great; but if
+      I failed to fulfil his commands, then his wrath would be greater and I
+      should perish miserably as he had promised.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I bowed and made no answer, after which he and his companions opened the
+      bags of gold to show me that it was there, offering to weigh it again
+      against my servant, the dwarf, so that I could see that nothing had been
+      taken away.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I replied that the King&rsquo;s word was truer than any scale, whereon the bags
+      were tied up again and sealed. Then I produced the bow, or rather its
+      counterfeit, and having shown it to the princes, wrapped it and six of my
+      own arrows in a linen cloth, to be taken to the King, with a message that
+      though hard to draw it was the deadliest weapon in the world. The elder of
+      them took it, bowed and bade me farewell, saying that perhaps we should
+      meet again ere long in Egypt, if my gods gave me a safe journey. So we
+      parted and I was glad to see the last of them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Scarcely had they gone when the six hunters whom I had won in the wager
+      and thereby saved from death, entered the chamber and fell upon their
+      knees before me, asking for orders as to making ready my gear for the
+      journey. I inquired of them if they were coming also, to which their
+      spokesman replied that they were my slaves to do what I commanded.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do you desire to come?&rdquo; I inquired.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;O Lord Shabaka,&rdquo; answered their spokesman, &ldquo;we do, though some of us must
+      leave wives and children behind us.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why?&rdquo; I asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;For two reasons, Lord. Here we are men disgraced, though through no fault
+      of our own and if you were to leave us in this land, soon the anger of the
+      King would find us out and we should lose not only our wives and children,
+      but with them our lives. Whereas in another land we may get other wives
+      and more children, but never shall we get another life. Therefore we would
+      leave those dear ones to our friends, knowing that soon the women will
+      forget and find other husbands, and that the children will grow up to
+      whatever fate is appointed them, thinking of us, their fathers, as dead.
+      Secondly we are hunters by trade, and we have seen that you are a great
+      hunter, one whom we shall always be proud to serve in the chase or in war,
+      one, too, who went out of his path to save our lives, because he saw that
+      we had been unjustly doomed to a cruel death. Therefore we desire nothing
+      better than to be your slaves, hoping that perchance we may earn our
+      liberty from you in days to come by our good service.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Is that the wish of all of you?&rdquo; I asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Speaking one by one, they said that it was, though tears rose in the eyes
+      of some of them who were married at the thought of parting from their
+      women and their little ones, who, it seemed might not be brought with them
+      because they were the people of the King and had not been named in the
+      bet. Moreover, horses could not be found for so many, nor could they
+      travel fast.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Come then,&rdquo; I said, &ldquo;and know that while you are faithful to me, I will
+      be good to you, men of my own trade, and perhaps in the end set you free
+      in a land where brave fellows are not given to be torn to pieces by wild
+      beasts at the word of any kind. But if you fail me or betray me, then
+      either I will kill you, or sell you to those who deal in slaves, to work
+      at the oar, or in the mines till you die.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Henceforth we have no lord but you, O Shabaka,&rdquo; they said, and one after
+      another took my hand and pressed it to their foreheads, vowing to be true
+      to me in all things while we lived.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      So I bade them begone to bid farewell to those they loved and return again
+      within half an hour of noon, never expecting, to tell the truth, that they
+      would come. Indeed I did this to give them the opportunity of escaping if
+      they saw fit, and hiding themselves where they would. But as I have often
+      noted, the trade of hunting breeds honesty in the blood and at the hour
+      appointed all of these men appeared, one of them with a woman who carried
+      a child in her arms, clinging to him and weeping bitterly. When her veil
+      slipped aside I saw that she was young and very fair to look on.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      So at noon we left the city of the Great King in the charge of two of his
+      officers who brought me his thanks for the bow I had sent him, which he
+      said he should treasure above everything he possessed, a saying at which
+      Bes rolled his yellow eyes and grinned. We were mounted on splendid
+      stallions from the royal stables and clad in the shirts of mail that had
+      been presented to us, though when we were clear of the city we took these
+      off because of the heat, also because that which Bes wore chafed him,
+      being too long for his squat shape. Our goods together with the bags of
+      gold were laden on sumpter horses which were led by my six hunter slaves.
+      Four picked soldiers brought up the rear, mighty men from the King&rsquo;s own
+      bodyguard, and two of the royal postmen who served us as guides. Also
+      there were cooks and grooms with spare horses.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Thus we started in state and a great crowd watched us go. Our road ran by
+      the river which we must cross in barges lower down, so that in a few
+      minutes we came to that quay whither I had been led on the previous night
+      to die. Yes, there were the watching guards, and there floated the hateful
+      double boat, at the prow of which appeared the tortured face of the eunuch
+      Houman, who rolled his head from side to side to rid himself of the
+      torment of the flies. He caught sight of us and began to scream for pity
+      and forgiveness, whereat Bes smiled. The officers halted our cavalcade and
+      one of them approaching me said,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is the King&rsquo;s command, O Lord Shabaka, that you should look upon this
+      villain who traduced you to the King and afterwards dared to strike you.
+      If you will, enter the water and blind him, that your face may be the last
+      thing he sees before he passes into darkness.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I shook my head, but Bes into whose mind some thought had come, whispered
+      to me,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I wish to speak with yonder eunuch, so give me leave and fear nothing. I
+      will do him no hurt, only good, if I find the chance.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Then I said to the officer,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is not for great lords to avenge themselves upon the fallen. Yet my
+      slave here was also wronged and would say a word to yonder Houman.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;So be it,&rdquo; said the officer, &ldquo;only let him be careful not to hurt him too
+      sorely, lest he should die before the time and escape his punishment.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Then Bes tucked up his robes and waded into the river, flourishing a great
+      knife, while seeing him come, Houman began to scream with fear. He reached
+      the boat and bent over the eunuch, talking to him in a low voice. What he
+      did there I could not see because his cloak was spread out on either side
+      of the man&rsquo;s head. Presently, however, I caught sight of the flash of a
+      knife and heard yells of agony followed by groans, whereat I called to him
+      to return and let the fellow be. For when I remembered that his fate was
+      near to being my own, those sounds made me sick at heart and I grew angry
+      with Bes, though the cruel Easterns only laughed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At length he came back grinning and washing the blade of his knife in the
+      water. I spoke fiercely to him in my own language, and still he grinned
+      on, making no answer. When we were mounted again and riding away from that
+      horrible boat with its groaning prisoner, watching Bes whose behaviour and
+      silence I could not understand, I saw him sweep his hand across his great
+      mouth and thrust it swiftly into his bosom. After this he spoke readily
+      enough, though in a low voice lest someone who understood Egyptian should
+      overhear him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You are a fool, Master,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;to think that I should wish to waste
+      time in torturing that fat knave.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then why did you torture him?&rdquo; I asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Because my god, the Grasshopper, when he fashioned me a dwarf, gave me a
+      big mouth and good teeth,&rdquo; he answered, whereon I stared at him, thinking
+      that he had gone mad.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Listen, Master. I did not hurt Houman. All I did was to cut his cords
+      nearly through from the under side, so that when night comes he can break
+      them and escape, if he has the wit. Now, Master, you may not have noticed,
+      but I did, that before the King doomed you to death by the boat yesterday,
+      he took a certain round, white seal, a cylinder with gods and signs cut on
+      it, which hung by a gold chain from his girdle, and gave it to Houman to
+      be his warrant for all he did. This seal Houman showed to the Treasurer
+      whereon they produced the gold that was weighed in the scales against me,
+      and to others when he ordered the boat to be prepared for you to lie in.
+      Moreover he forgot to return it, for when he himself was dragged off to
+      the boat by direct command of the King, I caught sight of the chain
+      beneath his robe. Can you guess the rest?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not quite,&rdquo; I answered, for I wished to hear the tale in his own words.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, Master, when I was walking with Houman after he had put you in the
+      boat, I asked him about this seal. He showed it to me and said that he who
+      bore it was for the time the king of all the Empire of the East. It seems
+      that there is but one such seal which has descended from ancient days from
+      king to king, and that of it every officer, great or small, has an impress
+      in all lands. If the seal is produced to him, he compares it with the
+      impress and should the two agree, he obeys the order that is brought as
+      though the King had given it in person. When we reached the Court
+      doubtless Houman would have returned the seal, but seeing that the King
+      was, or feigned to be drunk, waited for fear lest it should be lost, and
+      with it his life. Then he was seized as you saw, and in his terror forgot
+      all about the seal, as did the King and his officers.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But, surely, Bes, those who took Houman to the boat would have removed
+      it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Master, even the most clear-sighted do not see well at night. At any rate
+      my hope was that they had not done so, and that is why I waded out to
+      prick the eyes of Houman. Moreover, as I had hoped, so it was; there
+      beneath his robe I saw the chain. Then I spoke to him, saying,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;&lsquo;I am come to put out your eyes, as you deserve, seeing how you have
+      treated my master. Still I will spare you at a price. Give me the King&rsquo;s
+      ancient white seal that opens all doors, and I will only make a pretence
+      of blinding you. Moreover I will cut your cords nearly through, so that
+      when the night comes you can break them, roll into the river and escape.&rsquo; 
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;&lsquo;Take it if you can,&rsquo; he said, &lsquo;and use it to injure or destroy that
+      accursed one.&rsquo;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;So you took it, Bes.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, Master, but not easily. Remember, it was on a chain about the man&rsquo;s
+      neck, and I could not draw it over his head, for, like his hands, his
+      throat was tied by a cord, as you remember yours was.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I remember very well,&rdquo; I said, &ldquo;for my throat is still sore from the rope
+      that ran to the same staples to which my hands were fastened.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, Master, and therefore if I drew the chain off his neck, it would
+      still have been on the ropes. I thought of trying to cut it with the
+      knife, but this was not easy because it is thick, and if I had dragged it
+      up on the blade of the knife it would have been seen, for many eyes were
+      watching me, Master. Then I took another counsel. While I pretended to be
+      putting out the eyes of Houman, I bent down and getting the chain between
+      my teeth I bit it through. One tooth broke&mdash;see, but the next
+      finished the business. I ate through the soft gold, Master, and then
+      sucked up the chain and the round white seal into my mouth, and that is
+      why I could not answer you just now, because my cheeks were full of chain.
+      So we have the King&rsquo;s seal that all the subject countries know and obey.
+      It may be useful, yonder in Egypt, and at least the gold is of value.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Clever!&rdquo; I exclaimed, &ldquo;very clever. But you have forgotten something,
+      Bes. When that knave escapes, he will tell the whole story and the King
+      will send after us and kill us who have stolen his royal seal.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think so, Master. First, it is not likely that Houman will
+      escape. He is very fat and soft and already suffers much. After a day in
+      the sun also he will be weak. Moreover I do not think that he can swim,
+      for eunuchs hate the water. So if he gets out of the boat it is probable
+      that he will drown in the river, since he dare not wade to the quay where
+      the guards will be waiting. But if he does escape by swimming across the
+      river, he will hide for his life&rsquo;s sake and never be seen again, and if by
+      chance he is caught, he will say that the seal fell into the water when he
+      was taken to the boat, or that one of the guards had stolen it. What he
+      will not say is that he had bargained it away with someone who in return,
+      cut his cords, since for that crime he must die by worse tortures than
+      those of the boat. Lastly we shall ride so fast that with six hours&rsquo; start
+      none will catch us. Or if they do I can throw away the chain and swallow
+      the seal.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      As Bes said, so it happened. The fate of Houman I never learned, and of
+      the theft of the seal I heard no more until a proclamation was issued to
+      all the kingdoms that a new one was in use. But this was not until long
+      afterwards when it had served my turn and that of Egypt.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0008" id="link2HCH0008">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER VIII. THE LADY AMADA
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      Now day by day, hour by hour and minute by minute every detail of that
+      journey appeared before me, but to set it all down is needless. As I,
+      Allan Quatermain, write the record of my vision, still I seem to hear the
+      thunder of our horses&rsquo; hoofs while we rushed forward at full gallop over
+      the plains, over the mountain passes and by the banks of rivers. The speed
+      at which we travelled was wonderful, for at intervals of about forty miles
+      were post-houses and at these, whatever might be the hour of day or night,
+      we found fresh horses from the King&rsquo;s stud awaiting us. Moreover, the
+      postmasters knew that we were coming, which astonished me until we
+      discovered that they had been warned of our arrival by two King&rsquo;s
+      messengers who travelled ahead of us.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      These men, it would seem, although our officers and guides professed
+      ignorance of the matter, must have left the King&rsquo;s palace at dawn on the
+      day of our departure, whereas we did not mount in the city till a little
+      after noon. Therefore they had six hours good start of us, and what is
+      more, travelled lighter than we did, having no sumpter beasts with them,
+      and no cooks or servants. Moreover, always they had the pick of the horses
+      and chose the three swiftest beasts, leading the third in case one of
+      their own should founder or meet with accident. Thus it came about that we
+      never caught them up although we covered quite a hundred miles a day. Only
+      once did I see them, far off upon the skyline of a mountain range which we
+      had to climb, but by the time we had reached its crest they were gone.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At length we came to the desert without accident and crossed it, though
+      more slowly. But even here the King had his posts which were in charge of
+      Arabs who lived in tents by wells of water, or sometimes where there was
+      none save what was brought to them. So still we galloped on, parched by
+      the burning sand beneath and the burning sand above, and reached the
+      borders of Egypt.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Here, upon the very boundary line, the two officers halted the cavalcade
+      saying that their orders were to return thence and make report to the
+      King. There then we parted, Bes and I with the six hunters who still chose
+      to cling to me, going forward and the officers of the King with the guides
+      and servants going back. The good horses that we rode from the last post
+      they gave to us by the King&rsquo;s command, together with the sumpter beasts,
+      since horses broken to the saddle were hard to come by in Egypt where they
+      were trained to draw chariots. These we took, sending back my thanks to
+      the King, and started on once more, Bes leading that beast which bore the
+      gold and the hunters serving as a guard.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Indeed I was glad to see the last of those Easterns although they had
+      brought us safely and treated us well, for all the while I was never sure
+      but that they had some orders to lead us into a trap, or perhaps to make
+      away with us in our sleep and take back the gold and the priceless,
+      rose-hued pearls, any two of which were worth it all. But such was not
+      their command nor did they dare to steal them on their own account, since
+      then, even if they escaped the vengeance of the King, their wives and all
+      their families would have paid the price.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Now we entered Egypt near the Salt Lakes that are not far from the head of
+      the Gulf, crossing the canal that the old Pharaohs had dug, which proved
+      easy for it was silted up. Before we reached it we found some peasant folk
+      labouring in their gardens and I heard one of them call to another,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Here come more of the Easterns. What is toward, think you, neighbour?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I do not know,&rdquo; answered the other, &ldquo;but when I passed down the canal
+      this morning, I saw a body of the Great King&rsquo;s guards gathering from the
+      fort. Doubtless it is to meet these men of whose coming the other two who
+      went by fifty hours ago, have warned the officers.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Now what does that mean?&rdquo; I asked of Bes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Neither more nor less than we have heard, Master. The two King&rsquo;s
+      messengers who have gone ahead of us all the way from the city, have told
+      the officer of the frontier fort that we are coming, so he has advanced to
+      the ford to meet us, for what purpose I do not know.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Nor do I,&rdquo; I said, &ldquo;but I wish we could take another road, if there were
+      one.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There is none, Master, for above and below the canal is full of water and
+      the banks are too steep for horses to climb. Also we must show no doubt or
+      fear.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He thought a while, then added,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Take the royal seal, Master. It may be useful.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He gave it to me, and I examined it more closely than I had done before.
+      It was a cylinder of plain white shell hung on a gold chain, that which
+      Bes had bitten through, but now mended again by taking out the broken
+      link. On this cylinder were cut figures; as I think of a priest presenting
+      a noble to a god, over whom was the crescent of the moon, while behind the
+      god stood a man or demon with a tall spear. Also between the figures were
+      mystic signs, meaning I know not what. The workmanship of the carving was
+      grown shallow with time and use for the cylinder seemed to be very
+      ancient, a sacred thing that had descended from generation to generation
+      and was threaded through with a bar of silver on which it turned.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I put the seal which was like no other that I had seen, being the work of
+      an early and simpler age, round my neck beneath my mail and we went on.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Descending the steep bank of the canal we came to the ford where the sand
+      that had silted in was covered by not more than a foot of water. As we
+      entered it, on the top of the further bank appeared a body of about thirty
+      armed and mounted men, one of whom carried the Great King&rsquo;s banner, on
+      which I noted was blazoned the very figures that were cut upon the
+      cylinder. Now it was too late to retreat, so we rode through the water and
+      met the soldiers. Their officer advanced, crying,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;In the name of the Great King, greeting, my lord Shabaka!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;In the name of the Great King, greeting!&rdquo; I answered. &ldquo;What would you
+      with Shabaka, Officer of the King?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Only to do him honour. The word of the King has reached us and we come to
+      escort you to the Court of Idernes, the Satrap of the King and Governor of
+      Egypt who sits at Sais.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That is not my road, Officer. I travel to Memphis to deliver the commands
+      of the King to my cousin, Peroa, the ruler of Egypt under the King.
+      Afterwards, perchance, I shall visit the high Idernes.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;To whom our commands are to take you now, my lord Shabaka, not
+      afterwards,&rdquo; said the officer sternly, glancing round at his armed escort.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I come to give commands, not to receive them, Captain of the King.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Seize Shabaka and his servants,&rdquo; said the officer briefly, whereon the
+      soldiers rode forward to surround us.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I waited till they were near at hand. Then suddenly I plunged my hand
+      beneath my robe and drew out the small, white seal which I held before the
+      eyes of the officer, saying,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Who is it that dares to lay a finger upon the holder of the King&rsquo;s White
+      Seal? Surely that man is ready for death.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The officer stared at it, then leapt from his horse and flung himself face
+      downwards on the ground, crying,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is the ancient signet of the Kings of the East, given to their first
+      forefather by Samas the Sungod, on which hangs the fortunes of the Great
+      House! Pardon, my lord Shabaka.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is granted,&rdquo; I answered, &ldquo;because what you did you did in ignorance.
+      Now go to the Satrap Idernes and say to him that if he would have speech
+      with the bearer of the King&rsquo;s seal which all must obey, he will find him
+      at Memphis. Farewell,&rdquo; and with Bes and the six hunters I rode through the
+      guards, none striving to hinder me.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That was well done, Master,&rdquo; said Bes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; I said. &ldquo;Those two messengers who went ahead of us brought orders
+      to the frontier guard of Idernes that I should be taken to him as a
+      prisoner. I do not know why, but I think because things are passing in
+      Egypt of which we know nothing and the King did not desire that I should
+      see the Prince Peroa and give him news that I might have gathered. Mayhap
+      we have been outwitted, Bes, and the business of the lady Amada is but a
+      pretext to pick a quarrel suddenly before Peroa can strike the first
+      blow.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Perhaps, Master, for these Easterns are very crafty. But, Master, what
+      happens to those who make a false use of the King&rsquo;s ancient, sacred
+      signet? I think they have cut the ropes which tie them to earth,&rdquo; and he
+      looked upwards to the sky rolling his yellow eyes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;They must find new ropes, Bes, and quickly, before they are caught.
+      Hearken. You have sat upon a throne and I can speak out to you. Think you
+      that my cousin, the Prince Peroa, loves to be the servant of this distant,
+      Eastern king, he who by right is Pharaoh of Egypt? Peroa must strike or
+      lose his niece and perchance his life. Forward, that we may warn him.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And if he will not strike, Master, knowing the King&rsquo;s might and being
+      somewhat slow to move?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then, Bes, I think that you and I had best go hunting far away in those
+      lands you know, where even the Great King cannot follow us.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And where, if only I can find a woman who does not make me ill to look
+      on, and whom I do not make ill, I too can once more be a king, Master, and
+      the lord of many thousand brave armed men. I must speak of that matter to
+      the holy Tanofir.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Who doubtless will know what to advise you, Bes; or, if he dies not, I
+      shall.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      For a while we rode on in silence, each thinking his own thoughts. Then
+      Bes said,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Master, before so very long we shall reach the Nile, and having with us
+      gold in plenty can buy boats and hire crews. It comes into my mind that we
+      should do well for our own safety and comfort to start at once on a
+      hunting journey far from Egypt; in the land of the Ethiopians, Master.
+      There perchance I could gather together some of the wise men in whose
+      hands I left the rule of my kingdom, and submit to them this question of a
+      woman to marry me. The Ethiopians are a faithful people, Master, and will
+      not reject me because I have spent some years seeing the world afar, that
+      I might learn how to rule them better.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have remembered that it cannot be, Bes,&rdquo; I said.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why not, Master?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;For this reason. You left your country because of a woman? I cannot leave
+      mine again because of a woman.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Bes rolled his eyes around as though he thought to see that woman in the
+      desert. Not discovering her, he stared upwards and there found light.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Is she perchance named the lady Amada, Master?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I nodded.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;So. The lady Amada who you told the Great King is the most beautiful one
+      in the whole world, causing the fire of Love to burn up in his royal
+      heart, and with it many other things of which we do not know at present.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;<i>You</i> told him, Bes,&rdquo; I said angrily.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I told him of a beautiful one; I did not tell him her name, Master, and
+      although I never thought of it at the time, perhaps she will be angry with
+      him who told her name.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Now fear took hold of me, and Bes saw it in my face.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do not be afraid, Master. If there is trouble I will swear that I told
+      the Great King that lady&rsquo;s name.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, Bes, but how would that fit in with the story, seeing that I was
+      brought out of the boat for this very purpose?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Quite easily, Master, since I will say that you were led from the boat to
+      confirm my tale. Oh! she will be angry with me, no doubt, but in Egypt
+      even a dwarf cannot be killed because he has declared a certain lady to be
+      the most beautiful in the world. But, Master, tell me, when did you learn
+      to love her?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;When we were boy and girl, Bes. We used to play together, being cousins,
+      and I used to hold her hand. Then suddenly she refused to let me hold her
+      hand any more, and I being quite grown up then, though she was younger,
+      understood that I had better go away.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I should have stopped where I was, Master.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, Bes. She was studying to be a priestess and my great uncle, the holy
+      Tanofir, told me that I had better go away. So I went down south hunting
+      and fighting in command of the troops, and met you, Bes.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Which perhaps was better for you, Master, than to stop to watch the lady
+      Amada acquire learning. Still, I wonder whether the holy Tanofir is <i>always</i>
+      right. You see, Master, he thinks a great deal of priests and priestesses,
+      and is so very old that he has forgotten all about love and that without
+      it there never would have been a holy Tanofir.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The holy Tanofir thinks of souls, not of bodies, Bes.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, Master. Still, oil is of no use without a lamp, or a soul without a
+      body, at least here underneath the sun, or so we were taught who worship
+      the Grasshopper. But, Master, when you came back from all your hunting,
+      what happened then?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then I found, Bes, that the lady Amada, having acquired all the learning
+      possible, had taken her first vows to Isis, which she said she would not
+      break for any man on earth although she might have done so without crime.
+      Therefore, although I was dear to her, as a brother would have been had
+      she had one, and she swore that she had never even thought of another man,
+      she refused so much as to think of marrying who dreamed only of the
+      heavenly perfections of the lady Isis.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ump!&rdquo; said Bes. &ldquo;We Ethiopians have Priestesses of the Grasshopper, or
+      the Grasshopper&rsquo;s wife, but they do not think of her like that. I hope
+      that one day something stronger than herself will not cause the lady Amada
+      to break her vows to the heavenly Isis. Only then, perhaps, it may be for
+      the sake of another man who did not go off to the East on account of such
+      fool&rsquo;s talk. But here is a village and the horses are spent. Let us stop
+      and eat, as I suppose even the lady Amada does sometimes.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      On the following afternoon we crossed the Nile, and towards sunset entered
+      the vast and ancient city of Memphis. On its white walls floated the
+      banners of the Great King which Bes pointed out to me, saying that
+      wherever we went in the whole world, it seemed that we could never be free
+      from those accursed symbols.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;May I live to spit upon them and cast them into the moat,&rdquo; I answered
+      savagely, for as I drew near to Amada they grew ten times more hateful to
+      me than they had been before.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In truth I was nearer to Amada than I thought, for after we had passed the
+      enclosure of the temple of Ptah, the most wonderful and the mightiest in
+      the whole world, we came to the temple of Isis. There near to the pylon
+      gate we met a procession of her priests and priestesses advancing to offer
+      the evening sacrifice of song and flowers, clad, all of them, in robes of
+      purest white. It was a day of festival, so singers went with them. After
+      the singers came a band of priestesses bearing flowers, in front of whom
+      walked another priestess shaking a <i>sistrum</i> that made a little
+      tinkling music.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Even at a distance there was something about the tall and slender shape of
+      this priestess that stirred me. When we came nearer I saw why, for it was
+      Amada herself. Through the thin veil she wore I could see her dark and
+      tender eyes set beneath the broad brow that was so full of thought, and
+      the sweet, curved mouth that was like no other woman&rsquo;s. Moreover there
+      could be no doubt since the veil parting above her breast showed the
+      birth-mark for which she was famous, the mark of the young moon, the sign
+      of Isis.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I sprang from my horse and ran towards her. She looked up and saw me. At
+      first she frowned, then her face grew wondering, then tender, and I
+      thought that her red lips shaped my name. Moreover in her confusion she
+      let the <i>sistrum</i> fall.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I muttered &ldquo;Amada!&rdquo; and stepped forward, but priests ran between us and
+      thrust me away. Next moment she had recovered the <i>sistrum</i> and
+      passed on with her head bowed. Nor did she lift her eyes to look back.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Begone, man!&rdquo; cried a priest, &ldquo;Begone, whoever you may be. Because you
+      wear Eastern armour do you think that you can dare the curse of Isis?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Then I fell back, the holy image of the goddess passed and the procession
+      vanished through the pylon gate. I, Shabaka the Egyptian, stood by my
+      horse and watched it depart. I was happy because the lady Amada was alive,
+      well, and more beautiful than ever; also because she had shown signs of
+      joy and confusion at seeing me again. Yet I was unhappy because I met her
+      still filling a holy office which built a wall between us, also because it
+      seemed to me an evil omen that I should have been repelled from her by a
+      priest of Isis who talked of the curse of the goddess. Moreover the sacred
+      statue, I suppose by accident, turned towards me as it passed and perhaps
+      by the chance of light, seemed to frown upon me.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Thus I thought as Shabaka hundreds of years before the Christian era, but
+      as Allan Quatermain the modern man, to whom it was given so marvellously
+      to behold all these things and who in beholding them, yet never quite lost
+      the sense of his own identity of to-day, I was amazed. For I knew that
+      this lady Amada was the same being though clad in different flesh, as that
+      other lady with whom I had breathed the magical <i>Taduki</i> fumes which
+      had power to rend the curtain of the past, or, perhaps, only to breed
+      dreams of what it might have been.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      To the outward eye, indeed she was different, as I was different, taller,
+      more slender, larger-eyed, with longer and slimmer hands than those of any
+      Western woman, and on the whole even more beautiful and alluring. Moreover
+      that mysterious look which from time to time I had seen on Lady Ragnall&rsquo;s
+      face, was more constant on that of the lady Amada. It brooded in the deep
+      eyes and settled in a curious smile about the curves of the lips, a smile
+      that was not altogether human, such a smile as one might wear who had
+      looked on hidden things and heard voices that spoke beyond the limits of
+      the world.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Somehow neither then nor at any other time during all my dream, could I
+      imagine this Amada, this daughter of a hundred kings, whose blood might be
+      traced back through dynasty on dynasty, as nothing but a woman who nurses
+      children upon her breast. It was as though something of our common nature
+      had been bred out of her and something of another nature whereof we have
+      no ken, had entered to fill its place. And yet these two women were the
+      same, that I <i>knew</i>, or at any rate, much of them was the same, for
+      who can say what part of us we leave behind as we flit from life to life,
+      to find it again elsewhere in the abysms of Time and Change? One thing too
+      was quite identical&mdash;the birthmark of the new moon above the breast
+      which the priests of the Kendah had declared was always the seal that
+      marked their prophetess, the guardian of the Holy Child.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When the procession had quite departed and I could no longer hear the
+      sound of singing, I remounted and rode on to my house, or rather to that
+      of my mother, the great lady Tiu, which was situated beneath the wall of
+      the old palace facing towards the Nile. Indeed my heart was full of this
+      mother of mine whom I loved and who loved me, for I was her only child,
+      and my father had been long dead; so long that I could not remember him.
+      Eight months had gone by since I saw her face and in eight months who knew
+      what might have happened? The thought made me cold for she, who was aged
+      and not too strong, perhaps had been gathered to Osiris. Oh! if that were
+      so!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I shook my tired horse to a canter, Bes riding ahead of me to clear a road
+      through the crowded street in which, at this hour of sundown, all the
+      idlers of Memphis seemed to have gathered. They stared at me because it
+      was not common to see men riding in Memphis, and with little love, since
+      from my dress and escort they took me to be some envoy from their hated
+      master, the Great King of the East. Some even threatened to bar the way;
+      but we thrust through and presently turned into a thoroughfare of private
+      houses standing in their own gardens. Ours was the third of these. At its
+      gate I leapt from my horse, pushed open the closed door and hastened in to
+      seek and learn.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I had not far to go for, there in the courtyard, standing at the head of
+      our modest household and dressed in her festal robes, was my mother, the
+      stately and white-haired lady Tiu, as one stands who awaits the coming of
+      an honoured guest. I ran to her and kneeling, kissed her hand, saying,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My mother! My mother, I have come safe home and greet you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I greet you also, my son,&rdquo; she answered, bending down and kissing me on
+      the brow, &ldquo;who have been in far lands and passed so many dangers. I greet
+      you and thank the guardian gods who have brought you safe home again.
+      Rise, my son.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I rose and kissed her on the face, then looked at the servants who were
+      bowing their welcome to me, and said,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How comes it, Lady of the House, that all are gathered here? Did you
+      await some guest?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We awaited you, my son. For an hour have we stood here listening for the
+      sound of your feet.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Me!&rdquo; I exclaimed. &ldquo;That is strange, seeing that I have ridden fast and
+      hard from the East, tarrying only a few minutes, and those since I entered
+      Memphis, when I met&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo; and I stopped.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Met whom, Shabaka?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The lady Amada walking in the procession of Isis.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah! the lady Amada. The mother waits that the son may stop to greet the
+      lady Amada!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But <i>why</i> did you wait, my mother? Who but a spirit or a bird of the
+      air could have told you that I was coming, seeing that I sent no messenger
+      before me?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You must have done so, Shabaka, since yesterday one came from the holy
+      Tanofir, our relative who dwells in the desert in the burial-ground of
+      Sekera. He bore a message from Tanofir to me, telling me to make ready
+      since before sundown to-night you, my son, would be with me, having
+      escaped great dangers, accompanied by the dwarf Bes, your servant, and six
+      strange Eastern men. So I made ready and waited; also I prepared lodging
+      for the six strange men in the outbuildings behind the house and sent a
+      thank offering to the temple. For know, my son, I have suffered much fear
+      for you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And not without cause, as you will say when I tell you all,&rdquo; I answered
+      laughing. &ldquo;But how Tanofir knew that I was coming is more than I can
+      guess. Come, my mother, greet Bes here, for had it not been for him, never
+      should I have lived to hold your hand again.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      So she greeted him and thanked him, whereon Bes rolled his eyes and
+      muttered something about the holy Tanofir, after which we entered the
+      house. Thence I despatched a messenger to the Prince Peroa saying that if
+      it were his pleasure I would wait on him at once, seeing that I had much
+      to tell him. This done I bathed and caused my hair and beard to be trimmed
+      and, discarding the Eastern garments, clothed myself in those of Egypt,
+      and so felt that I was my own man again. Then I came out refreshed and
+      drank a cup of Syrian wine and the night having fallen, sat down by my
+      mother in the chamber with a lamp between us, and, holding her hand, told
+      her something of my story, showing her the sacks of gold that had come
+      with me safely from the East, and the chain of priceless, rose-hued pearls
+      that I had won in a wager from the Great King.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Now when she learned how Bes by his wit had saved me from a death of
+      torment in the boat, my mother clapped her hands to summon a servant and
+      sent for Bes, and said to him,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Bes, hitherto I have looked on you as a slave taken by my son, the noble
+      Shabaka, in one of his far journeys that it pleases him to make to fight
+      and to hunt. But henceforth I look upon you as a friend and give you a
+      seat at my table. Moreover it comes into my mind that although so
+      strangely shaped by some evil god, perhaps you are more than you seem to
+      be.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Now Bes looked at me to see if I had told my mother anything, and when I
+      shook my head answered,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I thank you, O Lady of the House, who have but done my duty to my master.
+      Still it is true that as a goatskin often holds good wine, so a dwarf
+      should not always be judged by what can be seen of him.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Then he went away.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It seems that we are rich again, Son, who have been somewhat poor of late
+      years,&rdquo; said my mother, looking at the bags of gold. &ldquo;Also, there are the
+      pearls which doubtless are worth more than the gold. What are you going to
+      do with them, Shabaka?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I thought of offering them as a gift to the lady Amada,&rdquo; I replied
+      hesitatingly, &ldquo;that is unless you&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I? No, I am too old for such gems. Yet, Son, it might be well to keep
+      them for a time, seeing that while they are your own they may give you
+      more weight in the eyes of the Prince Peroa and others. Whereas if you
+      gave them the lady Amada and she took them, perchance it might only be to
+      see them return to the East, whither you tell me she is summoned by one
+      whose orders may not be disobeyed.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Now I turned white with rage and answered,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;While I live, Mother, Amada shall never go to the East to be the woman of
+      yonder King.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;While you live, Son. But those who cross the will of a great king, are
+      apt to die. Also this is a matter which her uncle, the Prince Peroa, must
+      decide as policy dictates. Now as ever the woman is but a pawn in the
+      game. Oh! my son,&rdquo; she went on, &ldquo;do not pin all your heart to the robe of
+      this Amada. She is very fair and very learned, but is she one who will
+      love? Moreover, if so she is a priestess and it would be difficult for her
+      to wed who is sworn to Isis. Lastly, remember this: If Egypt were free,
+      she would be its heiress, not her uncle, Peroa. For hers is the true
+      blood, not his. Would he, therefore, be willing to give her to any man
+      who, according to the ancient custom, through her would acquire the right
+      to rule?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I do not seek to rule, Mother; I only seek to wed Amada whom I love.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Amada whom you love and whose name you, or rather your servant Bes, which
+      is the same thing since it will be held that he did it by your order, gave
+      to the King of the East, or so I understand. Here is a pretty tangle,
+      Shabaka, and rather would I be without all that gold and those priceless
+      pearls than have the task of its unravelling.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Before I could answer and explain all the truth to her, the curtain was
+      swung aside and through it came a messenger from the Prince Peroa, who
+      bade me come to eat with him at once at the palace, since he must see me
+      this night.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      So my mother having set the rope of rose-hued pearls in a double chain
+      about my neck, I kissed her and went, with Bes who was also bidden.
+      Outside a chariot was waiting into which we entered.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Now, Master,&rdquo; said Bes to me as we drove to the palace, &ldquo;I almost wish
+      that we were back in another chariot hunting lions in the East.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why?&rdquo; I asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Because then, although we had much to fear, there was no woman in the
+      story. Now the woman has entered it and I think that our real troubles are
+      about to begin. Oh! to-morrow I go to seek counsel of the holy Tanofir.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And I come with you,&rdquo; I answered, &ldquo;for I think it will be needed.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0009" id="link2HCH0009">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER IX. THE MESSENGERS
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      We descended at the great gate of the palace and were led through empty
+      halls that were no longer used now when there was no king in Egypt, to the
+      wing of the building in which dwelt the Prince Peroa. Here we were
+      received by a chamberlain, for the Prince of Egypt still kept some state
+      although it was but small, and had about him men who bore the old,
+      high-sounding titles of the &ldquo;Officers of Pharaoh.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The chamberlain led me and Bes to an ante-chamber of the banqueting hall
+      and left us, saying that he would summon the Prince who wished to see me
+      before he ate. This, however, was not necessary since while he spoke
+      Peroa, who as I guessed had been waiting for me, entered by another door.
+      He was a majestic-looking man of middle age, for grey showed in his hair
+      and beard, clad in white garments with a purple hem and wearing on his
+      brow a golden circlet, from the front of which rose the <i>uræus</i> in
+      the shape of a hooded snake that might be worn by those of royal blood
+      alone. His face was full of thought and his black and piercing eyes looked
+      heavy as though with sleeplessness. Indeed I could see that he was
+      troubled. His gaze fell upon us and his features changed to a pleasant
+      smile.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Greeting, Cousin Shabaka,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I am glad that you have returned
+      safe from the East, and burn to hear your tidings. I pray that they may be
+      good, for never was good news more needed in Egypt.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Greeting, Prince,&rdquo; I answered, bowing my knee. &ldquo;I and my servant here are
+      returned safe, but as for our tidings, well, judge of them for yourself,&rdquo;
+       and drawing the letter of the Great King from my robe, I touched my
+      forehead with the roll and handed it to him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I see that you have acquired the Eastern customs, Shabaka,&rdquo; he said as he
+      took it. &ldquo;But here in my own house which once was the palace of our
+      forefathers, the Pharaohs of Egypt, by your leave I will omit them. Amen
+      be my witness,&rdquo; he added bitterly, &ldquo;I cannot bear to lay the letter of a
+      foreign king against my brow in token of my country&rsquo;s vassalage.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Then he broke the silk of the seals and read, and as he read his face grew
+      black with rage.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What!&rdquo; he cried, casting down the roll and stamping on it. &ldquo;What! Does
+      this dog of an Eastern king bid me send my niece, by birth the Royal
+      Princess of Egypt, to be his toy until he wearies of her? First I will
+      choke her with my own hands. How comes it, Shabaka, that you care to bring
+      me such a message? Were I Pharaoh now I think your life would pay the
+      price.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;As it would certainly have paid the price, had I not done so. Prince, I
+      brought the letter because I must. Also a copy of it has gone, I believe,
+      to Idernes the Satrap at Sais. It is better to face the truth, Prince, and
+      I think that I may be of more service to you alive than dead. If you do
+      not wish to send the lady Amada to the King, marry her to someone else,
+      after which he will seek her no more.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He looked at me shrewdly and said,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;To whom then? I cannot marry her, being her uncle and already married. Do
+      you mean to yourself, Shabaka?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have loved the lady Amada from a child, Prince,&rdquo; I answered boldly.
+      &ldquo;Also I have high blood in me and having brought much gold from the East,
+      am rich again and one accustomed to war.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;So you have brought gold from the East! How? Well, you can tell me
+      afterwards. But you fly high. You, a Count of Egypt, wish to marry the
+      Royal Lady of Egypt, for such she is by birth and rank, which, if ever
+      Egypt were free again, would give you a title to the throne.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I ask no throne, Prince. If there were one to fill I should be content to
+      leave that to you and your heirs.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;So you say, no doubt honestly. But would the children of Amada say the
+      same? Would you even say it if you were her husband, and would she say it?
+      Moreover she is a priestess, sworn not to wed, though perhaps that trouble
+      might be overcome, if she wishes to wed, which I doubt. Mayhap you might
+      discover. Well, you are hungry and worn with long travelling. Come, let us
+      eat, and afterwards you can tell your story. Amada and the others will be
+      glad to hear it, as I shall. Follow me, Count Shabaka.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      So we went to the lesser banqueting-hall, I filled with joy because I
+      should see Amada, and yet, much afraid because of that story which I must
+      tell. Gathered there, waiting for the Prince, we found the Princess his
+      wife, a large and kindly woman, also his two eldest daughters and his
+      young son, a lad of about sixteen. Moreover, there were certain officers,
+      while at the tables of the lower hall sat others of the household, men of
+      smaller rank, and their wives, since Peroa still maintained some kind of a
+      shadow of the Court of old Egypt.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Princess and the others greeted me, and Bes also who had always been a
+      favourite with them, before he went to take his seat at the lowest table,
+      and I greeted them, looking all the while for Amada whom I did not see.
+      Presently, however, as we took our places on the couches, she entered
+      dressed, not as a priestess, but in the beautiful robes of a great lady of
+      Egypt and wearing on her head the <i>uræus</i> circlet that signified her
+      royal blood. As it chanced the only seat left vacant was that next to
+      myself, which she took before she recognized me, for she was engaged in
+      asking pardon for her lateness of the Prince and Princess, saying that she
+      had been detained by the ceremonies at the temple. Seeing suddenly that I
+      was her neighbour, she made as though she would change her place, then
+      altered her mind and stayed where she was.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Greeting, Cousin Shabaka,&rdquo; she said, &ldquo;though not for the first time
+      to-day. Oh! my heart was glad when looking up, outside the temple, I
+      caught sight of you clad in that strange Eastern armour, and knew that you
+      had returned safe from your long wanderings. Yet afterwards I must do
+      penance for it by saying two added prayers, since at such a time my
+      thoughts should have been with the goddess only.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Greeting, Cousin Amada,&rdquo; I answered, &ldquo;but she must be a jealous goddess
+      who grudges a thought to a relative&mdash;and friend&mdash;at such a
+      time.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;She is jealous, Shabaka, as being the Queen of women she must be who
+      demands to reign alone in the hearts of her votaries. But tell me of your
+      travels in the East and how you came by that rope of wondrous pearls, if
+      indeed there can be pearls so large and beautiful.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      This at the time I had little chance of doing, however, since the young
+      Princess on the other side of her began to talk to Amada about some
+      forthcoming festival, and the Prince&rsquo;s son next to me who was fond of
+      hunting, to question me about sport in the East and when, unhappily, I
+      said that I had shot lions there, gave me no peace for the rest of that
+      feast. Also the Princess opposite was anxious to learn what food noble
+      people ate in the East, and how it was cooked and how they sat at table,
+      and what was the furniture of their rooms and did women attend feasts as
+      in Egypt, and so forth. So it came about that what between these things
+      and eating and drinking, which, being well-nigh starved, I was obliged to
+      do, for, save a cup of wine, I had taken nothing in my mother&rsquo;s house, I
+      found little chance of talking with the lovely Amada, although I knew that
+      all the while she was studying me out of the corners of her large eyes. Or
+      perhaps it was the rose-hued pearls she studied, I was not sure.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Only one thing did she say to me when there was a little pause while the
+      cup went round, and she pledged me according to custom and passed it on.
+      It was,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You look well, Shabaka, though somewhat tired, but sadder than you used,
+      I think.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Perhaps because I have seen things to sadden me, Amada. But you too look
+      well but somewhat lovelier than you used, I think, if that be possible.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She smiled and blushed as she replied,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The Eastern ladies have taught you how to say pretty things. But you
+      should not waste them upon me who have done with women&rsquo;s vanities and have
+      given myself to learning and&mdash;religion.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Have learning and religion no vanities of their own?&rdquo; I began, when
+      suddenly the Prince gave a signal to end the feast.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Thereon all the lower part of the hall went away and the little tables at
+      which we ate were removed by servants, leaving us only wine-cups in our
+      hands which a butler filled from time to time, mixing the wine with water.
+      This reminded me of something, and having asked leave, I beckoned to Bes,
+      who still lingered near the door, and took from him that splendid, golden
+      goblet which the Great King had given me, that by my command he had
+      brought wrapped up in linen and hidden beneath his robe. Having undone the
+      wrappings I bowed and offered it to the Prince Peroa.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What is this wondrous thing?&rdquo; asked the Prince, when all had finished
+      admiring its workmanship. &ldquo;Is it a gift that you bring me from the King of
+      the East, Shabaka?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is a gift from myself, O Prince, if you will be pleased to accept it,&rdquo;
+       I answered, adding, &ldquo;Yet it is true that it comes from the King of the
+      East, since it was his own drinking-cup that he gave me in exchange for a
+      certain bow, though not the one he sought, after he had pledged me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You seem to have found much favour in the eyes of this king, Shabaka,
+      which is more than most of us Egyptians do,&rdquo; he exclaimed, then went on
+      hastily, &ldquo;Still, I thank you for your splendid gift, and however you came
+      by it, shall value it much.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Perhaps my cousin Shabaka will tell us his story,&rdquo; broke in Amada, her
+      eyes still fixed upon the rose-hued pearls, &ldquo;and of how he came to win all
+      the beauteous things that dazzle our eyes to-night.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Now I thought of offering her the pearls, but remembering my mother&rsquo;s
+      words, also that the Princess might not like to see another woman bear off
+      such a prize, did not do so. So I began to tell my story instead, Bes
+      seated on the ground near to me by the Prince&rsquo;s wish, that he might tell
+      his.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The tale was long for in it was much that went before the day when I saw
+      myself in the chariot hunting lions with the King of kings, which I, the
+      modern man who set down all this vision, now learned for the first time.
+      It told of the details of my journey to the East, of my coming to the
+      royal city and the rest, all of which it is needless to repeat. Then I
+      came to the lion hunt, to my winning of the wager, and all that happened
+      to me; of my being condemned to death, of the weighing of Bes against the
+      gold, and of how I was laid in the boat of torment, a story at which I
+      noticed Amada turn pale and tremble.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Here I ceased, saying that Bes knew better than I what had chanced at the
+      Court while I was pinned in the boat, whereon all present cried out to Bes
+      to take up the tale. This he did, and much better than I could have done,
+      bringing out many little things which made the scene appear before them,
+      as Ethiopians have the art of doing. At last he came to the place in his
+      story where the king asked him if he had ever seen a woman fairer than the
+      dancers, and went on thus:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;O Prince, I told the Great King that I had; that there dwelt in Egypt a
+      lady of royal blood with eyes like stars, with hair like silk and long as
+      an unbridled horse&rsquo;s tail, with a shape like to that of a goddess, with
+      breath like flowers, with skin like milk, with a voice like honey, with
+      learning like to that of the god Thoth, with wit like a razor&rsquo;s edge, with
+      teeth like pearls, with majesty of bearing like to that of the king
+      himself, with fingers like rosebuds set in pink seashells, with motion
+      like that of an antelope, with grace like that of a swan floating upon
+      water, and&mdash;I don&rsquo;t remember the rest, O Prince.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Perhaps it is as well,&rdquo; exclaimed Peroa. &ldquo;But what did the King say
+      then?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He asked her name, O Prince.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And what name did you give to this wondrous lady who surpasses all the
+      goddesses in loveliness and charm, O dwarf Bes?&rdquo; inquired Amada much
+      amused.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What name, O High-born One? Is it needful to ask? Why, what name could I
+      give but your own, for is there any other in the world of whom a man whose
+      heart is filled with truth could speak such things?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Now hearing this I gasped, but before I could speak Amada leapt up,
+      crying,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Wretch! You dared to speak my name to this king! Surely you should be
+      scourged till your bones are bare.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And why not, Lady? Would you have had me sit still and hear those fat
+      trollops of the East exalted above you? Would you have had me so disloyal
+      to your royal loveliness?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You should be scourged,&rdquo; repeated Amada stamping her foot. &ldquo;My Uncle, I
+      pray you cause this knave to be scourged.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Nay, nay,&rdquo; said Peroa moodily. &ldquo;Poor simple man, he knew no better and
+      thought only to sing your praises in a far land. Be not angry with the
+      dwarf, Niece. Had it been Shabaka who gave your name, the thing would be
+      different. What happened next, Bes?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Only this, Prince,&rdquo; said Bes, looking upwards and rolling his eyes, as
+      was his fashion when unloading some great lie from his heart. &ldquo;The King
+      sent his servants to bring my master from the boat, that he might inquire
+      of him whether he had always found me truthful. For, Prince, those
+      Easterns set much store by truth which here in Egypt is worshipped as a
+      goddess. There they do not worship her because she lives in the heart of
+      every man, and some women.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Now all stared at Bes who continued to stare at the ceiling, and I rose to
+      say something, I know not what, when suddenly the doors opened and through
+      them appeared heralds, crying,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Hearken, Peroa, Prince of Egypt by grace of the Great King. A message
+      from the Great King. Read and obey, O Peroa, Prince of Egypt by grace of
+      the Great King!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      As they cried thus from between them emerged a man whose long Eastern
+      robes were stained with the dust of travel. Advancing without salute he
+      drew out a roll, touched his forehead with it, bowing deeply, and handed
+      it to the prince, saying,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Kiss the Word. Read the Word. Obey the Word, O servant of our Master, the
+      King of kings, beneath whose feet we are all but dust.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Peroa took the roll, made a semblance of lifting it to his forehead,
+      opened and read it. As he did so I saw the veins swell upon his neck and
+      his eyes flash, but he only said,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;O Messenger, to-night I feast, to-morrow an answer shall be given to you
+      to convey to the Satrap Idernes. My servants will find you food and
+      lodging. You are dismissed.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Let the answer be given early lest you also should be dismissed, O
+      Peroa,&rdquo; said the man with insolence.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then he turned his back upon the prince, as one does on an inferior, and
+      walked away, accompanied by the herald.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When they were gone and the doors had been shut, Peroa spoke in a voice
+      that was thick with fury, saying,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Hearken, all of you, to the words of the writing.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Then he read it.
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+ &ldquo;From the King of kings, the Ruler of all the earth, to Peroa, one
+  of his servants in the Satrapy of Egypt,
+
+ &ldquo;Deliver over to my servant Idernes without delay, the person of
+  Amada, a lady of the blood of the old Pharaohs of Egypt, who is
+  your relative and in your guardianship, that she may be numbered
+  among the women of my house.&rdquo;
+ </pre>
+    <p>
+      Now all present looked at each other, while Amada stood as though she had
+      been frozen into stone. Before she could speak, Peroa went on,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;See how the King seeks a quarrel against me that he may destroy me and
+      bray Egypt in his mortar, and tan it like a hide to wrap about his feet.
+      Nay, hold your peace, Amada. Have no fear. You shall not be sent to the
+      East; first will I kill you with my own hands. But what answer shall we
+      give, for the matter is urgent and on it hang all our lives? Bethink you,
+      Idernes has a great force yonder at Sais, and if I refuse outright, he
+      will attack us, which indeed is what the King means him to do before we
+      can make preparation. Say then, shall we fight, or shall we fly to Upper
+      Egypt, abandoning Memphis, and there make our stand?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Now the Councillors present seemed to find no answer, for they did not
+      know what to say. But Bes whispered in my ear,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Remember, Master, that you hold the King&rsquo;s seal. Let an answer be sent to
+      Idernes under the White Seal, bidding him wait on you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Then I rose and spoke.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;O Peroa,&rdquo; I said, &ldquo;as it chances I am the bearer of the private signet of
+      the Great King, which all men must obey in the north and in the south, in
+      the east and in the west, wherever the sun shines over the dominions of
+      the King. Look on it,&rdquo; and taking the ancient White Seal from about my
+      neck, I handed it to him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He looked and the Councillors looked. Then they said almost with one
+      voice,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is the White Seal, the very signet of the Great Kings of the East,&rdquo;
+       and they bowed before the dreadful thing.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How you came by this we do not know, Shabaka,&rdquo; said Peroa. &ldquo;That can be
+      inquired of afterwards. Yet in truth it seems to be the old Signet of
+      signets, that which has come down from father to son for countless
+      generations, that which the King of kings carries on his person and
+      affixes to his private orders and to the greatest documents of State,
+      which afterwards can never be recalled, that of which a copy is emblazoned
+      on his banner.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is,&rdquo; I answered, &ldquo;and from the King&rsquo;s person it came to me for a
+      while. If any doubt, let the impress be brought, that is furnished to all
+      the officers throughout the Empire, and let the seal be set in the
+      impress.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Now one of the officers rose and went to bring the impress which was in
+      his keeping, but Peroa continued,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If this be the true seal, how would you use it, Shabaka, to help us in
+      our present trouble?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Thus, Prince,&rdquo; I answered. &ldquo;I would send a command under the seal to
+      Idernes to wait upon the holder of the seal here in Memphis. He will
+      suspect a trap and will not come until he has gathered a great army. Then
+      he will come, but meanwhile, you, Prince, can also collect an army.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That needs gold, Shabaka, and I have little. The King of kings takes all
+      in tribute.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have some, Prince, to the weight of a heavy man, and it is at the
+      service of Egypt.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I thank you, Shabaka. Believe me, such generosity shall not go
+      unrewarded,&rdquo; and he glanced at Amada who dropped her eyes. &ldquo;But if we can
+      collect the army, what then?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then you can put Memphis into a state of defence. Then too when Idernes
+      comes I will meet him and, as the bearer of the seal, command him under
+      the seal to retreat and disperse his army.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But if he does, Shabaka, it will only be until he has received fresh
+      orders from the Great King, whereon he will advance again.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, Prince, <i>he</i> will not advance, or that army either. For when
+      they are in retreat we will fall on them and destroy them, and declare
+      you, O Prince, Pharaoh of Egypt, though what will happen afterwards I do
+      not know.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      When they heard this all gasped. Only Amada whispered,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well said!&rdquo; and Bes clapped his big hands softly in the Ethiopian
+      fashion.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;A bold counsel,&rdquo; said Peroa, &ldquo;and one on which I must have the night to
+      think. Return here, Shabaka, an hour after sunrise to-morrow, by which
+      time I can gather all the wisest men in Memphis, and we will discuss this
+      matter. Ah! here is the impress. Now let the seal be tried.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      A box was brought and opened. In it was a slab of wood on which was an
+      impress of the King&rsquo;s seal in wax, surrounded by those of other seals
+      certifying that it was genuine. Also there was a writing describing the
+      appearance of the seal. I handed the signet to Peroa who, having compared
+      it with the description in the writing, fitted it to the impress on the
+      wax.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is the same,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;See, all of you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      They looked and nodded. Then he would have given it back to me but I
+      refused to take it, saying,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is not well that this mighty symbol should hang about the neck of a
+      private man whence it might be stolen or lost.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Or who might be murdered for its sake,&rdquo; interrupted Peroa.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, Prince. Therefore take it and hide it in the safest and most secret
+      place in the palace, and with it these pearls that are too priceless to be
+      flaunted about the streets of Memphis at night, unless indeed&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;
+       and I turned to look for Amada, but she was gone.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      So the seal and the pearls were taken and locked in the box with the
+      impress and borne away. Nor was I sorry to see the last of them, wisely as
+      it happened. Then I bade the Prince and his company good night, and
+      presently was driving homeward with Bes in the chariot.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Our way led us past some large houses once occupied by officers of the
+      Court of Pharaoh, but now that there was no Court, fallen into ruins.
+      Suddenly from out of these houses sprang a band of men disguised as common
+      robbers, whose faces were hidden by cloths with eye-holes cut in them.
+      They seized the horses by the bridles, and before we could do anything,
+      leapt upon us and held us fast. Then a tall man speaking with a foreign
+      accent, said,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Search that officer and the dwarf. Take from them the seal upon a gold
+      chain and a rope of rose-hued pearls which they have stolen. But do them
+      no harm.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      So they searched us, the tall man himself helping and, aided by others,
+      holding Bes who struggled with them, and searched the chariot also, by the
+      light of the moon, but found nothing. The tall man muttered that I must be
+      the wrong officer, and at a sign they left us and ran away.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That was a wise thought of mine, Bes, which caused me to leave certain
+      ornaments in the palace,&rdquo; I said. &ldquo;As it is they have taken nothing.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, Master,&rdquo; he answered, &ldquo;though I have taken something from them,&rdquo; a
+      saying that I did not understand at the time. &ldquo;Those Easterns whom we met
+      by the canal told Idernes about the seal, and he ordered this to be done.
+      That tall man was one of the messengers who came to-night to the palace.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then why did they not kill us, Bes?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Because murder, especially of one who holds the seal, is an ugly
+      business, that is easily tracked down, whereas thieves are many in Memphis
+      and who troubles about them when they have failed? Oh! the Grasshopper, or
+      Amen, or both, have been with us to-night.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      So I thought although I said nothing, for since we had come off
+      scatheless, what did it matter? Well, this. It showed me that the signet
+      of the Great King was indeed to be dreaded and coveted, even here in
+      Egypt. If Idernes could get it into his possession, what might he not do
+      with it? Cause himself to be proclaimed Pharaoh perhaps and become the
+      forefather of an independent dynasty. Why not, when the Empire of the East
+      was taxed with a great war elsewhere? And if this was so why should not
+      Peroa do the same, he who had behind him all Old Egypt, maddened with its
+      wrongs and foreign rule?
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      That same night before I slept, but after Bes and I had hidden away the
+      bags of gold by burying them beneath the clay floor, I laid the whole
+      matter before my mother who was a very wise woman. She heard me out,
+      answering little, then said,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The business is very dangerous, and of its end I will not speak until I
+      have heard the counsel of your great-uncle, the holy Tanofir. Still,
+      things having gone so far, it seems to me that boldness may be the best
+      course, since the great King has his Grecian wars to deal with, and
+      whatever he may say, cannot attack Egypt yet awhile. Therefore if Peroa is
+      able to overcome Idernes and his army he may cause himself to be
+      proclaimed Pharaoh and make Egypt free if only for a time.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Such is my mind, Mother.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not all your mind, Son, I think,&rdquo; she answered smiling, &ldquo;for you think
+      more of the lovely Amada than of these high policies, at any rate
+      to-night. Well, marry your Amada if you can, though I misdoubt me somewhat
+      of a woman who is so lost in learning and thinks so much about her soul.
+      At least if you marry her and Egypt should become free, as it was for
+      thousands of years, you will be the next heir to the throne as husband of
+      the Great Royal Lady.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How can that be, Mother, seeing that Peroa has a son?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;A vain youth with no more in him than a child&rsquo;s rattle. If once Amada
+      ceases to think about her soul she will begin to think about her throne,
+      especially if she has children. But all this is far away and for the
+      present I am glad that neither she nor the thieves have got those pearls,
+      though perhaps they might be safer here than where they are. And now, my
+      son, go rest for you need it, and dream of nothing, not even Amada, who
+      for her part will dream of Isis, if at all. I will wake you before the
+      dawn.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      So I went, being too tired to talk more, and slept like a crocodile in the
+      sun, till, as it seemed to me, but a few minutes later I saw my mother
+      standing over me with a lamp, saying that it was time to rise. I rose,
+      unwillingly enough, but refreshed, washed and dressed myself, by which
+      time the sun had begun to appear. Then I ate some food and, calling Bes,
+      made ready to start for the palace.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My son,&rdquo; said my mother, the lady Tiu, before we parted, &ldquo;while you have
+      been sleeping I have been thinking, as is the way of the old. Peroa, your
+      cousin, will be glad enough to make use of you, but he does not love you
+      over much because he is jealous of you and fears lest you should become
+      his rival in the future. Still he is an honest man and will keep a bargain
+      which he once has made. Now it seems that above everything on earth you
+      desire Amada on whom you have set your heart since boyhood, but who has
+      always played with you and spoken to you with her arm stretched out. Also
+      life is short and may come to an end any day, as you should know better
+      than most men who have lived among dangers, and therefore it is well that
+      a man should take what he desires, even if he finds afterwards that the
+      rose he crushes to his breast has thorns. For then at least he will have
+      smelt the rose, not only have looked on and longed to smell it. Therefore,
+      before you hand over your gold, and place your wit and strength at the
+      service of Peroa, make your bargain with him; namely, that if thereby you
+      save Amada from the King&rsquo;s House of Women and help to set Peroa on the
+      throne, he shall promise her to you free of any priestly curse, you giving
+      her as dowry the priceless rose-hued pearls that are worth a kingdom. So
+      you will get your rose till it withers, and if the thorns prick, do not
+      blame me, and one day you may become a king&mdash;or a slave, Amen knows
+      which.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Now I laughed and said that I would take her counsel who desired Amada and
+      nothing else. As for all her talk about thorns, I paid no heed to it,
+      knowing that she loved me very much and was jealous of Amada who she
+      thought would take her place with me.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0010" id="link2HCH0010">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER X. SHABAKA PLIGHTS HIS TROTH
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      Bes and I went armed to the palace, walking in the middle of the road, but
+      now that the sun was up we met no more robbers. At the gate a messenger
+      summoned me alone to the presence of Peroa, who, he said, wished to talk
+      with me before the sitting of the Council. I went and found him by
+      himself.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I hear that you were attacked last night,&rdquo; he said after greeting me.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I answered that I was and told him the story, adding that it was fortunate
+      I had left the White Seal and the pearls in safe keeping, since without
+      doubt the would-be thieves were Easterns who desired to recover them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah! the pearls,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;One of those who handled them, who was once a
+      dealer in gems, says that they are without price, unmatched in the whole
+      world, and that never in all his life has he seen any to equal the
+      smallest of them.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I replied that I believed this was so. Then he asked me of the value of
+      the gold of which I had spoken. I told him and it was a great sum, for
+      gold was scarce in Egypt. His eyes gleamed for he needed wealth to pay
+      soldiers.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And all this you are ready to hand over to me, Shabaka?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Now I bethought me of my mother&rsquo;s words, and answered,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, Prince, at a price.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What price, Shabaka?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The price of the hand of the Royal Lady, Amada, freed from her vows.
+      Moreover, I will give her the pearls as a marriage dowry and place at your
+      service my sword and all the knowledge I have gained in the East, swearing
+      to stand or fall with you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I thought it, Shabaka. Well, in this world nothing is given for nothing
+      and the offer is a fair one. You are well born, too, as well as myself,
+      and a brave and clever man. Further, Amada has not taken her final vows
+      and therefore the high priests can absolve her from her marriage to the
+      goddess, or to her son Horus, whichever it may be, for I do not understand
+      these mysteries. But, Shabaka, if Fortune should chance to go with us and
+      I should became the first Pharaoh of a new dynasty in Egypt, he who was
+      married to the Royal Princess of the true blood might become a danger to
+      my throne and family.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I shall not be that man, Prince, who am content with my own station, and
+      to be your servant.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And my son&rsquo;s, Shabaka? You know that I have but one lawful son.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And your son&rsquo;s, Prince.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You are honest, Shabaka, and I believe you. But how about your sons, if
+      you have any, and how about Amada herself? Well, in great businesses
+      something must be risked, and I need the gold and the rest which I cannot
+      take for nothing, for you won them by your skill and courage and they are
+      yours. But how you won the seal you have not told us, nor is there time
+      for you to do so now.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He thought a little, walking up and down the chamber, then went on,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I accept your offer, Shabaka, so far as I can.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;So far as you can, Prince?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes; I can give you Amada in marriage and make that marriage easy, but
+      only if Amada herself consents. The will of a Royal Princess of Egypt of
+      full age cannot be forced, save by her father if he reigns as Pharaoh, and
+      I am not her father, but only her guardian. Therefore it stands thus. Are
+      you willing to fulfil your part of the bargain, save only as regards the
+      pearls, if she does not marry you, and to take your chance of winning
+      Amada as a man wins a woman, I on my part promising to do all in my power
+      to help your suit?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Now it was my turn to think for a moment. What did I risk? The gold and
+      perhaps the pearls, no more, for in any case I should fight for Peroa
+      against the Eastern king whom I hated, and through him for Egypt. Well,
+      these came to me by chance, and if they went by chance what of it? Also I
+      was not one who desired to wed a woman, however much I worshipped her, if
+      she desired to turn her back on me. If I could win her in fair love&mdash;well.
+      If not, it was my misfortune, and I wanted her in no other way. Lastly, I
+      had reason to think that she looked on me more favourably than she had
+      ever done on any other man, and that if it had not been for what my mother
+      called her soul and its longings, she would have given herself to me
+      before I journeyed to the East. Indeed, once she had said as much, and
+      there was something in her eyes last night which told me that in her heart
+      she loved me, though with what passion at the time I did not know. So very
+      swiftly I made up my mind and answered,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I understand and I accept. The gold shall be delivered to you to-day,
+      Prince. The pearls are already in your keeping to await the end.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Good!&rdquo; he exclaimed. &ldquo;Then let the matter be reduced to writing and at
+      once, that afterwards neither of us may have cause to complain of the
+      other.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      So he sent for his secret scribe and dictated to him, briefly but clearly,
+      the substance of our bargain, nothing being added, and nothing taken away.
+      This roll written on papyrus was afterwards copied twice, Peroa taking one
+      copy, I another, and a third being deposited according to custom, in the
+      library of the temple of Ptah.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When all was done and Peroa and I had touched each other&rsquo;s breasts and
+      given our word in the name of Amen, we went to the hall in which we had
+      dined, where those whom the Prince had summoned were assembled. Altogether
+      there were about thirty of them, great citizens of Memphis, or landowners
+      from without who had been called together in the night. Some of these men
+      were very old and could remember when Egypt had a Pharaoh of its own
+      before the East set its heel upon her neck, of noble blood also.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Others were merchants who dealt with all the cities of Egypt; others
+      hereditary generals, or captains of fleets of ships; others Grecians,
+      officers of mercenaries who were supposed to be in the pay of the King of
+      kings, but hated him, as did all the Greeks. Then there were the high
+      priests of Ptah, of Amen, of Osiris and others who were still the most
+      powerful men in the land, since there was no village between Thebes and
+      the mouths of the Nile in which they had not those who were sworn to the
+      service of their gods.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Such was the company representing all that remained or could be gathered
+      there of the greatness of Egypt the ancient and the fallen.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      To these when the doors had been closed and barred and trusty watchmen set
+      to guard them, Peroa expounded the case in a low and earnest voice. He
+      showed them that the King of the East sought a new quarrel against Egypt
+      that he might grind her to powder beneath his heel, and that he did this
+      by demanding the person of Amada, his own niece and the Royal Lady of
+      Egypt, to be included in his household like any common woman. If she were
+      refused then he would send a great army under pretext of taking her, and
+      lay the land waste as far as Thebes. And if she were granted some new
+      quarrel would be picked and in the person of the royal Amada all of them
+      be for ever shamed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Next he showed the seal, telling them that I&mdash;who was known to many
+      of them, at least by repute&mdash;had brought it from the East, and
+      repeating to them the plan that I had proposed upon the previous night.
+      After this he asked their counsel, saying that before noon he must send an
+      answer to Idernes, the King&rsquo;s Satrap at Sais.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then I was called upon to speak and, in answer to questions, answered
+      frankly that I had stolen the ancient White Seal from the King&rsquo;s servant
+      who carried it as a warrant for the King&rsquo;s private vengeance on one who
+      had bested him. How I did not mention. I told them also of the state of
+      the Great King&rsquo;s empire and that I had heard that he was about to enter
+      upon a war with the Greeks which would need all its strength, and that
+      therefore if they wished to strike for liberty the time was at hand.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then the talk began and lasted for two hours, each man giving his judgment
+      according to precedence, some one way and some another. When all had done
+      and it became clear that there were differences of opinion, some being
+      content to live on in slavery with what remained to them and others
+      desiring to strike for freedom, among whom were the high priests who
+      feared lest the Eastern heretics should utterly destroy their worship,
+      Peroa spoke once more.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Elders of Egypt,&rdquo; he said briefly, &ldquo;certain of you think one way, and
+      certain another, but of this be sure, such talk as we have held together
+      cannot be hid. It will come to the ears of spies and through them to those
+      of the Great King, and then all of us alike are doomed. If you refuse to
+      stir, this very day I with my family and household and the Royal Lady
+      Amada, and all who cling to me, fly to Upper Egypt and perhaps beyond it
+      to Ethiopia, leaving you to deal with the Great King, as you will, or to
+      follow me into exile. That he will attack us there is no doubt, either
+      over the pretext of Amada or some other, since Shabaka has heard as much
+      from his own lips. Now choose.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Then, after a little whispering together, every man of them voted for
+      rebellion, though some of them I could see with heavy hearts, and bound
+      themselves by a great oath to cling together to the last.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The matter being thus settled such a letter was written to Idernes as I
+      had suggested on the night before, and sealed with the Signet of signets.
+      Of the yielding up of Amada it said nothing, but commanded Idernes, under
+      the private White Seal that none dared disobey, to wait upon the Prince
+      Peroa at Memphis forthwith, and there learn from him, the Holder of the
+      Seal, what was the will of the Great King. Then the Council was adjourned
+      till one hour after noon, and most of them departed to send messengers
+      bearing secret word to the various cities and nomes of Egypt.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Before they went, however, I was directed to wait upon my relative, the
+      holy Tanofir, whom all acknowledged to be the greatest magician in Egypt,
+      and to ask of him to seek wisdom and an oracle from his Spirit as to the
+      future and whether in it we should fare well or ill. This I promised to
+      do.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When most of the Council were gone the messengers of Idernes were
+      summoned, and came proudly, and with them, or rather before them, Bes for
+      whom I had sent as he was not present at the Council.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Master,&rdquo; he whispered to me, &ldquo;the tallest of those messengers is the man
+      who captained the robbers last night. Wait and I will prove it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Peroa gave the roll to the head messenger, bidding him bear it to the
+      Satrap in answer to the letter which he had delivered to him. The man took
+      it insolently and thrust it into his robe, as he did so revealing a silver
+      chain that had been broken and knotted together, and asked whether there
+      were words to bear besides those written in the roll. Before Peroa could
+      answer Bes sprang up saying,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;O Prince, a boon, the boon of justice on this man. Last night he and
+      others with him attacked my master and myself, seeking to rob us, but
+      finding nothing let us go.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You lie, Abortion!&rdquo; said the Eastern.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh! I lie, do I?&rdquo; mocked Bes. &ldquo;Well, let us see,&rdquo; and shooting out his
+      long arm, he grasped the chain about the messenger&rsquo;s neck and broke it
+      with a jerk. &ldquo;Look, O Prince,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;you may have noted last night,
+      when that man entered the hall, that there hung about his neck this chain
+      to which was tied a silver key.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I noted it,&rdquo; said Peroa.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then ask him, O Prince, where is the key now.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What is that to you, Dwarf?&rdquo; broke in the man. &ldquo;The key is my mark of
+      office as chief butler to the High Satrap. Must I always bear it for your
+      pleasure?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not when it has been taken from you, Butler,&rdquo; answered Bes. &ldquo;See, here it
+      is,&rdquo; and from his sleeve he produced the key hanging to a piece of the
+      chain. &ldquo;Listen, O Prince,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I struggled with this man and the key
+      was in my left hand though he did not know it at the time, and with it
+      some of the chain. Compare them and judge. Also his mask slipped and I saw
+      his face and knew him again.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Peroa laid the pieces of the chain together and observed the workmanship
+      which was Eastern and rare. Then he clapped his hands, at which sign armed
+      men of his household entered from behind him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is the same,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Butler of Idernes, you are a common thief.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The man strove to answer, but could not for the deed was proved against
+      him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then, O Prince,&rdquo; asked Bes, &ldquo;what is the punishment of those thieves who
+      attack passers-by with violence in the streets of Memphis, for such I
+      demand on him?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The cutting off of the right hand and scourging,&rdquo; answered Peroa, at
+      which words the butler turned to fly. But Bes leapt on him like an ape
+      upon a bird, and held him fast.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Seize that thief,&rdquo; said Peroa to his servants, &ldquo;and let him receive fifty
+      blows with the rods. His hand I spare because he must travel.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      They laid the man down and the rods having been fetched, gave him the
+      blows until at the thirtieth he howled for mercy, crying out that it was
+      true and that it was he who had captained the robbers, words which Peroa
+      caused to be written down. Then he asked him why he, a messenger from the
+      Satrap, had robbed in the streets of Memphis, and as he refused to answer,
+      commanded the officer of justice to lay on. After three more blows the man
+      said,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;O Prince, this was no common robbery for gain. I did what I was commanded
+      to do, because yonder noble had about him the ancient White Seal of the
+      Great King which he showed to certain of the Satrap&rsquo;s servants by the
+      banks of the canal. That seal is a holy token, O Prince, which, it is
+      said, has descended for twice a thousand years in the family of the Great
+      King, and as the Satrap did not know how it had come into the hands of the
+      noble Shabaka, he ordered me to obtain it if I could.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And the pearls too, Butler?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, O Prince, since those gems are a great possession with which any
+      Satrap could buy a larger satrapy.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Let him go,&rdquo; said Peroa, and the man rose, rubbing himself and weeping in
+      his pain.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Now, Butler,&rdquo; he went on, &ldquo;return to your master with a grateful heart,
+      since you have been spared much that you deserve. Say to him that he
+      cannot steal the Signet, but that if he is wise he will obey it, since
+      otherwise his fate may be worse than yours, and to all his servants say
+      the same. Foolish man, how can you, or your master, guess what is in the
+      mind of the Great King, or for what purpose the Signet of signets is here
+      in Egypt? Beware lest you fall into a pit, all of you together, and let
+      Idernes beware lest he find himself at the very bottom of that pit.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;O Prince, I will beware,&rdquo; said the humbled butler, &ldquo;and whatever is
+      written over the seal, that I will obey, like many others.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You are wise,&rdquo; answered Peroa; &ldquo;I pray for his own sake that the Satrap
+      Idernes may be as wise. Now begone, thanking whatever god you worship that
+      your life is whole in you and that your right hand remains upon your
+      wrist.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      So the butler and those with him prostrated themselves before Peroa and
+      bowed humbly to me and even to Bes because in their hearts now they
+      believed that we were clothed by the Great King with terrible powers that
+      might destroy them all, if so we chose. Then they went, the butler limping
+      a little and with no pride left in him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That was good work,&rdquo; said Peroa to me afterwards when we were alone, &ldquo;for
+      now yonder knave is frightened and will frighten his master.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; I answered, &ldquo;you played that pipe well, Prince. Still, there is no
+      time to lose, since before another moon this will all be reported in the
+      East, whence a new light may arise and perchance a new signet.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You say you stole the White Seal?&rdquo; he asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Nay, Prince, the truth is that Bes bought it&mdash;in a certain fashion&mdash;and
+      I used it. Perhaps it is well that you should know no more at present.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Perhaps,&rdquo; he answered, and we parted, for he had much to do.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      That afternoon the Council met again. At it I gave over the gold and by
+      help of it all was arranged. Within a week ten thousand armed men would be
+      in Memphis and a hundred ships with their crews upon the Nile; also a
+      great army would be gathering in Upper Egypt, officered for the most part
+      by Greeks skilled in war. The Greek cities too at the mouths of the Nile
+      would be ready to revolt, or so some of their citizens declared, for they
+      hated the Great King bitterly and longed to cast off his yoke.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      For my part, I received the command of the bodyguard of Peroa in which
+      were many Greeks, and a generalship in the army; while to Bes, at my
+      prayer, was given the freedom of the land which he accepted with a smile,
+      he who was a king in his own country.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At length all was finished and I went out into the palace garden to rest
+      myself before I rode into the desert to see my great uncle, the holy
+      Tanofir. I was alone, for Bes had gone to bring our horses on which we
+      were to ride, and sat myself down beneath a palm-tree, thinking of the
+      great adventure on which we had entered with a merry heart, for I loved
+      adventures.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Next I thought of Amada and was less merry. Then I looked up and lo! she
+      stood before me, unaccompanied and wearing the dress, not of a priestess,
+      but of an Egyptian lady with the little circlet of her rank upon her hair.
+      I rose and bowed to her and we began to walk together beneath the palms,
+      my heart beating hard within me, for I knew that my hour had come to
+      speak.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Yet it was she who spoke the first, saying,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I hear that you have been playing a high part, Shabaka, and doing great
+      things for Egypt.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;For Egypt and for you who are Egypt,&rdquo; I answered.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;So I should have been called in the old days, Cousin, because of my blood
+      and the rank it gives, though now I am but as any other lady of the land.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And so you shall be called in days to come, Amada, if my sword and wit
+      can win their way.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How so, Cousin, seeing that you have promised certain things to my uncle
+      Peroa and his son?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have promised those things, Amada, and I will abide by my promise; but
+      the gods are above all, and who knows what they may decree?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, Cousin, the gods are above all, and in their hands we will let these
+      matters rest, provoking them in no manner and least of all by treachery to
+      our oaths.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      We walked for a little way in silence. Then I spoke.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Amada, there are more things than thrones in the world.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, Cousin, there is that in which all thrones end&mdash;death, which it
+      seems we court.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And, Amada, there is that in which all thrones begin&mdash;love, which I
+      court from you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have known it long,&rdquo; she said, considering me gravely, &ldquo;and been
+      grateful to you who are more to me than any man has been or ever will be.
+      But, Shabaka, I am a priestess bound to set the holy One I serve above a
+      mortal.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That holy One was wed and bore a child, Amada, who avenged his father, as
+      I trust that we shall avenge Egypt. Therefore she looks with a kind eye
+      upon wives and mothers. Also you have not taken your final vows and can be
+      absolved.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; she said softly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then, Amada, will you give yourself into my keeping?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I think so, Shabaka, though it has been in my mind for long, as you know
+      well, to give myself only to learning and the service of the heavenly
+      Lady. My heart calls me to you, it is true, day and night it calls, how
+      loudly I will not tell; yet I would not yield myself to that alone. But
+      Egypt calls me also, since I have been shown in a dream while I watched in
+      the sanctuary, that you are the only man who can free her, and I think
+      that this dream came from on high. Therefore I will give myself, but not
+      yet.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not yet,&rdquo; I said dismayed. &ldquo;When?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;When I have been absolved from my vows, which must be done on the night
+      of the next new moon, which is twenty-seven days from this. Then, if
+      nothing comes between us during those twenty-seven days, it shall be
+      announced that the Royal Lady of Egypt is to wed the noble Shabaka.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Twenty-seven days! In such times much may happen in them, Amada. Still,
+      except death, what can come between us?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I know of nothing, Shabaka, whose past is shadowless as the noon.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Or I either,&rdquo; I replied.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Now we were standing in the clear sunlight, but as I said the words a wind
+      stirred the palm-trees and the shadow from one of them fell full upon me,
+      and she who was very quick, noted it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Some might take that for an omen,&rdquo; she said with a little laugh, pointing
+      to the line of the shadow. &ldquo;Oh! Shabaka, if you have aught to confess, say
+      it now and I will forgive it. But do not leave me to discover it
+      afterwards when I may not forgive. Perchance during your journeyings in
+      the East&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Nothing, nothing,&rdquo; I exclaimed joyfully, who during all that time had
+      scarcely spoken to a youthful woman.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am glad that nothing happened in the East that could separate us,
+      Shabaka, though in truth my thought was not your own, for there are more
+      things than women in the world. Only it seems strange to me that you
+      should return to Egypt laden with such priceless gifts from him who is
+      Egypt&rsquo;s greatest enemy.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Have I not told you that I put my country before myself? Those gifts were
+      won fairly in a wager, Amada, whereof you heard the story but last night.
+      Moreover you know the purpose to which they are to be put,&rdquo; I replied
+      indignantly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, I know and now I am sure. Be not angry, Shabaka, with her who loves
+      you truly and hopes ere long to call you husband. But till that day take
+      it not amiss if I keep somewhat aloof from you, who must break with the
+      past and learn to face a future of which I did not dream.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      For the rest she stretched out her hand and I kissed it, for while she was
+      still a priestess her lips she would not suffer me to touch. Another
+      moment and smiling happily, she had glided away, leaving me alone in the
+      garden.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then it was for the first time that I bethought me of the warnings of Bes
+      and remembered that it was I, not he, who had told the Great King the name
+      of the most beautiful woman in Egypt, although in all innocence. Yes, I
+      remembered, and felt as if all the shadows on the earth had wrapped me
+      round. I thought of finding her, but she had gone whither I knew not in
+      that great palace. So I determined that the next time we were alone I
+      would tell her of the matter, explaining all, and with this thought I
+      comforted myself who did not know that until many days were past we should
+      be alone no more.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      After this I went home and told my mother all my joy, for in truth there
+      was no happier man in Egypt. She listened, then answered, smiling a
+      little.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;When your father wished to take me to wife, Shabaka, it was not my hand
+      that I gave him to kiss, and as you know, I too have the blood of kings in
+      me. But then I was not a priestess of Isis, so doubtless all is well. Only
+      in twenty-seven days much may happen, as you said to Amada. Now I wonder
+      why did she&mdash;&mdash;? Well, no matter, since priestesses are not like
+      other women who only think of the man they have won and of naught before
+      or after. The blessing of the gods and mine be on you both, my son,&rdquo; and
+      she went away to attend to her household matters.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As we rode to Sekera to find the holy Tanofir I told Bes also, adding that
+      I had forgotten to reveal that it was I who had spoken Amada&rsquo;s name to the
+      king, but that I intended to do so ere long.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Bes rolled his eyes and answered,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If I were you, Master, as I had forgotten, I should continue to forget,
+      for what is welcome in one hour is not always welcome in another. Why
+      speak of the matter at all, which is one hard to explain to a woman,
+      however wise and royal? I have already said that <i>I</i> spoke the name
+      to the King and that you were brought from the boat to say whether I was
+      noted for my truthfulness. Is not that enough?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      While I considered, Bes went on,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You may remember, Master, that when I told, well&mdash;the truth about
+      this story, the lady Amada asked earnestly that I should be scourged, even
+      to the bones. Now if you should tell another truth which will make mine
+      dull as tarnished silver, she will not leave me even my bones, for I shall
+      be proved a liar, and what will happen to you I am sure I do not know.
+      And, Master, as I am no longer a slave here in Egypt, to say nothing of
+      what I may be elsewhere, I have no fancy for scourgings, who may not kiss
+      the hand that smites me as you can.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But, Bes,&rdquo; I said, &ldquo;what is, is and may always be learned in this way or
+      in that.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Master, if what is were always learned, I think the world would fall to
+      pieces, or at least there would be no men left on it. Why should this
+      matter be learned? It is known to you and me alone, leaving out the Great
+      King who probably has forgotten as he was drunk at the time. Oh! Master,
+      when you have neither bow nor spear at hand, it is not wise to kick a
+      sleeping lion in the stomach, for then he will remember its emptiness and
+      sup off you. Beside, when first I told you that tale I made a mistake. I
+      did tell the Great King, as I now remember quite clearly, that the
+      beautiful lady was named Amada, and he only sent for you to ask if I spoke
+      the truth.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Bes,&rdquo; I exclaimed, &ldquo;you worshippers of the Grasshopper wear virtue
+      easily.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Easily as an old sandal, Master, or rather not at all, since the
+      Grasshopper has need of none. For ages they have studied the ways of those
+      who worship the gods of Egypt, and from them have learned&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Amongst other things, Master, that woman, being modest, is shocked at the
+      sight of the naked Truth.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0011" id="link2HCH0011">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XI. THE HOLY TANOFIR
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      We entered the City of Graves that is called Sekera. In the centre towered
+      pyramids that hid the bones of ancient and forgotten kings, and everywhere
+      around upon the desert sands was street upon street of monuments, but save
+      for a priest or two hurrying to patter his paid office in the funeral
+      chapels of the departed, never a living man. Bes looked about him and
+      sniffed with his wide nostrils.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Is there not death enough in the world, Master,&rdquo; he asked, &ldquo;that the
+      living should wish to proclaim it in this fashion, rolling it on their
+      tongues like a morsel they are loth to swallow, because it tastes so good?
+      Oh! what a waste is here. All these have had their day and yet they need
+      houses and pyramids and painted chambers in which to sleep, whereas if
+      they believed the faith they practised, they would have been content to
+      give their bones to feed the earth they fed on, and fill heaven with their
+      souls.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do your people thus, Bes?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;For the most part, Master. Our dead kings and great ones we enclose in
+      pillars of crystal, but we do this that they may serve a double purpose.
+      One is that the pillars may support the roof of their successors, and the
+      other, that those who inherit their goods may please themselves by
+      reflecting how much handsomer they are than those who went before them.
+      For no mummy looks really nice, Master, at least with its wrappings off,
+      and our kings are put naked into the crystal.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And what becomes of the rest, Bes?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Their bodies go to the earth or the water and the Grasshopper carries off
+      their souls to&mdash;where, Master?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I do not know, Bes.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, Master, no one knows, except the lady Amada and perhaps the holy
+      Tanofir. Here I think is the entrance to his hole,&rdquo; and he pulled up his
+      beast with a jerk at what looked like the doorway of a tomb.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Apparently we were expected, for a tall and proud-looking girl clad in
+      white and with extraordinarily dark eyes, appeared in the doorway and
+      asked in a soft voice if we were the noble Shabaka and Bes, his slave.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am Shabaka,&rdquo; I answered, &ldquo;and this is Bes, who is not my slave but a
+      free citizen of Egypt.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The girl contemplated the dwarf with her big eyes, then said,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And other things, I think.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What things?&rdquo; inquired Bes with interest, as he stared at this beautiful
+      lady.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;A very brave and clever man and one perhaps who is more than he seems to
+      be?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Who has been telling you about me?&rdquo; exclaimed Bes anxiously.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No one, O Bes, at least not that I can remember.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not that you can remember! Then who and what are you who learn things you
+      know not how?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am named Karema and desert-bred, and my office is that of Cup to the
+      holy Tanofir.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If hermits drink from such a cup I shall turn hermit,&rdquo; said Bes,
+      laughing. &ldquo;But how can a woman be a man&rsquo;s cup and what kind of a wine does
+      he drink from her?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The wine of wisdom, O Bes,&rdquo; she replied colouring a little, for like many
+      Arabs of high blood she was very fair in hue.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Wine of wisdom,&rdquo; said Bes. &ldquo;From such cups most drink the wine of folly,
+      or sometimes of madness.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The holy Tanofir awaits you,&rdquo; she interrupted, and turning, entered the
+      doorway.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A little way down the passage was a niche in which stood three lamps ready
+      lighted. One of these she took and gave the others to us. Then we followed
+      her down a steep incline of many steps, till at length we found ourselves
+      in a hot and enormous hall hewn from the living rock and filled with
+      blackness.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What is this place?&rdquo; said Bes, who looked frightened, and although he
+      spoke in a low whisper, our guide overheard him and turning, answered,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;This is the burial place of the Apis bulls. See, here lies the last, not
+      yet closed in,&rdquo; and holding up her lamp she revealed a mighty sarcophagus
+      of black granite set in a niche of the mausoleum.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;So they make mummies of bulls as well as of men,&rdquo; groaned Bes. &ldquo;Oh! what
+      a land. But when I have seen the holy Tanofir it was in a brick cell
+      beneath the sky.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Doubtless that was at night, O Bes,&rdquo; answered Karema, &ldquo;for in such a
+      house he sleeps, spending his days in the Apis tomb, because of all the
+      evil that is worked beneath the sun.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Hump,&rdquo; said Bes, &ldquo;I should have thought that more was worked beneath the
+      moon, but doubtless the holy Tanofir knows better, or being asleep does
+      not mind.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Now in front of each of the walled-up niches was a little chapel, and at
+      the fourth of these whence a light came, the maiden stopped, saying,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Enter. Here dwells the holy Tanofir. He tended this god during its
+      life-days in his youth, and now that the god is dead he prays above its
+      bones.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Prays to the bones of a dead bull in the dark! Well, give me a live
+      grasshopper in the light; he is more cheerful,&rdquo; muttered Bes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;O Dwarf,&rdquo; cried a deep and resounding voice from within the chapel, &ldquo;talk
+      no more of things you do not understand. I do not pray to the bones of a
+      dead bull, as you in your ignorance suppose. I pray to the spirit whereof
+      this sacred beast was but one of the fleshly symbols, which in this
+      haunted place you will do well not to offend.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Then for once I saw Bes grow afraid, for his great jaw dropped and he
+      trembled.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Master,&rdquo; he said to me, &ldquo;when next you visit tombs where maidens look
+      into your heart and hermits hear your very thoughts, I pray you leave me
+      behind. The holy Tanofir I love, if from afar, but I like not his house,
+      or his&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo; Here he looked at Karema who was regarding him with
+      a sweet smile over the lamp flame, and added, &ldquo;There is something the
+      matter with me, Master; I cannot even lie.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Cease from talking follies, O Shabaka and Bes, and enter,&rdquo; said the
+      tremendous voice from within.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      So we entered and saw a strange sight. Against the back wall of the chapel
+      which was lit with lamps, stood a life-sized statue of Maat, goddess of
+      Law and Truth, fashioned of alabaster. On her head was a tall feather, her
+      hair was covered with a wig, on her neck lay a collar of blue stones; on
+      her arms and wrists were bracelets of gold. A tight robe draped her body.
+      In her right hand that hung down by her side, she held the looped Cross of
+      Life, and in her left which was advanced, a long, lotus-headed sceptre,
+      while her painted eyes stared fixedly at the darkness. Crouched upon the
+      ground, at the feet of the statue, scribe fashion, sat my great-uncle
+      Tanofir, a very aged man with sightless eyes and long hands, so thin that
+      one might see through them against the lamp-flame. His head was shaven,
+      his beard was long and white; white too was his robe. In front of him was
+      a low altar, on which stood a shallow silver vessel filled with pure
+      water, and on either side of it a burning lamp.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We knelt down before him, or rather I knelt, for Bes threw himself flat
+      upon his face.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Am I the King of kings whom you have so lately visited, that you should
+      prostrate yourselves before me?&rdquo; said Tanofir in his great voice, which,
+      coming from so frail and aged a man seemed most unnatural. &ldquo;Or is it to
+      the goddess of Truth beyond that you bow yourselves? If so, that is well,
+      since one, if not both of you, greatly needs her pardon and her help. Or
+      is it to the sleeping god beyond who holds the whole world on his horns?
+      Or is it to the darkness of this hallowed place which causes you to
+      remember the nearness of the awaiting tomb?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Nay, my Uncle,&rdquo; I said, &ldquo;we would greet you, no more, who are so worthy
+      of our veneration, seeing we believe, both of us, that you saved us yonder
+      in the East, from that tomb of which you speak, or rather from the jaws of
+      lions or a cruel death by torments.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Perchance I did, I or the gods of which I am the instrument. At least I
+      remember that I sent you certain messages in answer to a prayer for help
+      that reached me, here in my darkness. For know that since we parted I have
+      gone quite blind so that I must use this maiden&rsquo;s eyes to read what is
+      written in yonder divining-cup. Well, it makes the darkness of this
+      sepulchre easier to bear and prepares me for my own. &lsquo;Tis full a hundred
+      and twenty years since first I looked upon the light, and now the time of
+      sleep draws near. Come hither, my nephew, and kiss me on the brow,
+      remembering in your strength that a day will dawn when as I am, so shall
+      you be, if the gods spare you so long.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      So I kissed him, not without fear, for the old man was unearthly. Then he
+      sent Karema from the place and bade me tell him my story, which I did. Why
+      he did this I cannot say, since he seemed to know it already and once or
+      twice corrected me in certain matters that I had forgotten, for instance
+      as to the exact words that I had used to the Great King in my rage and as
+      to the fashion in which I was tied in the boat. When I had done, he said,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;So you gave the name of Amada to the Great King, did you? Well, you could
+      have done nothing else if you wished to go on living, and therefore cannot
+      be blamed. Yet before all is finished I think it will bring you into
+      trouble, Shabaka, since among many gifts, the gods did not give that of
+      reason to women. If so, bear it, since it is better to have trouble and be
+      alive than to have none and be dead, that is, for those whose work is
+      still to do in the world. And you, or rather Bes, stole the White Signet
+      of signets of which, although it is so simple and ancient, there is not
+      the like for power in the whole world. That was well done since it will be
+      useful for a while. And now Peroa has determined to rebel against the
+      King, which also is well done. Oh! trouble not to tell me of that business
+      for I know all. But what would you learn of me, Shabaka?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am instructed to learn from you the end of these great matters, my
+      Uncle.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Are you mad, Shabaka, that you should think me a god who can read the
+      future?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not at all, my Uncle, who know that you can if you will.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Call the maiden,&rdquo; he said.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      So Bes went out and brought her in.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Be seated, Karema, there in front of the altar, and look into my eyes.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She obeyed and presently seemed to go to sleep for her head nodded. Then
+      he said,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Wake, woman, look into the water in the bowl upon the altar and tell me
+      what you see.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She appeared to wake, though I perceived that this was not really so, for
+      she seemed a different woman with a fixed face that frightened me, and
+      wide and frozen eyes. She stared into the silver bowl, then spoke in a new
+      voice, as though some spirit used her tongue.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I see myself crowned a queen in a land I hate,&rdquo; she said coldly, a saying
+      at which I gasped. &ldquo;I am seated on a throne beside yonder dwarf,&rdquo; a saying
+      at which Bes gasped. &ldquo;Although so hideous, this dwarf is a great man with
+      a good heart, a cunning mind and the courage of a lion. Also his blood is
+      royal.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Here Bes rolled his eyes and smiled, but Tanofir did not seem in the least
+      astonished, and said,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Much of this is known to me and the rest can be guessed. Pass on to what
+      will happen in Egypt, before the spirit leaves you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There will be war in Egypt,&rdquo; she answered. &ldquo;I see fightings; Shabaka and
+      others lead the Egyptians. The Easterns are driven away or slain. Peroa
+      rules as Pharaoh, I see him on his throne. Shabaka is driven away in his
+      turn, I see him travelling south with the dwarf and with myself, looking
+      very sad. Time passes. I see the moons float by; I see messengers reach
+      Shabaka, sent by Peroa and you O holy Tanofir; they tell of trouble in
+      Egypt. I see Shabaka and the dwarf coming north at the head of a great
+      army of black men armed with bows. With them I come rejoicing, for my
+      heart seems to shine. He reaches a temple on the Nile about which is
+      camped another great army, a countless army of Easterns under the command
+      of the King of kings. Shabaka and the dwarf give battle to that army and
+      the fray is desperate. They destroy it, they drive it into the Nile; the
+      Nile runs red with blood. The Great King falls, an arrow from the bow of
+      Shabaka is in his heart. He enters the temple, a conqueror, and there lies
+      Peroa, dying or dead. A veiled priestess is there before an image, I
+      cannot see her face. Shabaka looks on her. She stretches out her arms to
+      him, her eyes burn with woman&rsquo;s love, her breast heaves, and above the
+      image frowns and threatens. All is done, for Tanofir, Master of spirits,
+      you die, yonder in the temple on the Nile, and therefore I can see no
+      more. The power that comes through you, has left me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Then once more she became as a woman asleep.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You have heard, Shabaka and Bes,&rdquo; said Tanofir quietly and stroking his
+      long white beard, &ldquo;and what that maiden seemed to read in the water you
+      may believe or disbelieve as you will.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What do you believe, O holy Tanofir?&rdquo; I asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The only part of the story whereof I am sure,&rdquo; he replied, evading a
+      direct answer, &ldquo;is that which said that I shall die, and that when I am
+      dead I shall no longer be able to cause the maiden Karema to see visions.
+      For the rest I do not know. These things may happen or they may not. But,&rdquo;
+       he added with a note of warning in his voice, &ldquo;whether they happen or not,
+      my counsel to you both is that you say nothing of them beforehand.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What then shall we report to those who bid me seek the oracle of your
+      wisdom, O Tanofir?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You can tell them that my wisdom declared that the omens were mixed with
+      good and evil, but that time would show the truth. Hush now, the maiden is
+      about to awake and must not be frightened. Also it is time for me to be
+      led from this sepulchre to where I sleep, for I think that Ra has set and
+      I am weary. Oh! Shabaka, why do you seek to peer into the future, which
+      from day to day will unroll itself as does a scroll? Be content with the
+      present, man, and take what Fate gives you of good or ill, not seeking to
+      learn what offerings he hides beneath his robe in the days and the years
+      and the centuries to come.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yet you have sought to learn those things, O Tanofir, and not in vain.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Aye and what have they made of me? A blind old hermit weighed down with
+      the weight of years and holding in my fingers but some few threads that
+      with pain and grief I have plucked from the fringe of Wisdom&rsquo;s robe. Be
+      warned by me, Nephew. While you are a man, live the life of a man, and
+      when you become a spirit, live the life of a spirit. But do not seek to
+      mix the two together like oil and wine, and thus spoil both. I am glad to
+      learn, O Bes, that you are going to make a king&rsquo;s, or a slave&rsquo;s wife,
+      whichever it may be, of this maiden, seeing that I love her well and hold
+      this trade unwholesome for her. She will be better bearing babes than
+      reading visions in a diviner&rsquo;s cup, and I will pray the gods that they may
+      not be dwarfs as you are, but take on the likeness of their mother, who
+      tells me that she is fair. Hush! she stirs.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Karema, are you awake? Good. Then lead me from the sepulchre, that I may
+      make my evening prayer beneath the stars. Go, Shabaka and Bes, you are
+      brave men, both of you, and I am glad to have the one for nephew and the
+      other for pupil. My greetings to your mother, Tiu. She is a good woman and
+      a true, one to whom you will do well to hearken. To the lady Amada also,
+      and bid her study her beauteous face in a mirror and not be holy overmuch,
+      since too great holiness often thwarts itself and ends in trouble for the
+      unholy flesh. Still she loves pearls like other women, does she not, and
+      even the statue of Isis likes to be adorned. As for you, Bes, though I
+      think that is not your name, do not lie except when you are obliged, for
+      jugglers who play with too many knives are apt to cut their fingers. Also
+      give no more evil counsel to your Master on matters that have to do with
+      woman. Now farewell. Let me hear how fortune favours you from time to
+      time, Shabaka, for you take part in a great game, such as I loved in my
+      youth before I became a holy hermit. Oh! if they had listened to me,
+      things would have been different in Egypt to-day. But it was written
+      otherwise, and as ever, women were the scribes. Good night, good night,
+      good night! I am glad that my thought reached you yonder in the East, and
+      taught you what to say and do. It is well to be wise sometimes, for
+      others&rsquo; sake, but not for our own, oh! not for our own.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Master,&rdquo; said Bes as we ambled homewards beneath the stars, &ldquo;the holy
+      Tanofir is a man for thought to feed on, since having climbed to the
+      topmost peak of holiness, he does not seem to like its cold air and warns
+      off those who would follow in his footsteps.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then he might have spared himself the pains in your case, Bes, or in my
+      own for that matter, since we shall never come so high.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, Master, and I am glad to have his leave to stay lower down, since
+      that hot place of dead bulls is not one which I wish to inhabit in my age,
+      making use of a maiden to stare into a pot of water, and there read
+      marvels, which I could invent better for myself after a jug or two of
+      wine. Oh! the holy Tanofir is quite right. If these things are going to
+      happen let them happen, for we cannot change them by knowing of them
+      beforehand. Who wishes to know, Master, if his throat will be cut?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Or that he will be married,&rdquo; I suggested.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Just so, Master, seeing that such prophecies end in becoming truths
+      because we make them true, feeling that we must. Thus, now I must marry
+      yonder Karema if she will marry me for fear lest I should prove the holy
+      Tanofir to be what he called me&mdash;a liar.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I laughed and then asked Bes if he had taken note of what the seeress said
+      of our flight south and our return thence with a great army of black men
+      armed with bows.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, Master,&rdquo; he answered gravely, &ldquo;and I think this army can be none
+      other than that of the Ethiopians of whom by right I am the King. This
+      very night I send messengers to tell those who rule in my place that I
+      still live and am changing my mind on the matter of marriage. Also that if
+      I do change it I may return to them, the wisest man who ever wore the
+      crown of Ethiopia, having journeyed all about the world and collected much
+      knowledge.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Perhaps, Bes, those who rule in your place may not wish to give it up to
+      you. Perhaps they will kill you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Have no fear, Master; as I have told you, the Ethiopians are a faithful
+      people. Moreover they know that such a deed would bring the curse of the
+      Grasshopper on them, since then the locusts would appear and eat up all
+      their land, and when they were starving their enemies would attack them.
+      Lastly they are a very tall folk and simple-minded and would not wish to
+      miss the chance of being ruled over by the wisest dwarf in all the world,
+      if only because it would be something new to them, Master.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Again I laughed thinking that Bes was jesting according to his fashion.
+      But when that night, chancing to go round the corner of the house, I came
+      upon him with a circlet of feathers round his head and his big bow in his
+      hand, addressing three great black men who knelt before him as though he
+      were a god, I changed my mind. As I withdrew he caught sight of me and
+      said,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I pray you, my lord Shabaka, stay one moment.&rdquo; Then he spoke to the three
+      men in his own language, translating sentence by sentence to me what he
+      said to them. Briefly it was this:&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Say to the Lords and Councillors of the Ancient Kingdom that I, the
+      Karoon&rdquo; (for such it seemed was his title) &ldquo;have a friend named the lord
+      Shabaka, he whom you see before you, who again and again has saved my
+      life, nursing me in his arms as a mother nurses her babe, and who is,
+      after me, the bravest and the wisest man in all the world. Say to them
+      that if indeed I double myself by marriage and return having fulfilled the
+      law, I will beg this mighty prince to accompany me, and that if he
+      consents that will be the most joyful day which the Ethiopians have seen
+      for a thousand years, since he will teach them wisdom and lead their
+      armies in great and glorious battles. Let the priests of the Grasshopper
+      pray therefore that he may consent to do so. Now salute the mighty lord
+      Shabaka who can send one arrow through all three of you and two more
+      behind, and depart, tarrying not day or night till you reach the land of
+      Ethiopia. Then when you have delivered the message of Karoon to the
+      Captains and the Councillors, return, or let others return and seek me out
+      wherever I may be, bringing of the gold of Ethiopia and other gifts,
+      together with their answer, seeing that I and the lord Shabaka who have
+      the world beneath our feet, will not come to a land where we are not
+      welcome.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      So these great men saluted me as though I were the King of kings himself,
+      after which they rubbed their foreheads in the dust before Bes, said
+      something which I did not understand, leapt to their feet, crying &ldquo;Karoon&rdquo;
+       and sprang away into the night.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is good to have been a slave, Master,&rdquo; said Bes when they had gone,
+      &ldquo;since it teaches one that it is even better to be a king, at least
+      sometimes.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Here I may add that during the days which followed Bes was often absent.
+      When I asked him where he had gone, he would answer, to drink in the
+      wisdom of the holy Tanofir by help of a certain silver vessel that the
+      maiden Karema held to his lips. From all of which I gathered that he was
+      wooing the lady who had called herself the Cup of Tanofir, and wondered
+      how the business went, though as he said no more I did not ask him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Indeed I had little time to talk with Bes about such light matters, since
+      things moved apace in Memphis. Within six days all the great lords left in
+      Upper Egypt were sworn to the revolt under the leadership of Peroa, and
+      hour by hour their vassals or hired mercenaries flowed into the city.
+      These it was my duty to weld into an army, and at this task I toiled
+      without cease, separating them into regiments and drilling them, also
+      arranging for the arming and victualling of the boats of war. Then news
+      came that Idernes was advancing from Sais with a great force of Easterns,
+      all the garrison of Lower Egypt indeed, as his messengers said, to answer
+      the summons conveyed to him under the private Seal of seals.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Of Amada during this time I saw little, only meeting her now and again at
+      the table of Peroa, or elsewhere in public. For the rest it pleased her to
+      keep away from me. Once or twice I tried to find her alone, only to
+      discover that she was engaged in the service of the goddess. Once, too, as
+      she left Peroa&rsquo;s table, I whispered into her ear that I wished to speak
+      with her. But she shook her head, saying,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;After the new moon, Shabaka. Then you shall speak with me as much as you
+      wish.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Thus it came about that never could I find opportunity to tell her of that
+      matter of what had happened at the court of the Great King. Still every
+      morning she sent me some token, flowers or trifling gifts, and once a ring
+      that must have belonged to her forefathers, since on its bezel was
+      engraved the royal <i>uræus</i>, together with the signs of long life and
+      health, which ring I wore hung about my neck but not upon my finger,
+      fearing lest that emblem of royalty might offend Peroa or some of his
+      House, if they chanced to see it. So in answer I also sent her flowers and
+      other gifts, and for the rest was content to wait.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      All of which things my mother noted with a smile, saying that the lady
+      Amada showed a wonderful discretion, such as any man would value in a wife
+      of so much beauty, which also must be most pleasing to her mistress, the
+      goddess Isis. To this I answered that I valued it less as a lover than I
+      might do as a husband. My mother smiled again and spoke of something else.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Thus things went on while the storm-clouds gathered over Egypt.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      One night I could not sleep. It was that of the new moon and I knew that
+      during those hours of darkness, before the solemn conclave of the high
+      priests, with pomp and ceremony in the sanctuary of the temple, Amada had
+      undergone absolution of her vows to Isis and been given liberty to wed as
+      other women do. Indeed my mother, in virtue of her rank as a Singer of
+      Amen, had been present at the rite, and returning, told me all that
+      happened.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She described how Amada had appeared, clad as a priestess, how she had put
+      up her prayer to the four high priests seated in state, demanding to be
+      loosed from her vow &ldquo;for the sake of her heart and of Egypt.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Then one of the high priests, he of Amen, I think, as the chief of them
+      all, had advanced to the statue of the goddess Isis and whispered the
+      prayer to it, whereon after a pause the goddess nodded thrice in the sight
+      of all present, thereby signifying her assent. This done the high priest
+      returned and proclaimed the absolution in the ancient words &ldquo;for the sake
+      of the suppliant&rsquo;s heart and of Egypt&rdquo; and with it the blessing of the
+      goddess on her union, adding, however, the formula, &ldquo;at thy prayer,
+      daughter and spouse, I, the goddess Isis, cut the rope that binds thee to
+      me on earth. Yet if thou should&rsquo;st tie it again, know that it may never
+      more be severed, for if thou strivest so to do, it shall strangle thee in
+      whatever shape thou livest on the earth throughout the generations, and
+      with thee the man thou choosest and those who give thee to him. Thus saith
+      Isis the Queen of Heaven.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What does that mean?&rdquo; I asked my mother.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It means, my son, that if, having broken her vows to Isis, a woman should
+      repeat them and once more enter the service of the goddess, and then for
+      the second time seek to break them, she and the man for whom she did this
+      thing would be like flies in a spider&rsquo;s web, and that not only in this
+      life, but in any other that may be given to them in the world.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It seems that Isis has a long arm,&rdquo; I said.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Without doubt a very long arm, my son, since Isis, by whatever name she
+      is called, is a power that does not die or forget.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, Mother, in this case she can have no reason to remember, since
+      never again will Amada be her priestess.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I think not, Shabaka. Yet who can be sure of what a woman will or will
+      not do, now or hereafter? For my part I am glad that I have served Amen
+      and not Isis, and that after I was wed.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0012" id="link2HCH0012">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XII. THE SLAYING OF IDERNES
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      Whilst I was still talking to my mother I received an urgent summons to
+      the palace. I went and in a little ante-chamber met Amada alone, who, I
+      could see, was waiting there for me. She was arrayed in her secular dress
+      and wore the insignia of royalty, looking exceedingly beautiful. Moreover,
+      her whole aspect had changed, for now she was no longer a priestess sworn
+      to mysteries, but just a lovely and a loving woman.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is done, Shabaka,&rdquo; she whispered, &ldquo;and thou art mine and I am thine.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Then I opened my arms and she sank upon my breast and for the first time I
+      kissed her on the lips, kissed her many times and oh! my heart almost
+      burst with joy. But all too fleeting was that sweet moment of love&rsquo;s first
+      fruits, whereon I had sown the seed so many years ago, for while we yet
+      clung together, whispering sweet things into each other&rsquo;s ears, I heard a
+      voice calling me and was forced to go away before I had even time to ask
+      when we might be wed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Within the Council was gathered. The news before it was that the Satrap
+      Idernes lay camped upon the Nile with some ten thousand men, not far from
+      the great pyramids, that is, within striking distance of Memphis. Moreover
+      his messengers announced that he purposed to visit the Prince Peroa that
+      day with a small guard only, to inquire into this matter of the Signet,
+      for which visit he demanded a safe-conduct sworn in the name of the Great
+      King and in those of the gods of Egypt and the East. Failing this he would
+      at once attack Memphis notwithstanding any commands that might be given
+      him under the Signet, which, until he beheld it with his own eyes, he
+      believed to be a forgery.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The question was&mdash;what answer should be sent to him? The debate that
+      followed proved long and earnest. Some were in favour of attacking Idernes
+      at once although his camp was reported to be strongly entrenched and
+      flanked on one side by the Nile and on the other by the rising ground
+      whereon stood the great sphinx and the pyramids. Others, among whom I was
+      numbered, thought otherwise, for I hold that some evil god led me to give
+      counsel that day which, if it were good for Egypt was most ill for my own
+      fortunes. Perchance this god was Isis, angry at the loss of her votary.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I pointed out that by receiving Idernes Peroa would gain time which would
+      enable a body of three thousand men, if not more, who were advancing down
+      the Nile, to join us before they were perhaps cut off from the city, and
+      thus give us a force as large as his, or larger. Also I showed that having
+      summoned Idernes under the Signet, we should put ourselves in the wrong if
+      we refused to receive him and instead attacked him at once.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A third party was in favour of allowing him to enter Memphis with his
+      guard and then making him prisoner or killing him. As to this I pointed
+      out again that not only would it involve the breaking of a solemn oath,
+      which might bring the curse of the gods upon our cause and proclaim us
+      traitors to the world, but it would also be foolish since Idernes was not
+      the only general of the Easterns and if we cut off him and his escort, it
+      would avail us little for then the rest of the Easterns would fight in a
+      just cause.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      So in the end it was agreed that the safe-conduct should be sent and that
+      Peroa should receive Idernes that very day at a great feast given in his
+      honour. Accordingly it was sent in the ancient form, the oaths being taken
+      before the messengers that neither he nor those with him who must not
+      number more than twenty men, would be harmed in Memphis and that he would
+      be guarded on the road back until he reached the outposts of his own camp.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This done, I was despatched up the Nile bank in a chariot accompanied only
+      by Bes, to hurry on the march of those troops of which I have spoken, so
+      that they might reach Memphis by sundown. Before I went, however, I had
+      some words alone with Peroa. He told me that my immediate marriage with
+      the lady Amada would be announced at the feast that night. Thereon I
+      prayed him to deliver to Amada the rope of priceless rose-hued pearls
+      which was in his keeping, as my betrothal gift, with the prayer that she
+      would wear them at the feast for my sake. There was no time for more.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The journey up Nile proved long for the road was bad being covered with
+      drifted sand in some places and deep in mud from the inundation waters in
+      others. At length I found the troops just starting forward after their
+      rest, and rejoiced to see that there were more of them than I had thought.
+      I told the case to their captains, who promised to make a forced march and
+      to be in Memphis two hours before midnight.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As we drove back Bes said to me suddenly,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do you know why you could not find me this morning?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I answered that I did not.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Because a good slave should always run a pace ahead of his master, to
+      clear the road and tell him of its pitfalls. I was being married. The Cup
+      of the holy Tanofir is now by law and right Queen of the Ethiopians. So
+      when you meet her again you must treat her with great respect, as I do
+      already.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Indeed, Bes,&rdquo; I said laughing, &ldquo;and how did you manage that business? You
+      must have wooed her well during these days which have been so full for
+      both of us.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I did not woo her over much, Master; indeed, the time was lacking. I
+      wooed the holy Tanofir, which was more important.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The holy Tanofir, Bes?&rdquo; I exclaimed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, Master. You see this beautiful Cup of his is after all&mdash;his
+      beautiful Cup. Her mind is the shadow of his mind and from her he pours
+      out his wisdom. So I told him all the case. At first he was angry, for,
+      notwithstanding the words he spoke to you and me, when it came to a point
+      the holy Tanofir, being after all much like other men, did not wish to
+      lose his Cup. Indeed had he been a few score of years younger I am not
+      sure but that he would have forgotten some of his holiness because of her.
+      Still he came to see matters in the true light at last&mdash;for your
+      sake, Master, not for mine, since his wisdom told him it was needful that
+      I should become King of the Ethiopians again, to do which I must be
+      married. At any rate he worked upon the mind of that Cup of his&mdash;having
+      first settled that she should procure a younger sister of her own to fill
+      her place&mdash;in such fashion that when at length I spoke to her on the
+      matter, she did not say no.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No doubt because she was fond of you for yourself, Bes. A woman would not
+      marry even to please the holy Tanofir.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh! Master,&rdquo; he replied in a new voice, a very sad voice, &ldquo;I would that I
+      could think so. But look at me, a misshapen dwarf, accursed from birth.
+      Could a fair lady like this Karema wed such a one for his own sake?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, Bes, there might be other reasons besides the holy Tanofir,&rdquo; I said
+      hurriedly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Master, there were no other reasons, unless the Cup, when it is awake,
+      remembers what it has held in trance, which I do not believe. I wooed her
+      as I was, not telling her that I am also King of the Ethiopians, or any
+      more than I seem to be. Moreover the holy Tanofir told her nothing, for he
+      swore as much to me and he does not lie.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And what did she say to you, Bes?&rdquo; I asked, for I was curious.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;She lied fast enough, Master. She said&mdash;well, what she said when
+      first we met her, that there was more in me than the eye saw and that she
+      who had lived so much with spirits looked to the spirit rather than to the
+      flesh, and that dwarf or no she loved me and desired nothing better than
+      to marry me and be my true and faithful wife and helpmeet. She lied so
+      well that once or twice almost I believed her. At any rate I took her at
+      her word, not altogether for myself, believe me, Master, but because
+      without doubt what the holy Tanofir has shown us will come to pass, and it
+      is necessary to you that I should be married.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You married her to help me, Bes?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That is so, Master&mdash;after all, but a little thing, seeing that she
+      is beautiful, well born and very pleasant, and I am fond of her. Also I do
+      her no wrong for she has bought more than she bargained for, and if she
+      has any that are not dwarfs, her children may be kings. I do not think,&rdquo;
+       he added reflectively, &ldquo;that even the faithful Ethiopians could accept a
+      second dwarf as their king. One is very well for a change, but not two or
+      three. The stomach of a tall people would turn against them.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I took Bes&rsquo;s hand and pressed it, understanding the depth of his love and
+      sacrifice. Also some spirit&mdash;doubtless it came from the holy Tanofir&mdash;moved
+      me to say,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Be comforted, Bes, for I am sure of this. Your children will be strong
+      and straight and tall, more so than any of their forefathers that went
+      before them.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      This indeed proved to be the case, for their father&rsquo;s deformity was but an
+      accident, not born in his blood.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Those are good-omened words, Master, for which I thank you, though the
+      holy Tanofir said the like when he wed us with the sacred words this
+      morning and gave us his blessing, endowing my wife with certain gifts of
+      secret wisdom which he said would be of use to her and me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Where is she now, Bes?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;With the holy Tanofir, Master, until I fetch her, training her younger
+      sister to be a diviner&rsquo;s worthy Cup. Only perhaps I shall never send,
+      seeing that I think there will be fighting soon.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, Bes, but being newly married you will do well to leave it to
+      others.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, no, Master. Battle is better than wives. Moreover, could you think
+      that I would leave you to stand alone in the fray? Why if I did and harm
+      came to you I should die of shame or hang myself and then Karema would
+      never be a queen. So both her trades would be gone, since after marriage
+      she cannot be a Cup, and her heart would break. But here are the gates of
+      Memphis, so we will forget love and think of war.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      An hour later I and my mother, the lady Tiu, stood in the banqueting hall
+      of the palace with many others, and learned that the Satrap Idernes and
+      his escort had reached Memphis and would be present at the feast. A while
+      later trumpets blew and a glittering procession entered the hall. At the
+      head of it was Peroa who led Idernes by the hand. This Eastern was a big,
+      strong man with tired and anxious eyes, such as I had noted were common
+      among the servants of the Great King who from day to day never knew
+      whether they would fill a Satrapy or a grave. He was clad in gorgeous
+      silks and wore a cap upon his head in which shone a jewel, but beneath his
+      robes I caught the glint of mail.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As he came into the hall and noted the number and quality of the guests
+      and the stir and the expectant look upon their faces, he started as though
+      he were afraid, but recovering himself, murmured some courteous words to
+      his host and advanced towards the seat of honour which was pointed out to
+      him upon the Prince&rsquo;s right. After these two followed the wife of Peroa
+      with her son and daughters. Then, walking alone in token of her high rank,
+      appeared Amada, the Royal Lady of Egypt, wonderfully arrayed. Now,
+      however, she wore no emblems of royalty, either because it was not thought
+      wise that these should be shown in the presence of the Satrap, or because
+      she was about to be given in marriage to one who was not royal. Indeed, as
+      I noted with joy, her only ornament was the rope of rose-hued pearls which
+      were arranged in a double row upon her breast.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She searched me out with her eyes, smiled, touching the pearls with her
+      finger, and passed on to her place next to the daughters of Peroa, at one
+      end of the head table which was shaped like a horse&rsquo;s hoof.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      After her came the nobles who had accompanied Idernes, grave Eastern men.
+      One of these, a tall captain with eyes like a hawk, seemed familiar to me.
+      Nor was I mistaken, for Bes, who stood behind me and whose business it
+      would be to wait on me at the feast, whispered in my ear,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Note that man. He was present when you were brought before the Great King
+      from the boat and saw and heard all that passed.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then I wish he were absent now,&rdquo; I whispered back, for at the words a
+      sudden fear shot through me, of what I could not say.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      By degrees all were seated in their appointed places. Mine was by that of
+      my mother at a long table that stood as it were across the ends of the
+      high table but at a little distance from them, so that I was almost
+      opposite to Peroa and Idernes and could see Amada, although she was too
+      far away for me to be able to speak to her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The feast began and at first was somewhat heavy and silent, since, save
+      for the talk of courtesy, none spoke much. At length wine, whereof I noted
+      that Idernes drank a good deal, as did his escort, but Peroa and the
+      Egyptians little, loosened men&rsquo;s tongues and they grew merrier. For it was
+      the custom of the people of the Great King to discuss both private and
+      public business when full of strong drink, but of the Egyptians when they
+      were quite sober. This was well known to Peroa and many of us, especially
+      to myself who had been among them, which was one of the reasons why
+      Idernes had been asked to meet us at a feast, where we might have the
+      advantage of him in debate.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Presently the Satrap noted the splendid cup from which he drank and asked
+      some question concerning it of the hawk-eyed noble of whom I have spoken.
+      When it had been answered he said in a voice loud enough for me to
+      overhear,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Tell me, O Prince Peroa, was this cup ever that of the Great King which
+      it so much resembles?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;So I understand, O Idernes,&rdquo; answered Peroa. &ldquo;That is, until it became
+      mine by gift from the lord Shabaka, who received it from the Great King.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      An expression of horror appeared upon the face of the Satrap and upon
+      those of his nobles.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Surely,&rdquo; he answered, &ldquo;this Shabaka must hold the King&rsquo;s favours lightly
+      if he passes them on thus to the first-comer. At the least, let not the
+      vessel which has been hallowed by the lips of the King of kings be
+      dishonoured by the humblest of his servants. I pray you, O Prince, that I
+      may be given another cup.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      So a new goblet was brought to him, Peroa trying to pass the matter off as
+      a jest by appealing to me to tell the story of the cup. Then I said while
+      all listened,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;O Prince, the most high Satrap is mistaken. The King of kings did not
+      give me the cup, I bought it from him in exchange for a certain famous
+      bow, and therefore held it not wrong to pass it on to you, my lord.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Idernes made no answer and seemed to forget the matter.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A while later, however, his eye fell upon Amada and the rose-hued pearls
+      she wore, and again he asked a question of the hawk-eyed captain, then
+      said,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Think me not discourteous, O Prince, if I seem to look upon yonder lovely
+      lady which in our country, where women do not appear in public, we should
+      think it an insult to do. But on her fair breast I see certain pearls like
+      to some that are known throughout the world, which for many years have
+      been worn by those who sit upon the throne of the East. I would ask if
+      they are the same, or others?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I do not know, O Idernes,&rdquo; answered Peroa; &ldquo;I only know that the lord
+      Shabaka brought them from the East. Inquire of him, if it be your
+      pleasure.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Shabaka again&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo; began Idernes, but I cut him short, saying,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, O Satrap, Shabaka again. I won those pearls in a bet from the Great
+      King, and with them a certain weight of gold. This I think you knew
+      before, since your messenger of a while ago was whipped for trying to
+      steal them, which under the rods he said he did by command, O Satrap.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      To this bold speech Idernes made no answer. Only his captains frowned and
+      many of the Egyptians murmured approval.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      After this the feast went on without further incident for a while, the
+      Easterns always drinking more wine, till at length the tables were cleared
+      and all of the meaner sort departed from the hall, save the butlers and
+      the personal servants such as Bes, who stood behind the seats of their
+      masters. There came a silence such as precedes the bursting of a storm,
+      and in the midst of it Idernes spoke, somewhat thickly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I did not come here, O Peroa,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;from the seat of government at
+      Sais to eat your meats and drink your wine. I came to speak of high
+      matters with you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is so, O Satrap,&rdquo; answered Peroa. &ldquo;And now what may be your will?
+      Would you retire to discuss them with me and my Councillors?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Where is the need, O Peroa, seeing that I have naught to say which may
+      not be heard by all?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;As it pleases you. Speak on, O Satrap.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have been summoned here, Prince Peroa, by a writing under what seems to
+      be the Signet of signets&mdash;the ancient White Seal that for generations
+      unknown has been worn by the forefathers of the King of kings. Where is
+      this Signet?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Here,&rdquo; said the Prince, opening his robe. &ldquo;Look on it, Satrap, and let
+      your lords look, but let none of you dare to touch it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Idernes looked long and earnestly, and so did some of his people,
+      especially the lord with the hawk eyes. Then they stared at each other
+      bewildered and whispered together.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It seems to be the very Seal&mdash;the White Seal itself!&rdquo; exclaimed
+      Idernes at length. &ldquo;Tell me now, Peroa. How came this sacred thing that
+      dwells in the East hither into Egypt?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The lord Shabaka brought it to me with certain letters from the Great
+      King, O Satrap.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Shabaka for the third time, by the holy Fire!&rdquo; cried Idernes. &ldquo;He brought
+      the cup; he brought the famous pearls; he brought the gold, and he brought
+      the Signet of signets. What is there then that he did not bring? Perchance
+      he has the person of the King of kings himself in his keeping!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not that, O Satrap, only the commands of the King of kings which are
+      prepared ready to deliver to you under the White Seal that you
+      acknowledge.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And what may they be, Egyptian?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;This, O Satrap: That you and all the army which you have brought with you
+      retire to Sais and thence out of Egypt as quickly as you may, or pay for
+      disobedience with your lives.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Now Idernes and his captains gasped.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why this is rebellion!&rdquo; he said.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, O Satrap, only the command of the Great King given under the White
+      Seal,&rdquo; and drawing a roll from his breast, Peroa laid it on his brow and
+      cast it down before Idernes, adding,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Obey the writing and the Signet, or by virtue of my commission, as soon
+      as you are returned to your army and your safe-conduct is expired, I fall
+      upon you and destroy you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Idernes looked about him like a wolf in a trap, then asked,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do you mean to murder me here?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not so,&rdquo; answered Peroa, &ldquo;for you have our safe-conduct and Egyptians are
+      honourable men. But you are dismissed your office and ordered to leave
+      Egypt.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Idernes thought a little while, then said,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If I leave Egypt, there is at least one whom I am commanded to take with
+      me under orders and writings that you will not dispute, a maiden named
+      Amada whom the Great King would number among his women. I am told it is
+      she who sits yonder&mdash;a jewel indeed, fair as the pearls upon her
+      breast which thus will return into the King&rsquo;s keeping. Let her be handed
+      over, for she rides with me at once.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Now in the midst of an intense silence Peroa answered,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Amada, the Royal Lady of Egypt, cannot be sent to dwell in the House of
+      Women of the Great King without the consent of the lord Shabaka, whose she
+      is.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Shabaka for the fourth time!&rdquo; said Idernes, glaring at me. &ldquo;Then let
+      Shabaka come too. Or his head in a basket will suffice, since that will
+      save trouble afterwards, also some pain to Shabaka. Why, now I remember.
+      It was this very Shabaka whom the Great King condemned to death by the
+      boat for a crime against his Majesty, and who bought his life by promising
+      to deliver to him the fairest and most learned woman in the world&mdash;the
+      lady Amada of Egypt. And thus does the knave keep his oath!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Now I leapt to my feet, as did most of those present. Only Amada kept her
+      seat and looked at me.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You lie!&rdquo; I cried, &ldquo;and were it not for your safe-conduct I would kill
+      you for the lie.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I lie, do I?&rdquo; sneered Idernes. &ldquo;Speak then, you who were present, and
+      tell this noble company whether I lie,&rdquo; and he pointed to the hawk-eyed
+      lord.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He does not lie,&rdquo; said the Captain. &ldquo;I was in the Court of the Great King
+      and heard yonder Shabaka purchase pardon by promising to hand over his
+      cousin, the lady Amada, to the King. The pearls were entrusted to him as a
+      gift to her and I see she wears them. The gold also of which mention has
+      been made was to provide for her journey in state to the East, or so I
+      heard. The cup was his guerdon, also a sum for his own purse.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is false,&rdquo; I shouted. &ldquo;The name of Amada slipped my lips by chance&mdash;no
+      more.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;So it slipped your lips by chance, did it?&rdquo; sneered Idernes. &ldquo;Now, if you
+      are wise, you will suffer the lady Amada to slip your hand, and not by
+      chance. But let us have done with this cunning knave. Prince, will you
+      hand over yonder fair woman, or will you not?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Satrap, I will not,&rdquo; answered Peroa. &ldquo;The demand is an insult put forward
+      to force us to rebellion, since there is no man in Egypt who will not be
+      ready to die in defence of the Royal Lady of Egypt.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      This statement was received with a shout of applause by every Egyptian in
+      the hall. Idernes waited until it had died away, then said,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Prince Peroa and Egyptians, you have conveyed to me certain commands
+      sealed with the Signet of signets, which I think was stolen by yonder
+      Shabaka. Now hearken; until this matter is made clear I will obey those
+      commands thus far. I will return with my army to Sais and there wait until
+      I have received the orders of the Great King, after report made to him. If
+      so much as an arrow is shot at us on our march, it will be open rebellion,
+      as the price of which Egypt shall be crushed as she was never crushed
+      before, and every one of you here present shall lose his head, save only
+      the lady Amada who is the property of the Great King. Now I thank you for
+      your hospitality and demand that you escort me and those with me back to
+      my camp, since it seems that here we are in the midst of enemies.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Before you go, Idernes,&rdquo; I shouted, &ldquo;know that you and your lying captain
+      shall pay with your lives for your slander on me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Many will pay with their lives for this night&rsquo;s work, O thief of pearls
+      and seals,&rdquo; answered the Satrap, and turning, left the hall with his
+      company.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Now I searched for Amada, but she also had gone with the ladies of Peroa&rsquo;s
+      household who feared lest the feast should end in blows and bloodshed,
+      also lest she should be snatched away. Indeed of all the women in the
+      hall, only my mother remained.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Search out the lady Amada,&rdquo; I said to her, &ldquo;and tell her the truth.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, my son,&rdquo; she answered thoughtfully; &ldquo;but what is the truth? I
+      understood it was Bes who first gave the name of the lady Amada to the
+      Great King. Now we learn from your own lips that it was you. Wise would
+      you have been, my son, if you had bitten out your tongue before you said
+      it, since this is a matter that any woman may well misunderstand.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Her name was surprised out of me, Mother. It was Bes who spoke to the
+      King of the beauty of a certain lady of Egypt.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And I think, my son, it was Bes who told Peroa and his guests that he and
+      not you had given the King her name, which you do not seem to have denied.
+      Well, doubtless both of you are to blame for foolishness, no more, since
+      well I know that you would have died ten times over rather than buy your
+      life at the price of the honour of the Lady of Egypt. This I will say to
+      her as soon as I may, praying that it may not be too late, and afterwards
+      you shall tell me everything, which you would have done well to do at
+      first, if Bes, as I think, had not been over cunning after the fashion of
+      black people, and counselled you otherwise. See, Peroa calls you and I
+      must go, for there are greater matters afoot than that of who let slip the
+      name of the lady Amada to the King of kings.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      So she went and there followed a swift council of war, the question being
+      whether we were to strike at the Satrap&rsquo;s army or to allow it to retreat
+      to Sais. In my turn I was asked for my judgment of the issue, and
+      answered,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Strike and at once, since we cannot hope to storm Sais, which is far
+      away. Moreover such strength as we have is now gathered and if it is idle
+      and perhaps unpaid, will disperse again. But if we can destroy Idernes and
+      his army, it will be long before the King of kings, who is sending all his
+      multitudes against the Greeks, can gather another, and during this time
+      Egypt may again become a nation and able to protect herself under Peroa
+      her own Pharaoh.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      In the end I, and those who thought like me, prevailed, so that before the
+      dawn I was sailing down the Nile with the fleet, having two thousand men
+      under my command. Also I took with me the six hunters whom I had won from
+      the Great King, since I knew them to be faithful, and thought that their
+      knowledge of the Easterns and their ways might be of service. Our orders
+      were to hold a certain neck of land between the river and the hills where
+      the army of Idernes must pass, until Peroa and all his strength could
+      attack him from behind.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Four hours later, the wind being very favourable to us, we reached that
+      place and there took up our station and having made all as ready as we
+      could, rested.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In the early afternoon Bes awakened me from the heavy sleep into which I
+      had fallen, and pointed to the south. I looked and through the desert haze
+      saw the chariots of Idernes advancing in ordered ranks, and after them the
+      masses of his footmen.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Now we had no chariots, only archers, and two regiments armed with long
+      spears and swords. Also the sailors on the boats had their slings and
+      throwing javelins. Lastly the ground was in our favour since it sloped
+      upwards and the space between the river and the hills was narrow, somewhat
+      boggy too after the inundation of the Nile, which meant that the chariots
+      must advance in a column and could not gather sufficient speed to sweep
+      over us.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Idernes and his captains noted all this also, and halted. Then they sent a
+      herald forward to ask who we were and to command us in the name of the
+      Great King to make way for the army of the Great King.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I answered that we were Egyptians, ordered by Peroa to hold the road
+      against the Satrap who had done affront to Egypt by demanding that its
+      Royal Lady should be given over to him to be sent to the East as a
+      woman-slave, and that if the Satrap wished to clear a road, he could come
+      and do so. Or if it pleased him he could go back towards Memphis, or stay
+      where he was, since we did not wish to strike the first blow. I added
+      this,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I who speak on behalf of the Prince Peroa, am the lord Shabaka, that same
+      man whom but last night the Satrap and a certain captain of his named a
+      liar. Now the Easterns are brave men and we of Egypt have always heard
+      that among them none is braver than Idernes who gained his advancement
+      through courage and skill in war. Let him therefore come out together with
+      the lord who named me a liar, armed with swords only, and I, who being a
+      liar must also be a coward, together with my servant, a black dwarf, will
+      meet them man to man in the sight of both the armies, and fight them to
+      the death. Or if it pleases Idernes better, let him not come and I will
+      seek him and kill him in the battle, or by him be killed.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The herald, having taken stock of me and of Bes at whom he laughed,
+      returned with the message.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Will he come, think you, Master?&rdquo; asked Bes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Mayhap,&rdquo; I answered, &ldquo;since it is a shame for an Eastern to refuse a
+      challenge from any man whom he calls barbarian, and if he did so it might
+      cost him his life afterwards at the hands of the Great King. Also if he
+      should fall there are others to take his command, but none who can wipe
+      away the stain upon his honour.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; said Bes; &ldquo;also they will think me a dwarf of no account, which
+      makes the task of killing you easy. Well, they shall see.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Now when I sent this challenge I had more in my mind than a desire to
+      avenge myself upon Idernes and his captain for the public shame they had
+      put upon me. I wished to delay the attack of their host upon our little
+      band and give time for the army of Peroa to come up behind. Moreover, if I
+      fell it did not greatly matter, except as an omen, seeing that I had good
+      officers under me who knew all my plans.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We saw the herald reach the Satrap&rsquo;s army and after a while return towards
+      us again, which made us think my challenge had been refused, especially as
+      with him was an officer who, I took it, was sent to spy out our strength.
+      But this was not so, for the man said,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The Satrap Idernes has sworn by the Great King to kill the thief of the
+      Signet and send his head to the Great King, and fears that if he waits to
+      meet him in battle, he may slip away. Therefore he is minded to accept
+      your challenge, O Shabaka, and put an end to you, and indeed under the
+      laws of the East he may not refuse. But a noble of the Great King may not
+      fight against a black slave save with a whip, so how can that noble accept
+      the challenge of the dwarf Bes?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Quite well,&rdquo; answered Bes, &ldquo;seeing that I am no slave but a free citizen
+      of Egypt. Moreover, in my own country of Ethiopia I am of royal blood.
+      Lastly, tell the man this, that if he does not come and afterwards falls
+      into my hands or into those of the lord Shabaka, he who talks of whips
+      shall be scourged with them till his life creeps out from between his bare
+      bones.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Thus spoke Bes, rolling his great eyes and looking so terrible that the
+      herald and the officer fell back a step or two. Then I told them that if
+      my offer did not please them, I myself would fight, first Idernes and then
+      the noble. So they returned.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The end of it was that we saw Idernes and his captain advancing, followed
+      by a guard of ten men. Then after I had explained all things to my
+      officers, I also advanced with Bes, followed by a guard of ten picked men.
+      We met between the armies on a little sandy plain at the foot of the rise
+      and there followed talk between the captains of our guards as to arms and
+      so forth, but we four said nothing to each other, since the time for words
+      was past. Only Bes and I sat down upon the sand and spoke a little
+      together of Amada and Karema and of how they would receive the news of our
+      victory or deaths.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It does not much matter, Master,&rdquo; said Bes at last, &ldquo;seeing that if we
+      die we shall never know, and if we live we shall learn for ourselves.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      At length all was arranged and we stood up to face each other, the four of
+      us being armed in the same way. For as did Idernes and the hawk-eyed lord,
+      Bes and I wore shirts of mail and helms, those that we had brought with us
+      from the East. For weapons we had short and heavy swords, small shields
+      and knives at our girdles.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Look your last upon the sun, Thieves,&rdquo; mocked Idernes, &ldquo;for when you see
+      it again, it shall be with blind eyes from the points of spears fastened
+      to the gateway pillars of the Great King&rsquo;s palace.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Liars you have lived and liars you shall die,&rdquo; shouted Bes, but I said
+      nothing.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Now the agreement was that when the word had been given Idernes and I, and
+      the noble and Bes, should fight together, but if they killed one of us, or
+      we killed one of them, the two who survived might fall together on the
+      remaining man. Remembering this, as he told me afterwards, at the signal
+      Bes leapt forward like a flash with working face and foam upon his lips,
+      and before ever I could come to Idernes, how I know not, had received the
+      blow of the Eastern lord upon his shield and without striking back, had
+      gripped him in his long arms and wrapped him round with his bowed legs. In
+      an instant they were on the ground, Bes uppermost, and I heard the sound
+      of blow upon blow struck with knife or sword, I knew not which, upon the
+      Eastern&rsquo;s mail, followed by a shout of victory from the Egyptians which
+      told me that Bes had slain him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Now Idernes and I were smiting at each other. He was a taller and a bigger
+      man than myself, but older and one who had lived too well. Therefore I
+      thought it wise to keep him at a distance and tire him, which I did by
+      retreating and catching his sword-cuts on my shield, only smiting back now
+      and again.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He runs! He runs!&rdquo; shouted the Easterns. &ldquo;O Idernes, beware the dwarf!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Stand away, Bes,&rdquo; I called; &ldquo;this is my game,&rdquo; and he obeyed, as often he
+      had done when we were hunting together.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Now a shrewd blow from Idernes cut through my helm and staggered me, and
+      another before I could recover myself, shore the shield from my hand,
+      whereat the Easterns shouted more loudly than before. Then fear of defeat
+      entered into me and made me mad, for this Satrap was a great fighter. With
+      a shout of &ldquo;Egypt!&rdquo; I went at him like a wounded lion and soon it was his
+      turn to stagger back. But alas! I struck too hard, for my sword snapped
+      upon his mail.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The knife!&rdquo; screamed Bes; &ldquo;the knife!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I hurled the sword hilt in the Satrap&rsquo;s face and drew the dagger from my
+      belt. Then I ran in beneath his guard and stabbed and stabbed and stabbed.
+      He gripped me and we went down side by side, rolling over each other. The
+      gods know how it ended, for things were growing dim to me when some thrust
+      of mine found a rent in his mail made when the sword broke and he became
+      weak. His spirit weakened also, for he gasped,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Spare my life, Egyptian, and my treasure is yours. I swear it by the
+      Fire.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not for all the treasure in the world, Slanderer,&rdquo; I panted back and
+      drove the dagger home to the hilt thrice, until he died. Then I staggered
+      to my feet, and when the armies saw that it was I who rose while Idernes
+      lay still a roar of triumph went up from the Egyptians, answered by a roar
+      of rage from the Easterns.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      With a cry of &ldquo;Well done, Master!&rdquo; Bes leapt upon the dead man and hewed
+      his head from him, as already he had served the hawk-eyed noble. Then
+      gripping one head in each hand he held them up for the Easterns to see.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Men of the Great King,&rdquo; I said, &ldquo;bear us witness that we have fought
+      fairly, man to man, when we need not have done so.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The ten of the Satrap&rsquo;s guard stood silent, but my own shouted,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Back, Shabaka! The Easterns charge!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I looked and saw them coming like waves of steel, then supported by my men
+      and preceded by Bes who danced in front shaking the severed heads, I ran
+      back to my own ranks where one gave me wine to drink and threw water over
+      my hurts which were but slight. Scarcely was it done when the battle
+      closed in and soon in it I forgot the deaths of Idernes and the Eastern
+      liar.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0013" id="link2HCH0013">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XIII. AMADA RETURNS TO ISIS
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      We fought a very terrible fight that evening there by the banks of Nile.
+      Our position was good, but we were outnumbered by four or five to one, and
+      the Easterns and their mercenaries were mad at the death of the Satrap by
+      my hand. Time upon time they came on furiously, charging up the slope like
+      wild bulls. For the most part we relied upon our archers to drive them
+      back, since our half-trained troops could scarcely hope to stand against
+      the onset of veterans disciplined in war. So taking cover behind the rocks
+      we rained arrows on them, shooting the horses in the chariots, and when
+      these were down, pouring our shafts upon the footmen behind. Myself I took
+      my great black bow and drew it thrice, and each time I saw a noble fall,
+      for no mail could withstand the arrows which it sent, and of that art I
+      was a master. None in Egypt could shoot so far or so straight as I did,
+      save perhaps Peroa himself. I had no time to do more since always I must
+      be moving up and down the line encouraging my men.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Three times we drove them back, after which they grew cunning. Ceasing
+      from a direct onslaught and keeping what remained of their chariots in
+      reserve, they sent one body of men to climb along the slope of the hill
+      where the rocks gave them cover from our arrows, and another to creep
+      through the reeds and growing crops upon the bank of the river where we
+      could not see to shoot them well, although the slingers in the ships did
+      them some damage.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Thus they attacked us on either flank, and while we were thus engaged
+      their centre made a charge. Then came the bitterest of the fighting for
+      now the bows were useless, and it was sword against sword and spear
+      against spear. Once we broke and I thought that they were through. But I
+      led a charge against them and drove them back a little way. Still the
+      issue was doubtful till I saw Bes rush past me grinning and leaping, and
+      with him a small body of Greeks whom we held in reserve, and I think that
+      the sight of the terrible dwarf whom they thought a devil, frightened the
+      Easterns more than did the Greeks.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At any rate, shouting out something about an evil spirit whom the
+      Egyptians worshipped, by which I suppose they meant that god after whom
+      Bes was named, they retreated, leaving many dead but taking their wounded
+      with them, for they were unbroken.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At the foot of the slope they reformed and took counsel, then sat down out
+      of bowshot as though to rest. Now I guessed their plan. It was to wait
+      till night closed in, which would be soon for the sun was sinking, and
+      then, when we could not see to shoot, either rush through us by the weight
+      of numbers, or march back to where the cliffs were lower and climb them,
+      thus passing us on the higher open land.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Now we also took counsel, though little came of it, since we did not know
+      what to do. We were too few to attack so great an army, nor if we climbed
+      the cliffs could we hope to withstand them in the desert sands, or to hold
+      our own against them if they charged in the dark. If this happened it
+      seemed that all we could do would be to fight as long as we could, after
+      which the survivors of us must take refuge on our boats. So it came to
+      this, that we should lose the battle and the greater part of the Easterns
+      would win back to Sais, unless indeed the main army under Peroa came to
+      our aid.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Whilst we talked I caused the wounded to be carried to the ships before it
+      grew too dark to move them. Bes went with them. Presently he returned,
+      running swiftly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Master,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;the evening wind is blowing strong and stirs the sand,
+      but from a mast-head through it I caught sight of Peroa&rsquo;s banners. The
+      army comes round the bend of the river not four furlongs away. Now charge
+      and those Easterns will be caught between the hammer and the stone, for
+      while they are meeting us they will not look behind.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      So I went down the lines of our little force telling them the good news
+      and showing them my plan. They listened and understood. We formed up,
+      those who were left of us, not more than a thousand men perhaps, and
+      advanced. The Easterns laughed when they saw us coming down the slope, for
+      they thought that we were mad and that they would kill us every one,
+      believing as they did that Peroa had no other army. When we were within
+      bowshot we began to shoot, though sparingly, for but few arrows were left.
+      Galled by our archery they marshalled their ranks to charge us again. With
+      a shout we leapt forward to meet them, for now from the higher ground I
+      saw the chariots of Peroa rushing to our rescue.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We met, we fought. Surely there had been no such fighting since the days
+      of Thotmes and Rameses the Great. Still they drove us back till unseen and
+      unsuspected the chariots and the footmen of Peroa broke on them from
+      behind, broke on them like a desert storm. They gave, they fled this way
+      and that, some to the banks of the Nile, some to the hills. By the light
+      of the setting sun we finished it and ere the darkness closed in the Great
+      King&rsquo;s army was destroyed, save for the fugitives whom we hunted down next
+      day.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Yes, in that battle perished ten thousand of the Easterns and their
+      mercenaries, and upon its field at dawn we crowned Peroa Pharaoh of Egypt,
+      and he named me the chief general of his army. There, too, fell over a
+      thousand of my men and among them those six hunters whom I had won in the
+      wager with the Great King and brought with me from the East. Throughout
+      the fray they served me as a bodyguard, fighting furiously, who knew that
+      they could hope for no mercy from their own people. One by one they were
+      slain, the last two of them in the charge at sunset. Well, they were brave
+      and faithful to me, so peace be on their spirits. Better to die thus than
+      in the den of lions.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In triumph we returned to Memphis, I bringing in the rear-guard and the
+      spoils. Before Pharaoh and I parted a messenger brought me more good news.
+      Sure tidings had come that the King of kings had been driven by revolt in
+      his dominions to embark upon a mighty war with Syria, Greece and Cyprus
+      and other half-conquered countries, in which, doubtless by agreement, the
+      fires of insurrection had suddenly burned up. Also already Peroa&rsquo;s
+      messengers had departed to tell them of what was passing on the Nile.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If this be true,&rdquo; said Peroa when he had heard all, &ldquo;the Great King will
+      have no new army to spare for Egypt.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is so, Pharaoh,&rdquo; I answered. &ldquo;Yet I think he will conquer in this
+      great war and that within two years you must be prepared to meet him face
+      to face.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Two years are long, Shabaka, and in them, by your help, much may be
+      done.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      But as it chanced he was destined to be robbed of that help, and this by
+      the work of Woman the destroyer.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It happened thus. Amidst great rejoicings Pharaoh reached Memphis and in
+      the vast temple of Amen laid down our spoils in the presence of the god,
+      thousands of right hands hewn from the fallen, thousands of swords and
+      other weapons and tens of chariots, together with much treasure of which a
+      portion was given to the god. The high priests blessed us in the name of
+      Amen and of the other gods; the people blessed us and threw flowers in our
+      path; all the land rejoiced because once more it was free.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      There too that day in the temple with ancient form and ceremonial Peroa
+      was crowned Pharaoh of Egypt. Sceptres and jewels that had been hid for
+      generations were brought out by those who knew the secret of their
+      hiding-places; the crowns that had been worn by old Pharaohs, were set
+      upon his head; yes, the double crown of the Upper and the Lower Land. Thus
+      in a Memphis mad with joy at the casting off of the foreign yoke, he was
+      anointed the first of a new dynasty, and with him his queen.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I too received honours, for the story of the slaying of Idernes at my
+      hands and of how I held the pass had gone abroad, so that next to Pharaoh,
+      I was looked upon as the greatest man in Egypt. Nor was Bes forgotten,
+      since many of the common people thought that he was a spirit in the form
+      of a dwarf whom the gods had sent to aid us with his strength and cunning.
+      Indeed at the close of the ceremony voices cried out in the multitude of
+      watchers, demanding that I who was to marry the Royal Lady of Egypt should
+      be named next in succession to the throne.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Pharaoh heard and glanced first at his son and then at me, doubtfully,
+      whereon, covered with confusion, I slipped away.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The portico of the temple was deserted, since all, even the guards, had
+      crowded into the vast court to watch the coronation. Only in the shadow,
+      seated against the pedestal of one of the two colossal statues in front of
+      the outer pylon gate and looking very small beneath its greatness, was a
+      man wrapped in a dark cloak whom noting vaguely I took to be a beggar. As
+      I passed him, he plucked at my robe, and I stopped to search for something
+      to give to him but could find naught.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have nothing, Father,&rdquo; I said laughing, &ldquo;except the gold hilt of my
+      sword.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do not part with that, Son,&rdquo; answered a deep voice, &ldquo;for I think you will
+      need it before all is over.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Then while I stared at him he threw back his hood and I saw that beneath
+      was the ancient withered face and the long white beard of my great-uncle,
+      the holy Tanofir, the hermit and magician.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Great things happen yonder, Shabaka. So great that I have come from my
+      sepulchre to see, or rather, being blind, to listen, who thrice in my life
+      days have known the like before,&rdquo; and he pointed to the glittering throng
+      in the court within. &ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; he went on, &ldquo;I have seen Pharaohs crowned and
+      Pharaohs die&mdash;one of them at the hand of a conqueror. What will
+      happen to this Pharaoh, think you, Shabaka?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You should be better able to answer that question than I, who am no
+      prophet, my Uncle.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How, my Nephew, seeing that your dwarf has borne away my magic Cup? I do
+      not grudge her to him for he is a brave dwarf and clever, who may yet
+      prove a good prop to you, as he has done before, and to Egypt also. But
+      she has gone and the new vessel is not yet shaped to my liking. So how can
+      I answer?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Out of the store of wisdom gathered in your breast.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;So! my Nephew. Well, my store of wisdom tells me that feasts are
+      sometimes followed by want and rejoicings by sorrow and victories by
+      defeat, and splendid sins by repentance and slow climbing back to good
+      again. Also that you will soon take a long journey. Where is the Royal
+      Lady Amada? I did not hear her step among those who passed in to the
+      Crowning. But even my hearing has grown somewhat weak of late, except in
+      the silence of the night, Shabaka.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I do not know, my Uncle, who have only been in Memphis one hour. But what
+      do you mean? Doubtless she prepares herself for the feast where I shall
+      meet her.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Doubtless. Tell me, what passes at the temple of Isis? As I crept past
+      the pylon feeling my way with my beggar&rsquo;s staff, I thought&mdash;but how
+      can you know who have only been in Memphis an hour? Yet surely I heard
+      voices just now calling out that you, Shabaka, should be named as the next
+      successor to the throne of Egypt. Was it so?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, holy Tanofir. That is why I have left who was vexed and am sworn to
+      seek no such honour, which indeed I do not desire.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Just so, Nephew. Yet gifts have a way of coming to those who do not
+      desire them and the last vision that I saw before my Cup left me, or
+      rather that she saw, was of you wearing the Double Crown. She said that
+      you looked very well in it, Shabaka. But now begone, for hark, here comes
+      the procession with the new-anointed Pharaoh whose royal robe you won for
+      him yonder in the pass, when you smote down Idernes and held his legions.
+      Oh! it was well done and my new Cup, though faulty, was good enough to
+      show me all. I felt proud of you, Shabaka, but begone, begone! &lsquo;A gift for
+      the poor old beggar! A gift, my lords, for the poor blind beggar who has
+      had none since the last Pharaoh was crowned in Egypt and finds it hard to
+      live on memories!&rsquo;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      At our house I found my mother just returned from the Coronation, but Bes
+      I did not find and guessed that he had slipped away to meet his new-made
+      wife, Karema. My mother embraced me and blessed me, making much of me and
+      my deeds in the battle; also she doctored such small hurts as I had. I put
+      the matter by as shortly as I could and asked her if she had seen aught of
+      Amada. She answered that she had neither seen nor heard of her which I was
+      sure she thought strange, as she began to talk quickly of other things. I
+      said to her what I had said to the holy Tanofir, that doubtless she was
+      making ready for the feast since I could not find her at the Crowning.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Or saying good-bye to the goddess,&rdquo; answered my mother nodding, &ldquo;since
+      there are some who find it even harder to fall from heaven to earth than
+      to climb from earth to heaven, and after all you are but a man, my son.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Then she slipped away to attire herself, leaving me wondering, because my
+      mother was shrewd and never spoke at random.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      There was the holy Tanofir, too, with his talk about the temple of Isis,
+      and he also did not speak at random. Oh! now I felt as I had done when the
+      shadow of the palm-tree fell on me yonder in the palace garden.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The mood passed for my blood still tingled with the glory of that great
+      fight, and my heart shut its doors to sadness, knowing as I did, that I
+      was the most praised man in Memphis that day. Indeed had I not, I should
+      have learned it when with my mother I entered the great banqueting-hall of
+      the palace somewhat late, for she was long in making ready.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The first thing I saw there was Bes gorgeously arrayed in Eastern silks
+      that he had plundered from the Satrap&rsquo;s tent, standing on a table so that
+      all might see and hear him, and holding aloft in one hand the grisly head
+      of Idernes and in the other that of the hawk-eyed noble whom he had slain,
+      while in his thick, guttural voice he told the tale of that great fray.
+      Catching sight of me, he called aloud,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;See! Here comes the man! Here comes the hero to whom Egypt owes its
+      liberty and Pharaoh his crown.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Thereon all the company and the soldiers and servants who were gathered
+      about the door began to shout and acclaim me, till I wished that I could
+      vanish away as the holy Tanofir was said to be able to do. Since this was
+      impossible I rushed at Bes who leapt from the table like a monkey and,
+      still waving the heads and talking, slipped from the hall, I know not how,
+      followed by the loud laughter of the guests.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then heralds announced the coming of Pharaoh and all grew silent. He and
+      his company entered with pomp and we, his subjects, prostrated ourselves
+      in the ancient fashion.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Rise, my guests,&rdquo; he cried. &ldquo;Rise, my people. Above all do you rise,
+      Shabaka, my beloved cousin, to whom Egypt and I owe so much.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      So we rose and I took my seat in a place of honour having my mother at my
+      side, and looked about me for Amada, but in vain. There was the carven
+      chair upon which she should have been among those of the princesses, but
+      it was empty. At first I thought that she was late, but when time went by
+      and she did not appear, I asked if she were ill, a question that none
+      seemed able to answer.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The feast went on with all the ancient ceremonies that attended the
+      crowning of a Pharaoh of Egypt, since there were old men who remembered
+      these, also the scribes and priests had them written in their books.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I took no heed of them and will not set them down. At length Pharaoh
+      pledged his subjects, and his subjects pledged Pharaoh. Then the doors
+      were opened and through them came a company of white-robed, shaven priests
+      bearing on a bier the body of a dead man wrapped in his mummy-cloths. At
+      first some laughed for this rite had not been performed in Egypt since she
+      passed into the hands of the Great Kings of the East and therefore was
+      strange to them. Then they grew silent since after all it was solemn to
+      see those death-bearing priests flitting in and out between the great
+      columns, now seen and now lost in the shadows, and to listen to their
+      funeral chants.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In the hush my mother whispered to me that this body was that of the last
+      Pharaoh of Egypt brought from his tomb, but whether this were so I cannot
+      say for certain. At length they brought the mummy which was crowned with a
+      snake-headed circlet of the royal <i>uræus</i> and still draped with
+      withered funeral wreaths, and stood it on its feet opposite to Peroa just
+      behind and between my mother and me in such a fashion that it cut off the
+      light from us.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The faint and heavy smell of the embalmer&rsquo;s spices struck upon my
+      nostrils, a dead flower from the chaplets fell upon my head and, glancing
+      over my shoulder, I saw the painted or enamelled eyes in the gilded mask
+      staring at me. The thing filled me with fear, I knew not of what. Not of
+      death, surely, for that I had faced a score of times of late and thought
+      nothing of it. Indeed I am not sure that it was fear I felt, but rather a
+      deep sense of the vanity of all things. It seemed to come home to me&mdash;Shabaka
+      or Allan Quatermain, for in my dream the inspiration or whatever it might
+      be, struck through the spirit that animated both of us&mdash;as it had
+      never done before, that everything is <i>nothing</i>, that victory and
+      love and even life itself have no meaning; that naught really exists save
+      the soul of man and God, of whom perchance that soul is a part sent forth
+      for a while to do His work through good and ill. The thought lifted me up
+      and yet crushed me, since for a moment all that makes a man passed away,
+      and I felt myself standing in utter loneliness, naked before the glory of
+      God, watched only by the flaming stars that light his throne. Yes, and at
+      that moment suddenly I learned that all the gods are but one God, having
+      many shapes and called by many names.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then I heard the priests saying,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Pharaoh the Osiris greets Pharaoh the living on the Earth and sends to
+      him this message&mdash;&lsquo;As I am, so shalt thou be, and where I am, there
+      thou shalt dwell through all the ages of Eternity.&rsquo;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Then Pharaoh the living rose and bowed to Pharaoh the dead and Pharaoh the
+      dead was taken away back to his Eternal House and I wondered whether his
+      Ka or his spirit, or whatever is the part of him that lives on, were
+      watching us and remembering the feasts whereof he had partaken in his pomp
+      in this pillared hall, as his forefathers had done before him for hundreds
+      or thousands of years.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Not until the mummy had gone and the last sound of the chanting of the
+      priests had died, did the hearts of the feasters grow light again. But
+      soon they forgot, as men alive always forget death and those whom Time has
+      devoured, for the wine was good and strong and the eyes of the women were
+      bright and victory had crowned our spears, and for a while Egypt was once
+      more free.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      So it went on till Pharaoh rose and departed, the great gold earrings in
+      his ears jingling as he walked, and the trumpets sounding before and after
+      him. I too rose to go with my mother when a messenger came and bade me
+      wait upon Pharaoh, and with me the dwarf Bes. So we went, leaving an
+      officer to conduct my mother to our home. As I passed her she caught me by
+      the sleeve and whispered in my ear,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My son, whatever chances to you, be brave and remember that the world
+      holds more than women.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; I answered, &ldquo;it holds death and God, or they hold it,&rdquo; though what
+      put the words into my mind I do not know, since I did not understand and
+      had no time to ask her meaning.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The messenger led us to the door of Peroa&rsquo;s private chamber, the same in
+      which I had seen him on my return from the East. Here he bade me enter,
+      and Bes to wait without. I went in and found two men and a woman in the
+      chamber, all standing very silent. The men were Pharaoh who still wore his
+      glorious robe and Double Crown, and the high priest of Isis clothed in
+      white; the other was the lady Amada also clothed in the snowy robes of
+      Isis.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At the sight of her thus arrayed my heart stopped and I stood silent
+      because I could not speak. She too stood silent and I saw that beneath her
+      thin veil her beautiful face was set and pale as that of an alabaster
+      statue. Indeed she might have been not a lovely living woman, but the
+      goddess Isis herself whose symbols she bore about her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Shabaka,&rdquo; said Pharaoh at length, &ldquo;the Royal Lady of Egypt, Amada,
+      priestess of Isis, has somewhat to say to you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Let the Royal Lady of Egypt speak on to her servant and affianced
+      husband,&rdquo; I answered.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Count Shabaka, General of the armies,&rdquo; she began in a cold clear voice
+      like to that of one who repeats a lesson, &ldquo;learn that you are no more my
+      affianced husband and that I who am gathered again to Isis the divine, am
+      no more your affianced wife.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I do not understand. Will it please you to be more plain?&rdquo; I said
+      faintly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I will be more plain, Count Shabaka, more plain than you have been with
+      me. Since we speak together for the last time it is well that I should be
+      plain. Hear me. When first you returned from the East, in yonder hall you
+      told us of certain things that happened to you there. Then the dwarf your
+      servant took up the tale. He said that he gave my name to the Great King.
+      I was wroth as well I might be, but even when I prayed that he should be
+      scourged, you did not deny that it was he who gave my name to the King,
+      although Pharaoh yonder said that if you had spoken the name it would have
+      been another matter.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I had no time,&rdquo; I answered, &ldquo;for just then the messengers came from
+      Idernes and afterwards when I sought you you were gone.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Had you then no time,&rdquo; she asked coldly, &ldquo;beneath the palms in the garden
+      of the palace when we were affianced? Oh! there was time in plenty but it
+      did not please you to tell me that you had bought safety and great gifts
+      at the price of the honour of the Lady of Egypt whose love you stole.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You do not understand!&rdquo; I exclaimed wildly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Forgive me, Shabaka, but I understand very well indeed, since from your
+      own words I learned at the feast given to Idernes that &lsquo;the name of Amada&rsquo; 
+      slipped your lips by chance and thus came to the ears of the Great King.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The tale that Idernes and his captain told was false, Lady, and for it
+      Bes and I took their lives with our own hands.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It had perhaps been better, Shabaka, if you had kept them living that
+      they might confess that it was false. But doubtless you thought them safer
+      dead, since dead men cannot speak, and for this reason challenged them to
+      single combat.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I gasped and could not answer for my mind seemed to leave me, and she went
+      on in a gentler voice,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I do not wish to speak angrily to you, my cousin Shabaka, especially when
+      you have just wrought such great deeds for Egypt. Moreover by the law I
+      serve I may speak angrily to no man. Know then that on learning the truth,
+      since I could love none but you according to the flesh and therefore can
+      never give myself in marriage to another, I sought refuge in the arms of
+      the goddess whom for your sake I had deserted. She was pleased to receive
+      me, forgetting my treason. On this very day for the second time I took the
+      oaths which may no more be broken, and that I may dwell where I shall
+      never see you more, Pharaoh here has been pleased, at my request to name
+      me high priestess and prophetess of Isis and to appoint me as a
+      dwelling-place her temple at Amada where I was born far away in Upper
+      Egypt. Now all is said and done, so farewell.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;All is not said and done,&rdquo; I broke out in fury. &ldquo;Pharaoh, I ask your
+      leave to tell the full story of this business of the naming of the lady
+      Amada to the King of kings, and that in the presence of the dwarf Bes.
+      Even a slave is allowed to set out his tale before judgment is passed upon
+      him.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Peroa glanced at Amada who made no sign, then said,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is granted, General Shabaka.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      So Bes was called into the chamber and having looked about him curiously,
+      seated himself upon the ground.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Bes,&rdquo; I said, &ldquo;you have heard nothing of what has passed.&rdquo; (Here I was
+      mistaken, for as he told me afterwards he had heard everything through the
+      door which was not quite closed.) &ldquo;It is needful, Bes, that you should
+      repeat truly all that happened at the court of the King of kings before
+      and after I was brought from the boat.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Bes obeyed, telling the tale very well, so well that all listened
+      earnestly, without error moreover. When he had finished I also told my
+      story and how, shaken by all I had gone through and already weak from the
+      torment of the boat, the name of Amada was surprised from me who never
+      dreamed that the King would at once make demand of her, and who would have
+      perished a thousand times rather than such a thing should happen. I added
+      what I had learned afterwards from our escort, that this name was already
+      well known to the Great King who meant to make use of it as a cause of
+      quarrel with Egypt. Further, that he had let me escape from a death by
+      horrible torments because of some dream that he had dreamed while he
+      rested before the banquet, in which a god appeared and told him that it
+      was an evil thing to slay a man because that man had bested him at a
+      hunting match and one of which heaven would keep an account. Still because
+      of the law of his land he must find a public pretext for loosing one whom
+      he had once condemned, and therefore chose this matter of the lady Amada
+      whom he pretended to send me to bring to him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When I had finished, as Amada still remained silent, Pharaoh asked of Bes
+      how it came about that he told one story on the night of our return and
+      another on this night.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Because, O Pharaoh,&rdquo; answered Bes rolling his eyes, &ldquo;for the first time
+      in my life I have been just a little too clever and shot my arrow just a
+      little too far. Hearken, Pharaoh, and Royal Lady, and High Priest. I knew
+      that my master loves the lady Amada and knew also that she is quick of
+      tongue and temper, one who readily takes offence even if thereby she
+      breaks her own heart and so brings her life to ruin, and with it perchance
+      her country. Therefore, knowing women whom I have studied in my own land,
+      I saw in this matter just such a cause of offence as she would lay hold
+      of, and counselled my master to keep silent as to the story of the naming
+      of her before the King. Some evil spirit made him listen to this bad
+      counsel, so far at least, that when I lied as to what had chanced, for
+      which lie the lady Amada prayed that I might be scourged till my bones
+      broke through the skin, he did not at once tell all the truth. Nor did he
+      do so afterwards because he feared that if he did I should in fact be
+      scourged, for my master and I love each other. Neither of us wishes to see
+      the other scourged, though such is my lot to-night,&rdquo; and he glanced at
+      Amada. &ldquo;I have said.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Then at last Amada spoke.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Had I known all this story from the first, perhaps I should not have done
+      what I have done to-day and perhaps I should have forgiven and forgotten,
+      for in truth even if the dwarf still lies, I believe your word, O Shabaka,
+      and understand how all came about. But now it is too late to change. Say,
+      O Priest of the Mother, is it not too late?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is too late,&rdquo; said the priest solemnly, &ldquo;seeing that if such vows as
+      yours are broken for the second time, O Prophetess, the curse of the
+      goddess will pursue you and him for whom they were broken, yes, through
+      this life and all other lives that perchance may be given to you upon the
+      earth or elsewhere.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Pharaoh,&rdquo; I cried in despair, &ldquo;I made a bond with you. It is recorded in
+      writing and sealed. I have kept my part of the bond; my treasure you have
+      spent; your enemies I have slain; your army I have commanded not so ill.
+      Will you not keep yours and bid the priests release this lady from her vow
+      and give her to me to whom she was promised? Or must I believe that you
+      refuse, not because of goddesses and vows, but because yonder is the Royal
+      Lady of Egypt, the true heiress to the throne who might perchance bear
+      children, which as prophetess of Isis she can never do. Yes, because of
+      this and because of certain cries that came to your ears in the hour of
+      your crowning before Amen-ra and all the gods?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Peroa flushed as he heard me and answered,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You speak roughly, Cousin, and were you any other man I might be tempted
+      to answer roughly. But I know that you suffer and therefore I forgive.
+      Nay, you must believe no such things. Rather must you remember that in
+      this bond of which you speak, it was set down that I only promised you the
+      lady Amada with her own consent, and this she has withdrawn.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then, Pharaoh, hearken! To-morrow I leave Egypt for another land, giving
+      you back your generalship and sheathing the sword that I had hoped to
+      wield in its defence and yours when the last great day of trial by battle
+      comes, as come it will. I tell you that I go to return no more, unless the
+      lady Amada yonder shall summon me back to fight for her and you, promising
+      herself to me in guerdon.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That can never be,&rdquo; said Amada.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then I became aware of another presence in the room, though how and when
+      it appeared I do not know, but I suppose that it had crept in while we
+      were lost in talk. At least between me and Pharaoh, crouched upon the
+      ground, was the figure of a man wrapped in a beggar&rsquo;s cloak. It threw back
+      the hood and there appeared the ashen face and snowy beard of the holy
+      Tanofir.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You know me, Pharaoh,&rdquo; he said in his deep, solemn voice. &ldquo;I am Tanofir,
+      the King&rsquo;s son; Tanofir the hermit, Tanofir the seer. I have heard all
+      that passes, it matters not how and I come to you with a message, I who
+      read men&rsquo;s hearts. Of vows and goddesses and women I say nothing. But this
+      I say to you, that if you break the spirit of your bond and suffer yonder
+      Shabaka to go hence with a bitter heart, trouble shall come on you. All
+      the Great King&rsquo;s armies did not die yonder by the banks of Nile, and
+      mayhap one day he will journey to bury the bones of those who fell, and
+      with them <i>yours</i>, O Pharaoh. I do not think that you will listen to
+      me to-night, and I am sure that yonder lady, full of the new-fanned flame
+      of the jealous goddess, will not listen. Still let her take counsel and
+      remember my words: In the hour of desperate danger let her send to Shabaka
+      and demand his help, promising in return what he has asked and remembering
+      that if Isis loves her, that goddess was born upon the Nile and loves
+      Egypt more.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Too late, too late, <i>too late!</i>&rdquo; wailed Amada
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then she burst into tears and turning fled away with the high priest.
+      Pharaoh went also leaving me and Bes alone. I looked for the holy Tanofir
+      to speak with him, but he too was gone.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is time to sleep, Master,&rdquo; said Bes, &ldquo;for all this talk is more
+      wearisome than any battle. Why! what is this that has your name upon it?&rdquo;
+       and he picked a silk-wrapped package from the floor and opened it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Within were the priceless rose-hued pearls!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0014" id="link2HCH0014">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XIV. SHABAKA FIGHTS THE CROCODILE
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Where to?&rdquo; I said to Bes when we were outside the palace, for I was so
+      broken with grief that I scarcely knew what I did.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;To the house of the lady Tiu, I think, Master, since there you must make
+      preparations for your start on the morrow, also bid her farewell. Oh!&rdquo; he
+      went on in a kind of rapture which afterwards I knew was feigned though at
+      the time I did not think about it, &ldquo;Oh! how happy should you be who now
+      are free from all this woman-coil, with life new and fresh before you.
+      Reflect, Master, on the hunting we will have yonder in Ethiopia. No more
+      cares, no more plannings for the welfare of Egypt, no more persuading of
+      the doubtful to take up arms, no more desperate battle-ventures with your
+      country&rsquo;s honour on your sword-point. And if you must see women&mdash;well,
+      there are plenty in Ethiopia who come and go lightly as an evening breeze
+      laden with the odour of flowers, and never trouble in the morning.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;At any rate <i>you</i> are not free from such coils, Bes,&rdquo; I said and in
+      the moonlight I saw his great face fall in.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, Master, I am tying them about my throat. See, such is the way of the
+      world, or of the gods that rule the world, I know not which. For years I
+      have been happy and free, I have enjoyed adventures and visited strange
+      countries and have gathered learning, till I think I am the wisest man
+      upon the Nile, at the side of one whom I loved and holding nothing at
+      risk, except my own life which mattered no more than that of a gnat
+      dancing in the sun. Now all is changed. I have a wife whom I love also,
+      more than I can tell you,&rdquo; and he sighed, &ldquo;but who still must be looked
+      after and obeyed&mdash;yes, obeyed. Further, soon I shall have a people
+      and a crown to wear, and councillors and affairs of state, and an ancient
+      religion to support and the Grasshopper itself knows what besides. The
+      burden has rolled from your back to mine, Master, making my heart which
+      was so light, heavy, and oh! I wish it had stopped where it was.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Even then I laughed, sad as I was, for truth lived in the philosophy of
+      Bes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Master,&rdquo; he went on in a changed voice, &ldquo;I have been a fool and my folly
+      has worked you ill. Forgive me since I acted for the best, only until the
+      end no one ever knows what is the best. Now here is the house and I go to
+      meet my wife and to make certain arrangements. By dawn perhaps you will be
+      ready to start to Ethiopia.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do you really desire that I should accompany you there, Bes?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Certainly, Master. That is unless you should desire that I accompany you
+      somewhere else instead, by sea southward for instance. If so, I do not
+      know that I would refuse, since Ethiopia will not run away and there is
+      much of the world that I should still like to visit. Only then there is
+      Karema to be thought about, who expects, or, when she learns all, soon
+      will expect, to be a queen,&rdquo; he added doubtfully.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, Bes, I am too tired to make new plans, so let us go to Ethiopia and
+      not disappoint Karema, who after holding a cup so long naturally would
+      like to try a sceptre.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I think that is wisest, Master; at any rate the holy Tanofir thinks it
+      wisest, and he is the voice of Fate. Oh! why do we trouble who after all,
+      every one of us, are nothing but pieces upon the board of Fate.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Then he turned and left me and I entered the house where I found my mother
+      sitting, still in her festal robes, like one who waits. She looked at my
+      face, then asked what troubled me. I sat down on a stool at her feet and
+      told her everything.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Much as I thought,&rdquo; she said when I had finished. &ldquo;These over-learned
+      women are strange fish to catch and hold, and too much soul is like too
+      much sail upon a boat when the desert wind begins to blow across the Nile.
+      Well, do not let us blame her or Bes, or Peroa who is already anxious for
+      his dynasty and would rather that Amada were a priestess than your wife,
+      or even the goddess Isis, who no doubt is anxious for her votaries. Let us
+      rather blame the Power that is behind the veil, or to it bow our heads,
+      seeing that we know nothing of the end for which it works. So Egypt shuts
+      her doors on you, my Son, and whither away? Not to the East again, I
+      trust, for there you would soon grow shorter by a head.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I go to Ethiopia, my Mother, where it seems that Bes is a great man and
+      can shelter me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;So we go to Ethiopia, do we? Well, it is a long journey for an old woman,
+      but I weary of Memphis where I have lived for so many years and doubtless
+      the sands of the south make good burial grounds.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We!&rdquo; I exclaimed. &ldquo;<i>We?</i>&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Surely, my Son, since in losing a wife you have again found a mother and
+      until I die we part no more.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      When I heard this my eyes filled with tears. My conscience smote me also
+      because of late, and indeed for years past, I had thought so much of Amada
+      and so little of my mother. And now it was Amada who had cast me out,
+      unjustly, without waiting to learn the truth, because at the worst I, who
+      worshipped her, had saved myself from death in slow torment by speaking
+      her name, while my mother, forgetting all, took me to her bosom again as
+      she had done when I was a babe. I knew not what to say, but remembering
+      the pearls, I drew them out and placed them round my mother&rsquo;s neck.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She looked at the wonderful things and smiled, then said,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Such gems as these become white locks and withered breasts but ill. Yet,
+      my Son, I will keep them for you till you find a wife, if not Amada, then
+      another.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If not Amada, I shall never find a wife,&rdquo; I said bitterly, whereat she
+      smiled.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then she left me to make ready before she slept a while.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Work as we would noon had passed two hours, on the following day, before
+      we were prepared to start, for there was much to do. Thus the house must
+      be placed in charge of friends and the means of travel collected. Also a
+      messenger came from Pharaoh praying me for his and Egypt&rsquo;s sake to think
+      again before I left them, and an answer sent that go I must, whither the
+      holy Tanofir would know if at any time Pharaoh desired to learn. In reply
+      to this came another messenger who brought me parting gifts from Pharaoh,
+      a chain of honour, a title of higher nobility, a commission as his envoy
+      to whatever land I wandered, and so forth, which I must acknowledge.
+      Lastly as we were leaving the house to seek the boat which Bes had made
+      ready on the Nile, there came yet another messenger at the sight of whom
+      my heart leapt, for he was priest of Isis.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He bowed and handed me a roll. I opened it with a trembling hand and read:
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+ &ldquo;From the Prophetess of Isis whose house is at Amada, aforetime
+  Royal Lady of Egypt, to the Count Shabaka,
+
+ &ldquo;I learn, O my Cousin, that you depart from Egypt and knowing the
+  reason my heart is sore. Believe me, my Cousin, I love you well,
+  better than any who lives upon the earth, nor will that love ever
+  change, since the goddess who holds my future in her hands, knows
+  of what we are made and is not jealous of the past. Therefore she
+  will not be wroth at the earthly love of one who is gathered to
+  her heavenly arms. Her blessing and mine be on you and if we see
+  each other no more face to face in the world, may we meet again in
+  the halls of Osiris. Farewell, beloved Shabaka. Oh! why did you
+  suffer that black master of lies, the dwarf Bes, to persuade you
+  to hide the truth from me?&rdquo;
+ </pre>
+    <p>
+      So the writing ended and below it were two stains still wet, which I knew
+      were caused by tears. Moreover, wrapped in a piece of silk and fastened to
+      the scroll was a little gold ring graven with the royal <i>uræus</i> that
+      Amada had always worn from childhood. Only on the previous night I had
+      noted it on the first finger of her right hand.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I took my stylus and my waxen tablets and wrote on one of them:
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+ &ldquo;Had you been a man, Amada, and not a woman, I think you would have
+  judged me differently but, learned priestess and prophetess as you
+  are, a woman you remain. Perchance a time may come when once more
+  you will turn to me in the hour of your need; if so and I am
+  living, I will come. Yea, if I am dead I think that I still shall
+  come, since nothing can really part us. Meanwhile by day and by
+  night I wear your ring and whenever I look on it I think of Amada
+  the woman whose lips have pressed my own, and forget Amada the
+  priestess who for her soul&rsquo;s sake has been pleased to break the
+  heart of the man who loved her and whom she misjudged so sorely in
+  her pride and anger.&rdquo;
+ </pre>
+    <p>
+      This tablet I wrapped up and sealed, using clay and her own ring to make
+      the seal, and gave it for delivery to the priest.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At length we drew near to the river and here, gathered on the open land, I
+      found the most of those who had fought with me in the battle against the
+      Easterns, and with them a great concourse of others from the city. These
+      collected round me, some of them wounded and hobbling upon crutches,
+      praying me not to go, as did the others who foresaw sorrow to Egypt from
+      my loss. But I broke away from them almost in tears and with my mother hid
+      myself beneath the canopy of the boat. Here Bes was waiting, also his
+      beautiful wife who, although she seemed sad at leaving Egypt, smiled a
+      greeting to us while the steersmen and rowers of the boat, tall Ethiopians
+      every one of them, rose and gave me a General&rsquo;s salute. Then, as the wind
+      served, we hoisted the sail and glided away up Nile, till presently the
+      temples and palm-groves of Memphis were lost to sight.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Of that long, long journey there is no need to tell. Up the Nile we
+      travelled slowly, dragging the boat past the cataracts till Egypt was far
+      behind us. In the end, many days after we had passed the mouth of another
+      river that was blue in colour which flowed from the northern mountain
+      lands down into the Nile, we came to a place where the rapids were so long
+      and steep that we must leave the boat and travel overland. Drawing near to
+      it at sunset I saw a multitude of people gathered on the sand and beyond
+      them a camp in which were set many beautiful pavilions that seemed to be
+      broidered with silk and gold, as were the banners that floated above them
+      whereon appeared the effigy of a grasshopper, also done in gold with
+      silver legs.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It seems that my messengers travelled in safety,&rdquo; said Bes to me, &ldquo;for
+      know, that yonder are some of my subjects who have come here to meet us.
+      Now, Master, I must no longer call you master since I fear I am once more
+      a king. And you must no longer call me Bes, but Karoon. Moreover, forgive
+      me, but when you come into my presence you must bow, which I shall like
+      less than you do, but it is the custom of the Ethiopians. Oh! I would that
+      you were the king and that I were your friend, for henceforth good-bye to
+      ease and jollity.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I laughed, but Bes did not laugh at all, only turned to his wife who
+      already ruled him as though he were indeed a slave, and said, &ldquo;Lady
+      Karema, make yourself as beautiful as you can and forget that you have
+      ever been a Cup or anything useful, since henceforth you must be a queen,
+      that is if you please my people.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And what happens if I do not please them, Husband?&rdquo; asked Karema opening
+      her fine eyes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I do not quite know, Wife. Perhaps they may refuse to accept me, at which
+      I shall not weep. Or perhaps they may refuse to accept you, at which of
+      course I should weep very much, for you see you are so very white and,
+      heretofore, all the queens of the Ethiopians have been black.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And if they refuse to accept me because I am white, or rather brown,
+      instead of black like oiled marble, what then, O Husband?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then&mdash;oh! then I cannot say, O Wife. Perhaps they will send you back
+      to your own country. Or perhaps they will separate us and place you in a
+      temple where you will live alone in all honour. I remember that once they
+      did that to a white woman, making a goddess of her until she died of
+      weariness. Or perhaps&mdash;well, I do not know.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Then Karema grew angry.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Now I wish I had remained a Cup,&rdquo; she said, &ldquo;and the servant of the holy
+      Tanofir who at least taught me many secret things, instead of coming to
+      dwell among black barbarians in the company of a dwarf who, even if he be
+      a king, it seems has no power to protect the wife whom he has chosen.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why will women always grow wroth before there is need?&rdquo; asked Bes humbly.
+      &ldquo;Surely it would be time to rate me when any of these things had
+      happened.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If any of them do happen, Husband, I shall say much worse things than
+      that,&rdquo; she replied, but the talk went no further, for at this moment our
+      boat grounded and singing a wild song, many of those who waited rushed
+      into the water to drag it to the bank.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then Bes stood up on the prow, waving his bow and there arose a mighty
+      shout of, &ldquo;<i>Karoon! Karoon!</i> It is he, it is he returned after many
+      years!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Twice they shouted thus and then, every one of them, threw themselves face
+      downwards in the sand.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, my people,&rdquo; cried Bes, &ldquo;it is I, Karoon, who having been
+      miraculously preserved from many dangers in far lands by the help of the
+      Grasshopper in heaven, and, as my messengers will have told you, of my
+      beloved friend, lord Shabaka the Egyptian, who has deigned to come to
+      dwell with us for a while, have at length returned to Ethiopia that I may
+      shed my wisdom on you like the sun and pour it on your heads like melted
+      honey. Moreover, mindful of our laws which aforetime I defied and
+      therefore left you, I have searched the whole world through till I found
+      the most beautiful woman that it contained, and made her my wife. She too
+      has deigned to come to this far country to be your queen. Advance, fair
+      Karema, and show yourself to these my Ethiopians.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      So Karema stepped forward and stood on the prow of the boat by the side of
+      Bes, and a strange couple they looked. The Ethiopians who had risen,
+      considered her gravely, then one of them said,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Karoon called her beautiful, but in truth she is almost white and very
+      ugly.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;At least she is a woman,&rdquo; said another, &ldquo;for her shape is female.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, and he has married her,&rdquo; remarked a third, &ldquo;and even a king may
+      choose his own wife sometimes. For in such matters who can judge another&rsquo;s
+      taste?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Cease,&rdquo; said Bes in a lordly way. &ldquo;If you do not think her beautiful
+      to-night, you will to-morrow. And now let us land and rest.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      So we landed and while I did so I took note of these Ethiopians. They were
+      great men, black as charcoal with thick lips, white teeth and flat noses.
+      Their eyes were large and the whites of them somewhat yellow, their hair
+      curled like wool, their beards were short and on their faces they wore a
+      continual smile. Of dress most of them had little, but their elders or
+      leaders wore lion and leopard skins and some were clad in a kind of silken
+      tunic belted about the middle. All were armed for war with long bows,
+      short swords and small shields round in shape and made from the hide of
+      the hippopotamus or of the unicorn. Gold was plentiful amongst them since
+      even the humblest wore bracelets of that metal, while about the necks of
+      the chieftains it was wound in great torques, also sometimes on their
+      ankles. They wore sandals on their feet and some of them had ostrich
+      feathers stuck in their hair, a few also had grasshoppers fashioned of
+      gold bound on the top of their heads, and these I took to be the priests.
+      There were no women in their number.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As the sun was sinking we were led at once to a very beautiful tent made
+      of woven flax and ornamented as I have described, where we found food made
+      ready for us in plenty, milk in bowls and the flesh of sheep and oxen
+      boiled and roasted. Bes, however, was taken to a place apart, which made
+      Karema even more angry than she was before.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Scarcely had we finished eating when a herald rushed into the tent crying,
+      &ldquo;Prostrate yourselves! Yea, be prostrated, the Grasshopper comes! Karoon
+      comes.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Here I must say that I found that the title of Karoon meant &ldquo;Great
+      Grasshopper,&rdquo; but Karema who did not know this, asked indignantly why she
+      should prostrate herself to a grasshopper. Indeed she refused to do so
+      even when Bes entered the pavilion wonderfully attired in a
+      gorgeous-coloured robe of which the train was held by two huge men. So
+      absurd did he look that my mother and I must bow very deeply to hide our
+      laughter while Karema said,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It would be better, Husband, if you found children to carry your robe
+      instead of two giants. Moreover, if it is meant to copy the colours of a
+      grasshopper, &lsquo;tis badly done, since grasshoppers are green and you are
+      gold and scarlet. Also they do not wear feathers set awry upon their
+      heads.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Bes rolled his eyes as though in agony, then turning, bade his attendants
+      be gone. They obeyed, though doubtfully as though they did not like to
+      leave him alone with us, whereon he let down the flap of the pavilion,
+      threw off his gorgeous coverings and said,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You must learn to understand, Wife, that our customs are different from
+      those of Egypt. There I was happy as a slave and you were held to be
+      beautiful as the Cup of the holy Tanofir, also learned. Here I am wretched
+      as a king and you are held to be ugly, also ignorant as a stranger. Oh! do
+      not answer, I pray you, but learn that all goes well. For the time you are
+      accepted as my wife, subject to the decision of a council of matrons, aged
+      relatives of my family, who will decide when we reach the City of the
+      Grasshopper whether or not you shall be acknowledged as the Queen of the
+      Ethiopians. No, no, I pray you say nothing since I must go away at once,
+      as according to the law of the Ethiopians the time has come for the
+      Grasshopper to sleep, alone, Karema, as you are not yet acknowledged as my
+      wife. You also can sleep with the lady Tiu and for Shabaka a tent is
+      provided. Rest sweetly, Wife. Hark! They fetch me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Now, if I had my way,&rdquo; said Karema, &ldquo;I would rest in that boat going back
+      to Egypt. What say you, lord Shabaka?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      But I made no answer who followed Bes out of the tent, leaving her to talk
+      the matter over with my mother. Here I found a crowd of his people waiting
+      to convey him to sleep and watching, saw them place him in another tent
+      round which they ranged themselves, playing upon musical instruments.
+      After this someone came and led me to my own place where was a good bed in
+      which I lay down to sleep. This however I could not do for a long while
+      because of my own laughter and the noise of the drums and horns that were
+      soothing Bes to his rest. For now I understood why he had preferred to be
+      a slave in Egypt rather than a king in Ethiopia.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In the morning I rose before the dawn and went out to the river-bank to
+      bathe. While I was making ready to wash myself, who should appear but Bes,
+      followed, but at a distance, by a number of his people.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Never have I spent such a night, Master,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;at least not since
+      you took me prisoner years ago, since by law I may not stop those horns
+      and musical instruments. Now, however, also according to the law of the
+      Ethiopians, I am my own lord until the sun rises. So I have come here to
+      gather some of those blue lilies which she loves as a present for Karema,
+      because I fear that she is angry and must be appeased.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Certainly she is very angry,&rdquo; I said, &ldquo;or at least was so when I left her
+      last night. Oh! Bes, why did you let your people tell her that she was
+      ugly?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How can I help it, Master? Have you not always heard that the Ethiopians
+      are chiefly famous for one thing, namely that they speak nothing but the
+      truth. To them she, being different, seems to be ugly. Therefore when they
+      say that she is ugly, they speak the truth.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If so, it is a truth that she does not like, Bes, as I have no doubt she
+      will tell you by and by. Do they think me ugly also?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, they do, Master; but they think also that you look like a man who
+      can draw a bow and use a sword, and that goes far with the Ethiopians. Of
+      your mother they say nothing because she is old and they venerate the aged
+      whom the Grasshopper is waiting to carry away.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Now I began to laugh again and went with Bes to gather the lilies. These
+      grew at the end of a mass of reeds woven together by the pressure of the
+      current and floating on the water. Bes lay down upon his stomach while his
+      people watched from a distance on the bank amazed into silence, and
+      stretched out his long arms to reach the blue lotus flowers. Suddenly the
+      reeds gave way beneath him just as he had grasped two of the flowers and
+      was dragging at them, so that he fell into the river.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Next instant I saw a swirl in the brown water and perceived a huge
+      crocodile. It rushed at Bes open-mouthed. Being a good swimmer he twisted
+      his body in order to avoid it, but I heard the great teeth close with a
+      snap on the short leathern garment which he wore about his middle.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The devil has me! Farewell!&rdquo; he cried and vanished beneath the water.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Now, as I have said, I was almost stripped for bathing, but had not yet
+      taken off my short sword which was girded round me by a belt. In an
+      instant I drew it and amidst the yells of horror of the Ethiopians who had
+      seen all from the bank, I plunged into the river. There are few able to
+      swim as I could and I had the art of diving with my eyes open and
+      remaining long beneath the surface without drawing breath, for this I had
+      practised from a child.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Immediately I saw the great reptile sinking to the mud and dragging Bes
+      with him to drown him there. But here the river was very deep and with a
+      few swift strokes I was able to get under the crocodile. Then with all my
+      strength I stabbed upwards, driving the sword far into the soft part of
+      the throat. Feeling the pain of the sharp iron the beast let go of Bes and
+      turned on me. How it happened I do not know but presently I found myself
+      upon its back and was striking at its eyes. One thrust at least went home,
+      for the blinded brute rose to the surface, bearing me with him, and oh!
+      the sweetness of the air as I breathed again.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Thus we appeared, I riding the crocodile like a horse and stabbing
+      furiously, while close by was Bes rolling his yellow eyes but helpless,
+      for he had no weapon. Still the devil was not dead although blood streamed
+      from him, only mad with pain and rage. Nor could the shouting Ethiopians
+      help me since they had only bows and dared not shoot lest their shafts
+      should pierce me. The crocodile began to sink again, snapping furiously at
+      my legs. Then I bethought me of a trick I had seen practised by natives on
+      the Nile.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Waiting till its huge jaws were open I thrust my arm between them,
+      grasping the short sword in such fashion that the hilt rested on its
+      tongue and the point against the roof of its mouth. It tried to close its
+      jaws and lo! the good iron was fixed between them, holding them wide open.
+      Then I withdrew my hand and floated upwards with nothing worse than a cut
+      upon the wrist from one of its sharp fangs. I appeared upon the surface
+      and after me the crocodile spouting blood and wallowing in its death
+      agonies. I remembered no more till I found myself lying on the bank
+      surrounded by a multitude with Bes standing over me. Also in the shallow
+      water was the crocodile dead, my sword still fixed between its jaws.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Are you harmed, Master&rdquo; cried Bes in a voice of agony.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Very little I think,&rdquo; I answered, sitting up with the blood pouring from
+      my arm.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Bes thrust aside Karema who had come lightly clothed from her tent,
+      saying,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;All is well, Wife. I will bring you the lilies presently.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Then he flung his arms about me, kissed my hands and my brow and turning
+      to the crowd, shouted,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Last night you were disputing as to whether this Egyptian lord should be
+      allowed to dwell with me in the land of Ethiopia. Which of you disputes it
+      now?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No one!&rdquo; they answered with a roar. &ldquo;He is not a man but a god. No man
+      could have done such a deed.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;So it seems,&rdquo; answered Bes quietly. &ldquo;At least none of you even tried to
+      do it. Yet he is not a god but only that kind of man who is called a hero.
+      Also he is my brother, and while I reign in Ethiopia either he shall reign
+      at my side, or I go away with him.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It shall be so, Karoon!&rdquo; they shouted with one voice. And after this I
+      was carried back to the tent.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In front of it my mother waited and kissed me proudly before them all,
+      whereat they shouted again.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      So ended this adventure of the crocodile, except that presently Bes went
+      back and recovered the two lilies for Karema, this time from a boat, which
+      caused the Ethiopians to call out that he must love her very much, though
+      not as much as he did me.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      That afternoon, borne in litters, we set out for the City of the
+      Grasshopper, which we reached on the fourth day. As we drew near the place
+      regiments of men to the number of twelve thousand or more, came out to
+      meet us, so that at last we arrived escorted by an army who sang their
+      songs of triumph and played upon their musical instruments until my head
+      ached with the noise.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This city was a great place whereof the houses were built of mud and
+      thatched with reeds. It stood upon a wide plain and in its centre rose a
+      natural, rocky hill upon the crest of which, fashioned of blocks of
+      gleaming marble and roofed with a metal that shone as gold, was the temple
+      of the Grasshopper, a columned building very like to those of Egypt. Round
+      it also were other public buildings, among them the palace of the Karoon,
+      the whole being surrounded by triple marble walls as a protection from
+      attack by foes. Never had I seen anything so beautiful as that hill with
+      its edifices of shining white roofed with gold or copper and gleaming in
+      the sun.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Descending from my litter I walked to those of my mother and Karema, for
+      Bes in his majesty might not be approached, and said as much to them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, Son,&rdquo; answered my mother, &ldquo;it is worth while to have travelled so
+      far to see such a sight. I shall have a fine sepulchre, Son.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have seen it all before,&rdquo; broke in Karema.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;When?&rdquo; I asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I do not know. I suppose it must have been when I was the Cup of the holy
+      Tanofir. At least it is familiar to me. Already I weary of it, for who can
+      care for a land or a city where they think white people hideous and
+      scarcely allow a wife to go near her husband, save between midnight and
+      dawn when they cease from their horrible music?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It will be your part to change these customs, Karema.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; she exclaimed, &ldquo;certainly that will be my part,&rdquo; after which I went
+      back to my litter.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0015" id="link2HCH0015">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XV. THE SUMMONS
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      Now at the gates of the City of the Grasshopper we were royally received.
+      The priests came out to meet us, pushing a colossal image of their god
+      before them on a kind of flat chariot, and I remember wondering what would
+      be the value of that huge golden locust, if it were melted down. Also the
+      Council came, very ancient men all of them, since the Ethiopians for the
+      most part lived more than a hundred years. Perhaps that is why they were
+      so glad to welcome Bes since they were too old to care about retaining
+      power in their own hands as they had done during his long absence. For
+      save Bes there was no other man living of the true royal blood who could
+      take the throne.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then there were thousands of women, broad-faced and smiling whose black
+      skins shone with scented oils, for they wore little except a girdle about
+      their waists and many ornaments of gold. Thus their earrings were
+      sometimes a palm in breadth and many of them had great gold rings through
+      their noses, such as in Egypt are put in those of bulls. My mother laughed
+      at them, but Karema said that she thought them hideous and hateful.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They were a strange people, these Ethiopians, like children, most of them,
+      being merry and kind and never thinking of one thing for more than a
+      minute. Thus one would see them weep and laugh almost in the same breath.
+      But among them was an upper class who had great learning and much ancient
+      knowledge. These men made their laws wherein there was always sense under
+      what seemed to be folly, designed the temples, managed the mines of gold
+      and other metals and followed the arts. They were the real masters of the
+      land, the rest were but slaves content to live in plenty, for in that
+      fertile soil want never came near them, and to do as they were bid.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Thus they passed from the cradle to the grave amidst song and flowers,
+      carrying out their light, allotted tasks, and for the rest, living as they
+      would and loving those they would, especially their children, of whom they
+      had many. By nature and tradition the men were warriors and hunters, being
+      skilled in the use of the bow and always at war when they could find
+      anyone to fight. Indeed when we came among them their trouble was that
+      they had no enemies left, and at once they implored Bes to lead them out
+      to battle since they were weary of herding kine and tilling fields.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      All of these things I found out by degrees, also that they were a great
+      people who could send out an army of seventy thousand men and yet leave
+      enough behind them to defend their land. Of the world beyond their borders
+      the most of them knew little, but the learned men of whom I have spoken, a
+      great deal, since they travelled to Egypt and elsewhere to study the
+      customs of other countries. For the rest their only god was the
+      Grasshopper and like that insect they skipped and chirruped through life
+      and when the winter of death came sprang away to another of which they
+      knew nothing, leaving their young behind them to bask in the sun of unborn
+      summers. Such were the Ethiopians.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Now of all the ceremonies of the reception of Bes and his re-crowning as
+      Karoon, I knew little, for the reason that the tooth of the crocodile
+      poisoned my blood and made me very ill, so that I remained for a moon or
+      more lying in a fine room in the palace where gold seemed to be as
+      plentiful as earthen pots are in Egypt, and all the vessels were of
+      crystal. Had it not been for the skill of the Ethiopian leeches and above
+      all for the nursing of my mother, I think that I must have died. She it
+      was who withstood them when they wished to cut off my arm, and wisely, for
+      it recovered and was as strong as it had ever been. In the end I grew well
+      again and from the platform in front of the temple was presented to the
+      people by Bes as his saviour and the next greatest to him in the kingdom,
+      nor shall I ever forget the shoutings with which I was received.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Karema also was presented as his wife, having passed the Ordeal of the
+      Matrons, but only, I think, because it was found that she was in the way
+      to give an heir to the throne. For to them her beauty was ugliness, nor
+      could they understand how it came about that their king, who contrary to
+      the general customs of the land, was only allowed one wife lest the
+      children should quarrel, could have chosen a lady who was not black. So
+      they received her in silence with many whisperings which made Karema very
+      angry.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When in due course, however, the child came and proved to be a son black
+      as the best of them and of perfect shape, they relented towards her and
+      after the birth of a second, grew to love her. But she never forgave and
+      loved them not at all. Nor was she over-fond of these children of hers
+      because they were so black which, she said, showed how poisonous was the
+      blood of the Ethiopians. And indeed this is so, for often I have noticed
+      that if an Ethiopian weds with one of another colour, their offspring is
+      black down to the third or fourth generation. Therefore Karema longed for
+      Egypt notwithstanding the splendour in which she dwelt.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      So greatly did she long that she had recourse to the magic lore which she
+      had learned from the holy Tanofir, and would sit for hours gazing into
+      water in a crystal bowl, or sometimes into a ball of crystal without the
+      water, trying to see visions therein that had to do with what passed in
+      Egypt. Moreover in time much of her gift returned to her and she did see
+      many things which she repeated to me, for she would tell no one else of
+      them, not even her husband.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Thus she saw Amada kneeling in a shrine before the statue of Isis and
+      weeping: a picture that made me sad. Also she saw the holy Tanofir
+      brooding in the darkness of the Cave of the Bulls, and read in his mind
+      that he was thinking of us, though what he thought she could not read.
+      Again she saw Eastern messengers delivering letters to Pharaoh and knew
+      from his face that he was disturbed and that Egypt was threatened with
+      calamities. And so forth.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Soon the news of her powers of divination spread abroad, so that all the
+      Ethiopians grew to fear her as a seeress and thenceforth, whatever they
+      may have thought, none of them dared to say that she was ugly. Further,
+      her gift was real, since if she told me of a certain thing such as that
+      messengers were approaching, in due course they would arrive and make
+      clear much that she had not been able to understand in her visions.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Now from the time that I grew strong again and as soon as Bes was firmly
+      seated on his throne, he and I set to work to train and drill the army of
+      the Ethiopians, which hitherto had been little more than a mob of men
+      carrying bows and swords. We divided it into phalanxes after the Greek
+      fashion, and armed these bodies with long lances, swords, and large
+      shields in the place of the small ones they had carried before. Also we
+      trained the archers, teaching them to advance in open order and shoot from
+      cover, and lastly chose the best soldiers to be captains and generals. So
+      it came about that at the end of the two years that I spent in Ethiopia
+      there was a force of sixty thousand men or more whom I should not have
+      been afraid to match against any troops in the world, since they were of
+      great strength and courage, and, as I have said, by nature lovers of war.
+      Also their bows being longer and more powerful, they could shoot arrows
+      farther than the Easterns or the Egyptians.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Ethiopian lords wondered why their King and I did these things, since
+      they saw no enemy against which so great an army could be led to battle.
+      On that matter Bes and I kept our own counsel, telling them only that it
+      was good for the men to be trained to war, since, hearing of their wealth,
+      one day the King of kings might attempt to invade their country. So month
+      by month I laboured at this task, leading armies into distant regions to
+      accustom them to travelling far afield, carrying with them what was
+      necessary for their sustenance.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      So it went on until a sad thing happened, since on returning from one of
+      these forays in which I had punished a tribe that had murdered some
+      Ethiopian hunters and we had taken many thousands of their cattle, I found
+      my mother dying. She had been smitten by a fever which was common at that
+      season of the year, and being old and weak had no strength to throw it
+      off.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As medicine did not help her, the priests of the Grasshopper prayed day
+      and night in their temple for her recovery. Yes, there they prayed to a
+      golden locust standing on an altar in a sanctuary that was surrounded by
+      crystal coffins wherein rested the flesh of former kings of the land. To
+      me the sight was pitiful, but Bes asked me what was the difference between
+      praying to a locust and praying to images with the heads of beasts, or to
+      a dwarf shaped as he was like we did in Egypt, and I could not answer him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The truth is, Brother,&rdquo; he said, for so he called me now, &ldquo;that all
+      peoples in the world do not offer petitions to what they see and have been
+      taught to revere, but to something beyond of which to them it is a sign.
+      But why the Ethiopians should have chosen a grasshopper as a symbol of God
+      who is everywhere, is more than I can tell. Still they have done so for
+      thousands of years.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      When I came to my mother&rsquo;s bedside she was wandering and I saw that she
+      could not live long. In a little while, however, her mind cleared so that
+      she knew me and tears of joy ran down her pale cheeks because I had
+      returned before she died. She reminded me that she had always said that
+      she would find a grave in Ethiopia, and asked to be buried and not kept
+      above ground in crystal, as was the custom there. Then she said that she
+      had been dreaming of my father and of me; also that she did not think that
+      I need fret myself overmuch about Amada, since she was sure that before
+      long I should kiss her on the lips.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I asked if she meant that I should marry her and that we should be happy
+      and fortunate. She replied that she supposed that I should marry her, but
+      of the rest would say nothing. Indeed her face grew troubled, as though
+      some thought hurt her, and leaving the matter of Amada she bade Karema
+      bring me the rose-hued pearls, blessed me, prayed for our reunion in the
+      halls of Osiris, and straightway died.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      So I caused her to be embalmed after the Egyptian fashion and enclosed in
+      a coffin of crystal with a scarab on her heart that Karema had discovered
+      somewhere in the city, for always she was searching for things that
+      reminded her of Egypt, whereof many were to be found brought from time to
+      time by travellers or strangers. Then with such ceremony as we could
+      without the services of the priests of Osiris, Karema and I buried her in
+      a tomb that Bes had caused to be made near to the steps of the temple of
+      the Grasshopper, while Bes and his nobles watched from a distance.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      And so farewell to my beloved mother, the lady Tiu.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      After she was gone I grew very sad and lonely. While she lived I had a
+      home, but now I was an exile, a stranger in a strange land with no one of
+      my own people to talk to except Karema, with whom, as there were gossips
+      even in Ethiopia, I thought it well not to talk too much. There was Bes it
+      was true, but now he was a great king and the time of kings is not their
+      own. Moreover Bes was Bes and an Ethiopian and I was I and an Egyptian,
+      and therefore notwithstanding our love and brotherhood, we could never be
+      like men of the same blood and country.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I grew weary of Ethiopia with its useless gold and damp eternal green and
+      heat, and longed for the sand and the keen desert air. Bes noted it and
+      offered me wives, but I shrank from these black women however buxom and
+      kindly, and wished for no offspring of their race whom afterwards I could
+      never leave. To Egypt I had sworn not to return unless one voice called me
+      and it remained silent. What then was I to do, being no longer content to
+      discipline and command an army that I might not lead into battle?
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At length I made up my mind. By nature I was a hunter as much as a
+      soldier; I would beg from Bes a band of brave men whom I knew, lovers of
+      adventure who sought new things, and with them strike down south,
+      following the path of the elephants to wherever the gods might lead us.
+      Doubtless in the end it would be to death, but what matter when there is
+      nothing for which one cares to live?
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      While I was brooding over these plans Karema read my mind, perhaps because
+      it was her own, perhaps by help of her strange arts, which I do not know.
+      At least one day when I was sitting alone looking at the city beneath from
+      one of the palace window-places, she came to me looking very beautiful and
+      very mystic in the white robes she always loved to wear, and said,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My lord Shabaka, you tire of this land of honey and sweetness and soft
+      airs and flowers and gold and crystal and black people who grin and
+      chatter and are not pleasant to be near, is it not so?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, Queen,&rdquo; I answered.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do not call me queen, my lord Shabaka, for I weary of that name, as we
+      both do of the rest. Call me Karema the Arab, or Karema the Cup, which you
+      will, but by the name of Thoth, god of learning, do <i>not</i> call me
+      queen.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Karema then,&rdquo; I said. &ldquo;Well, how do you know that I tire of all this,
+      Karema?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How could you do otherwise who are not a barbarian and who have Egypt in
+      your heart, and Egypt&rsquo;s fate and&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo; here she looked me
+      straight in the eye&rsquo;s, &ldquo;Egypt&rsquo;s Lady. Besides, I measure you by myself.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You at least should be happy, Karema, who are great and rich and beloved,
+      and the wife of a King who is one of the best of men, and the mother of
+      children.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, Shabaka, I should be but I am not, for who can live on sweetmeats
+      only, especially when they like what is sour? See now how strangely we are
+      made. When I was a girl, the daughter of an Arab chief, well bred and well
+      taught as it chanced, I tired of the hard life of the desert and the
+      narrow minds about me, I who longed for wisdom and to know great men. Then
+      I became the Cup of the holy Tanofir and wisdom was all about me, strange
+      wisdom from another world, rough, sharp wisdom from Tanofir, and the quiet
+      wisdom of the dead among whom I dwelt. I wearied of that also, Shabaka. I
+      was beautiful and knew it and I longed to shine in a Court, to be admired
+      among men, to be envied of women, to rule. My husband came my way. He was
+      clever with a great heart. He was your friend and therefore I was sure
+      that he must be loyal and true. He was, or might be, a king, as I knew,
+      though he thought that I did not. I married him and the holy Tanofir
+      laughed but he did not say me nay, and I became a queen. And now I wish
+      sometimes that I were dead, or back holding the cup of the holy Tanofir
+      with the wisdom of the heavens flowing round me and the soft darkness of
+      the tombs about me. It seems that in this world we never can be content,
+      Shabaka.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, Karema, we only think that we should be if things were otherwise than
+      they are. But how can I help you, Karema?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Least of all by going away and leaving me alone,&rdquo; she answered with the
+      tears starting to her eyes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Looking at her, I began to think that the best thing I could do would be
+      to go away and at once, but as ever she read my thought, shook her head
+      and laughed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, no, I have put on my yoke and will carry it to the end. Have I not
+      two black children and a husband who is a hero, a wit and a mountebank in
+      one, and a throne and more gold and crystal than I ever wish to see again
+      even in a dream, and shall I not cling to these good things? If you went I
+      should only be a little more unhappy than before, that is all. Not for my
+      sake do I ask you to stay, but for your own.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How for my own, Karema? I have done all that I can do here. I have built
+      the army afresh from cook-boys to generals. Bes needs me no longer who has
+      you, his children and his country, and I die of weariness.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You can stop to make use of that army you have built afresh, Shabaka.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Against whom? There are none to fight.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Against the Great King of the East. Listen. My gift of vision has grown
+      strong and clear of late. Only to-day I have seen a meeting between
+      Pharaoh, the holy Tanofir and the lady Amada. They were all disturbed, I
+      know not at what, and the end of it was that Amada wrote in a roll and
+      gave the writing to messengers, who I think even now are speeding
+      southward&mdash;to you, Shabaka. Nay, do not look doubtfully on me, it is
+      true.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then you did well to tell me, Karema, for within a moon of this day I
+      should have been where perhaps no messengers would have found me. Now I
+      will wait and let it be your part to prepare the mind of Bes. Do you think
+      that he would give me an army to lead to Egypt, if there were need?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She nodded and answered,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He would do so for three reasons. The first is because he loves you, the
+      second because he too wearies of Ethiopia and this rich, fat life of
+      peace, and the third, because I shall tell him that he must.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then why trouble to speak of the other two?&rdquo; I said laughing.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      So I stayed on in the City of the Grasshopper, and busied myself with the
+      questions of how to transport and feed a great army that must hold the
+      field for six months or a year; also with the setting of hundreds of
+      skilled men to the making of bows, arrows, swords and shields. Nor did Bes
+      say me no in these matters. Indeed he helped them forward by issuing the
+      orders as his own, wherein I saw the hand of Karema.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Three months went by and I began to think that Karema&rsquo;s power had been at
+      fault, or that her vision was one that came from her lips and not from her
+      heart, to keep me in Ethiopia. But again she read my mind and smiled.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not so, Shabaka,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;Those messengers have come to trouble and
+      are detained by a petty tribe beyond our borders over some matter of a
+      woman. Ten days ago the frontier guards marched to set them free.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      So again I waited and at length the messengers came, three of them
+      Egyptians and three men of Ethiopia who dwelt in Egypt to learn its
+      wisdom, reporting that as Karema had said, through the foolishness of a
+      servant they had been held prisoner by an Arab chief and thus delayed.
+      Then they delivered the writings which they had kept safe. One was from
+      Pharaoh to the Karoon of Ethiopia; one from the holy Tanofir to Karema;
+      and one from the lady Amada to myself.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      With a trembling hand I broke the silk and seals and read. It ran thus:
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+ &ldquo;Shabaka, my Cousin,
+
+ &ldquo;You departed from Egypt saying that never would you return unless
+  I, Amada the priestess, called you, and I told you that I should
+  never call. You said, moreover, that if you came at my call you
+  would demand me in guerdon, and I told you that never would I give
+  myself to you who was doubly sworn to Isis. Yet now I call and now
+  I say that if you come and conquer and I yet live, then, if you
+  still will it, I am yours. Thus stands the case: The Great King
+  advances upon Egypt with an army countless as the sands, nor can
+  Egypt hope to battle against him unaided and alone. He comes to
+  make of her a slave, to kill her children, to burn her temples, to
+  sack her cities and to defile her gods with blasphemies. Moreover
+  he comes to seize me and to drag me away to shame in his House of
+  Women.
+
+ &ldquo;Therefore for the sake of the gods, for Egypt&rsquo;s sake and for my
+  own, I pray you come and save us. Moreover I still love you,
+  Shabaka, yes, more a thousand times, then ever I did, though
+  whether you still love me I know not. For that love&rsquo;s sake,
+  therefore, I am ready to break my vows to Isis and to dare her
+  vengeance, if she should desire to be avenged upon me who would
+  save her and her worship, praying that it may fall on my head and
+  not on yours. This will I do by the counsel of the holy Tanofir,
+  by command of Pharaoh, and with the consent of the high priests of
+  Egypt.
+
+ &ldquo;Now I, Amada, have written. Choose, Shabaka, beloved of my heart.&rdquo;
+ </pre>
+    <p>
+      Such was the letter that caused my head to swim and set my soul on fire.
+      Still I said nothing, but thrust it into my robe and waited. Presently
+      Bes, who had been reading in his roll, looked up and spoke, saying,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Are you minded to see arrows fly and swords shine in war, Brother? If so,
+      here is opportunity. Pharaoh writes to me above his own seal, seeking an
+      alliance between Egypt and Ethiopia. He says that the King of kings
+      invades him and that if he conquers Egypt he has sworn to travel on and
+      conquer Ethiopia also, since he learns that it is now ruled by a certain
+      dwarf who once stole his White Signet, and by a certain Egyptian who once
+      killed his Satrap, Idernes.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What says the Karoon?&rdquo; I asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Bes rolled his eyes and turning to Karema, asked,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What says the Karoon&rsquo;s wife?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Karema laid down the roll she had been studying and answered,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;She says that she has received a command from her master the holy Tanofir
+      to wait upon him forthwith, for reasons that he will explain when she
+      arrives, or to brave his curse upon her, her children, her country and her
+      husband, and not only his but that of the spirits who serve him.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The curse of the holy Tanofir is not a thing to mock at,&rdquo; said Bes, &ldquo;as I
+      who revere him, know as well as any man.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, Husband, and therefore I leave for Egypt as soon as may be. It seems
+      that my sister is dead, this year past, and the holy Tanofir has no one to
+      hold his cup.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And what shall I do?&rdquo; asked Bes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That is for you to say, Husband. But if you will, you can stay here and
+      guard our children, giving the command of your army to the lord Shabaka.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Now, for we were alone, Bes twisted himself about, rolling his eyes and
+      laughing as he used to do before he became Karoon of Ethiopia.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;O-ho-ho! Wife,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;so you are to go to Egypt, leaving me to play
+      the nurse to babes, and my brother here is to command my armies, leaving
+      me to look after the old men and the women. Nay, I think otherwise. I
+      think that I shall come also, that is if my brother wishes it. Did he not
+      save my life and is it not his and with it all I have? Oh! have done. Once
+      more we will stand side by side in the battle, Brother, and afterwards let
+      Fate do as it will with us. Tell me now, what is the tale of archers and
+      of swordsmen with which we can march against the Great King with whom,
+      like you, I have a score to settle?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Seventy and five thousand,&rdquo; I answered.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Good! On the fifth day from now the army marches for Egypt.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0016" id="link2HCH0016">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XVI. TANOFIR FINDS HIS BROKEN CUP
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      March we did, but on the fifteenth day, not the fifth, since there was
+      much to make ready. First the Council of the Ethiopians must be consulted
+      and through them the people. In the beginning there was trouble over the
+      matter, since many were against a distant war, and this even after Bes had
+      urged that it was better to attack than wait to be attacked. For they
+      answered, and justly, that here in Ethiopia distance and the desert were
+      their shields, since the King of kings, however great his strength, would
+      be weary and famished before he set foot within their borders.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In the end the knot was cut with a sword, for when the army came to learn
+      of the dispute, from the generals down to the common soldiers, every man
+      clamoured to be led to war, since, as I have said, these Ethiopians were
+      fighters all of them, and near at hand there were none left with whom they
+      could fight. So when the Council came to see that they must choose between
+      war abroad and revolt at home, they gave way, bargaining only that the
+      children of the Karoon should not leave the land so that if aught befell
+      him, there would be some of the true blood left to succeed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Also the Grasshopper was consulted by the priests who found the omens
+      favourable. Indeed I was told that this great golden locust sat up upon
+      its hind legs upon the altar and waved its feelers in the air, which only
+      happened when wonderful fortune was about to bless the land. The tale
+      reminded me of the nodding of the statues of our own gods in Egypt when a
+      new Pharaoh was presented to them, and of that of Isis when Amada put up
+      her prayer to the divine Mother. To tell the truth, I suspected Karema of
+      having some hand in the business. However, so it happened.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At length we set forth, a mighty host, Bes commanding the swordsmen and I,
+      under him, the archers, of whom there were more than thirty thousand men,
+      and glad was I when all the farewells were said and we were free of the
+      weeping crowds of women. At first Bes and Karema were somewhat sad at
+      parting from their children, but in a little while they grew gay again
+      since the one longed for battle and the other for the sands of Egypt.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Now of our advance I need say little, except that it was slow, though none
+      dared to bar the road of so mighty an array. Since we must go on foot, we
+      were not able to cover more than five leagues a day, for even after we
+      reached the river boats could not be found for so many, though Karema
+      travelled in one with her ladies. Also cattle and corn must always be sent
+      forward for food. Still we crept on to Egypt without sickness, accident,
+      or revolt.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When we drew near to its frontiers messengers met us from Pharaoh bearing
+      letters in answer to those which we had sent with the tidings of our
+      coming. These contained little but ill news. It seemed that the Great King
+      with a countless host had taken all the cities of the Delta and, after a
+      long siege, had captured Memphis and put it to the sack, and that the army
+      of Egypt, fighting desperately by land and upon the Nile was being driven
+      southwards towards Thebes. Pharaoh added that he proposed to make his last
+      stand at the strong city of Amada, since he doubted whether the troops
+      from Lower Egypt would not rather surrender to the Easterns than retreat
+      further up the Nile. He thanked and blessed us for our promised aid and
+      prayed that it might come in time to save Egypt from slavery and himself
+      from death.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Also there was a letter for me from Amada in which she said,
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+ &ldquo;Oh! come quickly. Come quickly, beloved Shabaka, lest of me you
+  should find but bones for never will I fall living into the hands
+  of the Great King. We are sore pressed and although Amada has been
+  made very strong, it can stand but a little while against such a
+  countless multitude armed with all the engines of war.&rdquo;
+ </pre>
+    <p>
+      For Karema, too, there were messages from the holy Tanofir of the same
+      meaning, saying that unless we appeared within a moon of their receipt,
+      all was lost.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We read and took counsel. Then we pressed forward by double marches,
+      sending swift runners forward to bid Pharaoh and his army hold on to the
+      last spear and arrow.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      On the twenty-fifth day from the receipt of this news we came to the great
+      frontier city which we found in tumult for its citizens were mad with
+      fear. Here we rested one night and ate of the food that was gathered there
+      in plenty. Then leaving a small rear-guard of five thousand men who were
+      tired out, to hold the place, we pressed onwards, for Amada was still four
+      days&rsquo; march away. On the morning of the fourth day we were told that it
+      was falling, or had fallen, and when at length we came in sight of the
+      place we saw that it was beleaguered by an innumerable host of Easterns,
+      while on the Nile was a great fleet of Grecian and Cyprian mercenaries.
+      Moreover, heralds from the King of kings reached us, saying:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Surrender, Barbarians, or before the second day dawns you shall sleep
+      sound, every one of you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      To these we answered that we would take counsel on the matter and that
+      perhaps on the morrow we would surrender, since when we had marched from
+      Ethiopia, we did not know how great was the King&rsquo;s strength, having been
+      deceived as to it by the letters of the Pharaoh. Meanwhile that the King
+      of kings would do well to let us alone, since we were brave men and meant
+      to die hard, and it would be better for him to leave us to march back to
+      Ethiopia, rather than lose an army in trying to kill us.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      With these words which were spoken by Bes himself, the messengers
+      departed. One of them however, who seemed to be a great lord, called in a
+      loud voice to his companions, saying it was hard that nobles should have
+      to do the errands, not of a man but of an ape who would look better
+      hanging to a pole. Bes made no answer, only rolled his yellow eyes and
+      said when the lord was out of hearing,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Now by the Grasshopper and all the gods of Egypt I swear that in payment
+      for this insult I will choke the Nile with the army of the Great King, and
+      hang that knave to a pole from the prow of the royal ship.&rdquo; Which last
+      thing I hope he did.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When the embassy had gone Bes gave orders that the whole army should eat
+      and lie down to sleep.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am sure,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;that the Great King will not attack us at once,
+      since he will hope that we shall flee away during the night, having seen
+      his strength.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      So the Ethiopians filled themselves and then lay down to sleep, which
+      these people can do at any time, even if not tired as they were. But while
+      they rested Bes and I and Karema, with some of the generals consulted
+      together long and earnestly. For in truth we knew not what to do. But a
+      league away lay the town of Amada beset by hundreds of thousands of the
+      Easterns so that none could come in or out, and within its walls were the
+      remains of Pharaoh&rsquo;s army, not more than twenty thousand men, all told, if
+      what we heard were true. On the Nile also was the great Grecian and
+      Cyprian fleet, two hundred vessels and more, though as we could see by the
+      light of the setting sun the most of these were made fast to the western
+      bank where the Egyptians could not come at them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      For the rest our position was good, being on high desert beyond the
+      cultivated land which bordered the eastern bank. But in front of us,
+      separating us from the southern army of the King, stretched a swamp hard
+      to cross, so that we could not hope to make an attack by night as there
+      was no moon. Lastly, the main Eastern strength, to the number of two
+      hundred thousand or more, lay to the north beyond Amada.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      All these things we considered, talking low and earnestly there in the
+      tent, till it grew so dark that we could not see each other&rsquo;s faces while
+      behind us slumbered our army that now numbered some seventy thousand men.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We are in a trap,&rdquo; said Bes at length. &ldquo;If we await attack they will
+      weigh us down with numbers. If we flee they have camels and horses and
+      will overtake us; also ships of which we have none. If we attack it must
+      be without cover through swamp where we shall be bogged.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Meanwhile Pharaoh is perishing within yonder walls of Amada which the
+      engines batter down. By the Grasshopper! I know not what to do. It seems
+      that our journey is vain and that few of us will see Ethiopia more; also
+      that Egypt is sped.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I made no answer, for here my generalship failed me and I had nothing to
+      say. The captains, too, were silent, only woman-like, Karema wept a
+      little, and I too went near to weeping who thought of Amada penned in
+      yonder temple like a lamb that awaits the butcher&rsquo;s knife.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Suddenly, coming from the door of the tent which I thought was closed, I
+      heard a deep voice say,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have ever noted that those of Ethiopian blood are melancholy after
+      sundown, though of Egyptians I had thought better things.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Now about this voice there was something familiar to me, still I said
+      nothing, nor did the others, for to speak the truth, all of us were
+      frightened and thought that we must dream. For how could any thing that
+      breathed approach this tent through a triple line of sentries? So we sat
+      still, staring at the darkness, till presently in that darkness appeared a
+      glow of light, such as comes from the fire-flies of Ethiopia. It grew and
+      grew while we gasped with fear, till presently it took shape, and the
+      shape it took was that of the ancient withered face, the sightless eyes,
+      and the white beard of the holy Tanofir. Yes, there not two feet from the
+      ground seemed to float the head of the holy Tanofir, limned in faint
+      flame, which I suppose must have been reflected on to it from the light of
+      some camp-fire without.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;O my beloved master!&rdquo; cried Karema, and threw herself towards him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;O my beloved Cup!&rdquo; answered Tanofir. &ldquo;Glad am I to know you well and
+      unshattered.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Then a torch was lit and lo! there before us, wrapped in his dark cloak
+      sat the holy Tanofir.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Whence come you, my Great-uncle?&rdquo; I asked amazed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;From less far than you do, Nephew,&rdquo; he answered. &ldquo;Namely out of Amada
+      yonder. Oh! ask me not how. It is easy if you are a blind old beggar who
+      knows the path. And by the way, if you have aught to eat I should be glad
+      of a bite and a sup, since in Amada food has been scarce for this last
+      month, and to-night there is little left.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Karema sped from the tent and presently returned with bread and wine of
+      which Tanofir partook almost greedily.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;This is the first strong drink that I have tasted for many a year,&rdquo; he
+      said as he drained the goblet; &ldquo;but better a broken vow than broken wits
+      when one has much to plan and do. At least I hope the gods will think so
+      when I meet them presently. There&mdash;I am strong again. Now, say, what
+      is your force?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      We told him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Good. And what is your plan?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      We shook our heads, having none.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Bes,&rdquo; he said sternly, &ldquo;I think you grow dull since you became a king&mdash;or
+      perhaps it is marriage that makes you so. Why, in bygone years schemes
+      would have come so fast that they would have choked each other between
+      those thick lips of yours. And Shabaka, tell me, have you lost all your
+      generalship whereof once you had plenty, in the soft air of Ethiopia? Or
+      is it that even the shadow of marriage makes <i>you</i> dull? Well, I must
+      turn to the woman, for that is always the lot of man. Your plan, Karema,
+      and quickly for there is no time to lose.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Now the face of Karema grew fixed and her eyes dreamy as she spoke in a
+      slow, measured voice like one who knows not what she says.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My plan is to destroy the armies of the Great King and to relieve the
+      city of Amada.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;A very good plan,&rdquo; said holy Tanofir, &ldquo;but the question is, how?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I think,&rdquo; went on Karema, &ldquo;that about a league above this place there is
+      a spot where at this season the Nile can be forded by tall men without the
+      wetting of their shoulders. First then, I would send five thousand
+      swordsmen across that ford and let them creep down on the navy of the
+      Great King where the sailors revel in safety, or sleep sound, and fire the
+      ships. The wind blows strongly from the south and the flames will leap
+      fast from one of them to the other. Most of their crews will be burned and
+      the rest can be slain by our five thousand.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Good, very good,&rdquo; said the holy Tanofir, &ldquo;but not enough, seeing that on
+      the eastern bank is gathered the host of over two hundred thousand men.
+      Now how will you deal with <i>them</i>, Karema?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I seem to see a road yonder beyond the swamp. It runs on the edge of the
+      desert but behind the sand-hills. I would send the archers of whom there
+      are more than thirty thousand, under the command of Shabaka along that
+      road which leads them past Amada. On its farther side are low hills strewn
+      with rocks. Here I would let the archers take cover and wait for the
+      breaking of the dawn. Then beneath them they will see the most of the
+      Eastern host and with such bows as ours they can sweep the plain from the
+      hills almost to the Nile, and having a hundred arrows to a man, should
+      slaughter the Easterns by the ten thousand, for when these turn to charge
+      a shaft should pierce through two together.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Good again,&rdquo; said Tanofir. &ldquo;But what of the army of the Great King which
+      lies upon this side of Amada?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I think that before the dawn, believing us so few, it will advance and
+      with the first light begin to thread the swamp, and therefore we must keep
+      five thousand archers to gall it as it comes. Still it will win through,
+      though with loss, and find us waiting for it here shoulder to shoulder,
+      rank upon rank with locked shields, against which horse and foot shall
+      break in vain, for who shall drive a wedge through the Ethiopian squares
+      that Shabaka has trained and that Bes, the Karoon, commands? I say that
+      they shall roll back like waves from a cliff; yes, again and again,
+      growing ever fewer till the clamour of battle and the shouts of fear and
+      agony reach their ears from beyond Amada where Shabaka and the archers do
+      their work and the sight of the burning ships strikes terror in them and
+      they fly.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Good again,&rdquo; said the holy Tanofir. &ldquo;But still many on both fronts will
+      be left, for this army of Easterns is very vast. And how will you deal
+      with these, O Karema?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;On these I would have Pharaoh with all his remaining strength pour from
+      the northern and the southern gates of Amada, for so shall they be caught
+      like wounded lions between two wild bulls and torn and trampled and
+      utterly destroyed. Only I know not how to tell Pharaoh what he must do,
+      and when.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Good again,&rdquo; said the holy Tanofir, &ldquo;very good. And as for the telling of
+      Pharaoh, well, I shall see him presently. It is strange, my chipped Cup
+      which I had almost thrown away as useless, that although broken, you still
+      hold so much wisdom. For know, wonderful though it may seem, that just
+      such plans as you have spoken have grown up in my own mind, only I wished
+      to learn if you thought them wise.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Then he laughed a little and Karema stretched her arms as one does who
+      awakes from sleep, rubbed her eyes and asked if he would not eat more
+      food.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In an instant Tanofir was speaking again in a quick, clear voice.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Bes, or King,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;doubtless you will do your wife&rsquo;s will.
+      Therefore let the host be aroused and stand to its arms. As it chances I
+      have four men without who can be trusted. Two of these will guide the five
+      thousand to the ford and across it; also down upon the ships. The other
+      two will guide Shabaka and the archers along the road which Karema
+      remembers so well; perhaps she trod it as a child. For my part I return to
+      Amada to make sure that Pharaoh does his share and at the right time. For
+      mark, unless all this is carried through to-night Amada will fall
+      to-morrow, a certain priestess will die, and you, Bes, and your soldiers
+      will never look on Ethiopia again. Is it agreed?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I nodded who did not wish to waste time in words, and Bes rolled his eyes
+      and answered,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;When one can think of nothing, it is best to follow the counsel of those
+      who can think of something; also to hunt rather than to be hunted.
+      Especially is this so if that something comes from the holy Tanofir or his
+      broken Cup. Generals, you have heard. Rouse the host and bid them stand to
+      their arms company by company!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The generals leapt away into the darkness like arrows from a bow, and
+      presently we heard the noise of gathering men.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Where are these guides of yours, holy Tanofir?&rdquo; asked Bes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Tanofir beckoned over his shoulder, and out of the gloom, one by one, four
+      men stole into the tent. They were strange, quiet men, but I can say no
+      more of them since their faces were veiled, nor as it chances, did I ever
+      see any of them after the battle, in which I suppose that they were
+      killed. Or perhaps they appeared after&mdash;well, never mind!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You have heard,&rdquo; said Tanofir, whereupon all four of them bowed their
+      mysterious veiled heads.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Now, my Brother,&rdquo; whispered Bes into my ear, &ldquo;tell me, I pray you, how
+      did four men who were not in the tent, hear what was said in this tent,
+      and how did they come through the guards who have orders to kill anyone
+      who does not know the countersign, especially men whose faces are wrapped
+      in napkins?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I do not know,&rdquo; I answered, whereon Bes groaned, only Karema smiled a
+      little as though to herself.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then, having heard, obey,&rdquo; said the holy Tanofir, whereon the four veiled
+      ones bowed again.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Will you not give them their orders, O most Venerable?&rdquo; inquired Bes
+      doubtfully.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I think it is needless,&rdquo; said Tanofir in a dry voice. &ldquo;Why try to teach
+      those who know?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Will you not offer them something to eat, since they also must be
+      hungry?&rdquo; I asked of Karema.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Fool, be silent,&rdquo; she replied, looking on me with contempt. &ldquo;Do the&mdash;friends&mdash;of
+      Tanofir need to eat?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I should have thought so after being beleaguered for a month in a
+      starving town. If the master wants to eat, why should not his men?&rdquo; I
+      murmured.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then a thought struck me and I was silent.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A general returned and reported that the orders had been executed and that
+      all the army was afoot.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Good,&rdquo; said Bes. &ldquo;Then start forthwith with five thousand men, and burn
+      those ships, according to the plan laid down by the Queen Karema, which
+      you heard her speak but now,&rdquo; and he named certain regiments that he
+      should take with him, those of the general&rsquo;s own command, adding: &ldquo;Save
+      some of the ships if you can, and afterwards cross the Nile in them with
+      your men, and join yourself either to my force or to that of the lord
+      Shabaka, according to what you see. May the Grasshopper give you victory
+      and wisdom.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The general saluted and asked,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Who guides us to and across the ford of the great river?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Two of the veiled men stepped forward whereon the general muttered into my
+      ear,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I like not the look of them. I pray the Grasshopper they do not guide us
+      across the River of Death.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Have no fear, General,&rdquo; said the holy Tanofir from the other end of the
+      tent. &ldquo;If you and your men play their parts as well as the guides will
+      play theirs, the ships are already burned together with their companies.
+      Only take fire with you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      So that general departed with the two guides, looking somewhat frightened,
+      and soon was marching up Nile at the head of five thousand swordsmen.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Now Bes looked at me and said,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It seems that you had better be gone also, my Brother, with the archers.
+      Perchance the holy Tanofir will show you whither.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, no,&rdquo; answered Tanofir, &ldquo;my guides will show him. Look not so
+      doubtful, Shabaka. Did I fail you when you were in the grip of the King of
+      kings in the East, and only your own life and that of Bes were at stake?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I do not know,&rdquo; I answered.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You do not know, but I know, as I think do Bes and Karema, since the one
+      received the messages which the other sent. Well, if I did not fail you
+      then, shall I fail you now when Egypt is at stake? Follow these guides I
+      give you, and&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo; here he took hold of the quiver of arrows
+      that lay beside me on the ground, and as certainly as though he could see
+      it with his blind eyes, touched one of them, on the shaft of which were
+      two black and a white feather, &ldquo;remember my words after you have loosed
+      this arrow from your great black bow and noted where it strikes.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Then I turned to Bes and asked,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Where do we meet again?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I cannot say, Brother,&rdquo; he answered. &ldquo;In Amada if that may be. If not, at
+      the Table of Osiris, or in the fields of the Grasshopper, or in the
+      blackness which swallows all, gods and men together.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Does Karema come with me or bide with you?&rdquo; I asked again.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;She does neither,&rdquo; interrupted Tanofir, &ldquo;she accompanies me to Amada,
+      where I have need of her and she will be more safe. Oh! fear nothing, for
+      every hermit however poor, still carries his staff and his cup, even if it
+      be cracked.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Then I shook Bes by the hand and went my way, wondering if I were awake or
+      dreaming, and the last thing I saw in that tent was the beautiful face of
+      Karema smiling at me. This I took to be a good omen, since I knew that it
+      was the heart of the holy Tanofir which smiled, and that her eyes were but
+      its mirror.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Already my thirty thousand archers were marshalling, and having made sure
+      that there was ample store of arrows and that all their gourds were filled
+      with water, I set myself at their head while in front of me walked the two
+      veiled guides. I looked upon them doubtfully, since it seemed dangerous to
+      trust an army to unknown men who for aught I knew, might lead us into the
+      midst of our foes. Then I remembered that they were vouched for by the
+      holy Tanofir, my own great-uncle whom I trusted above any man on earth,
+      and took heart again.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      How had he come into our tent, I wondered, and how, blind as he was, would
+      he get back into Amada with Karema, if he took her? Well, who could
+      account for the goings or the comings of the holy Tanofir, who was more of
+      a spirit than a man? Perhaps it was not really he whom we had seen, but
+      what we Egyptians called his <i>Ka</i> or Double which can pass to and fro
+      at will. Only do <i>Kas</i> eat? Of this matter I knew only that offerings
+      of food and drink are made to them in tombs. So leaving the holy Tanofir
+      to guard himself, I turned my mind to our own business, which was to
+      surprise the army of the Great King.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Skirting the swamp we came to rough and higher ground and though I could
+      see little in that darkness, I knew that we were walking up a hill.
+      Presently we crossed its crest and descending for three bowshots or so, I
+      felt that my feet were on a road. Now the guides turned to the left and
+      after them in a long line came my army of thirty thousand archers. In
+      utter silence we went since we had no beasts with us and our sandalled
+      feet made little noise; moreover orders had been passed down the line that
+      the man who made a sound should die.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      For two hours or more we marched thus, then bore to the left again and
+      climbed a slope, by which time I judged we must be well past the town of
+      Amada. Here suddenly the guides halted and we after them at whispered
+      words of command. One of them took me by the cloak, led me forward a
+      little way to the crest of the ridge, and pointed with his white-sleeved
+      arm. I looked and there beneath me, well within bowshot, were thousands of
+      the watchfires of the King&rsquo;s army, flaring, some of them, in the strong
+      wind. For a full league those fires burned and we were opposite to the
+      midmost of them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;See now, General Shabaka,&rdquo; said the guide, speaking for the first time in
+      a curious hissing whisper such as might come from a man who had no lips,
+      &ldquo;beneath you sleeps the Eastern host, which being so great, has not
+      thought it needful to guard this ridge. Now marshal your archers in a
+      fourfold line in such fashion that at the first break of dawn they can
+      take cover behind the rocks and shoot, every man of them without piercing
+      his fellow. Do you bide here with the centre where your standard can be
+      seen by all to north and south. I and my companion will lead your vanguard
+      farther on to where the ridge draws nearer to the Nile, so that with their
+      arrows they can hold back and slay any who strive to escape down stream.
+      The rest is in your hands, for we are guides, not generals. Summon your
+      captains and issue your commands.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      So we went back again and I called the officers together and told them
+      what they were to do, then despatched them to their regiments.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Presently the vanguard of ten thousand men drew away and vanished, and
+      with them the white-robed guides on whom I never looked again. Then I
+      marshalled my centre as well as I could in the gloom, and bade them lie
+      down to rest and sleep if they were able; also, within thirty minutes of
+      the sunrise, to eat and drink a little of the food they carried, to see
+      that every bow was ready and that the arrows were loosened in every
+      quiver. This done, with a few whom I trusted to serve me as messengers and
+      guard, I crept up to the brow of the hill or slope, and there we laid us
+      down and watched.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0017" id="link2HCH0017">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XVII. THE BATTLE&mdash;AND AFTER
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      Two hours went by and I knew by the stars that the dawn could not be far
+      away. My eyes were fixed upon the Nile and on the lights that hung to the
+      prows of the Great King&rsquo;s ships. Where were those who had been sent to
+      fire them, I wondered, for of them I saw nothing. Well, their journey
+      would be long as they must wade the river. Perhaps they had not yet
+      arrived, or perhaps they had miscarried. At least the fleet seemed very
+      quiet. None were alarmed there and no sentry challenged.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At length it grew near to dawn and behind me I heard the gentle stir of
+      the Ethiopians arising and eating as they had been bidden, whereon I too
+      ate and drank a little, though never had I less wished for food. The East
+      brightened and far up the Nile of a sudden there appeared what at first I
+      took to be a meteor or a lantern waving in the wind that now was blowing
+      its strongest, as it does at this season of the year just at the time of
+      dawn. Yet that lantern seemed to travel fast and lo! now I saw that it was
+      fire running up the rigging of a ship.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It leapt from rope to rope and from sail to sail till they blazed
+      fiercely, and in other ships also nearer to us, flame appeared that grew
+      to a great red sheet. Our men had not failed; the navy of the King of
+      kings was burning! Oh! how it burned fanned by the breath of that strong
+      wind. From vessel to vessel leapt the fire like a thing alive, for all of
+      them were drawn up on the bank with prows fastened in such fashion that
+      they could not readily be made loose. Some broke away indeed, but they
+      were aflame and only served to spread the fire more quickly. Before the
+      rim of the sun appeared for a league or more there was nothing but blazing
+      ships from which rose a hideous crying, and still more and more took fire
+      lower down the line.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I had no time to watch for now I must be up and doing. The sky grew grey,
+      there was light enough to see though faintly. I cast my eyes about me and
+      perceived that no place in the world could have been better for archery.
+      In front the hill was steep for a hundred paces or more and scattered over
+      with thousands of large stones behind which bowmen might take shelter.
+      Then came a gentle slope of loose sand up which attackers would find it
+      hard to climb. Then the long flat plain whereon the Easterns were camped,
+      and beyond it, scarce two furlongs away, the banks of Nile.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Indeed the place was ill-chosen for so great an army, nor could it have
+      held them all, had not the camping ground been a full league in length,
+      and even so they were crowded. Out of the mist their tents appeared,
+      thousands of them, farther than my eye could reach, and almost opposite to
+      me, near to the banks of the river, was a great pavilion of silk and gold
+      that I guessed must shelter the majesty of the King of kings. Indeed this
+      was certain since now I saw that over it floated his royal banner which I
+      knew so well, I who had stolen the little White Signet of signets from
+      which it was taken. Truly the holy Tanofir, or his Cup, Karema, or his
+      messengers, or the spirits with whom he dwelt, I know not which, had a
+      general&rsquo;s eye and knew how to plan an ambuscade.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      So, thought I to myself as I ran back to my army to meet the gathered
+      captains and set all things in order. It was soon done for they were
+      ready, as were the fierce Ethiopians fresh from their rest and food, and
+      stringing their bows, every one of them, or loosening the arrows in their
+      quivers. As I came they lifted their hands in salute, for speak they dared
+      not and I sent a whisper down their ranks, that this day they must fight
+      and conquer, or fall for the glory of Ethiopia and their king. Then I gave
+      my orders and before the sun rose and revealed them they crept forward in
+      a fourfold line and took shelter behind the stones, lying there invisible
+      on their bellies until the moment came.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The red rim of Ra appeared glorious in the East, and I, from behind the
+      rocks that I had chosen, sat down and watched. Oh! truly Tanofir or the
+      gods of Egypt were ordering things aright for us. The huge camp was awake
+      now and aware of what was happening on the Nile. They could not see well
+      because of the tall reeds upon the river&rsquo;s rim and therefore, without
+      order or discipline, by the thousand and the ten thousand, for their
+      numbers were countless, some with arms and some without, they ran to the
+      slope of sand beneath our station and began to climb it to have a better
+      view of the burning ships.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The sun leapt up swiftly as it does in Egypt. His glowing edge appeared
+      over the crest of the hill though the hollows beneath were still filled
+      with shadow. The moment was at hand. I waited till I had counted ten,
+      glancing to the right and left of me to see that all were ready and to
+      suffer the crowd to thicken on the slope, but not to reach the lowest
+      rocks, whither they were climbing. Then I gave the double signal that had
+      been agreed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Behind me the banner of the golden Grasshopper was raised upon a tall pole
+      and broke upon the breeze. That was the first signal whereat every man
+      rose to his knees and set shaft on string. Next I lifted my bow, the black
+      bow, the ancient bow that few save I could bend, and drew it to my ear.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Far away, out of arrow-reach as most would have said, floated the Great
+      King&rsquo;s standard over his pavilion. At this I aimed, making allowance for
+      the wind, and shot. The shaft leapt forward, seen in the sunlight, lost in
+      the shadow, seen in the sunlight again and lastly seen once more, pinning
+      that golden standard against its pole!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At the sight of the omen a roar went up that rolled to right and left of
+      us, a roar from thirty thousand throats. Now it was lost in a sound like
+      to the hissing of thunder rain in Ethiopia, the sound of thirty thousand
+      arrows rushing through the wind. Oh! they were well aimed, those arrows
+      for I had not taught the Ethiopians archery in vain.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      How many went down before them? The gods of Egypt know alone. I do not.
+      All I know is that the long slope of sand which had been crowded with
+      standing men, was now thick with fallen men, many of whom lay as though
+      they were asleep. For what mail could resist the iron-pointed shafts
+      driven by the strong bows of the Ethiopians?
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      And this was but a beginning, for, flight after flight, those arrows sped
+      till the air grew dark with them. Soon there were no more to shoot at on
+      the slope, for these were down, and the order went to lift the bows and
+      draw upon the camp, and especially upon the parks of baggage beasts.
+      Presently these were down also, or rushing maddened to and fro.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At last the Eastern generals saw and understood. Orders were shouted and
+      in a mad confusion the scores of thousands who were unharmed, rushed back
+      towards the banks of Nile where our shafts could not reach them. Here they
+      formed up in their companies and took counsel. It was soon ended, for all
+      the vast mass of them, preceded by a cloud of archers, began to advance
+      upon the hill.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Now I passed a command to the Ethiopians, of whom so far not one had
+      fallen, to lie low and wait. On came the glittering multitude of Easterns,
+      gay with purple and gold, their mail and swords shining in the risen sun.
+      On they came by squadron and by company, more than the eye could number.
+      They reached the sand slope thick with their own dead and wounded and
+      paused a little because they could see no man, since the black bodies of
+      the Ethiopians were hid behind the black stones and the black bows did not
+      catch the light.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then from a gorgeous group that I guessed hid the person of the Great King
+      surrounded by his regiment of guards, ten thousand of them who were called
+      Immortals, messengers sprang forth screaming the order to charge. The host
+      began to climb the slippery sand slope but still I held my hand till their
+      endless lines were within fifty paces of us and their arrows rattled
+      harmlessly against our stones. Then I caused the banner of the Grasshopper
+      that had been lowered, to be lifted thrice, and at the third lifting once
+      more thirty thousand arrows rushed forth to kill.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They went down, they went down in lines and heaps, riddled through and
+      through. But still others came on for they fought under the eye of the
+      Great King, and to fly meant death with shame and torture. We could not
+      kill them all, they were too many. We could not kill the half of them. Now
+      their foremost were within ten paces of us and since we must stand up to
+      shoot, our men began to fall, also pierced with arrows. I caused the blast
+      of retreat to be sounded on the ivory horn and step by step we drew back
+      to the crest of the ridge, shooting as we went. On the crest we re-formed
+      rapidly in a double line standing as close as we could together and my
+      example was followed all down the ranks to right and left. Then I
+      bethought me of a plan that I had taught these archers again and again in
+      Ethiopia.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      With the flag I signalled a command to stop shooting and also passed the
+      word down the line, so that presently no more arrows flew. The Easterns
+      hesitated, wondering whether this were a trap, or if we lacked shafts, and
+      meanwhile I sent messengers with certain orders to the vanguard, who sped
+      away at speed behind the hill, running as they never ran before. Presently
+      I heard a voice below cry out,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The Great King commands that the barbarians be destroyed. Let the
+      barbarians be destroyed!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Now with a roar they came on like a flood. I waited till they were within
+      twenty paces of us, and shouted, &ldquo;Shoot and fall!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The first line shot and oh! fearful was its work, for not a shaft missed
+      those crowded hosts and many pinned two together. My archers shot and fell
+      down, setting new arrows to the string as they fell, whereon the second
+      line also shot over them. Then up we sprang and loosed again, and again
+      fell down, whereon the second line once more poured in its deadly hail.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Now the Easterns stayed their advance, for their front ranks lay prone,
+      and those behind must climb over them if they could. Yes, standing there
+      in glittering groups they rocked and hesitated although their officers
+      struck them with swords and lances to drive them forward. Once more our
+      front rank rose and loosed, and once more we dropped and let the shafts of
+      the second speed over us. It was too much, flesh and blood could not bear
+      more of those arrows. Thousands upon thousands were down and the rest
+      began to flee in confusion.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then at my command the ivory horns sounded the charge. Every man slung his
+      bow upon his back and drew his short sword.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;On to them!&rdquo; I cried and leapt forward.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Like a black torrent we rushed down the hill, leaping over the dead and
+      wounded. The retreat became a rout since before these ebon, great-eyed
+      warriors the soft Easterns did not care to stand. They fled screaming,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;These are devils! These are devils!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      We were among them now, hacking and stabbing with the short swords upon
+      their heads and backs. There was no need to aim the blow, they were so
+      many. Like a huddled mob of cattle they turned and fled down Nile. But my
+      orders had reached the vanguard and these, hidden in the growing crops on
+      the narrow neck of swampy land between the hills and the Nile, met them
+      with arrows as they came, also raked them from the steep cliff side. Their
+      chariot wheels sank into the mud till the horses were slain; their footmen
+      were piled in heaps about them, till soon there was a mighty wall of dead
+      and dying. And our centre and rearguard came up behind. Oh! we slew and
+      slew, till before the sun was an hour high over half the army of the Great
+      King was no more. Then we re-formed, having suffered but little loss, and
+      drank of the water of the Nile.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;All is not done,&rdquo; I cried.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      For the Immortals still remained behind us, gathered in massed ranks about
+      their king. Also there were many thousands of others between these and the
+      walls of Amada, and to the south of the city yet a second army, that with
+      which Bes had been left to deal, with what success I knew not.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ethiopians,&rdquo; I shouted, &ldquo;cease crying Victory, since the battle is about
+      to begin. Strike, and at once before the Easterns find their heart again.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      So we advanced upon the Immortals, all of us, for now the vanguard had
+      joined our strength.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In long lines we advanced over that blood-soaked plain, and as we came the
+      Great King loosed his remaining chariots against us. It availed him
+      nothing, since the horses could not face our arrows whereof, thanks be to
+      the gods! I had prepared so ample a store, carried in bundles by lads.
+      Scarce a chariot reached our lines, and those that did were destroyed,
+      leaving us unbroken.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The chariots were done with and their drivers dead, but there still
+      frowned the squares of the Immortals. We shot at them till nearly all our
+      shafts were spent, and, galled to madness, they charged. We did not wait
+      for the points of those long spears, but ran in beneath them striking with
+      our short swords, and oh! grim and desperate was that battle, since the
+      Easterns were clad in mail and the Ethiopians had but short jerkins of
+      bull&rsquo;s hide.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Fight as we would we were driven back. The fray turned against us and we
+      fell by hundreds. I bethought me of flight to the hills, since now we were
+      outnumbered and very weary. But behold! when all seemed lost a great
+      shouting rose from Amada and through her opened gates poured forth all
+      that remained of the army of Pharaoh, perhaps eighteen or twenty thousand
+      men. I saw, and my heart rose again.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Stand firm!&rdquo; I cried. &ldquo;Stand firm!&rdquo; and lo! we stood.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Egyptians were on them now and in their midst I saw Pharaoh&rsquo;s banner.
+      By degrees the battle swayed towards the banks of Nile, we to the north,
+      the Egyptians to the south and the Easterns between us. They were trying
+      to turn our flank; yes, and would have done it, had there not suddenly
+      appeared upon the Nile a fleet of ships. At first I thought that we were
+      lost, for these ships were from Greece and Cyprus, till I saw the banner
+      of the Grasshopper wave from a prow, and knew that they were manned by our
+      five thousand who had gone out to burn the fleet, and had saved these
+      vessels. They beached and from their crowded holds poured the five
+      thousand, or those that were left of them, and ranging themselves upon the
+      bank, raised their war-shout and attacked the ends of the Easterns&rsquo; lines.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Now we charged for the last time and the Egyptians charged from the south.
+      Ha-ha! the ranks of the Immortals were broken at length. We were among
+      them. I saw Pharaoh, his <i>uræus</i> circlet on his helm. He was wounded
+      and sore beset. A tall Immortal rushed at him with a spear and drove it
+      home.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Pharaoh fell.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I leapt over him and killed that Eastern with a blow upon the neck, but my
+      sword shattered on his armour. The tide of battle rolled up and swept us
+      apart and I saw Pharaoh being carried away. Look! yonder was the Great
+      King himself standing in a golden chariot, the Great King in all his glory
+      whom last I had seen far away in the East. He knew me and shot at me with
+      a bow, the bow he thought my own, shouting, &ldquo;Die, dog of an Egyptian!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      His arrow pierced my helm but missed my head. I strove to come at him but
+      could not.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The real rout began. The Immortals were broken like an earthen jar. They
+      retreated in groups fighting desperately and of these the thickest was
+      around the Great King. He whom I hated was about to escape me. He still
+      had horses; he would fly down Nile, gain his reserves and so away back to
+      the East, where he would gather new and yet larger armies, since men in
+      millions were at his command. Then he would return and destroy Egypt when
+      perchance there were no Ethiopians to help her, and perhaps after all drag
+      Amada to his House of Women. See, they were breaking through and already I
+      was far away with a wound in my breast, a hurt leg and a shattered sword.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      What could I do? My arrows were spent and the bearers had none left to
+      give me. No, there was one still in the quiver. I drew it out. On its
+      shaft were two black feathers and one white. Who had spoken of that arrow?
+      I remembered, Tanofir. I was to think of certain things that he had said
+      when I noted what it pierced. I unslung my bow, strung it and set that
+      arrow on the string.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      By now the Great King was far away, out of reach for most archers. His
+      chariot forging ahead amidst the remnant of his guards and the nobles who
+      attended on his sacred person, travelled over a little rise where
+      doubtless once there had been a village, long since rotted down to its
+      parent clay. The sunlight glinted on his shining armour and silken robe,
+      whereof the back was toward me.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I aimed, I drew, I loosed! Swift and far the shaft sped forward. By
+      Osiris! it struck him full between the shoulders, and lo! the King of
+      kings, the Monarch of the World, lurched forward, fell on to the rail of
+      his chariot, and rolled to the ground. Next instant there arose a roar of,
+      &ldquo;The King is dead! The Great King is dead! <i>Fly, fly, fly!</i>&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      So they fled and after them thundered the pursuers slaying and slaying
+      till they could lift their arms no more. Oh! yes, some escaped though the
+      men of Thebes and country folk murdered many of them and but a few ever
+      won back to the East to tell the tale of the blotting out of the mighty
+      army of the King of kings and of the doom dealt to him by the great black
+      bow of Shabaka the Egyptian.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I stood there gasping, when suddenly I heard a voice at my side. It said,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You seem to have done very well, Brother, even better than we did yonder
+      on the other side of the town, though some might think that fray a thing
+      whereof to make a song. Also that last shot of yours was worthy of a good
+      archer, for I marked it, I marked it. A great lord was laid low thereby.
+      Let us go and see who it was.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I threw my arm round the bull neck of Bes and leaning on him, advanced to
+      where the King lay alone save for the fallen about him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;This man is not yet sped,&rdquo; said Bes. &ldquo;Let us look upon his face,&rdquo; and he
+      turned him over, and stretched him there upon the sand with the arrow
+      standing two spans beyond his corselet.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why,&rdquo; said Bes, &ldquo;this is a certain High one with whom we had dealings in
+      the East!&rdquo; and he laughed thickly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then the Great King opened his eyes and knew us and on his dying features
+      came a look of hate.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;So you have conquered, Egyptian,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Oh! if only I had you again
+      in the East, whence in my folly I let you go&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You would set me in your boat, would you not, whence by the wisdom of Bes
+      I escaped.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;More than that,&rdquo; he gasped.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I shall not serve you so,&rdquo; I went on. &ldquo;I shall leave you to die as a
+      warrior should upon a fair fought field. But learn, tyrant and murderer,
+      that the shaft which overthrew you came from the black bow you coveted and
+      thought you had received, and that this hand loosed it&mdash;not at
+      hazard.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I guessed it,&rdquo; he whispered.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Know, too, King, that the lady Amada whom you also coveted, waits to be
+      my wife; that your mighty army is destroyed, and that Egypt is free by the
+      hands of Shabaka the Egyptian and Bes the dwarf.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Shabaka the Egyptian,&rdquo; he muttered, &ldquo;whom I held and let go because of a
+      dream and for policy. So, Shabaka, you will wed Amada whom I desired
+      because I could not take her, and doubtless you will rule in Egypt, for
+      Pharaoh, I think, is as I am to-day. O Shabaka, you are strong and a great
+      warrior, but there is something stronger than you in the world&mdash;that
+      which men call Fate. Such success as yours offends the gods. Look on me,
+      Shabaka, look on the King of kings, the Ruler of the earth, lying shamed
+      in the dust before you, and, accursed Shabaka! do not call yourself happy
+      until you see death as near as I do now.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Then he threw his arms wide and died.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We called to soldiers to bear his body and having set the pursuit, with
+      that royal clay entered into Amada in triumph. It was not a very great
+      town and the temple was its finest building and thither we wended. In the
+      outer court we found Pharaoh lying at the point of death, for from many
+      wounds his life drained out with his flowing blood, nor could the leeches
+      help him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Greeting, Shabaka,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;you and the Ethiopians have saved Egypt. My
+      son is slain in the battle and I too am slain, and who remains to rule her
+      save you, you and Amada? Would that you had married her at once, and never
+      left my side. But she was foolish and headstrong and I&mdash;was jealous
+      of you, Shabaka. Forgive me, and farewell.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He spoke no more although he lived a little while.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Karema came from the inner court. She greeted her husband, then turned and
+      said,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Lord Shabaka, one waits to welcome you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I rested myself upon her shoulder, for I could not walk alone.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What happened to the army of the Karoon?&rdquo; I asked as we went slowly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That happened, Lord, which the holy Tanofir foretold. The Easterns
+      attacked across the swamp, thinking to bear us down by numbers. But the
+      paths were too narrow and their columns were bogged in the mud. Still they
+      struggled on against the arrows to its edge and there the Ethiopians fell
+      on them and being lighter-footed and without armour, had the mastery of
+      them, who were encumbered by their very multitude. Oh! I saw it all from
+      the temple top. Bes did well and I am proud of him, as I am proud of you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is of the Ethiopians that you should be proud, Karema, since with one
+      to five they have won a great battle.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      We came to the end of the second court where was a sanctuary.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Enter,&rdquo; said Karema and fell back.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I did so and though the cedar door was left a little ajar, at first could
+      see nothing because of the gloom of the place. By degrees my eyes grew
+      accustomed to the darkness and I perceived an alabaster statue of the
+      goddess Isis of the size of life, who held in her arms an ivory child,
+      also lifesize. Then I heard a sigh and, looking down, saw a woman clad in
+      white kneeling at the feet of the statue, lost in prayer. Suddenly she
+      rose and turned and the ray of light from the door ajar fell upon her. It
+      was Amada draped only in the transparent robe of a priestess, and oh! she
+      was beautiful beyond imagining, so beautiful that my heart stood still.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She saw me in my battered mail and the blood flowed up to her breast and
+      brow and in her eyes there came a light such as I had never known in them
+      before, the light that is lit only by the torch of woman&rsquo;s love. Yes, no
+      longer were hers the eyes of a priestess; they were the eyes of a woman
+      who burns with mortal passion.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Amada,&rdquo; I whispered, &ldquo;Amada found at last.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Shabaka,&rdquo; she whispered back, &ldquo;returned at last, to me, your home,&rdquo; and
+      she stretched out her arms toward me.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But before I could take her into mine, she uttered a little cry and shrank
+      away.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh! not here,&rdquo; she said, &ldquo;not here in the presence of this Holy One who
+      watches all that passes in heaven and earth.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then perchance, Amada, she has watched the freeing of Egypt on yonder
+      field to-day, and knows for whose sake it was done.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Hearken, Shabaka. I am your guerdon. Moreover as a woman I am yours.
+      There is naught I desire so much as to feel your kiss upon me. For it and
+      it alone I am ready to risk my spirit&rsquo;s death and torment. But for you I
+      fear. Twice have I sworn myself to this goddess and she is very jealous of
+      those who rob her of her votaries. I fear that her curse will fall not
+      only on me, but on you also, and not only for this life but for all lives
+      that may be given to us. For your own sake, I pray you leave me. I hear
+      that Pharaoh my uncle is dead or dying, and doubtless they will offer you
+      the throne. Take it, Shabaka, for in it I ask no share. Take it and leave
+      me to serve the goddess till my death.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I too serve a goddess,&rdquo; I answered hoarsely, &ldquo;and she is named Love, and
+      you are her priestess. Little I care for Isis who serve the goddess Love.
+      Come, kiss me here and now, ere perchance I die. Kiss me who have waited
+      long enough, and so let us be wed.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      One moment she paused, swaying in the wind of passion, like a tall reed on
+      the banks of Nile, and then, ah! then she sank upon my breast and pressed
+      her lips against my own.
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+                              AND AFTER
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      For a few moments I, Shabaka, seemed to be lost in a kind of delirium and
+      surrounded by a rose-hued mist. Then I, Allan Quatermain, heard a sharp
+      quick sound as of a clock striking, and looked up. It was a lock, a
+      beautiful old clock on a mantelpiece opposite to me and the hands showed
+      that it had just struck the hour of ten.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Now I remembered that centuries ago, as I was dropping asleep, I did not
+      know why, I had seen that clock and those hands in the same position and
+      known that it was striking the second stroke of ten. Oh! what did it all
+      mean? Had thousands of years gone by or&mdash;only eight seconds?
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      There was a weight upon my shoulder. I glanced round to see what it was
+      and discovered the beautiful head of Lady Ragnall who was sweetly sleeping
+      there. Lady Ragnall! and in that very strange dream which I had dreamed
+      she was the priestess called Amada. Look, there was the mark of the new
+      moon above her breast. And not a second ago I had been in a shrine with
+      Amada dressed as Lady Ragnall was to-night, in circumstances so intimate
+      that it made me blush to think of them. Lady Ragnall! Amada!&mdash;Amada!
+      Lady Ragnall! A shrine! A boudoir! Oh! I must be going mad!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I could not disturb her, it would have been&mdash;well, unseemly. So I,
+      Shabaka, or Allan Quatermain, just sat still feeling curiously
+      comfortable, and tried to piece things together, when suddenly Amada&mdash;I
+      mean Lady Ragnall woke.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I wonder,&rdquo; she said without lifting her head from my shoulder, &ldquo;what
+      happened to the holy Tanofir. I think that I heard him outside the shine
+      giving directions for the digging of Pharaoh&rsquo;s grave at that spot, and
+      saying that he must do so at once as his time was very short. Yes, and I
+      wished that he would go away. Oh! my goodness!&rdquo; she exclaimed, and
+      suddenly sprang up.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I too rose and we stood facing each other.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Between us, in front of the fire stood the tripod and the bowl of black
+      stone at the bottom of which lay a pinch of white ashes, the remains of
+      the <i>Taduki</i>. We stared at it and at each other.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh! where have we been, Shaba&mdash;I mean, Mr. Quatermain?&rdquo; she gasped,
+      looking at me round-eyed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know,&rdquo; I answered confusedly. &ldquo;To the East I suppose. That is&mdash;it
+      was all a dream.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;A dream!&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;What nonsense! Tell me, were you or were you not in
+      a sanctuary just now with me before the statue of Isis, the same that fell
+      on George two years ago and killed him, and did you or did you not give me
+      a necklace of wonderful rosy pearls which we put upon the neck of the
+      statue as a peace-offering because I had broken my vows to the goddess&mdash;those
+      that you won from the Great King?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No,&rdquo; I answered triumphantly, &ldquo;I did nothing of the sort. Is it likely
+      that I should have taken those priceless pearls into battle? I gave them
+      to Karema to keep after my mother returned them to me on her death-bed; I
+      remember it distinctly.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, and Karema handed them to me again as your love-token when she
+      appeared in the city with the holy Tanofir, and what was more welcome at
+      the moment&mdash;something to eat. For we were near starving, you know.
+      Well, I threw them over your neck and my own in the shrine to be the
+      symbol of our eternal union. But afterwards we thought that it might be
+      wise to offer them to the goddess&mdash;to appease her, you know. Oh! how
+      dared we plight our mortal troth there in her very shrine and presence,
+      and I her twice-sworn servant? It was insult heaped on sacrilege.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;At a guess, because love is stronger than fear,&rdquo; I replied. &ldquo;But it seems
+      that you dreamed a little longer than I did. So perhaps you can tell me
+      what happened afterwards. I only got as far as&mdash;well, I forget how
+      far I got,&rdquo; I added, for at that moment full memory returned and I could
+      not go on.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She blushed to her eyes and grew disturbed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is all mixed up in my mind too,&rdquo; she exclaimed. &ldquo;I can only remember
+      something rather absurd&mdash;and affectionate. You know what strange
+      things dreams are.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I thought you said it wasn&rsquo;t a dream.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Really I don&rsquo;t know what it was. But&mdash;your wound doesn&rsquo;t hurt you,
+      does it? You were bleeding a good deal. It stained me here,&rdquo; and she
+      touched her breast and looked down wonderingly at her sacred, ancient robe
+      as though she expected to see that it was red.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;As there is no stain now it <i>must</i> have been a dream. But my word!
+      that was a battle,&rdquo; I answered.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, I watched it from the pylon top, and oh! it was glorious. Do you
+      remember the charge of the Ethiopians against the Immortals? Why of course
+      you must as you led it. And then the fall of Pharaoh Peroa&mdash;he was
+      George, you know. And the death of the Great King, killed by your black
+      bow; you were a wonderful shot even then, you see. And the burning of the
+      ships, how they blazed! And&mdash;a hundred other things.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; I said, &ldquo;it came off. The holy Tanofir was a good strategist&mdash;or
+      his Cup was, I don&rsquo;t know which.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And you were a good general, and so for the matter of that was Bes. Oh!
+      what agonies I went through while the fight hung doubtful. My heart was on
+      fire, yes, I seemed to burn for&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo; and she stopped.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;For whom?&rdquo; I asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;For Egypt of course, and when, reflected in the alabaster, I saw you
+      enter that shrine, where you remember I was praying for your success&mdash;and
+      safety, I nearly died of joy. For you know I had been, well, attached to
+      you&mdash;to Shabaka, I mean&mdash;all the time&mdash;that&rsquo;s my part of
+      the story which I daresay you did not see. Although I seemed so cold and
+      wayward I could love, yes, in that life I knew how to love. And Shabaka
+      looked, oh! a hero with his rent mail and the glory of triumph in his
+      eyes. He was very handsome, too, in his way. But what nonsense I am
+      talking.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, great nonsense. Still, I wish we were sure how it ended. It is a
+      pity that you forget, for I am crazed with curiosity. I suppose there is
+      no more <i>Taduki</i>, is there?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not a scrap,&rdquo; she answered firmly, &ldquo;and if there were it would be fatal
+      to take it twice on the same day. We have learned all there is to learn.
+      Perhaps it is as well, though I should like to know what happened after
+      our&mdash;our marriage.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;So we <i>were</i> married, were we?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I mean,&rdquo; she went on ignoring my remark, &ldquo;whether you ruled long in
+      Egypt. For you, or rather Shabaka, did rule. Also whether the Easterns
+      returned and drove us out, or what. You see the Ivory Child went away
+      somehow, for we found it again in Kendah Land only a few years ago.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Perhaps we retired to Ethiopia,&rdquo; I suggested, &ldquo;and the worship of the
+      Child continued in some part of that country after the Ethiopian kingdom
+      passed away.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Perhaps, only I don&rsquo;t think Karema would ever have gone back to Ethiopia
+      unless she was obliged. You remember how she hated the place. No, not even
+      to see those black children of hers. Well, as we can never tell, it is no
+      use speculating.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I thought there <i>was</i> more <i>Taduki</i>,&rdquo; I remarked sadly. &ldquo;I am
+      sure I saw some in the coffer.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not one bit,&rdquo; she answered still more firmly than before, and, stretching
+      out her hand, she shut down the lid of the coffer before I could look into
+      it. &ldquo;It may be best so, for as it stands the story had a happy ending and
+      I don&rsquo;t want to learn, oh! I don&rsquo;t want to learn how the curse of Isis
+      fell on you and me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;So you believe in that?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, I do,&rdquo; she answered with passion, &ldquo;and what is more, I believe it is
+      working still, which perhaps is why we have all come down in the world,
+      you and I and George and Hans, yes, and even old Harût whom we knew in
+      Kendah Land, who, I think, was the holy Tanofir. For as surely as I live I
+      <i>know</i> beyond possibility of doubt that whatever we may be called
+      to-day, you were the General Shabaka and I was the priestess Amada, Royal
+      Lady of Egypt, and between us and about us the curse of Isis wavers like a
+      sword. That is why George was killed and that is why&mdash;but I feel very
+      tired, I think I had better go to bed.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      As I recall that I have explained, I was obliged to leave Ragnall Castle
+      early the next morning to keep a shooting engagement. O heavens! to keep a
+      shooting engagement!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But whatever Amada, I mean Lady Ragnall, said, there <i>was</i> plenty
+      more <i>Taduki</i>, as I have good reason to know.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Allan Quatermain.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+
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+  </body>
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Ancient Allan, by H. Rider Haggard
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Ancient Allan
+
+Author: H. Rider Haggard
+
+Posting Date: March 20, 2009
+Release Date: May, 2004 [EBook #5746]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ANCIENT ALLAN ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by John Bickers and Dagny
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+THE ANCIENT ALLAN
+
+By H. Rider Haggard
+
+First Published 1920.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I. AN OLD FRIEND
+
+Now I, Allan Quatermain, come to the weirdest (with one or two
+exceptions perhaps) of all the experiences which it has amused me to
+employ my idle hours in recording here in a strange land, for after all
+England is strange to me. I grow elderly. I have, as I suppose, passed
+the period of enterprise and adventure and I should be well satisfied
+with the lot that Fate has given to my unworthy self.
+
+To begin with, I am still alive and in health when by all the rules I
+should have been dead many times over. I suppose I ought to be thankful
+for that but, before expressing an opinion on the point, I should have
+to be quite sure whether it is better to be alive or dead. The religious
+plump for the latter, though I have never observed that the religious
+are more eager to die than the rest of us poor mortals.
+
+For instance, if they are told that their holy hearts are wrong, they
+spend time and much money in rushing to a place called Nauheim
+in Germany, to put them right by means of water-drinking, thereby
+shortening their hours of heavenly bliss and depriving their heirs of
+a certain amount of cash. The same thing applies to Buxton in my own
+neighbourhood and gout, especially when it threatens the stomach or the
+throat. Even archbishops will do these things, to say nothing of such
+small fry as deans, or stout and prominent lay figures of the Church.
+
+From common sinners like myself such conduct might be expected, but in
+the case of those who are obviously poised on the topmost rungs of the
+Jacobean--I mean, the heavenly--ladder, it is legitimate to inquire why
+they show such reluctance in jumping off. As a matter of fact the only
+persons that, individually, I have seen quite willing to die, except now
+and again to save somebody else whom they were so foolish as to care for
+more than they did for themselves, have been not those "upon whom the
+light has shined" to quote an earnest paper I chanced to read this
+morning, but, to quote again, "the sinful heathen wandering in their
+native blackness," by which I understand the writer to refer to their
+moral state and not to their sable skins wherein for the most part they
+are also condemned to wander, that is if they happen to have been born
+south of a certain degree of latitude.
+
+To come to facts, the staff of Faith which each must shape for himself,
+is often hewn from unsuitable kinds of wood, yes, even by the very best
+among us. Willow, for instance, is pretty and easy to cut, but try to
+support yourself with it on the edge of a precipice and see where you
+are. Then of a truth you will long for ironbark, or even homely oak. I
+might carry my parable further, some allusions to the proper material
+of which to fashion the helmet of Salvation suggest themselves to me for
+example, but I won't.
+
+The truth is that we fear to die because all the religions are full of
+uncomfortable hints as to what may happen to us afterwards as a reward
+for our deviations from their laws and we half believe in something,
+whereas often the savage, not being troubled with religion, fears less,
+because he half believes in nothing. For very few inhabitants of this
+earth can attain either to complete belief or to its absolute opposite.
+They can seldom lay their hands upon their hearts, and say they _know_
+that they will live for ever, or sleep for ever; there remains in the
+case of most honest men an element of doubt in either hypothesis.
+
+That is what makes this story of mine so interesting, at any rate to
+me, since it does seem to suggest that whether or no I have a future,
+as personally I hold to be the case and not altogether without evidence,
+certainly I have had a past, though, so far as I know, in this world
+only; a fact, if it be a fact, from which can be deduced all kinds of
+arguments according to the taste of the reasoner.
+
+And now for my experience, which it is only fair to add, may after all
+have been no more than a long and connected dream. Yet how was I to
+dream of lands, events and people where of I have only the vaguest
+knowledge, or none at all, unless indeed, as some say, being a part of
+this world, we have hidden away somewhere in ourselves an acquaintance
+with everything that has ever happened in the world. However, it does
+not much matter and it is useless to discuss that which we cannot prove.
+
+Here at any rate is the story.
+
+
+In a book or a record which I have written down and put away with others
+under the title of "The Ivory Child," I have told the tale of a certain
+expedition I made in company with Lord Ragnall. Its object was to search
+for his wife who was stolen away while travelling in Egypt in a state of
+mental incapacity resulting from shock caused by the loss of her child
+under tragic and terrible circumstances. The thieves were the priests of
+a certain bastard Arab tribe who, on account of a birthmark shaped like
+the young moon which was visible above her breast, believed her to be
+the priestess or oracle of their worship. This worship evidently had its
+origin in Ancient Egypt since, although they did not seem to know it,
+the priestess was nothing less than a personification of the great
+goddess Isis, and the Ivory Child, their fetish, was a statue of the
+infant Horus, the fabled son of Isis and Osiris whom the Egyptians
+looked upon as the overcomer of Set or the Devil, the murderer of Osiris
+before his resurrection and ascent to Heaven to be the god of the dead.
+
+I need not set down afresh all that happened to us on this remarkable
+adventure. Suffice it to say that in the end we recovered the lady and
+that her mind was restored to her. Before she left the Kendah country,
+however, the priesthood presented her with two ancient rolls of
+papyrus, also with a quantity of a certain herb, not unlike tobacco in
+appearance, which by the Kendah was called _Taduki_. Once, before we
+took our great homeward journey across the desert, Lady Ragnall and I
+had a curious conversation about this herb whereof the property is to
+cause the person who inhales its fumes to become clairvoyant, or to
+dream dreams, whichever the truth may be. It was used for this purpose
+in the mystical ceremonies of the Kendah religion when under its
+influence the priestess or oracle of the Ivory Child was wont to
+announce divine revelations. During her tenure of this office Lady
+Ragnall was frequently subjected to the spell of the _Taduki_ vapour,
+and said strange things, some of which I heard with my own ears. Also
+myself once I experienced its effects and saw a curious vision, whereof
+many of the particulars were afterwards translated into facts.
+
+Now the conversation which I have mentioned was shortly to the effect,
+that she, Lady Ragnall, believed a time would come when she or I or both
+of us, were destined to imbibe these _Taduki_ fumes and see wonderful
+pictures of some past or future existence in which we were both
+concerned. This knowledge, she declared, had come to her while she was
+officiating in an apparently mindless condition as the priestess of the
+Kendah god called the Ivory Child.
+
+At the time I did not think it wise to pursue so exciting a subject with
+a woman whose mind had been recently unbalanced, and afterwards in the
+stress of new experiences, I forgot all about the matter, or at any rate
+only thought of it very rarely.
+
+Once, however, it did recur to me with some force. Shortly after I
+came to England to spend my remaining days far from the temptations of
+adventure, I was beguiled into becoming a steward of a Charity dinner
+and, what was worse, into attending the said dinner. Although its
+objects were admirable, it proved one of the most dreadful functions
+in which I was ever called upon to share. There was a vast number of
+people, some of them highly distinguished, who had come to support the
+Charity or to show off their Orders, I don't know which, and others like
+myself, not at all distinguished, just common subscribers, who had no
+Orders and stood about the crowded room like waiters looking for a job.
+
+At the dinner, which was very bad, I sat at a table so remote that I
+could hear but little of the interminable speeches, which was perhaps
+fortunate for me. In these circumstances I drifted into conversation
+with my neighbour, a queer, wizened, black-bearded man who somehow
+or other had found out that I was acquainted with the wilder parts of
+Africa. He proved to be a wealthy scientist whose passion it was
+to study the properties of herbs, especially of such as grow in the
+interior of South America where he had been travelling for some years.
+
+Presently he mentioned a root named Yage, known to the Indians which,
+when pounded up into a paste and taken in the form of pills, had the
+effect of enabling the patient to see events that were passing at a
+distance. Indeed he alleged that a vision thus produced had caused him
+to return home, since in it he saw that some relative of his, I think
+a twin-sister, was dangerously ill. In fact, however, he might as well
+have stayed away, as he only arrived in London on the day after her
+funeral.
+
+As I saw that he was really interested in the subject and observed that
+he was a very temperate man who did not seem to be romancing, I told him
+something of my experiences with _Taduki_, to which he listened with a
+kind of rapt but suppressed excitement. When I affected disbelief in the
+whole business, he differed from me almost rudely, asking why I rejected
+phenomena simply because I was too dense to understand them. I answered
+perhaps because such phenomena were inconvenient and upset one's ideas.
+To this he replied that all progress involved the upsetting of existent
+ideas. Moreover he implored me, if the chance should ever come my way,
+to pursue experiments with _Taduki_ fumes and let him know the results.
+
+Here our conversation came to an end for suddenly a band that was
+braying near by, struck up "God save the Queen," and we hastily
+exchanged cards and parted. I only mention it because, had it not
+occurred, I think it probable that I should never have been in a
+position to write this history.
+
+The remarks of my acquaintance remained in my mind and influenced it so
+much that when the occasion came, I did as a kind of duty what, however
+much I was pressed, I am almost sure I should never have done for any
+other reason, just because I thought that I ought to take an opportunity
+of trying to discover what was the truth of the matter. As it chanced it
+was quick in coming.
+
+Here I should explain that I attended the dinner of which I have spoken
+not very long after a very lengthy absence from England, whither I had
+come to live when King Solomon's Mines had made me rich. Therefore it
+happened that between the conclusion of my Kendah adventure some years
+before and this time I saw nothing and heard little of Lord and Lady
+Ragnall. Once a rumour did reach me, however, I think through Sir Henry
+Curtis or Captain Good, that the former had died as a result of an
+accident. What the accident was my informant did not know and as I was
+just starting on a far journey at the time, I had no opportunity of
+making inquiries. My talk with the botanical scientist determined me
+to do so; indeed a few days later I discovered from a book of reference
+that Lord Ragnall was dead, leaving no heir; also that his wife survived
+him.
+
+I was working myself up to write to her when one morning the postman
+brought me here at the Grange a letter which had "Ragnall Castle"
+printed on the flap of the envelope. I did not know the writing
+which was very clear and firm, for as it chanced, to the best of my
+recollection, I had never seen that of Lady Ragnall. Here is a copy of
+the letter it contained:
+
+
+ "My dear Mr. Quatermain,--Very strangely I have just seen at a
+  meeting of the Horticultural Society, a gentleman who declares
+  that a few days ago he sat next to you at some public dinner.
+  Indeed I do not think there can be any doubt for he showed me your
+  card which he had in his purse with a Yorkshire address upon it.
+
+ "A dispute had arisen as to whether a certain variety of Crinum
+  lily was first found in Africa, or Southern America. This
+  gentleman, an authority upon South American flora, made a speech
+  saying that he had never met with it there, but that an
+  acquaintance of his, Mr. Quatermain, to whom he had spoken on the
+  subject, said that he had seen something of the sort in the
+  interior of Africa." (This was quite true for I remembered the
+  incident.) "At the tea which followed the meeting I spoke to this
+  gentleman whose name I never caught, and to my astonishment learnt
+  that he must have been referring to you whom I believed to be
+  dead, for so we were told a long time ago. This seemed certain,
+  for in addition to the evidence of the name, he described your
+  personal appearance and told me that you had come to live in
+  England.
+
+ "My dear friend, I can assure you it is long since I heard anything
+  which rejoiced me so much. Oh! as I write all the past comes back,
+  flowing in upon me like a pent-up flood of water, but I trust that
+  of this I shall soon have an opportunity of talking to you. So let
+  it be for a while.
+
+ "Alas! my friend, since we parted on the shores of the Red Sea,
+  tragedy has pursued me. As you will know, for both my husband and
+  I wrote to you, although you did not answer the letters" (I never
+  received them), "we reached England safely and took up our old
+  life again, though to tell you the truth, after my African
+  experiences things could never be quite the same to me, or for the
+  matter of that to George either. To a great extent he changed his
+  pursuits and certain political ambitions which he once cherished,
+  seemed no longer to appeal to him. He became a student of past
+  history and especially of Egyptology, which under all the
+  circumstances you may think strange, as I did. However it suited
+  me well enough, since I also have tastes that way. So we worked
+  together and I can now read hieroglyphics as well as most people.
+  One year he said that he would like to go to Egypt again, if I
+  were not afraid. I answered that it had not been a very lucky
+  place for us, but that personally I was not in the least afraid
+  and longed to return there. For as you know, I have, or think I
+  have, ties with Egypt and indeed with all Africa. Well, we went
+  and had a very happy time, although I was always expecting to see
+  old Harut come round the corner.
+
+ "After this it became a custom with us who, since George
+  practically gave up shooting and attending the House of Lords, had
+  nothing to keep us in England, to winter in Egypt. We did this for
+  five years in succession, living in a bungalow which we built at a
+  place in the desert, not far from the banks of the Nile, about
+  half way between Luxor which was the ancient Thebes, and Assouan.
+  George took a great fancy to this spot when first he saw it, and
+  so in truth did I, for, like Memphis, it attracted me so much that
+  I used to laugh and say I believed that once I had something to do
+  with it.
+
+ "Now near to our villa that we called 'Ragnall' after this house,
+  are the remains of a temple which were almost buried in the sand.
+  This temple George obtained permission to excavate. It proved to
+  be a long and costly business, but as he did not mind spending the
+  money, that was no obstacle. For four winters we worked at it,
+  employing several hundred men. As we went on we discovered that
+  although not one of the largest, the temple, owing to its having
+  been buried by the sand during, or shortly after the Roman epoch,
+  remained much more perfect than we had expected, because the early
+  Christians had never got at it with their chisels and hammers.
+  Before long I hope to show you pictures and photographs of the
+  various courts, etc., so I will not attempt to describe them now.
+
+ "It is a temple to Isis--built, or rather rebuilt over the remains
+  of an older temple on a site that seems to have been called Amada,
+  at any rate in the later days, and so named after a city in Nubia,
+  apparently by one of the Amen-hetep Pharaohs who had conquered it.
+  Its style is beautiful, being of the best period of the Egyptian
+  Renaissance under the last native dynasties.
+
+ "At the beginning of the fifth winter, at length we approached the
+  sanctuary, a difficult business because of the retaining walls
+  that had to be built to keep the sand from flowing down as fast as
+  it was removed, and the great quantities of stuff that must be
+  carried off by the tramway. In so doing we came upon a shallow
+  grave which appeared to have been hastily filled in and roughly
+  covered over with paving stones like the rest of the court, as
+  though to conceal its existence. In this grave lay the skeleton of
+  a large man, together with the rusted blade of an iron sword and
+  some fragments of armour. Evidently he had never been mummified,
+  for there were no wrappings, canopic jars, _ushapti_ figures or
+  funeral offerings. The state of the bones showed us why, for the
+  right forearm was cut through and the skull smashed in; also an
+  iron arrow-head lay among the ribs. The man had been buried
+  hurriedly after a battle in which he had met his death. Searching
+  in the dust beneath the bones we found a gold ring still on one of
+  the fingers. On its bezel was engraved the cartouche of 'Peroa,
+  beloved of Ra.' Now Peroa probably means Pharaoh and perhaps he
+  was Khabasha who revolted against the Persians and ruled for a
+  year or two, after which he is supposed to have been defeated and
+  killed, though of his end and place of burial there is no record.
+  Whether these were the remnants of Khabasha himself, or of one of
+  his high ministers or generals who wore the King's cartouche upon
+  his ring in token of his office, of course I cannot say.
+
+ "When George had read the cartouche he handed me the ring which I
+  slipped upon the first finger of my left hand, where I still wear
+  it. Then leaving the grave open for further examination, we went
+  on with the work, for we were greatly excited. At length, this was
+  towards evening, we had cleared enough of the sanctuary, which was
+  small, to uncover the shrine that, if not a monolith, was made of
+  four pieces of granite so wonderfully put together that one could
+  not see the joints. On the curved architrave as I think it is
+  called, was carved the symbol of a winged disc, and beneath in
+  hieroglyphics as fresh as though they had only been cut yesterday,
+  an inscription to the effect that Peroa, Royal Son of the Sun,
+  gave this shrine as an 'excellent eternal work,' together with the
+  statues of the Holy Mother and the Holy Child to the 'emanations
+  of the great Goddess Isis and the god Horus,' Amada, Royal Lady,
+  being votaress or high-priestess.
+
+ "We only read the hieroglyphics very hurriedly, being anxious to
+  see what was within the shrine that, the cedar door having rotted
+  away, was filled with fine, drifted sand. Basketful by basketful
+  we got it out and then, my friend, there appeared the most
+  beautiful life-sized statue of Isis carved in alabaster that ever
+  I have seen. She was seated on a throne-like chair and wore the
+  vulture cap on which traces of colour remained. Her arms were held
+  forward as though to support a child, which perhaps she was
+  suckling as one of the breasts was bare. But if so, the child had
+  gone. The execution of the statue was exquisite and its tender and
+  mystic face extraordinarily beautiful, so life-like also that I
+  think it must have been copied from a living model. Oh! my friend,
+  when I looked upon it, which we did by the light of the candles,
+  for the sun was sinking and shadows gathered in that excavated
+  hole, I felt--never mind what I felt--perhaps _you_ can guess who
+  know my history.
+
+ "While we stared and stared, I longing to go upon my knees, I knew
+  not why, suddenly I felt a faint trembling of the ground. At the
+  same moment, the head overseer of the works, a man called Achmet,
+  rushed up to us, shouting out--'Back! Back! The wall has burst.
+  The sand runs!'
+
+ "He seized me by the arm and dragged me away beside of and behind
+  the grave, George turning to follow. Next instant I saw a kind of
+  wave of sand, on the crest of which appeared the stones of the
+  wall, curl over and break. It struck the shrine, overturned and
+  shattered it, which makes me think it was made of four pieces, and
+  shattered also the alabaster statue within, for I saw its head
+  strike George upon the back and throw him forward. He reeled and
+  fell into the open grave which in another moment was filled and
+  covered with the debris that seemed to grip me to my middle in its
+  flow. After this I remembered nothing more until hours later I
+  found myself lying in our house.
+
+ "Achmet and his Egyptians had done nothing; indeed none of them
+  could be persuaded to approach the place till the sun rose
+  because, as they said, the old gods of the land whom they looked
+  upon as devils, were angry at being disturbed and would kill them
+  as they had killed the Bey, meaning George. Then, distracted as I
+  was, I went myself for there was no other European there, to find
+  that the whole site of the sanctuary was buried beneath hundreds
+  of tons of sand, that, beginning at the gap in the broken wall,
+  had flowed from every side. Indeed it would have taken weeks to
+  dig it out, since to sink a shaft was impracticable and so
+  dangerous that the local officials refused to allow it to be
+  attempted. The end of it was that an English bishop came up from
+  Cairo and consecrated the ground by special arrangement with the
+  Government, which of course makes it impossible that this part of
+  the temple should be further disturbed. After this he read the
+  Burial Service over my dear husband.
+
+ "So there is the end of a very terrible story which I have written
+  down because I do not wish to have to talk about it more than is
+  necessary when we meet. For, dear Mr. Quatermain, we shall meet,
+  as I always knew that we should--yes, even after I heard that you
+  were dead. You will remember that I told you so years ago in
+  Kendah Land and that it would happen after a great change in my
+  life, though what that change might be I could not say...."
+
+
+This is the end of the letter except for certain suggested dates for the
+visit which she took for granted I should make to Ragnall.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II. RAGNALL CASTLE
+
+When I had finished reading this amazing document I lit my pipe and
+set to work to think it over. The hypothetical inquirer might ask why I
+thought it amazing. There was nothing odd in a dilettante Englishman of
+highly cultivated mind taking to Egyptology and, being, as it chanced,
+one of the richest men in the kingdom, spending a fraction of his wealth
+in excavating temples. Nor was it strange that he should have happened
+to die by accident when engaged in that pursuit, which I can imagine to
+be very fascinating in the delightful winter climate of Egypt. He was
+not the first person to be buried by a fall of sand. Why, only a little
+while ago the same fate overtook a nursery-governess and the child in
+her charge who were trying to dig out a martin's nest in a pit in
+this very parish. Their operations brought down a huge mass of the
+overhanging bank beneath which the sand-vein had been hollowed by
+workmen who deserted the pit when they saw that it had become unsafe.
+Next day I and my gardeners helped to recover their bodies, for their
+whereabouts was not discovered until the following morning, and a sad
+business it was.
+
+Yet, taken in conjunction with the history of this couple, the whole
+Ragnall affair was very strange. When but a child Lady Ragnall, then the
+Hon. Miss Holmes, had been identified by the priests of a remote African
+tribe as the oracle of their peculiar faith, which we afterwards proved
+to be derived from old Egypt, in short the worship of Isis and Horus.
+Subsequently they tried to steal her away and through the accident of
+my intervention, failed. Later on, after her marriage when shock had
+deprived her of her mind, these priests renewed the attempt, this time
+in Egypt, and succeeded. In the end we rescued her in Central Africa,
+where she was playing the part of the Mother-goddess Isis and even
+wearing her ancient robes. Next she and her husband came home with their
+minds turned towards a branch of study that took them back to Egypt.
+Here they devote themselves to unearthing a temple and find out that
+among all the gods of Egypt, who seem to have been extremely numerous,
+it was dedicated to Isis and Horus, the very divinities with whom they
+recently they had been so intimately concerned if in traditional and
+degenerate forms.
+
+Moreover that was not the finish of it. They come to the sanctuary. They
+discover the statue of the goddess with the child gone, as their child
+was gone. A disaster occurs and both destroys and buries Ragnall so
+effectually that nothing of him is ever seen again: he just vanishes
+into another man's grave and remains there.
+
+A common sort of catastrophe enough, it is true, though people of
+superstitious mind might have thought that it looked as though the
+goddess, or whatever force was behind the goddess, was working vengeance
+on the man who desecrated her ancient shrine. And, by the way, though
+I cannot remember whether or no I mentioned it in "The Ivory Child,"
+I recall that the old priest of the Kendah, Harut, once told me he was
+sure Ragnall would meet with a violent death. This seemed likely enough
+in that country under our circumstances there, still I asked him why. He
+answered,
+
+"Because he has laid hands on that which is holy and not meant for man,"
+and he looked at Lady Ragnall.
+
+I remarked that all women were holy, whereon he replied that he did not
+think so and changed the subject.
+
+Well, Ragnall, who had married the lady who once served as the last
+priestess of Isis upon earth, was killed, whereas she, the priestess,
+was almost miraculously preserved from harm. And--oh! the whole story
+was deuced odd and that is all. Poor Ragnall! He was a great English
+gentleman and one whom when first I knew him, I held to be the most
+fortunate person I ever met, endowed as he was with every advantage of
+mind, body and estate. Yet in the end this did not prove to be the case.
+Well, while he lived he was a good friend and a good fellow and none
+can hope for a better epitaph in a world where all things are soon
+forgotten.
+
+And now, what was I to do? To tell the truth I did not altogether desire
+to reopen this chapter in past history, or to have to listen to painful
+reminiscences from the lips of a bereaved woman. Moreover, beautiful
+as she had been, for doubtless she was _passee_ now, and charming as of
+course she remained--I do not think I ever knew anyone who was quite so
+charming--there was something about Lady Ragnall which alarmed me. She
+did not resemble any other woman. Of course no woman is ever quite like
+another, but in her case the separateness, if I may so call it, was very
+marked. It was as though she had walked out of a different age, or even
+world, and been but superficially clothed with the attributes of our
+own. I felt that from the first moment I set eyes upon her and while
+reading her letter the sensation returned with added force.
+
+Also for me she had a peculiar attraction and not one of the ordinary
+kind. It is curious to find oneself strangely intimate with a person
+of whom after all one does not know much, just as if one really knew a
+great deal that was shut off by a thin but quite impassable door. If so,
+I did not want to open that door for who could tell what might be on
+the other side of it? And intimate conversations with a lady in whose
+company one has shared very strange experiences, not infrequently lead
+to the opening of every kind of door.
+
+Further I had made up my mind some time ago to have no more friendships
+with women who are so full of surprises, but to live out the rest of
+my life in a kind of monastery of men who have few surprises, being
+creatures whose thoughts are nearly always open and whose actions can
+always be foretold.
+
+Lastly there was that _Taduki_ business. Well, there at any rate I was
+clear and decided. No earthly power would induce me to have anything
+more to do with _Taduki_ smoke. Of course I remembered that Lady Ragnall
+once told me kindly but firmly that I would if she wished. But that was
+just where she made a mistake. For the rest it seemed unkind to refuse
+her invitation now when she was in trouble, especially as I had once
+promised that if ever I could be of help, she had only to command me.
+No, I must go. But if that word--_Taduki_--were so much as mentioned I
+would leave again in a hurry. Moreover it would not be, for doubtless
+she had forgotten all about the stuff by now, even if it were not lost.
+
+The end of it was that as I did not wish to write a long letter entering
+into all that Lady Ragnall had told me, I sent her a telegram, saying
+that if convenient to her, I would arrive at the Castle on the following
+Saturday evening and adding that I must be back here on the Tuesday
+afternoon, as I had guests coming to stay with me on that day. This
+was perfectly true as the season was mid-November and I was to begin
+shooting my coverts on the Wednesday morning, a function that once
+fixed, cannot be postponed.
+
+In due course an answer arrived--"Delighted, but hoped that you would
+have been able to stay longer."
+
+
+
+Behold me then about six o'clock on the said Saturday evening being once
+more whirled by a splendid pair of horses through the gateway arch of
+Ragnall Castle. The carriage stopped beneath the portico, the great
+doors flew open revealing the glow of the hall fire and lights within,
+the footman sprang down from the box and two other footmen descended
+the steps to assist me and my belongings out of the carriage. These,
+I remember, consisted of a handbag with my dress clothes and a
+yellow-backed novel.
+
+So one of them took the handbag and the other had to content himself
+with the novel, which made me wish I had brought a portmanteau as well,
+if only for the look of the thing. The pair thus burdened, escorted me
+up the steps and delivered me over to the butler who scanned me with a
+critical eye. I scanned him also and perceived that he was a very fine
+specimen of his class. Indeed his stately presence so overcame me that
+I remarked nervously, as he helped me off with my coat, that when last I
+was here another had filled his office.
+
+"Indeed, Sir," he said, "and what was his name, Sir?"
+
+"Savage," I replied.
+
+"And where might he be now, Sir?"
+
+"Inside a snake!" I answered. "At least he was inside a snake but now I
+hope he is waiting upon his master in Heaven."
+
+The man recoiled a little, pulling off my coat with a jerk. Then he
+coughed, rubbed his bald head, stared and recovering himself with an
+effort, said,
+
+"Indeed, Sir! I only came to this place after the death of his late
+lordship, when her ladyship changed all the household. Alfred, show
+this gentleman up to her ladyship's boudoir, and William, take
+his--baggage--to the blue room. Her ladyship wishes to see you at once,
+Sir, before the others come."
+
+So I went up the big staircase to a part of the Castle that I did not
+remember, wondering who "the others" might be. Almost could I have sworn
+that the shade of Savage accompanied me up those stairs; I could feel
+him at my side.
+
+Presently a door was thrown open and I was ushered into a room
+somewhat dimly lit and full of the scent of flowers. By the fire near a
+tea-table, stood a lady clad in some dark dress with the light glinting
+on her rich-hued hair. She turned and I saw that she still wore the
+necklace of red stones, and beneath it on her breast a single red
+flower. For this was Lady Ragnall; about that there was no doubt at all,
+so little doubt indeed that I was amazed. I had expected to see a stout,
+elderly woman whom I should only know by the colour of her eyes and her
+voice, and perhaps certain tricks of manner. But, this was the mischief
+of it, I could not perceive any change, at any rate in that light.
+She was just the same! Perhaps a little fuller in figure, which was an
+advantage; perhaps a little more considered in her movements, perhaps a
+little taller or at any rate more stately, and that was all.
+
+These things I learned in a flash. Then with a murmured "Mr. Quatermain,
+my Lady," the footman closed the door and she saw me.
+
+Moving quickly towards me with both her hands outstretched, she
+exclaimed in that honey-soft voice of hers,
+
+"Oh! my dear friend----" stopped and added, "Why, you haven't changed a
+bit."
+
+"Fossils wear well," I replied, "but that is just what I was thinking of
+you."
+
+"Then it is very rude of you to call me a fossil when I am only
+approaching that stage. Oh! I am glad to see you. I _am_ glad!" and she
+gave me both the outstretched hands.
+
+Upon my word I felt inclined to kiss her and have wondered ever since if
+she would have been very angry. I am not certain that she did not divine
+the inclination. At any rate after a little pause she dropped my hands
+and laughed. Then she said,
+
+"I must tell you at once. A most terrible catastrophe has happened----"
+
+Instantly it occurred to me that she had forgotten having informed me by
+letter of all the details of her husband's death. Such things chance
+to people who have once lost their memory. So I tried to look as
+sympathetic as I felt, sighed and waited.
+
+"It's not so bad as all that," she said with a little shake of her head,
+reading my thought as she always had the power to do from the first
+moment we met. "We can talk about _that_ afterwards. It's only that I
+hoped we were going to have a quiet two days, and now the Atterby-Smiths
+are coming, yes, in half an hour. Five of them!"
+
+"The Atterby-Smiths!" I exclaimed, for somehow I too felt disappointed.
+"Who are the Atterby-Smiths?"
+
+"Cousins of George's, his nearest relatives. They think he ought to have
+left them everything. But he didn't, because he could never bear the
+sight of them. You see his property was unentailed and he left it all to
+me. Now the entire family is advancing to suggest that I should leave
+it to them, as perhaps I might have done if they had not chosen to come
+just now."
+
+"Why didn't you put them off?" I asked.
+
+"Because I couldn't," she answered with a little stamp of her foot,
+"otherwise do you suppose they would have been here? They were far too
+clever. They telegraphed after lunch giving the train by which they were
+to arrive, but no address save Charing Cross. I thought of moving up
+to the Berkeley Square house, but it was impossible in the time, also I
+didn't know how to catch you. Oh! it's _most_ vexatious."
+
+"Perhaps they are very nice," I suggested feebly.
+
+"Nice! Wait till you have seen them. Besides if they had been angels
+I did not want them just now. But how selfish I am! Come and have
+some tea. And you can stop longer, that is if you live through the
+Atterby-Smiths who are worse than both the Kendah tribes put together.
+Indeed I wish old Harut were coming instead. I should like to see Harut
+again, wouldn't you?" and suddenly the mystical look I knew so well,
+gathered on her face.
+
+"Yes, perhaps I should," I replied doubtfully. "But I must leave by the
+first train on Tuesday morning; it goes at eight o'clock. I looked it
+up."
+
+"Then the Atterby-Smiths leave on Monday if I have to turn them out
+of the house. So we shall get one evening clear at any rate. Stop a
+minute," and she rang the bell.
+
+The footman appeared as suddenly as though he had been listening at the
+door.
+
+"Alfred," she said, "tell Moxley" (he, I discovered, was the butler)
+"that when Mr. and Mrs. Atterby-Smith, the two Misses Atterby-Smith and
+the young Mr. Atterby-Smith arrive, they are to be shown to their rooms.
+Tell the cook also to put off dinner till half-past eight, and if Mr.
+and Mrs. Scroope arrive earlier, tell Moxley to tell them that I
+am sorry to be a little late, but that I was delayed by some parish
+business. Now do you understand?"
+
+"Yes, my Lady," said Alfred and vanished.
+
+"He doesn't understand in the least," remarked Lady Ragnall, "but so
+long as he doesn't show the Atterby-Smiths up here, in which case he can
+go away with them on Monday, I don't care. It will all work out somehow.
+Now sit down by the fire and let's talk. We've got nearly an hour and
+twenty minutes and you can smoke if you like. I learnt to in Egypt," and
+she took a cigarette from the mantelpiece and lit it.
+
+That hour and twenty minutes went like a flash, for we had so much to
+say to each other that we never even got to the things we wanted to say.
+For instance, I began to tell her about King Solomon's Mines, which was
+a long story; and she to tell me what happened after we parted on the
+shores of the Red Sea. At least the first hour and a quarter went,
+when suddenly the door opened and Alfred in a somewhat frightened voice
+announced--"Mr. and Mrs. Atterby-Smith, the Misses Atterby-Smith and Mr.
+Atterby-Smith junior."
+
+Then he caught sight of his mistress's eye and fled.
+
+I looked and felt inclined to do likewise if only there had been another
+door. But there wasn't and that which existed was quite full. In the
+forefront came A.-S. senior, like a bull leading the herd. Indeed his
+appearance was bull-like as my eye, travelling from the expanse of white
+shirt-front (they were all dressed for dinner) to his red and massive
+countenance surmounted by two horn-like tufts of carroty hair, informed
+me at a glance. Followed Mrs. A.-S., the British matron incarnate.
+Literally there seemed to be acres of her; black silk below and white
+skin above on which set in filigree floated big green stones, like
+islands in an ocean. Her countenance too, though stupid was very stern
+and frightened me. Followed the progeny of this formidable pair. They
+were tall and thin, also red haired. The girls, whose age I could not
+guess in the least, were exactly like each other, which was not strange
+as afterwards I discovered that they were twins. They had pale blue eyes
+and somehow reminded me of fish. Both of them were dressed in green and
+wore topaz necklaces. The young man who seemed to be about one or
+two and twenty, had also pale blue eyes, in one of which he wore an
+eye-glass, but his hair was sandy as though it had been bleached, parted
+in the middle and oiled down flat.
+
+For a moment there was a silence which I felt to be dreadful. Then in a
+big, pompous voice A.-S. _pere_ said,
+
+"How do you do, my dear Luna? As I ascertained from the footman that
+you had not yet gone to dress, I insisted upon his leading us here for a
+little private conversation after we have been parted for so many years.
+We wished to offer you our condolences in person on your and our still
+recent loss."
+
+"Thank you," said Lady Ragnall, "but I think we have corresponded on the
+subject which is painful to me."
+
+"I fear that we are interrupting a smoking party, Thomas," said Mrs.
+A.-S. in a cold voice, sniffing at the air for all the world like a
+suspicious animal, whereon the five of them stared at Lady Ragnall's
+cigarette which she held between her fingers.
+
+"Yes," said Lady Ragnall. "Won't you have one? Mr. Quatermain, hand Mrs.
+Smith the box, please."
+
+I obeyed automatically, proffering it to the lady who nearly withered me
+with a glance, and then to each to each in turn. To my relief the young
+man took one.
+
+"Archibald," said his mother, "you are surely not going to make your
+sisters' dresses smell of tobacco just before dinner."
+
+Archibald sniggered and replied,
+
+"A little more smoke will not make any difference in this room, Ma."
+
+"That is true, darling," said Mrs. A.-S. and was straightway seized with
+a fit of asthma.
+
+After this I am sure I don't know what happened, for muttering something
+about its being time to dress, I rushed from the room and wandered about
+until I could find someone to conduct me to my own where I lingered
+until I heard the dinner-bell ring. But even this retreat was not
+without disaster, for in my hurry I trod upon one of the young lady's
+dresses; I don't know whether it was Dolly's or Polly's (they were named
+Dolly and Polly) and heard a dreadful crack about her middle as though
+she were breaking in two. Thereon Archibald giggled again and Dolly and
+Polly remarked with one voice--they always spoke together,
+
+"Oh! clumsy!"
+
+To complete my misfortunes I missed my way going downstairs and strayed
+to and fro like a lost lamb until I found myself confronted by a green
+baize door which reminded me of something. I stood staring at it till
+suddenly a vision arose before me of myself following a bell wire
+through that very door in the darkness of the night when in search for
+the late Mr. Savage upon a certain urgent occasion. Yes, there could be
+no doubt about it, for look! there was the wire, and strange it seemed
+to me that I should live to behold it again. Curiosity led me to push
+the door open just to ascertain if my memory served me aright about
+the exact locality of the room. Next moment I regretted it for I fell
+straight into the arms of either Polly or Dolly.
+
+"Oh!" said she, "I've just been sewn up."
+
+I reflected that this was my case also in another sense, but asked
+feebly if she knew the way downstairs.
+
+She didn't; neither of us did, till at length we met Mrs. Smith coming
+to look for her.
+
+If I had been a burglar she could not have regarded me with graver
+suspicions. But at any rate _she_ knew the way downstairs. And there to
+my joy I found my old friend Scroope and his wife, both of them grown
+stout and elderly, but as jolly as ever, after which the Smith family
+ceased to trouble me.
+
+Also there was the rector of the parish, Dr. Jeffreys and an absurdly
+young wife whom he had recently married, a fluffy-headed little thing
+with round eyes and a cheerful, perky manner. The two of them together
+looked exactly like a turkey-cock and a chicken. I remembered him well
+enough and to my astonishment he remembered me, perhaps because Lady
+Ragnall, when she had hastily invited him to meet the Smith family,
+mentioned that I was coming. Lastly there was the curate, a dark,
+young man who seemed to be always brooding over the secrets of time and
+eternity, though perhaps he was only thinking about his dinner or the
+next day's services.
+
+Well, there we stood in that well-remembered drawing-room in which first
+I had made the acquaintance of Harut and Marut; also of the beautiful
+Miss Holmes as Lady Ragnall was then called. The Scroopes, the Jeffreys
+and I gathered in one group and the Atterby-Smiths in another like
+a force about to attack, while between the two, brooding and
+indeterminate, stood the curate, a neutral observer.
+
+Presently Lady Ragnall arrived, apologizing for being late. For some
+reason best known to herself she had chosen to dress as though for a
+great party. I believe it was out of mischief and in order to show Mrs.
+Atterby-Smith some of the diamonds she was firmly determined that family
+should never inherit. At any rate there she stood glittering and lovely,
+and smiled upon us.
+
+Then came dinner and once more I marched to the great hall in her
+company; Dr. Jeffreys got Mrs. Smith; Papa Smith got Mrs. Jeffreys who
+looked like a Grecian maiden walking into dinner with the Minotaur;
+Scroope got one of the Miss Smiths, she who wore a pink bow, the gloomy
+curate got the other with a blue bow, and Archibald got Mrs. Scroope who
+departed making faces at us over his shoulder.
+
+"You look very grand and nice," I said to Lady Ragnall as we followed
+the others at a discreet distance.
+
+"I am glad," she answered, "as to the nice, I mean. As for the grand,
+that dreadful woman is always writing to me about the Ragnall diamonds,
+so I thought that she should see some of them for the first and last
+time. Do you know I haven't worn these things since George and I went to
+Court together, and I daresay shall never wear them again, for there is
+only one ornament I care for and I have got _that_ on under my dress."
+
+I stared and her and with a laugh said that she was very mischievous.
+
+"I suppose so," she replied, "but I detest those people who are pompous
+and rude and have spoiled my party. Do you know I had half a mind to
+come down in the dress that I wore as Isis in Kendah Land. I have got it
+upstairs and you shall see me in it before you go, for old time's sake.
+Only it occurred to me that they might think me mad, so I didn't. Dr.
+Jeffreys, will you say grace, please?"
+
+Well, it was a most agreeable dinner so far as I was concerned, for I
+sat between my hostess and Mrs. Scroope and the rest were too far off
+for conversation. Moreover as Archibald developed an unexpected quantity
+of small talk, and Scroope on the other side amused himself by filling
+pink-bow Miss Smith's innocent mind with preposterous stories about
+Africa, as had happened to me once before at this table, Lady Ragnall
+and I were practically left undisturbed.
+
+"Isn't it strange that we should find ourselves sitting here again after
+all these years, except that you are in my poor mother's place? Oh! when
+that scientific gentleman convinced me the other day that you whom I had
+heard were dead, were not only alive and well but actually in England,
+really I could have embraced him."
+
+I thought of an answer but did not make it, though as usual she read my
+mind for I saw her smile.
+
+"The truth is," she went on, "I am an only child and really have no
+friends, though of course being--well, you know," and she glanced at the
+jewels on her breast, "I have plenty of acquaintances."
+
+"And suitors," I suggested.
+
+"Yes," she replied blushing, "as many as Penelope, not one of whom
+cares twopence about me any more than I care for them. The truth is, Mr.
+Quatermain, that nobody and nothing interest me, except a spot in the
+churchyard yonder and another amid ruins in Egypt."
+
+"You have had sad bereavements," I said looking the other way.
+
+"Very sad and they have left life empty. Still I should not complain
+for I have had my share of good. Also it isn't true to say that nothing
+interests me. Egypt interests me, though after what has happened I do
+not feel as though I could return there. All Africa interests me and,"
+she added dropping her voice, "I can say it because I know you will not
+misunderstand, you interest me, as you have always done since the first
+moment I saw you."
+
+"_I!_" I exclaimed, staring at my own reflection in a silver plate which
+made me look--well, more unattractive than usual. "It's very kind of
+you to say so, but I can't understand why I should. You have seen very
+little of me, Lady Ragnall, except in that long journey across the
+desert when we did not talk much, since you were otherwise engaged."
+
+"I know. That's the odd part of it, for I feel as though I had seen you
+for years and years and knew everything about you that one human being
+can know of another. Of course, too, I do know a good lot of your life
+through George and Harut."
+
+"Harut was a great liar," I said uneasily.
+
+"Was he? I always thought him painfully truthful, though how he got at
+the truth I do not know. Anyhow," she added with meaning, "don't suppose
+I think the worse of you because others have thought so well. Women who
+seem to be all different, generally, I notice, have this in common. If
+one or two of them like a man, the rest like him also because something
+in him appeals to the universal feminine instinct, and the same applies
+to their dislike. Now men, I think, are different in that respect."
+
+"Perhaps because they are more catholic and charitable," I suggested,
+"or perhaps because they like those who like them."
+
+She laughed in her charming way, and said,
+
+"However these remarks do not apply to you and me, for as I think I told
+you once before in that cedar wood in Kendah Land where you feared lest
+I should catch a chill, or become--odd again, it is another you with
+whom something in me seems to be so intimate."
+
+"That's fortunate for your sake," I muttered, still staring at and
+pointing to the silver plate.
+
+Again she laughed. "Do you remember the _Taduki_ herb?" she asked. "I
+have plenty of it safe upstairs, and not long ago I took a whiff of it,
+only a whiff because you know it had to be saved."
+
+"And what did you see?"
+
+"Never mind. The question is what shall we _both_ see?"
+
+"Nothing," I said firmly. "No earthly power will make me breathe that
+unholy drug again."
+
+"Except me," she murmured with sweet decision. "No, don't think about
+leaving the house. You can't, there are no Sunday trains. Besides you
+won't if I ask you not."
+
+"'In vain is the net spread in the sight of any bird,'" I replied, firm
+as a mountain.
+
+"Is it? Then why are so many caught?"
+
+At that moment the Bull of Bashan--I mean Smith, began to bellow
+something at his hostess from the other end of the table and our
+conversation came to an end.
+
+"I say, old chap," whispered Scroope in my ear when we stood up to see
+the ladies out. "I suppose you are thinking of marrying again. Well, you
+might do worse," and he glanced at the glittering form of Lady Ragnall
+vanishing through the doorway behind her guests.
+
+"Shut up, you idiot!" I replied indignantly.
+
+"Why?" he asked with innocence. "Marriage is an honourable estate,
+especially when there is lots of the latter. I remember saying something
+of the sort to you years ago and at this table, when as it happened you
+also took in her ladyship. Only there was George in the wind then; now
+it has carried him away."
+
+Without deigning any reply I seized my glass and went to sit down
+between the canon and the Bull of Bashan.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III. ALLAN GIVES HIS WORD
+
+Mr. Atterby-Smith proved on acquaintance to be even worse than unfond
+fancy painted him. He was a gentleman in a way and of good family
+whereof the real name was Atterby, the Smith having been added to secure
+a moderate fortune left to him on that condition. His connection with
+Lord Ragnall was not close and through the mother's side. For the
+rest he lived in some south-coast watering-place and fancied himself a
+sportsman because he had on various occasions hired a Scottish moor or
+deer forest. Evidently he had never done anything nor earned a shilling
+during all his life and was bringing his family up to follow in his
+useless footsteps. The chief note of his character was that intolerable
+vanity which so often marks men who have nothing whatsoever about which
+to be vain. Also he had a great idea of his rights and what was due to
+him, which he appeared to consider included, upon what ground I could
+not in the least understand, the reversal of all the Ragnall properties
+and wealth. I do not think I need say any more about him, except that he
+bored me to extinction, especially after his fourth glass of port.
+
+Perhaps, however, the son was worse, for he asked questions without
+number and when at last I was reduced to silence, lectured me about
+shooting. Yes, this callow youth who was at Sandhurst, instructed
+me, Allan Quatermain, how to kill elephants, he who had never seen an
+elephant except when he fed it with buns at the Zoo. At last Mr. Smith,
+who to Scroope's great amusement had taken the end of the table and
+assumed the position of host, gave the signal to move and we adjourned
+to the drawing-room.
+
+I don't know what had happened but there we found the atmosphere
+distinctly stormy. The ample Mrs. Smith sat in a chair fanning herself,
+which caused the barbaric ornaments she wore to clank upon her fat arm.
+Upon either side of her, pale and indeterminate, stood Polly and Dolly
+each pretending to read a book. Somehow the three of them reminded me of
+a coat-of-arms seen in a nightmare, British Matron _sejant_ with Modesty
+and Virtue as supporters. Opposite, on the other side of the fire and
+evidently very angry, stood Lady Ragnall, _regardant_.
+
+"Do I understand you to say, Luna," I heard Mrs. A.-S. ask in resonant
+tones as I entered the room, "that you actually played the part of a
+heathen goddess among these savages, clad in a transparent bed-robe?"
+
+"Yes, Mrs. Atterby-Smith," replied Lady Ragnall, "and a nightcap of
+feathers. I will put it on for you if you won't be shocked. Or perhaps
+one of your daughters----"
+
+"Oh!" said both the young ladies together, "please be quiet. Here come
+the gentlemen."
+
+After this there was a heavy silence broken only by the stifled giggles
+in the background of Mrs. Scroope and the canon's fluffy-headed wife,
+who to do her justice had some fun in her. Thank goodness the evening,
+or rather that part of it did not last long, since presently Mrs.
+Atterby-Smith, after studying me for a long while with a cold eye, rose
+majestically and swept off to bed followed by her offspring.
+
+Afterwards I ascertained from Mrs. Scroope that Lady Ragnall had been
+amusing herself by taking away my character in every possible manner for
+the benefit of her connections, who were left with a general impression
+that I was the chief of a native tribe somewhere in Central Africa where
+I dwelt in light attire surrounded by the usual accessories. No wonder,
+therefore, that Mrs. A.-S. thought it best to remove her "Twin Pets," as
+she called them, out of my ravening reach.
+
+Then the Scroopes went away, having arranged for me to lunch with them
+on the morrow, an invitation that I hastily accepted, though I heard
+Lady Ragnall mutter--"Mean!" beneath her breath. With them departed the
+canon and his wife and the curate, being, as they said, "early birds
+with duties to perform." After this Lady Ragnall paid me out by going to
+bed, having instructed Moxley to show us to the smoking room, "where,"
+she whispered as she said good night, "I hope you will enjoy yourself."
+
+Over the rest of the night I draw a veil. For a solid hour and
+three-quarters did I sit in that room between this dreadful pair, being
+alternately questioned and lectured. At length I could stand it no
+longer and while pretending to help myself to whiskey and soda, slipped
+through the door and fled upstairs.
+
+I arrived late to breakfast purposely and found that I was wise, for
+Lady Ragnall was absent upstairs, recovering from "a headache." Mr.
+A.-Smith was also suffering from a headache downstairs, the result of
+champagne, port and whisky mixed, and all his family seemed to have
+pains in their tempers. Having ascertained that they were going to the
+church in the park, I departed to one two miles away and thence walked
+straight on to the Scroopes' where I had a very pleasant time, remaining
+till five in the afternoon. I returned to tea at the Castle where I
+found Lady Ragnall so cross that I went to church again, to the six
+o'clock service this time, only getting back in time to dress for
+dinner. Here I was paid out for I had to take in Mrs. Atterby-Smith. Oh!
+what a meal was that. We sat for the most part in solemn silence
+broken only by requests to pass the salt. I observed with satisfaction,
+however, that things were growing lively at the other end of the table
+where A.-Smith _pere_ was drinking a good deal too much wine. At last I
+heard him say,
+
+"We had hoped to spend a few days with you, my dear Luna. But as you
+tell us that your engagements make this impossible"--and he paused to
+drink some port, whereon Lady Ragnall remarked inconsequently,
+
+"I assure you the ten o'clock train is far the best and I have ordered
+the carriage at half-past nine, which is not very early."
+
+"As your engagements make this impossible," he repeated, "we would ask
+for the opportunity of a little family conclave with you to-night."
+
+Here all of them turned and glowered at me.
+
+"Certainly," said Lady Ragnall, "'the sooner 'tis over the sooner to
+sleep.' Mr. Quatermain, I am sure, will excuse us, will you not? I
+have had the museum lit up for you, Mr. Quatermain. You may find some
+Egyptian things there that will interest you."
+
+"Oh, with pleasure!" I murmured, and fled away.
+
+I spent a very instructive two hours in the museum, studying various
+Egyptian antiquities including a couple of mummies which rather
+terrified me. They looked so very corpse-like standing there in
+their wrappings. One was that of a lady who was a "Singer of Amen," I
+remember. I wondered where she was singing now and what song. Presently
+I came to a glass case which riveted my attention, for above it was a
+label bearing the following words: "Two Papyri given to Lady Ragnall
+by the priests of the Kendah Tribe in Africa." Within were the papyri
+unrolled and beneath each of the documents, its translation, so far as
+they could be translated for they were somewhat broken. No. 1, which
+was dated, "In the first year of Peroa," appeared to be the official
+appointment of the Royal Lady Amada, to be the prophetess to the temple
+of Isis and Horus the Child, which was also called Amada, and situated
+on the east bank of the Nile above Thebes. Evidently this was the same
+temple of which Lady Ragnall had written to me in her letter, where her
+husband had met his death by accident, a coincidence which made me start
+when I remembered how and where the document had come into her hands and
+what kind of office she filled at the time.
+
+The second papyrus, or rather its translation, contained a most
+comprehensive curse upon any man who ventured to interfere with the
+personal sanctity of this same Royal Lady of Amada, who, apparently in
+virtue of her office, was doomed to perpetual celibacy like the vestal
+virgins. I do not remember all the terms of the curse, but I know that
+it invoked the vengeance of Isis the Mother, Lady of the Moon, and Horus
+the Child upon anyone who should dare such a desecration, and in so many
+words doomed him to death by violence "far from his own country where
+first he had looked on Ra," (i.e. the sun) and also to certain spiritual
+sufferings afterwards.
+
+The document gave me the idea that it was composed in troubled days to
+protect that particularly sacred person, the Prophetess of Isis whose
+cult, as I have since learned, was rising in Egypt at the time, from
+threatened danger, perhaps at the hands of some foreign man. It occurred
+to me even that this Princess, for evidently she was a descendant of
+kings, had been appointed to a most sacred office for that very purpose.
+Men who shrink from little will often fear to incur the direct curse of
+widely venerated gods in order to obtain their desires, even if they
+be not their own gods. Such were my conclusions about this curious and
+ancient writing which I regret I cannot give in full as I neglected to
+copy it at the time.
+
+I may add that it seemed extremely strange to me that it and the other
+which dealt with a particular temple in Egypt should have passed into
+Lady Ragnall's hands over two thousand years later in a distant part of
+Africa, and that subsequently her husband should have been killed in
+her presence whilst excavating the very temple to which they referred,
+whence too in all probability they were taken. Moreover, oddly enough
+Lady Ragnall had herself for a while filled the role of Isis in a shrine
+whereof these two papyri had been part of the sacred appurtenances for
+unknown ages, and one of her official titles there was Prophetess and
+Lady of the Moon, whose symbol she wore upon her breast.
+
+Although I have always recognized that there are a great many more
+things in the world than are dreamt of in our philosophy, I say with
+truth and confidence that I am not a superstitious man. Yet I confess
+that these papers and the circumstances connected with them, made me
+feel afraid.
+
+Also they made me wish that I had not come to Ragnall Castle.
+
+Well, the Atterby-Smiths had so far effectually put a stop to any talk
+of such matters and even if Lady Ragnall should succeed in getting
+rid of them by that morning train, as to which I was doubtful, there
+remained but a single day of my visit during which it ought not to be
+hard to stave off the subject. Thus I reflected, standing face to face
+with those mummies, till presently I observed that the Singer of Amen
+who wore a staring, gold mask, seemed to be watching me with her oblong
+painted eyes. To my fancy a sardonic smile gathered in them and spread
+to the mouth.
+
+"That's what _you_ think," this smile seemed to say, "as once before you
+thought that Fate could be escaped. Wait and see, my friend. Wait and
+see!"
+
+"Not in this room any way," I remarked aloud, and departed in a hurry
+down the passage which led to the main staircase.
+
+Before I reached its end a remarkable sight caused me to halt in the
+shadow. The Atterby-Smith family were going to bed _en bloc_. They
+marched in single file up the great stair, each of them carrying a
+hand candle. Papa led and young Hopeful brought up the rear. Their
+countenances were full of war, even the twins looked like angry lambs,
+but something written on them informed me that they had suffered defeat
+recent and grievous. So they vanished up the stairway and out of my ken
+for ever.
+
+When they had gone I started again and ran straight into Lady Ragnall.
+If her guests had been angry, it was clear that _she_ was furious,
+almost weeping with rage, indeed. Moreover, she turned and rent me.
+
+"You are a wretch," she said, "to run away and leave me all day long
+with those horrible people. Well, they will never come here again, for I
+have told them that if they do the servants have orders to shut the door
+in their faces."
+
+Not knowing what to say I remarked that I had spent a most instructive
+evening in the museum, which seemed to make her angrier than ever. At
+any rate she whisked off without even saying "good night" and left
+me standing there. Afterwards I learned that the A.-S.'s had calmly
+informed Lady Ragnall that she had stolen their property and demanded
+that "as an act of justice" she should make a will leaving everything
+she possessed to them, and meanwhile furnish them with an allowance of
+L4,000 a year. What I did not learn were the exact terms of her answer.
+
+Next morning Alfred, when he called me, brought me a note from his
+mistress which I fully expected would contain a request that I should
+depart by the same train as her other guests. Its real contents,
+however, were very different.
+
+
+ "My dear Friend," it ran, "I am so ashamed of myself and so sorry
+  for my rudeness last night, for which I deeply apologise. If you
+  knew all that I had gone through at the hands of those dreadful
+  mendicants, you would forgive me.--L.R."
+
+ "P.S.--I have ordered breakfast at 10. Don't go down much before,
+  for your own sake."
+
+
+Somewhat relieved in my mind, for I thought she was really angry with
+me, not altogether without cause, I rose, dressed and set to work
+to write some letters. While I was doing so I heard the wheels of a
+carriage beneath and opening my window, saw the Atterby-Smith family in
+the act of departing in the Castle bus. Smith himself seemed to be still
+enraged, but the others looked depressed. Indeed I heard the wife of his
+bosom say to him,
+
+"Calm yourself, my dear. Remember that Providence knows what is best for
+us and that beggars on horseback are always unjust and ungrateful."
+
+To which her spouse replied,
+
+"Hold your infernal tongue, will you," and then began to rate the
+servants about the luggage.
+
+Well, off they went. Glaring through the door of the bus, Mr. Smith
+caught sight of me leaning out of the window, seeing which I waved my
+hand to him in adieu. His only reply to this courtesy was to shake
+his fist, though whether at me or at the Castle and its inhabitants in
+general, I neither know nor care.
+
+When I was quite sure that they had gone and were not coming back again
+to find something they had forgotten, I went downstairs and surprised a
+conclave between the butler, Moxley, and his satellites, reinforced by
+Lady Ragnall's maid and two other female servants.
+
+"Gratuities!" Moxley was exclaiming, which I thought a fine word for
+tips, "not a smell of them! His gratuities were--'Damn your eyes, you
+fat bottle-washer,' being his name for butler. _My_ eyes, mind you, Ann,
+not Alfred's or William's, and that because he had tumbled over his own
+rugs. Gentleman! Why, I name him a hog with his litter."
+
+"Hogs don't have litters, Mr. Moxley," observed Ann smartly.
+
+"Well, young woman, if there weren't no hogs, there'd be no litters,
+so there! However, he won't root about in this castle no more, for
+I happened to catch a word or two of what passed between him and her
+Ladyship last night. He said straight out that she was making love to
+that little Mr. Quatermain who wanted her money, and probably not for
+the first time as they had forgathered in Africa. A gentleman, mind you,
+Ann, who although peculiar, I like, and who, the keeper Charles tells
+me, is the best shot in the whole world."
+
+"And what did she say to that?" asked Ann.
+
+"What did she say? What didn't she say, that's the question. It was just
+as though all the furniture in the room got up and went for them Smiths.
+Well, having heard enough, and more than I wanted, I stepped off
+with the tray and next minute out they all come and grab the bedroom
+candlesticks. That's all and there's her Ladyship's bell. Alfred, don't
+stand gaping there but go and light the hot-plates."
+
+So they melted away and I descended from the landing, indignant but
+laughing. No wonder that Lady Ragnall lost her temper!
+
+Ten minutes later she arrived in the dining-room, waving a lighted
+ribbon that disseminated perfume.
+
+"What on earth are you doing?" I asked.
+
+"Fumigating the house," she said. "It is unnecessary as I don't think
+they were infectious, but the ceremony has a moral significance--like
+incense. Anyway it relieves my feelings."
+
+Then she laughed and threw the remains of the ribbon into the fire,
+adding,
+
+"If you say a word about those people I'll leave the room."
+
+I think we had one of the jolliest breakfasts I ever remember. To begin
+with we were both hungry since our miseries of the night before had
+prevented us from eating any dinner. Indeed she swore that she had
+scarcely tasted food since Saturday. Then we had such a lot to talk
+about. With short intervals we talked all that day, either in the house
+or while walking through the gardens and grounds. Passing through the
+latter I came to the spot on the back drive where once I had saved her
+from being abducted by Harut and Marut, and as I recognized it, uttered
+an exclamation. She asked me why and the end of it was that I told her
+all that story which to this moment she had never heard, for Ragnall had
+thought well to keep it from her.
+
+She listened intently, then said,
+
+"So I owe you more than I knew. Yet, I'm not sure, for you see I was
+abducted after all. Also if I had been taken there, probably George
+would never have married me or seen me again, and that might have been
+better for him."
+
+"Why?" I asked. "You were all the world to him."
+
+"Is any woman ever all the world to a man, Mr. Quatermain?"
+
+I hesitated, expecting some attack.
+
+"Don't answer," she went on, "it would be too long and you wouldn't
+convince me who have been in the East. However, he was all the world
+to me. Therefore his welfare was what I wished and wish, and I think he
+would have had more of it if he had never married me."
+
+"Why?" I asked again.
+
+"Because I brought him no good luck, did I? I needn't go through all
+the story as you know it. And in the end it was through me that he was
+killed in Egypt."
+
+"Or through the goddess Isis," I broke in rather nervously.
+
+"Yes, the goddess Isis, a part I have played in my time, or something
+like it. And he was killed in the temple of the goddess Isis. And those
+papyri of which you read the translations in the museum, which were
+given to me in Kendah Land, seem to have come from that same temple.
+And--how about the Ivory Child? Isis in the temple evidently held a
+child in her arms, but when we found her it had gone. Supposing this
+child was the same as that of which I was guardian! It might have been,
+since the papyri came from that temple. What do you think?"
+
+"I don't think anything," I answered, "except that it is all very odd. I
+don't even understand what Isis and the child Horus represent. They were
+not mere images either in Egypt or Kendah Land. There must be an idea
+behind them somewhere."
+
+"Oh! there was. Isis was the universal Mother, Nature herself with all
+the powers, seen and unseen, that are hidden in Nature; Love personified
+also, although not actually the queen of Love like Hathor, her sister
+goddess. The Horus child, whom the old Egyptians called Heru-Hennu,
+signified eternal regeneration, eternal youth, eternal strength and
+beauty. Also he was the Avenger who overthrew Set, the Prince of
+Darkness, and thus in a way opened the Door of Life to men."
+
+"It seems to me that all religions have much in common," I said.
+
+"Yes, a great deal. It was easy for the old Egyptians to become
+Christian, since for many of them it only meant worshipping Isis and
+Horus under new and holier names. But come in, it grows cold."
+
+We had tea in Lady Ragnall's boudoir and after it had been taken away
+our conversation died. She sat there on the other side of the fire with
+a cigarette between her lips, looking at me through the perfumed smoke
+till I began to grow uncomfortable and to feel that a crisis of some
+sort was at hand. This proved perfectly correct, for it was. Presently
+she said,
+
+"We took a long journey once together, Mr. Quatermain, did we not?"
+
+"Undoubtedly," I answered, and began to talk of it until she cut me
+short with a wave of her hand, and went on,
+
+"Well, we are going to take a longer one together after dinner
+to-night."
+
+"What! Where! How!" I exclaimed much alarmed.
+
+"I don't know where, but as for how--look in that box," and she pointed
+to a little carved Eastern chest made of rose or sandal wood, that stood
+upon a table between us.
+
+With a groan I rose and opened it. Inside was another box made of
+silver. This I opened also and perceived that within lay bundles of
+dried leaves that looked like tobacco, from which floated an enervating
+and well-remembered scent that clouded my brain for a moment. Then I
+shut down the lids and returned to my seat.
+
+"_Taduki_," I murmured.
+
+"Yes, _Taduki_, and I believe in perfect order with all its virtue
+intact."
+
+"Virtue!" I exclaimed. "I don't think there is any virtue about that
+hateful and magical herb which I believe grew in the devil's garden.
+Moreover, Lady Ragnall, although there are few things in the world that
+I would refuse you, I tell you at once that nothing will induce me to
+have anything more to do with it."
+
+She laughed softly and asked why not.
+
+"Because I find life so full of perplexities and memories that I have
+no wish to make acquaintance with any more, such as I am sure lie hid by
+the thousand in that box."
+
+"If so, don't you think that they might clear up some of those which
+surround you to-day?"
+
+"No, for in such things there is no finality, since whatever one saw
+would also require explanation."
+
+"Don't let us argue," she replied. "It is tiring and I daresay we shall
+need all our strength to-night."
+
+I looked at her speechless. Why could she not take No for an answer? As
+usual she read my thought and replied to it.
+
+"Why did not Adam refuse the apple that Eve offered him?" she inquired
+musingly. "Or rather why did he eat it after many refusals and learn
+the secret of good and evil, to the great gain of the world which
+thenceforward became acquainted with the dignity of labour?"
+
+"Because the woman tempted him," I snapped.
+
+"Quite so. It has always been her business in life and always will be.
+Well, I am tempting you now, and not in vain."
+
+"Do you remember who was tempting the woman?"
+
+"Certainly. Also that he was a good school-master since he caused the
+thirst for knowledge to overcome fear and thus laid the foundation-stone
+of all human progress. That allegory may be read two ways, as one of a
+rise from ignorance instead of a fall from innocence."
+
+"You are too clever for me with your perverted notions. Also, you said
+we were not to argue. I have therefore only to repeat that I will not
+eat your apple, or rather, breathe your _Taduki_."
+
+"Adam over again," she replied, shaking her head. "The same old
+beginning and the same old end, because you see at last you will do
+exactly what Adam did."
+
+Here she rose and standing over me, looked me straight in the eyes with
+the curious result that all my will power seemed to evaporate. Then she
+sat down again, laughing softly, and remarked as though to herself,
+
+"Who would have thought that Allan Quatermain was a moral coward!"
+
+"Coward," I repeated. "Coward!"
+
+"Yes, that's the right word. At least you were a minute ago. Now courage
+has come back to you. Why, it's almost time to dress for dinner, but
+before you go, listen. I have some power over you, my friend, as you
+have some power over me, for I tell you frankly if you wished me very
+much to do anything, I should have to do it; and the same applies
+conversely. Now, to-night we are, as I believe, going to open a great
+gate and to see wonderful things, glorious things that will thrill us
+for the rest of our lives, and perhaps suggest to us what is coming
+after death. You will not fail me, will you?" she continued in a
+pleading voice. "If you do I must try alone since no one else will
+serve, and then I _know_--how I cannot say--that I shall be exposed to
+great danger. Yes, I think that I shall lose my mind once more and never
+find it again this side the grave. You would not have that happen to me,
+would you, just because you shrink from digging up old memories?"
+
+"Of course not," I stammered. "I should never forgive myself."
+
+"Yes, of course not. There was really no need for me to ask you. Then
+you promise you will do all I wish?" and once more she looked at me,
+adding, "Don't be ashamed, for you remember that I have been in touch
+with hidden things and am not quite as other women are. You will
+recollect I told you that which I have never breathed to any other
+living soul, years ago on that night when first we met."
+
+"I promise," I answered and was about to add something, I forget what,
+when she cut me short, saying,
+
+"That's enough, for I know your word is rather better than your bond.
+Now dress as quickly as you can or the dinner will be spoiled."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV. THROUGH THE GATES
+
+Short as was the time at my disposal before the dinner-gong sounded,
+it proved ample for reflection. With every article of attire that
+I discarded went some of that boudoir glamour till its last traces
+vanished with my walking-boots. I was fallen indeed. I who had come to
+this place so full of virtuous resolutions, could now only reflect upon
+the true and universal meaning of our daily prayer that we might be kept
+from temptation. And yet what had tempted me? For my life's sake I could
+not say. The desire to please a most charming woman and to keep her from
+making solitary experiments of a dangerous nature, I suppose, though
+whether they should be less dangerous carried out jointly remained to
+be seen. Certainly it was not any wish to eat of her proffered apple of
+Knowledge, for already I knew a great deal more than I cared for about
+things in general. Oh! the truth was that woman is the mightiest
+force in the world, at any rate where the majority of us poor men is
+concerned. She commanded and I must obey.
+
+I grew desperate and wondered if I could escape. Perhaps I might slip
+out of the back door and run for it, without my great coat or hat
+although the night was so cold and I should probably be taken up as a
+lunatic. No, it was impossible for I had forged a chain that might not
+be broken. I had passed my word of honour. Well, I was in for it and
+after all what was there of which I need be afraid that I should tremble
+and shrink back as though I were about to run away with somebody's wife,
+or rather to be run away with quite contrary to my own inclination?
+Nothing at all. A mere nonsensical ordeal much less serious than a visit
+to the dentist.
+
+Probably that stuff had lost its strength by now--that is, unless it
+had grown more powerful by keeping, as is the case with certain sorts
+of explosives. And if it had not, the worst to be expected was a silly
+dream, followed perhaps by headache. That is, unless I did not chance
+to wake up again at all in this world, which was a most unpleasant
+possibility. Another thing, suppose I woke and she didn't! What should
+I say then? Of a certainty I should find myself in the dock. Yes, and
+there were further dreadful eventualities, quite conceivable, every one
+of them, the very thought of which plunged me into a cold perspiration
+and made me feel so weak that I was obliged to sit down.
+
+Then I heard the gong; to me it sounded like the execution bell to a
+prisoner under sentence of death. I crept downstairs feebly and found
+Lady Ragnall waiting for me in the drawing-room, clothed with gaiety as
+with a garment. I remember that it made me most indignant that she could
+be so happy in such circumstances, but I said nothing. She looked me up
+and down and remarked,
+
+"Really from your appearance you might have seen the Ragnall ghost, or
+be going to be married against your will, or--I don't know what. Also
+you have forgotten to fasten your tie."
+
+I looked in the glass. It was true, for there hung the ends down my
+shirt front. Then I struggled with the wretched thing until at last she
+had to help me, which she did laughing softly. Somehow her touch gave me
+confidence again and enabled me to say quite boldly that I only wanted
+my dinner.
+
+"Yes," she replied, "but you are not to eat much and you must only drink
+water. The priestesses in Kendah Land told me that this was necessary
+before taking _Taduki_ in its strongest form, as we are going to do
+to-night. You know the prophet Harut only gave us the merest whiff in
+this room years ago."
+
+I groaned and she laughed again.
+
+That dinner with nothing to drink, although to avoid suspicion I let
+Moxley fill my glass once or twice, and little to eat for my appetite
+had vanished, went by like a bad dream. I recall no more about it until
+I heard Lady Ragnall tell Moxley to see that there was a good fire
+in the museum where we were going to study that night and must not be
+disturbed.
+
+Another minute and I was automatically opening the door for her. As she
+passed she paused to do something to her dress and whispered,
+
+"Come in a quarter of an hour. Mind--no port which clouds the
+intellect."
+
+"I have none left to cloud," I remarked after her.
+
+Then I went back and sat by the fire feeling most miserable and staring
+at the decanters, for never in my life do I remember wanting a bottle
+of wine more. The big clock ticked and ticked and at last chimed the
+quarter, jarring on my nerves in that great lonely banqueting hall. Then
+I rose and crept upstairs like an evil-doer and it seemed to me that the
+servants in the hall looked on me with suspicion, as well they might.
+
+I reached the museum and found it brilliantly lit, but empty except for
+the cheerful company of the two mummies who also appeared to regard me
+with gleaming but doubtful eyes. So I sat down there in front of the
+fire, not even daring to smoke lest tobacco should complicate _Taduki_.
+
+Presently I heard a low sound of laughter, looked up and nearly fell
+backwards, that is, metaphorically, for the chair prevented such a
+physical collapse.
+
+It was not wonderful since before me, like a bride of ancient days
+adorned for her husband, stood the goddess Isis--white robes, feathered
+headdress, ancient bracelets, gold-studded sandals on bare feet, scented
+hair, ruby necklace and all the rest. I stared, then there burst from me
+words which were the last I meant to say,
+
+"Great Heavens! how beautiful you are."
+
+"Am I?" she asked. "I am glad," and she glided across the room and
+locked the door.
+
+"Now," she said, returning, "we had better get to business, that is
+unless you would like to worship the goddess Isis a little first, to
+bring yourself into a proper frame of mind, you know."
+
+"No," I replied, my dignity returning to me. "I do not wish to worship
+any goddess, especially when she isn't a goddess. It was not a part of
+the bargain."
+
+"Quite so," she said, nodding, "but who knows what you will be
+worshipping before an hour is over? Oh! forgive me for laughing at you,
+but I can't help it. You are so evidently frightened."
+
+"Who wouldn't be frightened?" I answered, looking with gloomy
+apprehension at the sandal-wood box which had appeared upon a case full
+of scarabs. "Look here, Lady Ragnall," I added, "why can't you leave all
+this unholy business alone and let us spend a pleasant evening talking,
+now that those Smith people have gone? I have lots of stories about my
+African adventures which would interest you."
+
+"Because I want to hear my own African adventures, and perhaps yours
+too, which I am sure will interest me a great deal more," she exclaimed
+earnestly. "You think it is all foolishness, but it is not. Those Kendah
+priestesses told me much when I seemed to be out of my mind. For a long
+time I did not remember what they said, but of late years, especially
+since George and I began to excavate that temple, plenty has come back
+to me bit by bit, fragments, you know, that make me desire to learn the
+rest as I never desired anything else on earth. And the worst of it has
+always been that from the beginning I have known--and know--that this
+can only happen with you and through you, why I cannot say, or have
+forgotten. That's what sent me nearly wild with joy when I heard that
+you were not only alive, but in this country. You won't disappoint me,
+will you? There is nothing I can offer you which would have any value
+for you, so I can only beg you not to disappoint me--well, because I am
+your friend."
+
+I turned away my head, hesitating, and when I looked up again I saw
+that her beautiful eyes were full of tears. Naturally that settled the
+matter, so I only said,
+
+"Let us get on with the affair. What am I to do? Stop a bit. I may as
+well provide against eventualities," and going to a table I took a sheet
+of notepaper and wrote:
+
+
+ "Lady Ragnall and I, Allan Quatermain, are about to make an
+  experiment with an herb which we discovered some years ago in
+  Africa. If by any chance this should result in accident to either
+  or both of us, the Coroner is requested to understand that it is
+  not a case of murder or of suicide, but merely of unfortunate
+  scientific research."
+
+
+This I dated, adding the hour, 9.47 P.M., and signed, requesting her to
+do the same.
+
+She obeyed with a smile, saying it was strange that one who had lived a
+life of such constant danger as myself, should be so afraid to die.
+
+"Look here, young lady," I replied with irritation, "doesn't it occur to
+you that _I_ may be afraid lest _you_ should die--and _I_ be hanged for
+it," I added by an afterthought.
+
+"Oh! I see," she answered, "that is really very nice of you. But, of
+course, you would think like that; it is your nature."
+
+"Yes," I replied. "Nature, not merit."
+
+She went to a cupboard which formed the bottom of one of the mahogany
+museum cases, and extracted from it first of all a bowl of ancient
+appearance made of some black stone with projecting knobs for handles
+that were carved with the heads of women wearing ceremonial wigs; and
+next a low tripod of ebony or some other black wood. I looked at these
+articles and recognized them. They had stood in front of the sanctuary
+in the temple in Kendah Land, and over them I had once seen this very
+woman dressed as she was to-night, bend her head in the magic smoke
+before she had uttered the prophecy of the passing of the Kendah god.
+
+"So you brought these away too," I said.
+
+"Yes," she replied with solemnity, "that they might be ready at the
+appointed hour when we needed them."
+
+Then she spoke no more for a while, but busied herself with certain
+rather eerie preparations. First she set the tripod and its bowl in an
+open space which I was glad to note was at some distance from the fire,
+since if either of us fell into that who would there be to take us off
+before cremation ensued? Then she drew up a curved settee with a back
+and arms, a comfortable-looking article having a seat that sloped
+backwards like those in clubs, and motioned to me to sit down. This I
+did with much the same sensations that are evoked by taking one's place
+upon an operation-table.
+
+Next she brought that accursed _Taduki_ box, I mean the inner silver
+one, the contents of which I heartily wished I had thrown upon the fire,
+and set it down, open, near the tripod. Lastly she lifted some glowing
+embers of wood from the grate with tongs, and dropped them into the
+stone bowl.
+
+"I think that's all. Now for the great adventure," she said in a voice
+that was at once rapt and dreamy.
+
+"What am I to do?" I asked feebly.
+
+"That is quite simple," she replied, as she sat herself down beside me
+well within reach of the _Taduki_ box, the brazier being between us
+with its tripod stand pressed against the edge of the couch, and in
+its curve, so that we were really upon each side of it. "When the smoke
+begins to rise thickly you have only to bend your head a little forward,
+with your shoulders still resting against the settee, and inhale until
+you find your senses leaving you, though I don't know that this is
+necessary for the stuff is subtle. Then throw your head back, go to
+sleep and dream."
+
+"What am I to dream about?" I inquired in a vacuous way, for my senses
+were leaving me already.
+
+"You will dream, I think, of past events in which both of us played a
+part, at least I hope so. I dreamt of them before in Kendah Land,
+but then I was not myself, and for the most part they are forgotten.
+Moreover, I learned that we can only see them all when we are together.
+Now speak no more."
+
+This command, by the way, at once produced in me an intense desire for
+prolonged conversation. It was not to be gratified, however, for at that
+moment she stood up again facing the tripod and me, and began to sing in
+a rich and thrilling voice. What she sang I do not know for I could not
+understand the language, but I presume it was some ancient chant that
+she learned in Kendah Land. At any rate, there she stood, a lovely and
+inspired priestess clad in her sacerdotal robes, and sang, waving her
+arms and fixing her eyes upon mine. Presently she bent down, took a
+little of the _Taduki_ weed and with words of incantation, dropped it
+upon the embers in the bowl. Twice she did this, then sat herself upon
+the couch and waited.
+
+A clear flame sprang up and burned for thirty seconds or so, I suppose
+while it consumed the volatile oils in the weed. Then it died down and
+smoke began to come, white, rich and billowy, with a very pleasant odour
+resembling that of hot-house flowers. It spread out between us like a
+fan, and though its veil I heard her say,
+
+"The gates are wide. Enter!"
+
+I knew what she meant well enough, and though for a moment I thought of
+cheating, there is no other word for it, knew also that she had detected
+the thought and was scorning me in her mind. At any rate I felt that I
+must obey and thrust my head forward into the smoke, as a green ham is
+thrust into a chimney. The warm vapour struck against my face like fog,
+or rather steam, but without causing me to choke or my eyes to smart. I
+drew it down my throat with a deep inhalation--once, twice, thrice, then
+as my brain began to swim, threw myself back as I had been instructed
+to do. A deep and happy drowsiness stole over me, and the last thing I
+remember was hearing the clock strike the first two strokes of the hour
+of ten. The third stroke I heard also, but it sounded like to that of
+the richest-throated bell that ever boomed in all the world. I remember
+becoming aware that it was the signal for the rolling up of some vast
+proscenium, revealing behind it a stage that was the world--nothing
+less.
+
+
+
+What did I see? What did I see? Let me try to recall and record.
+
+First of all something chaotic. Great rushes of vapour driven by mighty
+winds; great seas, for the most part calm. Then upheavals and volcanoes
+spouting fire. Then tropic scenes of infinite luxuriance. Terrific
+reptiles feeding on the brinks of marshes, and huge elephant-like
+animals moving between palms beyond. Then, in a glade, rough huts and
+about them a jabbering crowd of creatures that were only half human, for
+sometimes they stood upright and sometimes ran on their hands and feet.
+Also they were almost covered with hair which was all they had in
+the way of clothes, and at the moment that I met them, were terribly
+frightened by the appearance of a huge mammoth, if that is the right
+name for it, which walked into the glade and looked at us. At any rate
+it was a beast of the elephant tribe which I judged to be nearly twenty
+feet high, with enormous curving tusks.
+
+The point of the vision was that I recognized myself among those hairy
+jabberers, not by anything outward and visible, but by something inward
+and spiritual. Moreover, I was being urged by a female of the race, I
+can scarcely call her a woman, to justify my existence by tackling the
+mammoth in her particular interest, or to give her up to someone who
+would. In the end I tackled it, rushing forward with a weapon, I think
+it was a sharp stone tied to a stick, though how I could expect to
+hurt a beast twenty feet high with such a thing is more than I can
+understand, unless perhaps the stone was poisoned.
+
+At any rate the end was sudden. I threw the stone, whereat a great trunk
+shot out from between the tusks and caught me. Round and round I went
+in the air, reflecting as I did so, for I suppose at the time my normal
+consciousness had not quite left me, that this was my first encounter
+with the elephant Jana, also that it was very foolish to try to oblige a
+female regardless of personal risk....
+
+All became dark, as no doubt it would have done, but presently, that is
+after a lapse of a great many thousands of years, or so it appeared to
+me, light grew again. This time I was a black man living in something
+not unlike a Kaffir kraal on the top of a hill.
+
+There was shouting below and enemies attacked us; a woman rushed out
+of a hut and gave me a spear and a shield, the latter made of wood with
+white spots on it, and pointed to the path of duty which ran down the
+hill. I followed in company with others, though without enthusiasm, and
+presently met a roaring giant of a man at the bottom. I stuck my spear
+into him and he stuck his into me, through the stomach, which hurt me
+most abominably. After this I retired up the hill where the woman pulled
+the spear out and gave it to another man. I remember no more.
+
+Then followed a whole maze of visions, but really I cannot disentangle
+them. Nor is it worth while doing so since after all they were only of
+the nature of an overture, jumbled incidents of former lives, real or
+imaginary, or so I suppose, having to do, all of them, with elementary
+things, such as hunger and wounds and women and death.
+
+At length these broken fragments of the past were swept away out of my
+consciousness and I found myself face to face with something connected
+and tangible, not too remote or unfamiliar for understanding. It was the
+beginning of the real story.
+
+
+
+I, please remember always that I knew it was I, Allan, and no one else,
+that is, the same personality or whatever it may be which makes each
+man different from any other man, saw myself in a chariot drawn by two
+horses with arched necks and driven by a charioteer who sat on a little
+seat in front. It was a highly ornamented, springless vehicle of wood
+and gilded, something like a packing-case with a pole, or as we
+should call it in South Africa, a disselboom, to which the horses were
+harnessed. In this cart I stood arrayed in flowing robes fastened round
+my middle by a studded belt, with strips of coloured cloth wound round
+my legs and sandals on my feet. To my mind the general effect of the
+attire was distinctly feminine and I did not like it at all.
+
+I was glad to observe, however, that the I of those days was anything
+but feminine. Indeed I could never have believed that once I was so
+good-looking, even over two thousand years ago. I was not very tall but
+extremely stalwart, burly almost, with an arm that as I could observe,
+since it projected from the sleeve of my lady's gown, would have done no
+discredit to a prize-fighter, and a chest like a bull.
+
+The face also I admired very much. The brow was broad; the black eyes
+were full and proud-looking, the features somewhat massive but well-cut
+and highly intelligent; the mouth firm and shapely, with lips that were
+perhaps a trifle too thick; the hair--well, there was rather a failure
+in the hair, at least according to modern ideas, for it curled so
+beautifully as to suggest that one of my ancestors might have fallen
+in love with a person of negroid origin. However there was lots of it,
+hanging down almost to the shoulders and bound about the brow by a very
+neat fillet of blue cloth with silver studs. The colour of my skin, I
+was glad to note, was by no means black, only a light and pleasing brown
+such as might have been produced by sunburn. My age, I might add, was
+anywhere between five and twenty and five and thirty, perhaps nearer the
+latter than the former, at any rate, the very prime of life.
+
+For the rest, I held in my left hand a very stout, long bow of black
+wood which seemed to have seen much service, with a string of what
+looked like catgut, on which was set a broad-feathered, barbed arrow.
+This I kept in place with the fingers of my right hand, on one of which
+I observed a handsome gold ring with strange characters carved upon the
+bezel.
+
+Now for the charioteer.
+
+He was black as night, black as a Sunday hat, with yellow rolling
+eyes set in a countenance of extraordinary ugliness and I may add,
+extraordinary humour. His big, wide mouth with thick lips ran up the
+left side of his face towards an ear that was also big and projecting.
+His hair, that had a feather stuck in it, was real nigger wool covering
+a skull like a cannon ball and I should imagine as hard. This head, by
+the way, was set plumb upon the shoulders, as though it had been driven
+down between them by a pile hammer. They were very broad shoulders
+suggesting enormous strength, but the gaily-clad body beneath, which was
+supported by two bowed legs and large, flat feet, was that of a dwarf
+who by the proportions of his limbs Nature first intended for a giant;
+yes, an Ethiopian dwarf.
+
+Looking through this remarkable exterior, as it were, I recognized
+that inside of it was the soul, or animating principle, of--whom do
+you think? None other than my beloved old servant and companion, the
+Hottentot Hans whose loss I had mourned for years! Hans himself who died
+for me, slaying the great elephant, Jana, in Kendah Land, the elephant
+I could not hit, and thereby saving my life. Oh! although I had been
+obliged to go back to the days of I knew not what ancient empire to
+do so in my trance, or whatever it was, I could have wept with joy at
+finding him again, especially as I knew by instinct that as he loved
+the Allan Quatermain of to-day, so he loved this Egyptian in a wheeled
+packing-case, for I may as well say at once that such was my nationality
+in the dream.
+
+Now I looked about me and perceived that my chariot was the second of a
+cavalcade. Immediately in front of it was one infinitely more gorgeous
+in which stood a person who even if I had not known it, I should have
+guessed to be a king, and who, as a matter of fact, was none other than
+the King of kings, at that time the absolute master of most of the known
+world, though what his name may have been, I have no notion. He wore a
+long flowing robe of purple silk embroidered with gold and bound in at
+the waist by a jewelled girdle from which hung the private, sacred
+seal; the little "White Seal" that, as I learned afterwards, was famous
+throughout the earth.
+
+On his head was a stiff cloth cap, also purple in colour, round which
+was fastened a fillet of light blue stuff spotted with white. The best
+idea that I can give of its general appearance is to liken it to a tall
+hat of fashionable shape, without a brim, slightly squashed in so that
+it bulged at the top, and surrounded by a rather sporting necktie.
+Really, however, it was the _kitaris_ or headdress of these monarchs
+worn by them alone. If anyone else had put on that hat, even by mistake
+in the dark, well, his head would have come off with it, that is all.
+
+This king held a bow in his hand with an arrow set upon its string,
+just as I did, for we were out hunting, and as I shall have to narrate
+presently, lions are no respecters of persons. By his side, leaning
+against the back of the chariot, was a tall, sharp-pointed wand of cedar
+wood with a knob of some green precious stone, probably an emerald,
+fashioned to the likeness of an apple. This was the royal sceptre.
+Immediately behind the chariot walked several great nobles. One of them
+carried a golden footstool, another a parasol, furled at the moment;
+another a spare bow and a quiver of arrows, and another a jewelled
+fly-whisk made of palm fibre.
+
+The king, I should add, was young, handsome with a curled beard and
+clear-cut, high-bred looking features; his face, however, was bad, cruel
+and stamped with an air of weariness, or rather, satiety, which was
+emphasized by the black circles beneath his fine dark eyes. Moreover
+pride seemed to emanate from him and yet there was something in his
+bearing and glances which suggested fear. He was a god who knows that
+he is mortal and is therefore afraid lest at any moment he may be called
+upon to lose his godship in his mortality.
+
+Not that he dreaded the perils of the chase; he was too much of a man
+for that. But how could he tell lest among all that crowd of crawling
+nobles, there was not one who had a dagger ready for his back, or a
+phial of poison to mix with his wine or water? He with all the world
+in the hollow of his hand, was filled with secret terrors which as I
+learned since first I seemed to see him thus, fulfilled themselves at
+the appointed time. For this man of blood was destined to die in blood,
+though not by murder.
+
+
+
+The cavalcade halted. Presently a fat eunuch glittering in his
+gold-wrought garments like some bronzed beetle in the sunlight, came
+waddling back towards me. He was odious and I knew that we hated each
+other.
+
+"Greeting, Egyptian," he said, mopping his brow with his sleeve for
+the sun was hot. "An honour for you! A great honour! The King of kings
+commands your presence. Yes, he would speak with you with his own lips,
+and with that abortion of a servant of yours also. Come! Come swiftly!"
+
+"Swift as an arrow, Houman," I answered laughing, "seeing that for three
+moons I, like an arrow, have rested upon the string and flown no nearer
+to his Majesty."
+
+"Three moons!" screeched the eunuch. "Why, many wait three years and
+many go to the grave still waiting; bigger men than you, Egyptian,
+though I hear you do claim to be of royal blood yonder on the Nile.
+But talk not of arrows flying towards the most High, for surely it is
+ill-omened and might earn you another honour, that of the string," and
+he made a motion suggestive of a cord encircling his throat. "Man, leave
+your bow behind! Would you appear before the King armed? Yes, and your
+dagger also."
+
+"Perchance a lion might appear before the King and he does not leave
+his claws and teeth behind," I answered drily as I divested myself of my
+weapons.
+
+Then we started, the three of us, leaving the chariot in charge of a
+soldier.
+
+"Draw your sleeves over your hands," said the eunuch. "None must
+appear before the King showing his hands, and, dwarf, since you have no
+sleeves, thrust yours into your robe."
+
+"What am I to do with my feet?" he answered in a thick, guttural voice.
+"Will it offend the King of kings to see my feet, most noble eunuch?"
+
+"Certainly, certainly," answered Houman, "since they are ugly enough to
+offend even me. Hide them as much as possible. Now we are near, down on
+your faces and crawl forward slowly on your knees and elbows, as I do.
+Down, I say!"
+
+So down I went, though with anger in my heart, for be it remembered
+that I, the modern Allan Quatermain, knew every thought and feeling that
+passed through the mind of my prototype.
+
+It was as though I were a spectator at a play, with this difference. I
+could read the motives and reflections of this former _ego_ as well as
+observe his actions. Also I could rejoice when he rejoiced, weep when
+he wept and generally feel all that he felt, though at the same time
+I retained the power of studying him from my own modern standpoint and
+with my own existing intelligence. Being two we still were one, or being
+one we still were two, whichever way you like to put it. Lastly I lacked
+these powers with reference to the other actors in the piece. Of these
+I knew just as much, or as little as my former self knew, that is if he
+ever really existed. There was nothing unnatural in my faculties where
+they were concerned. I had no insight into their souls any more than I
+have into those of the people about me to-day. Now I hope that I have
+made clear my somewhat uncommon position with reference to these pages
+from the Book of the Past.
+
+Well, preceded by the eunuch and followed by the dwarf, I crawled though
+the sand in which grew some thorny plants that pricked my knees
+and fingers, towards the person of the Monarch of the World. He had
+descended from his chariot by help of a footstool, and was engaged in
+drinking from a golden cup, while his attendants stood around in various
+attitudes of adoration, he who had handed him the cup being upon his
+knees. Presently he looked up and saw us.
+
+"Who are these?" he asked in a high voice that yet was not unmusical,
+"and why do you bring them into my presence?"
+
+"May it please the King," answered our guide, knocking his head upon the
+ground in a very agony of humiliation, "may it please the King----"
+
+"It would please me better, dog, if you answered my question. Who are
+they?"
+
+"May it please the King, this is the Egyptian hunter and noble,
+Shabaka."
+
+"I hear," said his Majesty with a gleam of interest in his tired eyes,
+"and what does this Egyptian here?"
+
+"May it please the King, the King bade me bring him to the presence, but
+now when the chariots halted."
+
+"I forgot; you are forgiven. But who is that with him? Is it a man or an
+ape?"
+
+Here I screwed my head round and saw that my slave in his efforts to
+obey the eunuch's instructions and hide his feet, had made himself
+into a kind of ball, much as a hedgehog does, except that his big head
+appeared in front of the ball.
+
+"O King, that I understand is the Egyptian's servant and charioteer."
+
+Again he looked interested, and exclaimed,
+
+"Is it so? Then Egypt must be a stranger country than I thought if such
+ape-men live there. Stand up, Egyptian, and bid your ape stand up also,
+for I cannot hear men who speak with their mouths in the dust."
+
+So I rose and saluted by lifting both my hands and bowing as I had
+observed others do, trying, however, to keep them covered by my sleeves.
+The King looked me up and down, then said briefly,
+
+"Set out your name and the business that brought you to my city."
+
+"May the King live for ever," I replied. "As this lord said," and I
+pointed to the eunuch----
+
+"He is not a lord but a dog," interrupted the Monarch, "who wears the
+robe of women. But continue."
+
+"As this dog who wears the robe of women said"--here the King laughed,
+but the eunuch, Houman, turned green with rage and glowered at me--"my
+name is Shabaka. I am a descendant of the Ethiopian king of Egypt of
+that same name."
+
+"It seems from all I hear that there are too many descendants of kings
+in Egypt. When I visit that land which perhaps soon I must do with an
+army at my back," here he stared at me coldly, "it may be well to lessen
+their number. There is a certain Peroa for instance."
+
+He paused, but I made no answer, since Peroa was my father's cousin and
+of the fallen Royal House; also the protector of my youth.
+
+"Well, Shabaka," he went on, "in Persia royal blood is common also,
+though some of us think it looks best when it is shed. What else are
+you?"
+
+"A slayer of royal beasts, O King of kings, a hunter of lions and of
+elephants," (this statement interested me, Allan Quatermain, intensely,
+showing me as it did that our tastes are very persistent); "also when I
+am at home, a breeder of cattle and a grower of grain."
+
+"Good trades, all of them, Shabaka. But why came you here?"
+
+"Idernes the satrap of Egypt, servant of the King of kings, sought for
+one who would travel to the East because the King of kings desired to
+hear of the hunting of lions in the lands that lie to the south of Egypt
+towards the beginnings of the great river. Then I, who desired to see
+new countries, said, 'Here am I. Send me.' So I came and for three moons
+have dwelt in the royal city, but till this hour have scarcely so much
+as seen the face of the great King, although by many messengers I have
+announced my presence, showing them the letters of Idernes giving me
+safe-conduct. Therefore I propose to-morrow or the next day to return to
+Egypt."
+
+The King said a word and a scribe appeared whom he commanded to take
+note of my words and let the matter be inquired of, since some should
+suffer for this neglect, a saying at which I saw Houman and certain of
+the nobles turn pale and whisper to each other.
+
+"Now I remember," he exclaimed, "that I did desire Idernes to send me an
+Egyptian hunter. Well, you are here and we are about to hunt the lion
+of which there are many in yonder reeds, hungry and fierce beasts, since
+for three days they have been herded in so that they can kill no food.
+How many lions have you slain, Shabaka?"
+
+"Fifty and three in all, O King, not counting the cubs."
+
+He stared at me, answering with a sneer,
+
+"You Egyptians have large mouths. I have always heard it of you. Well,
+to-day we will see whether you can kill a fifty-fourth. In an hour when
+the sun begins to sink, the hounds will be loosed in yonder reeds and
+since the water is behind them, the lions will come out, and then we
+shall see."
+
+Now I saw that the King thought me to be a liar and the blood rose to my
+head.
+
+"Why wait till the sun begins to sink, O King of kings?" I said. "Why
+not enter the reeds, as is our fashion in the Land of Kush, and rouse
+the lions from sleep in their own lair?"
+
+Now the King laughed outright and called in a loud voice to his
+courtiers,
+
+"Do ye hear this boasting Egyptian, who talks of entering the reeds and
+facing the lions in their lair, a thing that no man dare do where none
+can see to shoot? What say ye now? Shall we ask him to prove his words?"
+
+Some great lord stepped forward, one who was a hunter though he looked
+little like it, for the scent on his hair reached me from four paces
+away and there was paint upon his face.
+
+"Yes, O King," he said in a mincing voice, "let him enter and kill a
+lion. But if he fail, then let a lion kill him. There are some hungry in
+the palace den and it is not fit that the King's ears should be filled
+with empty words by foreigners from Egypt."
+
+"So be it," said the King. "Egyptian, you have brought it on your own
+head. Prove that you can do what you say and I will give you great
+honour. Fail, and to the lions with him who lies of lions. Still," he
+added, "it is not right that you should go alone. Choose therefore one
+of these lords to keep you company; he who would put you to the test, if
+you will."
+
+Now I looked at the scented noble who turned pale beneath his paint.
+Then I looked at the fat eunuch, Houman, who opened his mouth and gasped
+like a fish, and when I had looked, I shook my head and said as though
+to myself,
+
+"Not so, no woman and no eunuch shall be my companion on this quest,"
+whereat the King and all the rest laughed out loud. "The dwarf and I
+will go alone."
+
+"The dwarf!" said the King. "Can he hunt lions also?"
+
+"No, O King, but perchance he can smell them, for otherwise how shall I
+find them in that thicket within an hour?"
+
+"Perchance they can smell him. How is the ape-man named?" asked the
+King.
+
+"Bes, O King, after the god of the Egyptians whom he resembles."
+
+"Dare you accompany your master on this hunt, O Bes?" inquired the King.
+
+Then Bes looked up, rolling his yellow eyes, and answered in his thick
+and guttural voice,
+
+"I am my master's slave and dare I refuse to accompany him? If I did he
+might kill me, as the King of kings kills his slaves. It is better to
+die with honour by the teeth of a lion, than with dishonour beneath the
+whip of a master. So at least we think in Ethiopia."
+
+"Well spoken, dwarf Bes!" exclaimed the King. "So would I have all men
+think throughout the East. Let the words of this Ethiop be written down
+and copies of them sent to the satraps of all the provinces that they
+may be read to the peoples of the earth. I the King have decreed it."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V. THE WAGER
+
+While the scribes were at their work I bowed before the King and prayed
+his leave and I and the dwarf Bes might get to ours.
+
+"Go," he said, "and return here within an hour. If you do not return
+tidings of your death shall be sent to the satrap of Egypt to be told to
+your wives."
+
+"I thank the King, but it is needless, for I have no wives, which are
+ill company for a hunter."
+
+"Strange," he said, "since many women would be glad to name such a man
+their husband, at least here among us Easterns."
+
+Walking backwards and bowing as we went, Bes and I returned to our
+chariot. There we stripped off our outer garments till Bes was naked
+save for his waistcloth and I was clad only in a jerkin. Then I took
+my bow, my arrows and my knife, and Bes took two spears, one light for
+throwing and the other short, broad and heavy for stabbing. Thus armed
+we passed back before the Easterns who stared at us, and advanced to the
+edge of the thicket of tall reeds that was full of lions.
+
+Here Bes took dust and threw it into the air that we might learn from
+which quarter the light wind blew.
+
+"We will go against the breeze, Lord," he said, "that I may smell the
+lions before they smell us."
+
+I nodded, and answered,
+
+"Hearken, Bes. Well may it be that we kill no lions in this place where
+it is hard to shoot. Yet I would not return to be thrown to wild beasts
+by yonder evil king. Therefore if we fail in this or in any other way,
+do you kill me, if you still live."
+
+He rolled his eyes and grinned.
+
+"Not so, Master. Then we will win through the reeds and lie hid in their
+edge till darkness comes, for in them those half-men will never dare to
+seek for us. Afterwards we will swim the water and disguise ourselves
+as jugglers and try to reach the coast, and so back to Egypt, having
+learned much. Never stretch out your hand to Death till he stretches out
+his to you, which he will do soon enough, Master."
+
+Again I nodded and said,
+
+"And if a lion should kill me, Bes, what then?"
+
+"Then, Master, I will kill that lion if I can and go report the matter
+to the King."
+
+"And if he should wish to throw you to the beasts, Bes, what then?"
+
+"Then, first I will drag him down to the greatest of all beasts, he who
+waits to devour evil-doers in the Under-world, be they kings or slaves,"
+and he stretched out his long arms and made a motion as of clutching
+a man by the throat. "Oh! have no fear, Master, I can break him like a
+stick, and afterwards we will talk the matter over among the dead, for I
+shall swallow my tongue and die also. It is a good trick, Master, which
+I wish you would learn."
+
+Then he took my hand and kissed it and we entered the reeds, I, who was
+a hunter, feeling more happy than I had done since we set foot in the
+East.
+
+Yet the quest was desperate for the reeds were tall and often I could
+not see more than a bow's length in front of me. Presently, however,
+we found a path made perchance by game coming down to drink, or by
+crocodiles coming up to sleep, and followed it, I with an arrow on
+my string and Bes with the throwing spear in his right hand and the
+stabbing spear in his left, half a pace ahead of me. On we crept, Bes
+drawing in the air through his great nostrils as a hound might do, till
+suddenly he stopped and sniffed towards the north.
+
+"I smell lion near," he whispered, searching among the reed stems with
+his eyes. "I see lion," he whispered again, and pointed, but I could see
+nothing save the stems of the reeds.
+
+"Rouse him," I whispered back, "and I will shoot as he bounds."
+
+Then Bes poised the spear, shook it till it quivered, and threw. There
+was a roar and a lioness appeared with the spear fast in her flank. I
+loosed the arrow but it cut into the thick reeds and stuck there.
+
+"Forward!" whispered Bes, "for where woman is, there look for man. The
+lion will be near."
+
+We crept on, Bes stopping to cut the arrow from a reed and set it back
+in the quiver, for it was a good arrow made by himself. But now he
+shifted the broad spear to his right hand and in his left held his
+knife. We heard the wounded lioness roar not far away.
+
+"She calls her man to help her," whispered Bes, and as the words left
+his lips the reeds down wind began to sway, for we were smelt.
+
+They swayed, they parted and, half seen, half hid between their stems,
+appeared the head of a great, black-maned lion. I drew the string and
+shot, this time not in vain, for I heard the arrow thud upon his hide.
+Then before I could set another he was on us, reared upon his hind legs
+and roaring. As I drew my dagger he struck at me, but I bent down and
+his paw went over my head. Then his weight came against me and I fell
+beneath him, stabbing him in the belly as I fell. I saw his mighty jaws
+open to crush my head. Then they shut again and through them burst a
+whine like that of a hurt dog.
+
+Bes had driven his spear into the lion's breast, so deep that the point
+of it came out through the back. Still he was not dead, only now it was
+Bes he sought. The dwarf ran at him as he reared up again, and casting
+his great arms about the brute's body, wrestled with him as man with
+man.
+
+Then it was, for the first time I think, that I learned all the
+Ethiopian's strength. For he, a dwarf, threw that lion on its back and
+thrusting his big head beneath the jaws, struggled with it madly. I
+was up, the knife still in my hand, and oh! I too was strong. Into
+the throat I drove it, dragging it this way and that, and lo! the lion
+moaned and died and his blood gushed out over both of us. Then Bes sat
+up and laughed, and I too laughed, since neither of us had more than
+scratches and we had done what men could scarcely do.
+
+"Do you remember, Master," said Bes when he had finished laughing, as he
+wiped his brow with some damp moss, "how, once far away up the Nile you
+charged a mad elephant with a spear and saved me who had fallen, from
+being trampled to death?"
+
+I, Shabaka, answered that I did. (And I, Allan Quatermain, observing
+all these things in my psychic trance in the museum of Ragnall Castle,
+reflected that I also remembered how a certain Hans had saved me from a
+certain mad elephant, to wit, Jana, not so long before, which just shows
+how things come round.)
+
+"Yes," went on Bes, "you saved me from that elephant, though it seemed
+death to you. And, Master, I will tell you something now. That very
+morning I had tried to poison you, only you would not wait to eat
+because the elephants were near."
+
+"Did you?" I asked idly. "Why?"
+
+"Because two years before you captured me in battle with some of my
+people, and as I was misshapen, or for pity's sake, spared my life and
+made me your slave. Well, I who had been a chief, a very great chief,
+Master, did not wish to remain a slave and did wish to avenge my
+people's blood. Therefore I tried to poison you, and that very day you
+saved my life, offering for it your own."
+
+"I think it was because I wanted the tusks of the elephant, Bes."
+
+"Perhaps, Master, only you will remember that this elephant was a young
+cow and had no tusks worth anything. Still had it carried tusks, it
+might have been so, since one white tusk is worth many black dwarfs.
+Well, to-day I have paid you back. I say it lest you should forget that
+had it not been for me, that lion would have eaten you."
+
+"Yes, Bes, you have paid me back and I thank you."
+
+"Master, hitherto I always thought you one who worshipped Maat, goddess
+of Truth. Now I see that you worship the god of Lies, whoever he may
+be, that god who dwells in the breasts of women and most men, but has no
+name. For, Master, it was _you_ who saved _me_ from the lion and not I
+you, since you cut its throat at the last. So that debt of mine is still
+to pay and by the great Grasshopper which we worship in my country, who
+is much better than all the gods of the Egyptians put together, I swear
+that I will pay it soon, or mayhap ten thousand years hence. At the last
+it shall be paid."
+
+"Why do you worship a grasshopper and why is he better than the gods of
+the Egyptians?" I asked carelessly, for I was tired and his talk amused
+me while we rested.
+
+"We worship the Grasshopper, Master, because he jumps with men's spirits
+from one life to another, or from this world to the next, yes, right
+through the blue sky. And he is better than your Egyptian gods because
+they leave you to find your own way there, and then eat you alive, that
+is if you have tried to poison people, as of course we have all done.
+But, Master, we are fresh again now, so let us be going, for the hour
+will soon be finished. Also when she has eaten the spear handle, that
+lioness may return."
+
+"Yes," I said; "let us go and report to the King of kings that we have
+killed a lion."
+
+"Master, it is not enough. Even common kings believe little that they
+do not see, wherefore it is certain that a King of kings will believe
+nothing and still more certain that he will not come here to look. So as
+we cannot carry the lion, we must take a bit of it," and straightway he
+cut off the end of the brute's tail.
+
+Following the crocodile path, presently we reached the edge of the reeds
+opposite to the camp where the King now sat in state beneath a purple
+pavilion that had been reared, eating a meal, with his courtiers
+standing at a distance and looking very hungry.
+
+Out of the reeds bounded Bes, naked and bloody, waving the lion's tail
+and singing some wild Ethiopian chant, while I, also bloody and half
+naked, for the lion's claws had torn my jerkin off me, followed with bow
+unstrung.
+
+The King looked up and saw us.
+
+"What! Do you live, Egyptian?" he asked. "Of a surety I thought that by
+now you would be dead."
+
+"It was the lion that died, O King," I answered, pointing to Bes who,
+having ceased from his song, was jumping about carrying the beast's tail
+in his mouth as a dog carries a bone.
+
+"It seems that this Egyptian has killed a lion," said the King to one of
+his lords, him of the painted face and scented hair.
+
+"May be please the King," he answered, bowing, "a tail is not the whole
+beast and may have been taken thither, or cut from a lion lying dead
+already. The King knows that the Egyptians are great liars."
+
+So he spoke because he was jealous of the deed.
+
+"These men look as though they had met a live one, not one that is
+dead," said the King, scanning our blood-stained shapes. "Still, as
+you doubt it, you will wish to put the matter to the proof. Therefore,
+Cousin, take six men with you, enter the reeds and search. In that soft
+ground it will be easy to follow their footmarks."
+
+"It is dangerous, O King," began the prince, for such he was, no less.
+
+"And therefore the task will be the more to your taste, Cousin. Go now,
+and be swift."
+
+So six hunters were called and the prince went, cursing me beneath his
+breath as he passed us. For he was terribly afraid, and with reason.
+Suddenly Bes ceased from his antics and prostrating himself, cried,
+
+"A boon, O King. This noble lord throws doubt upon my master's word.
+Suffer that I may lead him to where the lion lies dead, since otherwise
+wandering in those reeds the great King's cousin might come to harm and
+the great King be grieved."
+
+"I have many cousins," said the King. "Still go if you wish, Dwarf."
+
+So Bes ran after the prince and catching him up, tapped him on the
+shoulder with the lion's tail to point out the way. Then they vanished
+into the reeds and I went to the chariot to wash off the blood from my
+body and clothes. As I fastened my robe I heard a sound of roaring, then
+one scream, after which all grew still. Now I drew near to the reeds and
+stood between them and the King's camp.
+
+Presently on their edge appeared Bes dancing and singing as before, but
+this time he held a lion's tail in either hand. After him came the six
+hunters dragging between them the body of the lion we had killed. They
+staggered with it towards the King, and I followed.
+
+"I see the dwarf," he said. "I see the dead lion and I see the hunters.
+But where is my cousin? Make report, O Bes."
+
+"O King of kings," replied Bes, "the mighty prince your cousin lies flat
+yonder beneath the body of that lion's wife. She sprang upon him and
+killed him, and I sprang upon her and killed her with my spear. Here is
+her tail, O King of kings."
+
+"Is this true?" he asked of the hunters.
+
+"It is true, O King," answered their captain. "The lioness, which was
+wounded, leapt upon the prince, choosing him although he was behind us
+all. Then this dwarf leapt upon the lioness, being behind the prince and
+nearest to him, and drove his spear through her shoulders to her heart.
+So we brought the first lion as the King commanded us, since we could
+carry no more."
+
+The face of the King grew red with rage.
+
+"Seven of my people and one black dwarf!" he exclaimed. "Yet the lioness
+kills my cousin and the dwarf kills the lioness. Such is the tale that
+will go to Egypt concerning the hunters of the King of the world. Seize
+those men, Guards, and let them be fed to the wild beasts in the palace
+dens."
+
+At once the unfortunates were seized and led away. Then the King called
+Bes to him, and taking the gold chain he wore about his neck, threw
+it over his head, thereby, though I knew nothing of it at the time,
+conferring upon him some noble rank. Next he called to me and said,
+
+"It would seem that you are skilled in the use of the bow and in the
+hunting of lions, Egyptian. Therefore I will honour you, for this
+afternoon your chariot shall drive with my chariot, and we will hunt
+side by side. Moreover, I will lay you a wager as to which of us will
+kill the most lions, for know, Shabaka, that I also am skilled in
+the use of the bow, more skilled than any among the millions of my
+subjects."
+
+"Then, O King, it is of little use for me to match myself against you,
+seeing that I have met men who can shoot better than I do, or, since in
+the East all must speak nothing but the truth, not being liars as the
+dead prince said we Egyptians are, one man."
+
+"Who was that man, Shabaka?"
+
+"The Prince Peroa, O King."
+
+The King frowned as though the name displeased him, then answered,
+
+"Am I not greater than this Peroa and cannot I therefore shoot better?"
+
+"Doubtless, O King of kings, and therefore how can I who shoot worse
+than Peroa, match myself against you?"
+
+"For which reason I will give you odds, Shabaka. Behold this rope of
+rose-hued pearls I wear. They are unequalled in the whole world, for
+twenty years the merchants sought them in the days of my father; half
+of them would buy a satrapy. I wager them"--here the listening nobles
+gasped and the fat eunuch, Houman, held up his hands in horror.
+
+"Against what, O King?"
+
+"Your slave Bes, to whom I have taken a fancy."
+
+Now I trembled and Bes rolled his yellow eyes.
+
+"Your pardon, O King of kings," I said, "but it is not enough. I am a
+hunter and to such, priceless pearls are of little use. But to me that
+dwarf is of much use in my hunting."
+
+"So be it, Shabaka, then I will add to the wager. If you win, together
+with the pearls I will give you the dwarf's weight in solid gold."
+
+"The King is bountiful," I answered, "but it is not enough, for even if
+I win against one who can shoot better than Peroa, which is impossible,
+what should I do with so much gold? Surely for the sake of it I should
+be murdered or ever I saw the coasts of Egypt."
+
+"What shall I add then?" asked the King. "The most beauteous maiden in
+the House of Women?"
+
+I shook my head. "Not so, O King, for then I must marry who would remain
+single."
+
+"There is no need, you might sell her to your friend, Peroa. A satrapy?"
+
+"Not so, O King, for then I must govern it, which would keep me from my
+hunting, until it pleased the King to take my head."
+
+"By the name of the holy ones I worship what then do you ask added to
+the pearls and the pure gold?"
+
+Now I tried to bethink me of something that the King could not grant,
+since I had no wish for this match which my heart warned me would end
+in trouble. As no thought came to me I looked at Bes and saw that he was
+rolling his eyes towards the six doomed hunters who were being led away,
+also in pretence of driving off a fly, pointing to them with one of the
+lion tails. Then I remembered that a decree once uttered by the King of
+the East could not be altered, and saw a road of escape.
+
+"O King," I said, "together with the pearls and the gold I ask that the
+lives of those six hunters be added to the wager, to be spared if by
+chance I should win."
+
+"Why?" asked the King amazed.
+
+"Because they are brave men, O King, and I would not see the bones of
+such cracked by tame beasts in a cage."
+
+"Is my judgment registered?" asked the King.
+
+"Not yet, O King," answered the head scribe.
+
+"Then it has no weight and can be suspended without the breaking of the
+law. Shabaka, thus stands our wager. If I kill more lions than you do
+this day, or, should but two be slain, I kill the first, or should none
+be slain, I plant more arrows in their bodies, I take your slave, Bes
+the dwarf, to be my slave. But should you have the better of me in any
+of these ways, then I give to you this girdle of rose pearls and the
+weight of the dwarf Bes in gold and the six hunters free of harm, to do
+with what you will. Let it be recorded, and to the hunt."
+
+
+
+Soon Bes and I were in our chariot which by command took place in line
+with that of the King, but at a distance of some thirty steps. Bending
+over the dwarf who drove, I spoke with him, saying,
+
+"Our luck is ill to-day, Bes, seeing that before the end of it we may
+well be parted."
+
+"Not so, Master, our luck is good to-day seeing that before the end of
+it you will be the richer by the finest pearls in the whole world, by my
+weight in pure gold (and Master, I am twice as heavy as the king thought
+and will stuff myself with twenty pounds of meat before the weighing, if
+I have the chance, or at least with water, though in this hot place that
+will not last for long), and by six picked huntsmen, brave men as you
+thought, who will serve to escort us and our treasure to the coast."
+
+"First I must win the match, Bes."
+
+"Which you could do with one eye blinded, Master, and a sore finger.
+Kings think that they can shoot because all the worms that crawl about
+them and are named men, dare not show themselves their betters. Oh! I
+have heard tales in yonder city. There have been days when this Lord
+of the world has missed six lions with as many arrows, and they seated
+smiling in his face, being but tamed brutes brought from far in cages of
+wood, yes, smiling like cats in the sun. Look you, Master, he drinks
+too much wine and sits up too late in his Women's house--there are three
+hundred of them there, Master--to shoot as you and I can. If you doubt
+it, look at his eyes and hands. Oh! the pearls and the gold and the men
+are yours, and that painted prince who mocked us is where he ought to
+be--dead in the mud.
+
+"Did I tell you how I managed that, Master? As you know better than I
+do, lions hate those that have on them the smell of their own blood.
+Therefore, while I pointed out the way to him, I touched the painted
+prince with the bleeding tail of that which we killed, pretending that
+it was by chance, for which he cursed me, as well he might. So when we
+came to the dead lion and, as I had expected, met there the lioness you
+had wounded, she charged through the hunters at him who smelt of her
+husband, and bit his head off."
+
+"But, Bes, you smelt of him also, and worse."
+
+"Yes, Master, but that painted cousin of the King came first. I kept
+well behind him, pretending to be afraid," and he chuckled quietly,
+adding, "I expect that he is now telling an angry tale about me to
+Osiris, or to the Grasshopper that takes him there, as it may happen."
+
+"These Easterns worship neither Osiris, nor your Grasshopper, Bes, but a
+flame of fire."
+
+"Then he is telling the tale to the fire, and I hope that it will get
+tired and burn him."
+
+So we talked merrily enough because we had done great deeds and thought
+that we had outwitted the Easterns and the King, not knowing all their
+craft. For none had told us that that man who hunted with the King and
+yet dared to draw arrow upon the quarry before the King should be put
+to death as one who had done insult to his Majesty. This that royal fox
+remembered and therefore was sure that he would win the wager.
+
+Now the chariots turned and passing down a path came to an open space
+that was cleared of reeds. Here they halted, that of the King and my own
+side by side with ten paces between them, and those of the court behind.
+Meanwhile huntsmen with dogs entered the great brake far away to the
+right and left of us, also in front, so that the lions might be driven
+backwards and forwards across the open space.
+
+Soon we heard the hounds baying on all sides. Then Bes made a sucking
+noise with his great lips and pointed to the edge of the reeds in front
+of us some sixty paces away. Looking, I saw a yellow shape creeping
+along between their dark stems, and although the shot was far,
+forgetting all things save I was a hunter and there was my game, I drew
+the arrow to my ear, aimed and loosed, making allowance for its fall and
+for the wind.
+
+Oh! that shot was good. It struck the lion in the body and pierced him
+through. Out he came, roaring, rolling, and tearing at the ground. But
+by now I had another arrow on the string, and although the King lifted
+his bow, I loosed first. Again it struck, this time in the throat, and
+that lion groaned and died.
+
+The King looked at me angrily, and from the court behind rose a murmur
+of wonder mingled with wrath, wonder at my marksmanship, and wrath
+because I had dared to shoot before the King.
+
+"The wager looks well for us," muttered Bes, but I bade him be silent,
+for more lions were stirring.
+
+Now one leapt across the open space, passing in front of the King and
+within thirty paces of us. He shot and missed it, sending his shaft two
+spans above its back. Then I shot and drove the arrow through it just
+where the head joins the neck, cutting the spine, so that it died at
+once.
+
+Again that murmur went up and the King struck the charioteer on the head
+with his clenched fist, crying out that he had suffered the horses to
+move and should be scourged for causing his hand to shake.
+
+This charioteer, although he was a lord--since in the East men of high
+rank waited on the King like slaves and even clipped his nails and
+beard--craved pardon humbly, admitting his fault.
+
+"It is a lie," whispered Bes. "The horses never stirred. How could they
+with those grooms holding their heads? Nevertheless, Master, the pearls
+are as good as round your neck."
+
+"Silence," I answered. "As we have heard, in the East all men speak the
+truth; it is only Egyptians who lie. Also in the East men's necks are
+encircled with bowstrings as well as pearls, and ears are long."
+
+The hounds continued to bay, drawing nearer to us. A lioness bounded out
+of the reeds, ran towards the King's chariot and as though amazed, sat
+down like a dog, so near that a man might have hit it with a stone. The
+King shot short, striking it in the fore-paw only, whereon it shook out
+the arrow and rushed back into the reeds, while the court behind cried,
+
+"May the King live for ever! The beast is dead."
+
+"We shall see if it is dead presently," said Bes, and I nodded.
+
+Another lion appeared to the right of the King. Again he shot and missed
+it, whereon he began to curse and to swear in his own royal oaths, and
+the charioteer trembled. Then came the end.
+
+One of the hounds drew quite close and roused the lioness that had been
+pricked in the foot. She turned and killed it with a blow of her paw,
+then, being mad, charged straight at the King's chariot. The horses
+reared, lifting the grooms off their feet. The King shot wildly and fell
+backwards out of the chariot, as even Kings of the world must do when
+they have nothing left to stand on. The lioness saw that he was down and
+leapt at him, straight over the chariot. As she leapt I shot at her
+in the air and pierced her through the loins, paralysing her, so that
+although she fell down near the King, she could not come at him to kill
+him.
+
+I sprang from my chariot, but before I could reach the lioness hunters
+had run up with spears and stabbed her, which was easy as she could not
+move.
+
+The King rose from the ground, for he was unharmed, and said in a loud
+voice,
+
+"Had not that shaft of mine gone home, I think that the East would have
+bowed to another lord to-night."
+
+Now, forgetting that I was speaking to the King of the earth, forgetting
+the wager and all besides, I exclaimed,
+
+"Nay, your shaft missed; mine went home," whereon one of the courtiers
+cried,
+
+"This Egyptian is a liar, and calls the King one!"
+
+"A liar?" I said astonished. "Look at the arrow and see from whose
+quiver it came," and I drew one from my own of the Egyptian make and
+marked with my mark.
+
+Then a tumult broke out, all the courtiers and eunuchs talking at once,
+yet all bowing to the mud-stained person of the King, like ears of wheat
+to a tree in a storm. Not wishing to urge my claims further, for my part
+I returned to the chariot and the hunting being done, as I supposed,
+unstrung my bow which I prized above all things, and set it in its case.
+
+While I was thus employed the eunuch Houman approached me with a sickly
+smile, saying,
+
+"The King commands your presence, Egyptian, that you may receive your
+reward."
+
+I nodded, saying that I would come, and he returned.
+
+"Bes," I said when he was out of hearing, "my heart sinks. I do not
+trust that King who I think means mischief."
+
+"So do I, Master. Oh! we have been great fools. When a god and a man
+climb a tree together, the man should allow the god to come first to the
+top, and thence tell the world that he is a god."
+
+"Yes," I answered, "but who ever sees Wisdom until she is flying away?
+Now perhaps, the god being the stronger, will cast down the man."
+
+Then both together we advanced towards the King, leaving the chariot in
+charge of soldiers. He was seated on a gilded chair which served him
+as a throne, and behind him were his officers, eunuchs and attendants,
+though not all of them, since at a little distance some of them were
+engaged in beating the lord who had served as his charioteer upon the
+feet with rods. We prostrated ourselves before him and waited till he
+spoke. At length he said,
+
+"Shabaka the Egyptian, we made a wager with you, of which you will
+remember the terms. It seems that you have won the wager, since you slew
+two lions, whereas we, the King, slew but one, that which leapt upon us
+in the chariot."
+
+Here Bes groaned at my side and I looked up.
+
+"Fear nothing," he went on, "it shall be paid." Here he snatched off the
+girdle of priceless, rose-hued pearls and threw it in my face.
+
+"At the palace too," he went on, "the dwarf shall be set in the scales
+and his full weight in pure gold shall be given to you. Moreover, the
+lives of the six hunters are yours, and with them the men themselves."
+
+"May the King live for ever!" I exclaimed, feeling that I must say
+something.
+
+"I hope so," he answered cruelly, "but, Egyptian, you shall not, who
+have broken the laws of the land."
+
+"In what way, O King?" I asked.
+
+"By shooting at the lions before the King had time to draw his bow, and
+by telling the King that he lied to his face, for both of which things
+the punishment is death."
+
+Now my heart swelled till I thought it would burst with rage. Then of a
+sudden, a certain spirit entered into me and I rose to my feet and said,
+
+"O King, you have declared that I must die and as this is so, I will
+kneel to you no more who soon shall sup at the table of Osiris, and
+there be far greater than any king, going before him with clean hands.
+Is it not your law that he who is condemned to die has first the right
+to set out his case for the honour of his name?"
+
+"It is," said the King, I think because he was curious to hear what I
+had to say. "Speak on."
+
+"O King, although my blood is as high as your own, of that I say
+nothing, for at the wish of your satrap I came to the East from Egypt as
+a hunter, to show you how we of Egypt kill lions and other beasts. For
+three months I have waited in the royal city seeking admission to the
+presence of the King, and in vain. At length I was bidden to this hunt
+when I was about to depart to my own land, and being taunted by your
+servants, entered the reeds with my slave, and there slew a lion. Then
+it pleased you to thrust a wager upon me which I did not wish to
+take, as to which of us would shoot the most lions; a wager as I now
+understand you did not mean that I should win, whatever might be my
+skill, since you thought I knew that I must shoot at nothing till you
+had first shot and killed the beasts or scared them away.
+
+"So I matched myself against you, as hunter against hunter, for in the
+field, as before the gods, all are equal, not as a slave against a king
+who is determined to avenge defeat by death. We were posted and the
+lions came. I shot at those which appeared opposite to me, or upon
+my side, leaving those that appeared opposite to you, or on your side
+unshot at, as is the custom of hunters. My skill, or my fortune, was
+better than yours and I killed, whereas you missed or only wounded. In
+the end a lioness sprang at you and I shot it lest it should kill you;
+as could easily be proved by the arrow in its body. Now you say that I
+must die because I have broken some laws of yours which men should
+be ashamed to make, and to save your honour, pay me what I have won,
+knowing that pearls and gold and slaves are of no value to a dying man
+and can be taken back again. That is all the story.
+
+"Yet I would add one word. You Easterns have two sayings which you teach
+to your children; that they should learn to shoot with the bow, and to
+tell the truth. O King, they are my last lessons to you. Learn to shoot
+with the bow--which you cannot do, and to tell the truth which you have
+not done. Now I have spoken and am ready to die and I thank you for
+the patience with which you have heard my words, that, as the King does
+_not_ live for ever, I hope one day to repeat to you more fully beyond
+the grave."
+
+Now at this bold speech of mine all those nobles and attendants gasped,
+for never had they heard such words addressed to his Majesty. The King
+turned red as though with shame, but made no answer, only he asked of
+those about him.
+
+"What fate for this man?"
+
+"Death, O King!" they cried with one voice.
+
+"What death?" he asked again.
+
+Then his Councillors consulted together and one of them answered,
+
+"The slowest known to our law, _death by the boat_."
+
+Hearing this and not knowing what was meant, it came into my mind that I
+was to be turned adrift in a boat and there left to starve.
+
+"Behold the reward of good hunting!" I mocked in my rage. "O King,
+because of this deed of shame I call upon you the curse of all the gods
+of all the peoples. Henceforth may your sleep be ever haunted by evil
+dreams of what shall follow the last sleep, and in the end may you also
+die in blood."
+
+The King opened his mouth as though to answer, but from it came nothing
+but a low cry of fear. Then guards rushed up and seized me.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI. THE DOOM OF THE BOAT
+
+The guards led me to my chariot and thrust me into it, and with me Bes.
+I asked them if they would murder him also, to which the eunuch, Houman,
+answered No, since he had committed no crime, but that he must go with
+me to be weighed. Then soldiers took the horses by the bridles and led
+them, while others, having first snatched away my bow and all our other
+weapons, surrounded the chariot lest we should escape. So Bes and I were
+able to talk together in a Libyan tongue that none of them understood,
+even if they heard our words.
+
+"Your life is spared," I said to him, "that the King may take you as a
+slave."
+
+"Then he will take an ill slave, Master, since I swear by the
+Grasshopper that within a moon I will find means to kill him, and
+afterwards come to join you in a land where men hunt fair."
+
+I smiled and Bes went on,
+
+"Now I wish I had time to teach you that trick of swallowing your own
+tongue, since perhaps you will need it in this boat of which they talk."
+
+"Did you not say to me an hour or two ago, Bes, that we are fools to
+stretch out our hands to Death until he stretches out his to us? I will
+not die until I must--now."
+
+"Why 'now,' Master, seeing that only this afternoon you bade me kill you
+rather than let you be thrown to the wild beasts?" he asked peering at
+me curiously.
+
+"Do you remember the old hermit, the holy Tanofir, who dwells in a cell
+over the sepulchre of the Apis bulls in the burial ground of the desert
+near to Memphis, Bes?"
+
+"The magician and prophet who is the brother of your grandfather,
+Master, and the son of a king; he who brought you up before he became a
+hermit? Yes, I know him well, though I have seldom been very near to him
+because his eyes frighten me, as they frightened Cambyses the Persian
+when Tanofir cursed him and foretold his doom after he had stabbed the
+holy Apis, saying that by a wound from that same sword in his own body
+he should die himself, which thing came to pass. As they have frightened
+many another man also."
+
+"Well, Bes, when yonder king told me that I must die, fear filled me
+who did not wish to die thus, and after the fear came a blackness in my
+mind. Then of a sudden in that blackness I saw a picture of Tanofir, my
+great uncle, seated in a sepulchre looking towards the East. Moreover
+I heard him speak, and to me, saying, 'Shabaka, my foster-son, fear
+nothing. You are in great danger but it will pass. Speak to the great
+King all that rises in your heart, for the gods of Vengeance make use of
+your tongue and whatever you prophesy to him shall be fulfilled.' So I
+spoke the words you heard and I feared nothing."
+
+"Is it so, Master? Then I think that the holy Tanofir must have entered
+my heart also. Know that I was minded to leap upon that king and break
+his neck, so that all three of us might end together. But of a sudden
+something seemed to tell me to leave him alone and let things go as they
+are fated. But how can the holy Tanofir who grows blind with age, see so
+far?"
+
+"I do not know, Bes, save that he is not as are other men, for in him
+is gathered all the ancient wisdom of Egypt. Moreover he lives with the
+gods while still upon earth, and like the gods can send his _Ka_, as we
+Egyptians call the spirit, or invisible self which companions all from
+the cradle to the grave and afterwards, whither he will. So doubtless
+to-day he sent it hither to me whom he loves more than anything on
+earth. Also I remember that before I entered on this journey he told
+me that I should return safe and sound. Therefore, Bes, I say I fear
+nothing."
+
+"Nor do I, Master. Yet if you see me do strange things, or hear me speak
+strange words, take no note of them, since I shall be but playing a part
+as I think wisest."
+
+After this we talked of that day's adventure with the lions, and of
+others that we had shared together, laughing merrily all the while, till
+the soldiers stared at us as though we were mad. Also the fat eunuch,
+Houman, who was mounted on an ass, rode up and said,
+
+"What, Egyptian who dared to twist the beard of the Great King, you
+laugh, do you? Well, you will sing a different song in the boat to that
+which you sing in the chariot. Think of my words on the eighth day from
+this."
+
+"I will think of them, Eunuch," I answered, looking at him fiercely in
+the eyes, "but who knows what kind of a song you will be singing before
+the eighth day from this?"
+
+"What I do is done under the authority of the ancient and holy Seal of
+Seals," he answered in a quavering voice, touching the little cylinder
+of white shell which I had noted upon the person of the King, but that
+now hung from a gold chain about the eunuch's neck.
+
+Then he made the sign which Easterns use to avert evil and rode off
+again, looking very frightened.
+
+So we came to the royal city and went up to a wonderful palace. Here we
+were taken from the chariot and led into a room where food and drink in
+plenty were given to me as though I were an honoured guest, which caused
+me to wonder. Bes also, seated on the ground at a distance, ate and
+drank, for his own reasons filling himself to the throat as though he
+were a wineskin, until the serving slaves mocked at him for a glutton.
+
+When we had finished eating, slaves appeared bearing a wooden framework
+from which hung a great pair of scales. Also there appeared officers of
+the King's Treasury, carrying leather bags which they opened, breaking
+the seals to show that the contents were pure gold coin. They set a
+number of these bags on one of the scales, and then ordered Bes to seat
+himself in the other. So much heavier did he prove than they expected
+him to be, that they were obliged to send back to the Treasury to fetch
+more bags of gold, for although Bes was so short in height, his weight
+was that of a large man. One of the treasurers grumbled, saying he
+should have been weighed before he had eaten and drunk. But the officer
+to whom he spoke grinned and answered that it mattered little, since the
+King was heir to criminals and that these bags would soon return to
+the Treasury, only they would need washing first, a remark that made me
+wonder.
+
+At length, when the scales were even, the six hunters whose lives I had
+won and who had been given to me as slaves, were brought in and ordered
+to shoulder the bags of gold. I too was seized and my hands were bound
+behind me. Then I was led out in charge of the eunuch Houman, who
+informed me with a leer that it would be his duty to attend to my
+comfort till the end. With him were four black men all dressed in the
+same way. These, he said, were the executioners. Lastly came Bes watched
+by three of the king's guards armed with spears, lest he should attempt
+to rescue me or to do anyone a mischief.
+
+Now my heart began to sink and I asked Houman what was to happen to me.
+
+"This, O Egyptian slayer of lions. You will be laid upon a bed in a
+little boat upon the river and another boat will be placed over you, for
+these boats are called the Twins, Egyptian, in such a fashion that your
+head and your hands will project at one end and your feet at the other.
+There you will be left, comfortable as a baby in its cradle, and twice
+every day the best of food and drink will be brought to you. Should your
+appetite fail, moreover, it will be my duty to revive it by pricking
+your eyes with the point of a knife until it returns. Also after each
+meal I shall wash your face, your hands and your feet with milk and
+honey, lest the flies that buzz about them should suffer hunger, and to
+preserve your skin from burning by the sun. Thus slowly you will
+grow weaker and at length fall asleep. The last one who went into the
+boat--he, unlucky man, had by accident wandered into the court of the
+House of Women and seen some of the ladies there unveiled--only
+lived for twelve days, but you, being so strong, may hope to last for
+eighteen. Is there anything more that I can tell you? If so, ask it
+quickly for we draw near to the river."
+
+Now when I heard this and understood all the horror of my fate, I forgot
+the vision of my great uncle, the holy Tanofir, and his comfortable
+prophecies, and my heart failed me altogether, so that I stood stock
+still.
+
+"What, Lion-hunter and Bearder of kings, do you think it is too early to
+go to bed?" mocked this devilish eunuch. "On with you!" and he began to
+beat me about the face with the handle of his fly-whisk.
+
+Then my manhood came back to me.
+
+"When did the King tell you to touch me, you fatted swine?" I roared,
+and turning, since I could not reach him with my bound hands, kicked
+him in the body with all my strength, so that he fell down, writhing and
+screaming with agony. Indeed, had not the executioners leapt upon me, I
+would have trampled the life out of him where he lay. But they held me
+fast and presently, after he had been sick, Houman recovered enough to
+come forward leaning on the shoulders of two guards. Only now he mocked
+me no more.
+
+We reached a quay just as the sun was setting. There in charge of a
+one-eyed black slave, a little square-ended boat floated at the river's
+edge, while on the quay itself lay a similar but somewhat shorter boat,
+bottom uppermost. Now the hunters whom I had won in the wager, with many
+glances of compassion, for they were brave men and knew that it was I
+who had saved their lives, placed the bags of gold in the bottom of the
+floating boat, and on the top of these a mattress stuffed with straw.
+Then the girdle of rose-hued pearls was made fast about my middle, my
+hands were untied, I was seized by the executioners and laid on my back
+on the mattress, and my wrists and ankles were fixed by cords to iron
+rings that were screwed to the thwarts of the boat. After this the
+other, shorter boat was laid over me in such a manner that it did not
+touch me, leaving my head, my hands and my feet exposed as the eunuch
+had said.
+
+While this wicked work was going forward Bes sat on the quay, watching,
+till presently, after I had been made fast and covered up, he burst into
+shouts of laughter, clapped his hands and began to dance about as though
+with joy, till the eunuch, who had now recovered somewhat from my kick,
+grew curious and asked him why he behaved thus.
+
+"O noble Eunuch," he answered, "once I was free and that man made me a
+slave, so that for many years I have been obliged to toil for him whom I
+hate. Moreover, often he has beaten me and starved me, which was why you
+saw me eat so much not long ago, and threatened to kill me, and now at
+last I have my revenge upon him who is about to die miserably. That is
+why I laugh and sing and dance and clap my hands, O most noble Eunuch,
+I who shall become the follower and servant of the glorious King of
+all the earth, and perhaps your friend, too, O Eunuch of eunuchs, whose
+sacred person my brutal master dared to kick."
+
+"I understand," said Houman smiling, though with a twisted face, "and
+will make report of all you say to the King, and ask him to grant that
+you shall sometimes prick this Egyptian in the eye. Now go spit in his
+face and tell him what you think of him."
+
+So Bes waded into the water which was quite shallow here, and spat into
+my face, or pretended to, while amid a torrent of vile language, he
+interpolated certain words in the Libyan tongue, which meant,
+
+"O my most beloved father, mother, and other relatives, have no fear.
+Though things look very black, remember the vision of the holy Tanofir,
+who doubtless allows these things to happen to you to try your faith by
+direct order of the gods. Be sure that I will not leave you to perish,
+or if there should be no escape, that I will find a way to put you out
+of your misery and to avenge you. Yes, yes, I will yet see that accursed
+swine, Houman, take your place in this boat. Now I go to the Court to
+which it seems that this gold chain gives me a right of entry, or so the
+eunuch says, but soon I will be back again."
+
+Then followed another stream or most horrible abuse and more spitting,
+after which he waded back to land and embraced Houman, calling him his
+best friend.
+
+They went, leaving me alone in the boat save for the guard upon the quay
+who, now that darkness had come, soon grew silent. It was lonely, very
+lonely, lying there staring at the empty sky with only the stinging
+gnats for company, and soon my limbs began to ache. I thought of the
+poor wretches who had suffered in this same boat and wondered if their
+lot would be my lot.
+
+Bes was faithful and clever, but what could a single dwarf do among all
+these black-hearted fiends? And if he could do nothing, oh! if he could
+do nothing!
+
+The seconds seemed minutes, the minutes seemed hours, and the hours
+seemed years. What then would the days be, passed in torture and
+agony while waiting for a filthy death? Where now were the gods I had
+worshipped and--was there any god? Or was man but a self-deceiver who
+created gods instead of the gods creating him, because he did not love
+to think of an eternal blackness in which he would soon be swallowed up
+and lost? Well, at least that would mean sleep, and sleep is better than
+torment of mind or body.
+
+It came to me, I think, who was so weary. At any rate I opened my eyes
+to see that the low moon had vanished and that some of the stars which
+I knew as a hunter who had often steered his way by them, had moved a
+little. While I was wondering idly why they moved, I heard the tramp of
+soldiers on the quay and the voice of an officer giving a command. Then
+I felt the boat being drawn in by the cord with which it was attached to
+the quay. Next the other boat that lay over me was lifted off, the ropes
+that bound we were undone and I was set upon my feet, for already I was
+so stiff that I could scarcely stand. A voice which I recognised as that
+of the eunuch Houman, addressed me in respectful tones, which made me
+think I must be dreaming.
+
+"Noble Shabaka," said the voice, "the Great King commands your presence
+at his feast."
+
+"Is it so?" I answered in my dream. "Then my absence from their feast
+will vex the gnats of the river," a saying at which Houman and others
+with him laughed obsequiously.
+
+Next I heard the bags of gold being removed from the boat, after which
+we walked away, guards supporting me by either elbow until I found my
+strength again, and Houman following just behind, perhaps because he
+feared my foot if he went in front.
+
+"What has chanced, Eunuch," I asked presently, "that I am disturbed from
+the bed where I was sleeping so well?"
+
+"I do not know, Lord," he answered. "I only know that the King of kings
+has suddenly commanded that you should be brought before him as a guest
+clothed in a robe of honour, even if to do so, you must be awakened from
+your rest, yes, to his own royal table, for he holds a feast this night.
+Lord," he went on in a whining voice, "if perchance fortune should have
+changed her face to you, I pray you bear no malice to those who, when
+she frowned, were forced, yes, under the private Seal of Seals, against
+their will to carry out the commands of the King. Be just, O Lord
+Shabaka."
+
+"Say no more. I will try to be just," I answered. "But what is justice
+in the East? I only know of it in Egypt."
+
+Now we reached one of the doors of the palace and I was taken to a
+chamber where slaves who were waiting, washed and anointed me with
+scents, after which they clad me in a beautiful robe of silk, setting
+the girdle of rose-hued pearls about me.
+
+When they had finished, preceded by Houman I was led to a great pillared
+hall closed in with silk hangings, where many feasted. Through them I
+went to a dais at the head of the hall where between half-drawn curtains
+surrounded by cup-bearers and other officers, the King sat in all his
+glory upon a cushioned golden throne. He had a glittering wine-cup in
+his hand and at a glance I saw that he was drunk, as it is the fashion
+for these Easterns to be at their great feasts, for he looked happy and
+human which he did not do when he was sober. Or perchance, as sometimes
+I thought afterwards, he only pretended to be drunk. Also I saw
+something else, namely, Bes, wondrously attired with the gold chain
+about his neck and wearing a red headdress. He was seated on the carpet
+before the throne, and saying things that made the King laugh and even
+caused the grave officers behind to smile.
+
+I came to the dais and at a little sign from Bes who yet did not seem to
+see me, such a sign as he often made when he caught sight of game before
+I did, I prostrated myself. The King looked at me, then asked,
+
+"Who is this?" adding, "Oh, I remember, the Egyptian whose arrows do not
+miss, the wonderful hunter whom Idernes sent to me from Memphis, which
+I hope to visit ere long. We quarrelled, did we not, Egyptian, something
+about a lion?"
+
+"Not so, King," I answered. "The King was angry and with justice,
+because I could not kill a lion before it frightened his horses."
+
+This I said because my hours in the boat had made me humble, also
+because the words came to my lips.
+
+"Yes, yes, something like that, or at least you lie well. Whatever it
+may have been, it is done with now, a mere hunters' difference," and
+taking from his side his long sceptre that was headed with the great
+emerald, he stretched it out for me to touch in token of pardon.
+
+Then I knew that I was safe for he to whom the King has extended his
+sceptre is forgiven all crimes, yes, even if he had attempted the royal
+life. The Court knew it also, for every man who saw bowed towards me,
+yes, even the officers behind the King. One of the cup-bearers too
+brought me a goblet of the King's own wine, which I drank thankfully,
+calling down health on the King.
+
+"That was a wonderful shot of yours, Egyptian," he said, "when you sent
+an arrow through the lioness that dared to attack my Majesty. Yes, the
+King owes his life to you and he is grateful as you shall learn. This
+slave of yours," and he pointed to Bes in his gaudy attire, "has brought
+the whole matter to my mind whence it had fallen, and, Shabaka," here he
+hiccupped, "you may have noted how differently things look to the naked
+eye and when seen through a wine goblet. He has told me a wonderful
+story--what was the story, Dwarf?"
+
+"May it please the great King," answered Bes, rolling his big eyes,
+"only a little tale of another king of my own country whom I used to
+think great until I came to the East and learned what kings could be.
+That king had a servant with whom he used to hunt, indeed he was my own
+father. One day they were out together seeking a certain elephant whose
+tusks were bigger than those of any other. Then the elephant charged the
+king and my father, at the risk of his life, killed it and claimed the
+tusks, as is the custom among the Ethiopians. But the king who greatly
+desired those tusks, caused my father to be poisoned that he might take
+them as his heir. Only before he died, my father, who could talk the
+elephant language, told all the other elephants of this wickedness,
+at which they were very angry, because they knew well that from the
+beginning of time their tusks have belonged to him who killed them, and
+the elephants are a people who do not like ancient laws to be altered.
+So the elephants made a league together and when the king next went out
+hunting, taking heed of nothing else they rushed at the king and tore
+him into pieces no bigger than a finger, and then killed the prince his
+son, who was behind him. That is the tale of the elephants who love Law,
+O King."
+
+"Yes, yes," said his Majesty, waking up from a little doze, "but what
+became of the great tusks? I should like to have them."
+
+"I inherited them as my father's son, O King, and gave them to my
+master, who doubtless will send them to you when he gets back to Egypt."
+
+"A strange tale," said the King. "A very strange tale which seems to
+remind me of something that happened not long ago. What was it? Well, it
+does not matter. Egyptian, do you seek any reward for that shot of
+yours at the lioness? If so, it shall be given to you. Have you a grudge
+against anyone, for instance?"
+
+"O King," I answered, "I do seek justice against a certain man. This
+evening I was led to the bank of the river in charge of the eunuch
+Houman, who desired to take me for a row in a boat. On the road, for no
+offence he struck me on the head with the handle of his fly-whip. See,
+here are the marks of it, O King. Unless the King commanded him to
+strike me which I do not remember, I seek justice against this eunuch."
+
+Now the King grew very angry and cried,
+
+"What! Did the dog dare to strike a freeborn noble Egyptian?"
+
+Here Houman threw himself upon his face in terror and began to babble
+out I know not what about the punishment of the boat, which was unlucky
+for him, for it put the matter into the King's mind.
+
+"The boat!" he cried. "Ah! yes, the boat; being so fat you will fit it
+well, Eunuch. To the boat with him, and before he enters it a hundred
+blows upon the feet with the rods," and he pointed at him with his
+sceptre.
+
+Then guards sprang upon Houman and dragged him away. As he went he
+clutched at Bes, but hissing something into his ear, the dwarf bit
+him through the hand till he let go. So Houman departed and the King's
+guests laughed at the sight, for he had worked mischief to many.
+
+When he had gone the King stared at me and asked,
+
+"But why did I disturb you from your sleep, Egyptian? Oh! I remember.
+This dwarf says that he has seen the fairest woman in the whole world,
+and the most learned, some lady of Egypt, but that he does not know her
+name, that you alone know her name. I disturbed you that you might tell
+it to me but if you have forgotten it, you can go back to your bed and
+rest there till it returns to you. There are plenty of boats in the
+river, Egyptian."
+
+"The fairest and most learned woman in the world?" I said astonished.
+"Who can that be, unless he means the lady Amada?" and I paused, wishing
+I had bitten out my tongue before I spoke, for I smelt a trap.
+
+"Yes, Master," said Bes in a clear voice. "That was the name, the lady
+Amada."
+
+"Who is this lady Amada?" asked the King, seeming to grow suddenly
+sober. "And what is she like?"
+
+"I can tell you that, O King," said Bes. "She is like a willow shaken in
+the wind for slenderness and grace. She has eyes like those of a buck
+at gaze; she has lips like rosebuds; she has hair black as the night and
+soft as silk, the odour of which floats round her like that of flowers.
+She has a voice that whispers like the evening wind, and yet is rich
+as honey. Oh! she is beautiful as a goddess and when men see her their
+hearts melt like wax in the sun and for a long while they can look upon
+no other woman, not till the next day indeed if they meet her in the
+evening," and Bes smacked his thick lips and gazed upwards.
+
+"By the holy Fire," laughed the King, "I feel my heart melting already.
+Say, Shabaka, what do you know of this Amada? Is she married or a
+maiden?"
+
+Now I answered because I must, for after all that boat was not far away,
+nor did I dare to lie.
+
+"She is married, O King of kings, to the goddess Isis whom she loves
+alone."
+
+"A woman married to a woman, or rather to the Queen of women," he
+answered laughing, "well, that matters little."
+
+"Nay, O King, it matters much since she is under the protection of Isis
+and inviolate."
+
+"That remains to be seen, Shabaka. I think that I would dare the wrath
+of every false goddess in heaven to win such a prize. Learned also, you
+say, Shabaka."
+
+"Aye, O King, full of learning to the finger tips, a prophetess also,
+one in whom the divine fire burns like a lamp in a vase of alabaster,
+one to whom visions come and who can read the future and the past."
+
+"Still better," said the King. "One, then, who would be a fitting
+consort for the King of kings, who wearies of fat, round-eyed,
+sweetmeat-sucking fools whereof there are hundreds yonder," and he
+pointed towards the House of Women. "Who is this maid's father?"
+
+"He is dead but she is the niece of the Prince Peroa, and by birth the
+Royal Lady of Egypt, O King."
+
+"Good, then she is well born also. Hearken, O Shabaka, to-morrow you
+start back to Egypt, bearing letters from me to my vassal Peroa, and to
+my Satrap Idernes, bidding Peroa to hand over this lady Amada to Idernes
+and bidding Idernes to send her to the East with all honour and without
+delay, that she may enter my household as one of my wives."
+
+Now I was filled with rage and horror, and about to refuse this mission
+when Bes broke in swiftly,
+
+"Will the King of kings be pleased to give command as to my master's
+safe and honourable escort to Egypt?"
+
+"It is commanded with all things necessary for Shabaka the Egyptian and
+the dwarf his servant, with the gold and gems and slaves he won from me
+in a wager, and everything else that is his. Let it be recorded."
+
+Scribes sprang forward and wrote the King's words down, while like one
+in a dream I thought to myself that they could not now be altered. The
+King watched them sleepily for a while, then seemed to wake up and grow
+clear-minded again. At least he said to me,
+
+"Fortune has shown you smiles and frowns to-day, Egyptian, and the
+smiles last. Yet remember that she has teeth behind her lips wherewith
+to tear out the throat of the faithless. Man, if you play me false or
+fail in your mission, be sure that you shall die and in such a fashion
+that will make you think of yonder boat as a pleasant bed, and with you
+this woman Amada and her uncle Peroa, and all your kin and hers; yes,"
+he added with a burst of shrewdness, "and even that abortion of a dwarf
+to whom I have listened because he amused me, but who perhaps is more
+cunning than he seems."
+
+"O King of kings," I said, "I will not be false." But I did not add to
+whom I would be true.
+
+"Good. Ere long I shall visit Egypt, as I have told you, and there
+I shall pass judgment on you and others. Till then, farewell. Fear
+nothing, for you have my safe-conduct. Begone, both of you, for you
+weary me. But first drink and keep the cup, and in exchange, give me
+that bow of yours which shoots so far and straight."
+
+"It is the King's," I answered as I pledged him in the golden, jewelled
+cup which a butler had handed to me.
+
+Then the curtain fell in front of the throne and chamberlains came
+forward to lead me and Bes back to our lodging, one of whom took the cup
+and bore it in front of us. Down the hall we went between the feasting
+nobles who all bowed to one to whom the Great King had shown favour, and
+so out of the palace through the quiet night back to the house where I
+had dwelt while waiting audience of the King. Here the chamberlains
+bade me farewell, giving the cup to Bes to carry, and saying that on the
+morrow early my gold should be brought to me together with all that was
+needed for my journey, also one who would receive the bow I had promised
+to the King, which had already been returned to my lodgings with
+everything that was ours. Then they bowed and went.
+
+We entered the house, climbing a stair to an upper chamber. Here Bes
+barred the door and the shutters, making sure that none could see or
+hear us.
+
+Then he turned, threw his arms about me, kissed my hand and burst into
+tears.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII. BES STEALS THE SIGNET
+
+"Oh! my Master," gulped Bes, "I weep because I am tired, so take no
+notice. The day was long and during it twice at least there has been but
+the twinkling of an eyelid, but the thickness of a finger nail, but the
+weight of a hair between you and death."
+
+"Yes," I said, "and you were the eyelid, the finger nail and the hair."
+
+"No, Master, not I, but something beyond me. The tool carves the statue
+and the hand holds the tool but the spirit guides the hand. Not once
+only since the sun rose has my mind been empty as a drum. Then something
+struck on it, perhaps the holy Tanofir, perhaps another, and it knew
+what note to sound. So it was when I cursed you in the boat. So it was
+when I walked back with the eunuch, meaning to kill him on the road, and
+then remembered that the death of one vile eunuch would not help you at
+all, whereas alive he could bring me to the presence of the King, if
+I paid him, as I did out of the gold in your purse which I carried.
+Moreover he earned his hire, for when the King grew dull, wine not yet
+having taken a hold on him, it was he who brought me to his mind as one
+who might amuse him, being so ugly and different from others, if only
+for a few minutes, after the women dancers had failed to do so."
+
+"And what happened then, Bes?"
+
+"Then I was fetched and did my juggling tricks with that snake I caught
+and tamed, which is in my pouch now. You should not hate it any more,
+Master, for it played your game well. After this the King began to talk
+to me and I saw that his mind was ill at ease about you whom he knew
+that he had wronged. So I told him that story of an elephant that my
+father killed to save a king--it grew up in my mind like a toadstool in
+the night, Master, did this story of an ungrateful king and what befell
+him. Then the King became still more unquiet in his heart about you and
+asked the eunuch, Houman, where you were, to which he answered that by
+his order you were sleeping in a boat and might not be disturbed. So
+that arrow of mine missed its mark because the King did not like to eat
+his own words and cause you to be brought from out the boat, whither he
+had sent you. Now when everything seemed lost, some god, or perhaps
+the holy Tanofir who is ever present with me to see that I have not
+forgotten him, put it into the King's mouth to begin to talk about women
+and to ask me if I had ever seen any fairer than those dancers whom I
+met going out as I came in. I answered that I had not noticed them much
+because they were so ugly, as indeed all women had seemed to me since
+once upon the banks of Nile I had looked upon one who was as Hathor
+herself for beauty. The King asked me who this might be and I answered
+that I did not know since I had never dared to ask the name of one whom
+even my master held to be as a goddess, although as boy and girl they
+had been brought up together.
+
+"Then the King saw his opportunity to ease his conscience and inquired
+of an old councillor if there were not a law which gave the king power
+to alter his decree if thereby he could satisfy his soul and acquire
+knowledge. The councillor answered that there was such a law and began
+to give examples of its working, till the King cut him short and said
+that by virtue of it he commanded that you should be brought out of your
+bed in the boat and led before him to answer a question.
+
+"So you were sent for, Master, but I did not go with the messengers,
+fearing lest if I did the King would forget all about the matter before
+you came. Therefore I stayed and amused him with tales of hunting, till
+I could not think of any more, for you were long in coming. Indeed I
+began to fear lest he should declare the feast at an end. But at the
+last, just as he was yawning and spoke to one of his councillors,
+bidding him send to the House of Women that they might make ready to
+receive him there, you came, and the rest you know."
+
+Now I looked at Bes and said,
+
+"May the blessing of all the gods of all the lands be on your head,
+since had it not been for you I should now lie in torment in that boat.
+Hearken, friend: If ever we reach Egypt again, you will set foot on it,
+not as a slave but as a free man. You will be rich also, Bes, that is,
+if we can take the gold I won with us, since half of it is yours."
+
+Bes squatted down upon the floor and looked up at me with a strange
+smile on his ugly face.
+
+"You have given me three things, Master," he said. "Gold, which I do
+not want at present; freedom, which I do not want at present and mayhap,
+never shall while you live and love me; and the title of friend. This
+I do want, though why I should care to hear it from your lips I am not
+sure, seeing that for a long while I have known that it was spoken in
+your heart. Since you have said it, however, I will tell you something
+which hitherto I have hid even from you. I have a right to that name,
+for if your blood is high, O Shabaka, so is mine. Know that this poor
+dwarf whom you took captive and saved long years ago was more than the
+petty chief which he declared himself to be. He was and is by right the
+King of the Ethiopians and that throne with all its wealth and power he
+could claim to-morrow if he would."
+
+"The King of the Ethiopians!" I said. "Oh! friend Bes, I pray you to
+remember that we no longer stand in yonder court lying for our lives."
+
+"I speak no lie, O Shabaka, I before you am King of the Ethiopians.
+Moreover, I laid that kingship down of my own will and should I so
+desire, can take it up again when I will, since the Ethiopians are
+faithful to their kings."
+
+"Why?" I asked, astonished.
+
+"Master, for so I will still call you who am not yet upon the land
+of Egypt where you have promised me freedom, do you remember anything
+strange about the people of that tribe from among whom you and the
+Egyptian soldiers captured me by surprise, because they wished to drive
+you and your following from their country?"
+
+Now I thought and answered,
+
+"Yes, one thing. I saw no women in their camp, nor any sign of children.
+This I know because I gave orders that such were to be spared and it was
+reported to me that there were none, so I supposed that they had fled
+away."
+
+"There were none to fly, Master. That tribe was a brotherhood which had
+abjured women. Look on me now. I am misshapen, hideous, am I not? Born
+thus, it is said, because before my birth my mother was frightened by
+a dwarf. Yet the law of the Ethiopians is that their kings must marry
+within a year of their crowning. Therefore I chose a woman to be the
+queen whom I had long desired in secret. She scorned me, vowing that not
+for all the thrones of all the world would she be mated to a monster,
+and that if it were done by force she would kill herself, a saying that
+went abroad throughout the land. I said that she had spoken well and
+sent her in safety from the country, after which I too laid down my
+crown and departed with some who loved me, to form a brotherhood of
+women-haters further down the Nile, beyond the borders of Ethiopia.
+There the Egyptian force of which you were in command, attacked us
+unprepared, and you made me your slave. That is all."
+
+"But why did you do this, Bes, seeing that maidens are many and all
+would not have thought thus?"
+
+"Because I wished for that one only, Master; also I feared lest I should
+become the father of a breed of twisted dwarfs. So I who was a king am
+now a slave, and yet, who knows which way the Grasshopper will jump? One
+day from a slave I may again grow into a king. And now let us seek that
+wherein kings are as slaves and slaves as kings--sleep."
+
+So we lay down and slept, I thanking the gods that my bed was not yonder
+in the boat upon the great river.
+
+When I woke refreshed, though after all I had gone through on the
+yesterday my brain still swam a little, the light was pouring through
+the carved work of the shuttered windows. By it I saw Bes seated on the
+floor engaged in doing something to his bow, which, as I have said, had
+been restored to us with our other weapons, and asked him sleepily what
+it was.
+
+"Master," he said, "yonder King demanded your bow and therefore a bow
+must be sent to him. But there is no need for it to be that with which
+you shot the lions, which, too, you value above anything you have,
+seeing that it came down to you from your forefather who was a Pharaoh
+of Egypt, and has been your companion from boyhood ever since you were
+strong enough to draw it. As you may remember I copied that bow out of a
+somewhat lighter wood, which I could bend with ease, and it is the copy
+that we will give to the King. Only first I must set your string upon
+it, for that may have been noted; also make one or two marks that are on
+your bow which I am finishing now, having begun the task with the dawn."
+
+"You are clever," I said laughing, "and I am glad. The holy Tanofir,
+looking on my bow, once had a vision. It was that an arrow loosed from
+it would drink the blood of a great king and save Egypt. But what king
+and when, he did not see."
+
+The dwarf nodded and answered,
+
+"I have heard that tale and so have others. Therefore I play this trick
+since it is better that yonder palace dweller should get the arrow than
+the bow. There, it is finished to the last scratch, and none, save you
+and I, would know them apart. Till we are clear of this cursed land your
+bow is mine, Master, and you must find you another of the Eastern make."
+
+"Master," I repeated after him. "Say, Bes, did I dream or did you in
+truth tell me last night that you are by birth and right the king of a
+great country?"
+
+"I told you that, Master and it is true, no dream, since joy and
+suffering mixed unseal the lips and from them comes that at times which
+the heart would hide. Now I ask a favour of you, that you will speak no
+more of this matter either to me or to any other, man or woman, unless I
+should speak of it first. Let it be as though it were indeed a dream."
+
+"It is granted," I said as I rose and clothed myself, not in my own
+garments which had been taken from me in the palace, but in the splendid
+silken robes that had been set upon me after I was loosed from the boat.
+When this was done and I had washed and combed my long, curling hair,
+we descended to a lower chamber and called for the woman of the house to
+bring us food, of which I ate heartily. As we finished our meal we
+heard shouts in the street outside of, "Make way for the servants of
+the King!" and looking through the window-place, saw a great cavalcade
+approaching, headed by two princes on horseback.
+
+"Now I pray that yonder Tyrant has not changed his mind and that these
+do not come to take me back to the boat," I said in a low voice.
+
+"Have no fear, Master," answered Bes, "seeing that you have touched his
+sceptre and drunk from his cup which he gave to you. After these things
+no harm can happen to you in any land he rules. Therefore be at ease and
+deal with these fellows proudly."
+
+A minute later two princes entered followed by slaves who bore many
+things, among them those hide bags filled with gold that had been set
+beneath me in the boat. The elder of them bowed, greeting me with the
+title of "Lord," and I bowed back to him. Then he handed me certain
+rolls tied up with silk and sealed, which he said I was to deliver as
+the King had commanded to the King's Satrap in Egypt, and to the Prince
+Peroa. Also he gave me other letters addressed to the King's servants on
+the road and written on tablets of clay in a writing I could not read,
+with all of which I touched my forehead in the Eastern fashion.
+
+After this he told me that by noon all would be ready for my journey
+which I should make with the rank of the King's Envoy, duly provisioned
+and escorted by his servants, with liberty to use the royal horses from
+post to post. Then he ordered the slaves to bring in the gifts which the
+King sent to me, and these were many, including even suits of flexible
+armour that would turn any sword-thrust or arrow.
+
+I thanked him, saying that I would be ready to start by noon, and asked
+whether the King wished to see me before I rode. He replied that he had
+so wished, but that as he was suffering in his head from the effects
+of the sun, he could not. He bade me, however, remember all that he had
+said to me and to be sure that the beauteous lady Amada, of whom I had
+spoken, was sent to him without delay. In that case my reward should be
+great; but if I failed to fulfil his commands, then his wrath would be
+greater and I should perish miserably as he had promised.
+
+I bowed and made no answer, after which he and his companions opened the
+bags of gold to show me that it was there, offering to weigh it again
+against my servant, the dwarf, so that I could see that nothing had been
+taken away.
+
+I replied that the King's word was truer than any scale, whereon the
+bags were tied up again and sealed. Then I produced the bow, or rather
+its counterfeit, and having shown it to the princes, wrapped it and
+six of my own arrows in a linen cloth, to be taken to the King, with
+a message that though hard to draw it was the deadliest weapon in the
+world. The elder of them took it, bowed and bade me farewell, saying
+that perhaps we should meet again ere long in Egypt, if my gods gave me
+a safe journey. So we parted and I was glad to see the last of them.
+
+Scarcely had they gone when the six hunters whom I had won in the wager
+and thereby saved from death, entered the chamber and fell upon their
+knees before me, asking for orders as to making ready my gear for the
+journey. I inquired of them if they were coming also, to which their
+spokesman replied that they were my slaves to do what I commanded.
+
+"Do you desire to come?" I inquired.
+
+"O Lord Shabaka," answered their spokesman, "we do, though some of us
+must leave wives and children behind us."
+
+"Why?" I asked.
+
+"For two reasons, Lord. Here we are men disgraced, though through no
+fault of our own and if you were to leave us in this land, soon the
+anger of the King would find us out and we should lose not only our
+wives and children, but with them our lives. Whereas in another land we
+may get other wives and more children, but never shall we get another
+life. Therefore we would leave those dear ones to our friends, knowing
+that soon the women will forget and find other husbands, and that the
+children will grow up to whatever fate is appointed them, thinking of
+us, their fathers, as dead. Secondly we are hunters by trade, and we
+have seen that you are a great hunter, one whom we shall always be proud
+to serve in the chase or in war, one, too, who went out of his path to
+save our lives, because he saw that we had been unjustly doomed to a
+cruel death. Therefore we desire nothing better than to be your slaves,
+hoping that perchance we may earn our liberty from you in days to come
+by our good service."
+
+"Is that the wish of all of you?" I asked.
+
+Speaking one by one, they said that it was, though tears rose in the
+eyes of some of them who were married at the thought of parting from
+their women and their little ones, who, it seemed might not be brought
+with them because they were the people of the King and had not been
+named in the bet. Moreover, horses could not be found for so many, nor
+could they travel fast.
+
+"Come then," I said, "and know that while you are faithful to me, I will
+be good to you, men of my own trade, and perhaps in the end set you free
+in a land where brave fellows are not given to be torn to pieces by wild
+beasts at the word of any kind. But if you fail me or betray me, then
+either I will kill you, or sell you to those who deal in slaves, to work
+at the oar, or in the mines till you die."
+
+"Henceforth we have no lord but you, O Shabaka," they said, and one
+after another took my hand and pressed it to their foreheads, vowing to
+be true to me in all things while we lived.
+
+So I bade them begone to bid farewell to those they loved and return
+again within half an hour of noon, never expecting, to tell the truth,
+that they would come. Indeed I did this to give them the opportunity of
+escaping if they saw fit, and hiding themselves where they would. But as
+I have often noted, the trade of hunting breeds honesty in the blood
+and at the hour appointed all of these men appeared, one of them with
+a woman who carried a child in her arms, clinging to him and weeping
+bitterly. When her veil slipped aside I saw that she was young and very
+fair to look on.
+
+
+
+So at noon we left the city of the Great King in the charge of two of
+his officers who brought me his thanks for the bow I had sent him, which
+he said he should treasure above everything he possessed, a saying
+at which Bes rolled his yellow eyes and grinned. We were mounted on
+splendid stallions from the royal stables and clad in the shirts of mail
+that had been presented to us, though when we were clear of the city
+we took these off because of the heat, also because that which Bes wore
+chafed him, being too long for his squat shape. Our goods together with
+the bags of gold were laden on sumpter horses which were led by my six
+hunter slaves. Four picked soldiers brought up the rear, mighty men from
+the King's own bodyguard, and two of the royal postmen who served us as
+guides. Also there were cooks and grooms with spare horses.
+
+Thus we started in state and a great crowd watched us go. Our road ran
+by the river which we must cross in barges lower down, so that in a
+few minutes we came to that quay whither I had been led on the previous
+night to die. Yes, there were the watching guards, and there floated the
+hateful double boat, at the prow of which appeared the tortured face of
+the eunuch Houman, who rolled his head from side to side to rid himself
+of the torment of the flies. He caught sight of us and began to scream
+for pity and forgiveness, whereat Bes smiled. The officers halted our
+cavalcade and one of them approaching me said,
+
+"It is the King's command, O Lord Shabaka, that you should look upon
+this villain who traduced you to the King and afterwards dared to strike
+you. If you will, enter the water and blind him, that your face may be
+the last thing he sees before he passes into darkness."
+
+I shook my head, but Bes into whose mind some thought had come,
+whispered to me,
+
+"I wish to speak with yonder eunuch, so give me leave and fear nothing.
+I will do him no hurt, only good, if I find the chance."
+
+Then I said to the officer,
+
+"It is not for great lords to avenge themselves upon the fallen. Yet my
+slave here was also wronged and would say a word to yonder Houman."
+
+"So be it," said the officer, "only let him be careful not to hurt
+him too sorely, lest he should die before the time and escape his
+punishment."
+
+Then Bes tucked up his robes and waded into the river, flourishing a
+great knife, while seeing him come, Houman began to scream with fear.
+He reached the boat and bent over the eunuch, talking to him in a low
+voice. What he did there I could not see because his cloak was spread
+out on either side of the man's head. Presently, however, I caught sight
+of the flash of a knife and heard yells of agony followed by groans,
+whereat I called to him to return and let the fellow be. For when I
+remembered that his fate was near to being my own, those sounds made me
+sick at heart and I grew angry with Bes, though the cruel Easterns only
+laughed.
+
+At length he came back grinning and washing the blade of his knife in
+the water. I spoke fiercely to him in my own language, and still he
+grinned on, making no answer. When we were mounted again and riding away
+from that horrible boat with its groaning prisoner, watching Bes whose
+behaviour and silence I could not understand, I saw him sweep his hand
+across his great mouth and thrust it swiftly into his bosom. After
+this he spoke readily enough, though in a low voice lest someone who
+understood Egyptian should overhear him.
+
+"You are a fool, Master," he said, "to think that I should wish to waste
+time in torturing that fat knave."
+
+"Then why did you torture him?" I asked.
+
+"Because my god, the Grasshopper, when he fashioned me a dwarf, gave
+me a big mouth and good teeth," he answered, whereon I stared at him,
+thinking that he had gone mad.
+
+"Listen, Master. I did not hurt Houman. All I did was to cut his cords
+nearly through from the under side, so that when night comes he can
+break them and escape, if he has the wit. Now, Master, you may not have
+noticed, but I did, that before the King doomed you to death by the boat
+yesterday, he took a certain round, white seal, a cylinder with gods and
+signs cut on it, which hung by a gold chain from his girdle, and gave it
+to Houman to be his warrant for all he did. This seal Houman showed to
+the Treasurer whereon they produced the gold that was weighed in the
+scales against me, and to others when he ordered the boat to be prepared
+for you to lie in. Moreover he forgot to return it, for when he himself
+was dragged off to the boat by direct command of the King, I caught
+sight of the chain beneath his robe. Can you guess the rest?"
+
+"Not quite," I answered, for I wished to hear the tale in his own words.
+
+"Well, Master, when I was walking with Houman after he had put you in
+the boat, I asked him about this seal. He showed it to me and said that
+he who bore it was for the time the king of all the Empire of the
+East. It seems that there is but one such seal which has descended from
+ancient days from king to king, and that of it every officer, great or
+small, has an impress in all lands. If the seal is produced to him,
+he compares it with the impress and should the two agree, he obeys the
+order that is brought as though the King had given it in person. When
+we reached the Court doubtless Houman would have returned the seal, but
+seeing that the King was, or feigned to be drunk, waited for fear lest
+it should be lost, and with it his life. Then he was seized as you saw,
+and in his terror forgot all about the seal, as did the King and his
+officers."
+
+"But, surely, Bes, those who took Houman to the boat would have removed
+it."
+
+"Master, even the most clear-sighted do not see well at night. At any
+rate my hope was that they had not done so, and that is why I waded out
+to prick the eyes of Houman. Moreover, as I had hoped, so it was; there
+beneath his robe I saw the chain. Then I spoke to him, saying,
+
+"'I am come to put out your eyes, as you deserve, seeing how you have
+treated my master. Still I will spare you at a price. Give me the King's
+ancient white seal that opens all doors, and I will only make a pretence
+of blinding you. Moreover I will cut your cords nearly through, so
+that when the night comes you can break them, roll into the river and
+escape.'
+
+"'Take it if you can,' he said, 'and use it to injure or destroy that
+accursed one.'"
+
+"So you took it, Bes."
+
+"Yes, Master, but not easily. Remember, it was on a chain about the
+man's neck, and I could not draw it over his head, for, like his hands,
+his throat was tied by a cord, as you remember yours was."
+
+"I remember very well," I said, "for my throat is still sore from the
+rope that ran to the same staples to which my hands were fastened."
+
+"Yes, Master, and therefore if I drew the chain off his neck, it would
+still have been on the ropes. I thought of trying to cut it with the
+knife, but this was not easy because it is thick, and if I had dragged
+it up on the blade of the knife it would have been seen, for many eyes
+were watching me, Master. Then I took another counsel. While I pretended
+to be putting out the eyes of Houman, I bent down and getting the chain
+between my teeth I bit it through. One tooth broke--see, but the next
+finished the business. I ate through the soft gold, Master, and then
+sucked up the chain and the round white seal into my mouth, and that
+is why I could not answer you just now, because my cheeks were full of
+chain. So we have the King's seal that all the subject countries know
+and obey. It may be useful, yonder in Egypt, and at least the gold is of
+value."
+
+"Clever!" I exclaimed, "very clever. But you have forgotten something,
+Bes. When that knave escapes, he will tell the whole story and the King
+will send after us and kill us who have stolen his royal seal."
+
+"I don't think so, Master. First, it is not likely that Houman will
+escape. He is very fat and soft and already suffers much. After a day in
+the sun also he will be weak. Moreover I do not think that he can swim,
+for eunuchs hate the water. So if he gets out of the boat it is probable
+that he will drown in the river, since he dare not wade to the quay
+where the guards will be waiting. But if he does escape by swimming
+across the river, he will hide for his life's sake and never be seen
+again, and if by chance he is caught, he will say that the seal fell
+into the water when he was taken to the boat, or that one of the guards
+had stolen it. What he will not say is that he had bargained it away
+with someone who in return, cut his cords, since for that crime he must
+die by worse tortures than those of the boat. Lastly we shall ride so
+fast that with six hours' start none will catch us. Or if they do I can
+throw away the chain and swallow the seal."
+
+As Bes said, so it happened. The fate of Houman I never learned, and of
+the theft of the seal I heard no more until a proclamation was issued to
+all the kingdoms that a new one was in use. But this was not until long
+afterwards when it had served my turn and that of Egypt.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII. THE LADY AMADA
+
+Now day by day, hour by hour and minute by minute every detail of that
+journey appeared before me, but to set it all down is needless. As I,
+Allan Quatermain, write the record of my vision, still I seem to hear
+the thunder of our horses' hoofs while we rushed forward at full gallop
+over the plains, over the mountain passes and by the banks of rivers.
+The speed at which we travelled was wonderful, for at intervals of about
+forty miles were post-houses and at these, whatever might be the hour
+of day or night, we found fresh horses from the King's stud awaiting us.
+Moreover, the postmasters knew that we were coming, which astonished
+me until we discovered that they had been warned of our arrival by two
+King's messengers who travelled ahead of us.
+
+These men, it would seem, although our officers and guides professed
+ignorance of the matter, must have left the King's palace at dawn on the
+day of our departure, whereas we did not mount in the city till a little
+after noon. Therefore they had six hours good start of us, and what is
+more, travelled lighter than we did, having no sumpter beasts with them,
+and no cooks or servants. Moreover, always they had the pick of the
+horses and chose the three swiftest beasts, leading the third in case
+one of their own should founder or meet with accident. Thus it came
+about that we never caught them up although we covered quite a hundred
+miles a day. Only once did I see them, far off upon the skyline of a
+mountain range which we had to climb, but by the time we had reached its
+crest they were gone.
+
+At length we came to the desert without accident and crossed it, though
+more slowly. But even here the King had his posts which were in charge
+of Arabs who lived in tents by wells of water, or sometimes where there
+was none save what was brought to them. So still we galloped on, parched
+by the burning sand beneath and the burning sand above, and reached the
+borders of Egypt.
+
+Here, upon the very boundary line, the two officers halted the cavalcade
+saying that their orders were to return thence and make report to the
+King. There then we parted, Bes and I with the six hunters who still
+chose to cling to me, going forward and the officers of the King with
+the guides and servants going back. The good horses that we rode from
+the last post they gave to us by the King's command, together with the
+sumpter beasts, since horses broken to the saddle were hard to come
+by in Egypt where they were trained to draw chariots. These we took,
+sending back my thanks to the King, and started on once more, Bes
+leading that beast which bore the gold and the hunters serving as a
+guard.
+
+Indeed I was glad to see the last of those Easterns although they had
+brought us safely and treated us well, for all the while I was never
+sure but that they had some orders to lead us into a trap, or perhaps to
+make away with us in our sleep and take back the gold and the priceless,
+rose-hued pearls, any two of which were worth it all. But such was not
+their command nor did they dare to steal them on their own account,
+since then, even if they escaped the vengeance of the King, their wives
+and all their families would have paid the price.
+
+
+
+Now we entered Egypt near the Salt Lakes that are not far from the head
+of the Gulf, crossing the canal that the old Pharaohs had dug, which
+proved easy for it was silted up. Before we reached it we found some
+peasant folk labouring in their gardens and I heard one of them call to
+another,
+
+"Here come more of the Easterns. What is toward, think you, neighbour?"
+
+"I do not know," answered the other, "but when I passed down the canal
+this morning, I saw a body of the Great King's guards gathering from the
+fort. Doubtless it is to meet these men of whose coming the other two
+who went by fifty hours ago, have warned the officers."
+
+"Now what does that mean?" I asked of Bes.
+
+"Neither more nor less than we have heard, Master. The two King's
+messengers who have gone ahead of us all the way from the city, have
+told the officer of the frontier fort that we are coming, so he has
+advanced to the ford to meet us, for what purpose I do not know."
+
+"Nor do I," I said, "but I wish we could take another road, if there
+were one."
+
+"There is none, Master, for above and below the canal is full of water
+and the banks are too steep for horses to climb. Also we must show no
+doubt or fear."
+
+He thought a while, then added,
+
+"Take the royal seal, Master. It may be useful."
+
+He gave it to me, and I examined it more closely than I had done before.
+It was a cylinder of plain white shell hung on a gold chain, that which
+Bes had bitten through, but now mended again by taking out the broken
+link. On this cylinder were cut figures; as I think of a priest
+presenting a noble to a god, over whom was the crescent of the moon,
+while behind the god stood a man or demon with a tall spear. Also
+between the figures were mystic signs, meaning I know not what. The
+workmanship of the carving was grown shallow with time and use for the
+cylinder seemed to be very ancient, a sacred thing that had descended
+from generation to generation and was threaded through with a bar of
+silver on which it turned.
+
+I put the seal which was like no other that I had seen, being the work
+of an early and simpler age, round my neck beneath my mail and we went
+on.
+
+Descending the steep bank of the canal we came to the ford where the
+sand that had silted in was covered by not more than a foot of water. As
+we entered it, on the top of the further bank appeared a body of about
+thirty armed and mounted men, one of whom carried the Great King's
+banner, on which I noted was blazoned the very figures that were cut
+upon the cylinder. Now it was too late to retreat, so we rode through
+the water and met the soldiers. Their officer advanced, crying,
+
+"In the name of the Great King, greeting, my lord Shabaka!
+
+"In the name of the Great King, greeting!" I answered. "What would you
+with Shabaka, Officer of the King?"
+
+"Only to do him honour. The word of the King has reached us and we
+come to escort you to the Court of Idernes, the Satrap of the King and
+Governor of Egypt who sits at Sais."
+
+"That is not my road, Officer. I travel to Memphis to deliver the
+commands of the King to my cousin, Peroa, the ruler of Egypt under the
+King. Afterwards, perchance, I shall visit the high Idernes."
+
+"To whom our commands are to take you now, my lord Shabaka, not
+afterwards," said the officer sternly, glancing round at his armed
+escort.
+
+"I come to give commands, not to receive them, Captain of the King."
+
+"Seize Shabaka and his servants," said the officer briefly, whereon the
+soldiers rode forward to surround us.
+
+I waited till they were near at hand. Then suddenly I plunged my hand
+beneath my robe and drew out the small, white seal which I held before
+the eyes of the officer, saying,
+
+"Who is it that dares to lay a finger upon the holder of the King's
+White Seal? Surely that man is ready for death."
+
+The officer stared at it, then leapt from his horse and flung himself
+face downwards on the ground, crying,
+
+"It is the ancient signet of the Kings of the East, given to their first
+forefather by Samas the Sungod, on which hangs the fortunes of the Great
+House! Pardon, my lord Shabaka."
+
+"It is granted," I answered, "because what you did you did in ignorance.
+Now go to the Satrap Idernes and say to him that if he would have speech
+with the bearer of the King's seal which all must obey, he will find him
+at Memphis. Farewell," and with Bes and the six hunters I rode through
+the guards, none striving to hinder me.
+
+"That was well done, Master," said Bes.
+
+"Yes," I said. "Those two messengers who went ahead of us brought orders
+to the frontier guard of Idernes that I should be taken to him as a
+prisoner. I do not know why, but I think because things are passing in
+Egypt of which we know nothing and the King did not desire that I should
+see the Prince Peroa and give him news that I might have gathered.
+Mayhap we have been outwitted, Bes, and the business of the lady Amada
+is but a pretext to pick a quarrel suddenly before Peroa can strike the
+first blow."
+
+"Perhaps, Master, for these Easterns are very crafty. But, Master, what
+happens to those who make a false use of the King's ancient, sacred
+signet? I think they have cut the ropes which tie them to earth," and he
+looked upwards to the sky rolling his yellow eyes.
+
+"They must find new ropes, Bes, and quickly, before they are caught.
+Hearken. You have sat upon a throne and I can speak out to you. Think
+you that my cousin, the Prince Peroa, loves to be the servant of this
+distant, Eastern king, he who by right is Pharaoh of Egypt? Peroa must
+strike or lose his niece and perchance his life. Forward, that we may
+warn him."
+
+"And if he will not strike, Master, knowing the King's might and being
+somewhat slow to move?"
+
+"Then, Bes, I think that you and I had best go hunting far away in those
+lands you know, where even the Great King cannot follow us."
+
+"And where, if only I can find a woman who does not make me ill to look
+on, and whom I do not make ill, I too can once more be a king, Master,
+and the lord of many thousand brave armed men. I must speak of that
+matter to the holy Tanofir."
+
+"Who doubtless will know what to advise you, Bes; or, if he dies not, I
+shall."
+
+For a while we rode on in silence, each thinking his own thoughts. Then
+Bes said,
+
+"Master, before so very long we shall reach the Nile, and having with us
+gold in plenty can buy boats and hire crews. It comes into my mind that
+we should do well for our own safety and comfort to start at once on a
+hunting journey far from Egypt; in the land of the Ethiopians, Master.
+There perchance I could gather together some of the wise men in whose
+hands I left the rule of my kingdom, and submit to them this question of
+a woman to marry me. The Ethiopians are a faithful people, Master, and
+will not reject me because I have spent some years seeing the world
+afar, that I might learn how to rule them better."
+
+"I have remembered that it cannot be, Bes," I said.
+
+"Why not, Master?"
+
+"For this reason. You left your country because of a woman? I cannot
+leave mine again because of a woman."
+
+Bes rolled his eyes around as though he thought to see that woman in the
+desert. Not discovering her, he stared upwards and there found light.
+
+"Is she perchance named the lady Amada, Master?"
+
+I nodded.
+
+"So. The lady Amada who you told the Great King is the most beautiful
+one in the whole world, causing the fire of Love to burn up in his
+royal heart, and with it many other things of which we do not know at
+present."
+
+"_You_ told him, Bes," I said angrily.
+
+"I told him of a beautiful one; I did not tell him her name, Master, and
+although I never thought of it at the time, perhaps she will be angry
+with him who told her name."
+
+Now fear took hold of me, and Bes saw it in my face.
+
+"Do not be afraid, Master. If there is trouble I will swear that I told
+the Great King that lady's name."
+
+"Yes, Bes, but how would that fit in with the story, seeing that I was
+brought out of the boat for this very purpose?"
+
+"Quite easily, Master, since I will say that you were led from the boat
+to confirm my tale. Oh! she will be angry with me, no doubt, but in
+Egypt even a dwarf cannot be killed because he has declared a certain
+lady to be the most beautiful in the world. But, Master, tell me, when
+did you learn to love her?"
+
+"When we were boy and girl, Bes. We used to play together, being
+cousins, and I used to hold her hand. Then suddenly she refused to let
+me hold her hand any more, and I being quite grown up then, though she
+was younger, understood that I had better go away."
+
+"I should have stopped where I was, Master."
+
+"No, Bes. She was studying to be a priestess and my great uncle, the
+holy Tanofir, told me that I had better go away. So I went down south
+hunting and fighting in command of the troops, and met you, Bes."
+
+"Which perhaps was better for you, Master, than to stop to watch the
+lady Amada acquire learning. Still, I wonder whether the holy Tanofir is
+_always_ right. You see, Master, he thinks a great deal of priests and
+priestesses, and is so very old that he has forgotten all about love and
+that without it there never would have been a holy Tanofir."
+
+"The holy Tanofir thinks of souls, not of bodies, Bes."
+
+"Yes, Master. Still, oil is of no use without a lamp, or a soul without
+a body, at least here underneath the sun, or so we were taught who
+worship the Grasshopper. But, Master, when you came back from all your
+hunting, what happened then?"
+
+"Then I found, Bes, that the lady Amada, having acquired all the
+learning possible, had taken her first vows to Isis, which she said she
+would not break for any man on earth although she might have done so
+without crime. Therefore, although I was dear to her, as a brother would
+have been had she had one, and she swore that she had never even thought
+of another man, she refused so much as to think of marrying who dreamed
+only of the heavenly perfections of the lady Isis."
+
+"Ump!" said Bes. "We Ethiopians have Priestesses of the Grasshopper, or
+the Grasshopper's wife, but they do not think of her like that. I hope
+that one day something stronger than herself will not cause the lady
+Amada to break her vows to the heavenly Isis. Only then, perhaps, it may
+be for the sake of another man who did not go off to the East on account
+of such fool's talk. But here is a village and the horses are spent. Let
+us stop and eat, as I suppose even the lady Amada does sometimes."
+
+
+
+On the following afternoon we crossed the Nile, and towards sunset
+entered the vast and ancient city of Memphis. On its white walls floated
+the banners of the Great King which Bes pointed out to me, saying that
+wherever we went in the whole world, it seemed that we could never be
+free from those accursed symbols.
+
+"May I live to spit upon them and cast them into the moat," I answered
+savagely, for as I drew near to Amada they grew ten times more hateful
+to me than they had been before.
+
+In truth I was nearer to Amada than I thought, for after we had
+passed the enclosure of the temple of Ptah, the most wonderful and the
+mightiest in the whole world, we came to the temple of Isis. There near
+to the pylon gate we met a procession of her priests and priestesses
+advancing to offer the evening sacrifice of song and flowers, clad, all
+of them, in robes of purest white. It was a day of festival, so singers
+went with them. After the singers came a band of priestesses bearing
+flowers, in front of whom walked another priestess shaking a _sistrum_
+that made a little tinkling music.
+
+Even at a distance there was something about the tall and slender shape
+of this priestess that stirred me. When we came nearer I saw why, for it
+was Amada herself. Through the thin veil she wore I could see her dark
+and tender eyes set beneath the broad brow that was so full of thought,
+and the sweet, curved mouth that was like no other woman's. Moreover
+there could be no doubt since the veil parting above her breast showed
+the birth-mark for which she was famous, the mark of the young moon, the
+sign of Isis.
+
+I sprang from my horse and ran towards her. She looked up and saw me.
+At first she frowned, then her face grew wondering, then tender, and I
+thought that her red lips shaped my name. Moreover in her confusion she
+let the _sistrum_ fall.
+
+I muttered "Amada!" and stepped forward, but priests ran between us and
+thrust me away. Next moment she had recovered the _sistrum_ and passed
+on with her head bowed. Nor did she lift her eyes to look back.
+
+"Begone, man!" cried a priest, "Begone, whoever you may be. Because you
+wear Eastern armour do you think that you can dare the curse of Isis?"
+
+Then I fell back, the holy image of the goddess passed and the
+procession vanished through the pylon gate. I, Shabaka the Egyptian,
+stood by my horse and watched it depart. I was happy because the lady
+Amada was alive, well, and more beautiful than ever; also because she
+had shown signs of joy and confusion at seeing me again. Yet I was
+unhappy because I met her still filling a holy office which built a wall
+between us, also because it seemed to me an evil omen that I should have
+been repelled from her by a priest of Isis who talked of the curse of
+the goddess. Moreover the sacred statue, I suppose by accident, turned
+towards me as it passed and perhaps by the chance of light, seemed to
+frown upon me.
+
+Thus I thought as Shabaka hundreds of years before the Christian
+era, but as Allan Quatermain the modern man, to whom it was given so
+marvellously to behold all these things and who in beholding them, yet
+never quite lost the sense of his own identity of to-day, I was amazed.
+For I knew that this lady Amada was the same being though clad in
+different flesh, as that other lady with whom I had breathed the magical
+_Taduki_ fumes which had power to rend the curtain of the past, or,
+perhaps, only to breed dreams of what it might have been.
+
+To the outward eye, indeed she was different, as I was different,
+taller, more slender, larger-eyed, with longer and slimmer hands than
+those of any Western woman, and on the whole even more beautiful and
+alluring. Moreover that mysterious look which from time to time I had
+seen on Lady Ragnall's face, was more constant on that of the lady
+Amada. It brooded in the deep eyes and settled in a curious smile about
+the curves of the lips, a smile that was not altogether human, such a
+smile as one might wear who had looked on hidden things and heard voices
+that spoke beyond the limits of the world.
+
+Somehow neither then nor at any other time during all my dream, could I
+imagine this Amada, this daughter of a hundred kings, whose blood might
+be traced back through dynasty on dynasty, as nothing but a woman who
+nurses children upon her breast. It was as though something of our
+common nature had been bred out of her and something of another nature
+whereof we have no ken, had entered to fill its place. And yet these two
+women were the same, that I _knew_, or at any rate, much of them was the
+same, for who can say what part of us we leave behind as we flit from
+life to life, to find it again elsewhere in the abysms of Time and
+Change? One thing too was quite identical--the birthmark of the new moon
+above the breast which the priests of the Kendah had declared was always
+the seal that marked their prophetess, the guardian of the Holy Child.
+
+
+
+When the procession had quite departed and I could no longer hear the
+sound of singing, I remounted and rode on to my house, or rather to that
+of my mother, the great lady Tiu, which was situated beneath the wall of
+the old palace facing towards the Nile. Indeed my heart was full of this
+mother of mine whom I loved and who loved me, for I was her only child,
+and my father had been long dead; so long that I could not remember him.
+Eight months had gone by since I saw her face and in eight months who
+knew what might have happened? The thought made me cold for she, who
+was aged and not too strong, perhaps had been gathered to Osiris. Oh! if
+that were so!
+
+I shook my tired horse to a canter, Bes riding ahead of me to clear a
+road through the crowded street in which, at this hour of sundown, all
+the idlers of Memphis seemed to have gathered. They stared at me because
+it was not common to see men riding in Memphis, and with little love,
+since from my dress and escort they took me to be some envoy from their
+hated master, the Great King of the East. Some even threatened to bar
+the way; but we thrust through and presently turned into a thoroughfare
+of private houses standing in their own gardens. Ours was the third of
+these. At its gate I leapt from my horse, pushed open the closed door
+and hastened in to seek and learn.
+
+I had not far to go for, there in the courtyard, standing at the head of
+our modest household and dressed in her festal robes, was my mother, the
+stately and white-haired lady Tiu, as one stands who awaits the coming
+of an honoured guest. I ran to her and kneeling, kissed her hand,
+saying,
+
+"My mother! My mother, I have come safe home and greet you."
+
+"I greet you also, my son," she answered, bending down and kissing me
+on the brow, "who have been in far lands and passed so many dangers.
+I greet you and thank the guardian gods who have brought you safe home
+again. Rise, my son."
+
+I rose and kissed her on the face, then looked at the servants who were
+bowing their welcome to me, and said,
+
+"How comes it, Lady of the House, that all are gathered here? Did you
+await some guest?"
+
+"We awaited you, my son. For an hour have we stood here listening for
+the sound of your feet."
+
+"Me!" I exclaimed. "That is strange, seeing that I have ridden fast
+and hard from the East, tarrying only a few minutes, and those since I
+entered Memphis, when I met----" and I stopped.
+
+"Met whom, Shabaka?"
+
+"The lady Amada walking in the procession of Isis."
+
+"Ah! the lady Amada. The mother waits that the son may stop to greet the
+lady Amada!"
+
+"But _why_ did you wait, my mother? Who but a spirit or a bird of
+the air could have told you that I was coming, seeing that I sent no
+messenger before me?"
+
+"You must have done so, Shabaka, since yesterday one came from the holy
+Tanofir, our relative who dwells in the desert in the burial-ground of
+Sekera. He bore a message from Tanofir to me, telling me to make ready
+since before sundown to-night you, my son, would be with me, having
+escaped great dangers, accompanied by the dwarf Bes, your servant, and
+six strange Eastern men. So I made ready and waited; also I prepared
+lodging for the six strange men in the outbuildings behind the house and
+sent a thank offering to the temple. For know, my son, I have suffered
+much fear for you."
+
+"And not without cause, as you will say when I tell you all," I answered
+laughing. "But how Tanofir knew that I was coming is more than I can
+guess. Come, my mother, greet Bes here, for had it not been for him,
+never should I have lived to hold your hand again."
+
+So she greeted him and thanked him, whereon Bes rolled his eyes and
+muttered something about the holy Tanofir, after which we entered the
+house. Thence I despatched a messenger to the Prince Peroa saying that
+if it were his pleasure I would wait on him at once, seeing that I had
+much to tell him. This done I bathed and caused my hair and beard to be
+trimmed and, discarding the Eastern garments, clothed myself in those
+of Egypt, and so felt that I was my own man again. Then I came out
+refreshed and drank a cup of Syrian wine and the night having fallen,
+sat down by my mother in the chamber with a lamp between us, and,
+holding her hand, told her something of my story, showing her the sacks
+of gold that had come with me safely from the East, and the chain of
+priceless, rose-hued pearls that I had won in a wager from the Great
+King.
+
+Now when she learned how Bes by his wit had saved me from a death of
+torment in the boat, my mother clapped her hands to summon a servant and
+sent for Bes, and said to him,
+
+"Bes, hitherto I have looked on you as a slave taken by my son, the
+noble Shabaka, in one of his far journeys that it pleases him to make to
+fight and to hunt. But henceforth I look upon you as a friend and give
+you a seat at my table. Moreover it comes into my mind that although so
+strangely shaped by some evil god, perhaps you are more than you seem to
+be."
+
+Now Bes looked at me to see if I had told my mother anything, and when I
+shook my head answered,
+
+"I thank you, O Lady of the House, who have but done my duty to my
+master. Still it is true that as a goatskin often holds good wine, so a
+dwarf should not always be judged by what can be seen of him."
+
+Then he went away.
+
+"It seems that we are rich again, Son, who have been somewhat poor of
+late years," said my mother, looking at the bags of gold. "Also, there
+are the pearls which doubtless are worth more than the gold. What are
+you going to do with them, Shabaka?"
+
+"I thought of offering them as a gift to the lady Amada," I replied
+hesitatingly, "that is unless you----"
+
+"I? No, I am too old for such gems. Yet, Son, it might be well to keep
+them for a time, seeing that while they are your own they may give you
+more weight in the eyes of the Prince Peroa and others. Whereas if you
+gave them the lady Amada and she took them, perchance it might only be
+to see them return to the East, whither you tell me she is summoned by
+one whose orders may not be disobeyed."
+
+Now I turned white with rage and answered,
+
+"While I live, Mother, Amada shall never go to the East to be the woman
+of yonder King."
+
+"While you live, Son. But those who cross the will of a great king, are
+apt to die. Also this is a matter which her uncle, the Prince Peroa,
+must decide as policy dictates. Now as ever the woman is but a pawn in
+the game. Oh! my son," she went on, "do not pin all your heart to the
+robe of this Amada. She is very fair and very learned, but is she
+one who will love? Moreover, if so she is a priestess and it would be
+difficult for her to wed who is sworn to Isis. Lastly, remember this:
+If Egypt were free, she would be its heiress, not her uncle, Peroa. For
+hers is the true blood, not his. Would he, therefore, be willing to give
+her to any man who, according to the ancient custom, through her would
+acquire the right to rule?"
+
+"I do not seek to rule, Mother; I only seek to wed Amada whom I love."
+
+"Amada whom you love and whose name you, or rather your servant Bes,
+which is the same thing since it will be held that he did it by your
+order, gave to the King of the East, or so I understand. Here is a
+pretty tangle, Shabaka, and rather would I be without all that gold and
+those priceless pearls than have the task of its unravelling."
+
+Before I could answer and explain all the truth to her, the curtain was
+swung aside and through it came a messenger from the Prince Peroa, who
+bade me come to eat with him at once at the palace, since he must see me
+this night.
+
+So my mother having set the rope of rose-hued pearls in a double chain
+about my neck, I kissed her and went, with Bes who was also bidden.
+Outside a chariot was waiting into which we entered.
+
+"Now, Master," said Bes to me as we drove to the palace, "I almost wish
+that we were back in another chariot hunting lions in the East."
+
+"Why?" I asked.
+
+"Because then, although we had much to fear, there was no woman in the
+story. Now the woman has entered it and I think that our real troubles
+are about to begin. Oh! to-morrow I go to seek counsel of the holy
+Tanofir."
+
+"And I come with you," I answered, "for I think it will be needed."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX. THE MESSENGERS
+
+We descended at the great gate of the palace and were led through empty
+halls that were no longer used now when there was no king in Egypt, to
+the wing of the building in which dwelt the Prince Peroa. Here we were
+received by a chamberlain, for the Prince of Egypt still kept some
+state although it was but small, and had about him men who bore the old,
+high-sounding titles of the "Officers of Pharaoh."
+
+The chamberlain led me and Bes to an ante-chamber of the banqueting hall
+and left us, saying that he would summon the Prince who wished to see
+me before he ate. This, however, was not necessary since while he spoke
+Peroa, who as I guessed had been waiting for me, entered by another
+door. He was a majestic-looking man of middle age, for grey showed in
+his hair and beard, clad in white garments with a purple hem and wearing
+on his brow a golden circlet, from the front of which rose the _uraeus_
+in the shape of a hooded snake that might be worn by those of royal
+blood alone. His face was full of thought and his black and piercing
+eyes looked heavy as though with sleeplessness. Indeed I could see that
+he was troubled. His gaze fell upon us and his features changed to a
+pleasant smile.
+
+"Greeting, Cousin Shabaka," he said. "I am glad that you have returned
+safe from the East, and burn to hear your tidings. I pray that they may
+be good, for never was good news more needed in Egypt."
+
+"Greeting, Prince," I answered, bowing my knee. "I and my servant here
+are returned safe, but as for our tidings, well, judge of them for
+yourself," and drawing the letter of the Great King from my robe, I
+touched my forehead with the roll and handed it to him.
+
+"I see that you have acquired the Eastern customs, Shabaka," he said as
+he took it. "But here in my own house which once was the palace of our
+forefathers, the Pharaohs of Egypt, by your leave I will omit them. Amen
+be my witness," he added bitterly, "I cannot bear to lay the letter of a
+foreign king against my brow in token of my country's vassalage."
+
+Then he broke the silk of the seals and read, and as he read his face
+grew black with rage.
+
+"What!" he cried, casting down the roll and stamping on it. "What! Does
+this dog of an Eastern king bid me send my niece, by birth the Royal
+Princess of Egypt, to be his toy until he wearies of her? First I will
+choke her with my own hands. How comes it, Shabaka, that you care to
+bring me such a message? Were I Pharaoh now I think your life would pay
+the price."
+
+"As it would certainly have paid the price, had I not done so. Prince,
+I brought the letter because I must. Also a copy of it has gone, I
+believe, to Idernes the Satrap at Sais. It is better to face the truth,
+Prince, and I think that I may be of more service to you alive than
+dead. If you do not wish to send the lady Amada to the King, marry her
+to someone else, after which he will seek her no more."
+
+He looked at me shrewdly and said,
+
+"To whom then? I cannot marry her, being her uncle and already married.
+Do you mean to yourself, Shabaka?"
+
+"I have loved the lady Amada from a child, Prince," I answered boldly.
+"Also I have high blood in me and having brought much gold from the
+East, am rich again and one accustomed to war."
+
+"So you have brought gold from the East! How? Well, you can tell me
+afterwards. But you fly high. You, a Count of Egypt, wish to marry the
+Royal Lady of Egypt, for such she is by birth and rank, which, if ever
+Egypt were free again, would give you a title to the throne."
+
+"I ask no throne, Prince. If there were one to fill I should be content
+to leave that to you and your heirs."
+
+"So you say, no doubt honestly. But would the children of Amada say the
+same? Would you even say it if you were her husband, and would she say
+it? Moreover she is a priestess, sworn not to wed, though perhaps that
+trouble might be overcome, if she wishes to wed, which I doubt. Mayhap
+you might discover. Well, you are hungry and worn with long travelling.
+Come, let us eat, and afterwards you can tell your story. Amada and the
+others will be glad to hear it, as I shall. Follow me, Count Shabaka."
+
+So we went to the lesser banqueting-hall, I filled with joy because I
+should see Amada, and yet, much afraid because of that story which I
+must tell. Gathered there, waiting for the Prince, we found the Princess
+his wife, a large and kindly woman, also his two eldest daughters and
+his young son, a lad of about sixteen. Moreover, there were certain
+officers, while at the tables of the lower hall sat others of the
+household, men of smaller rank, and their wives, since Peroa still
+maintained some kind of a shadow of the Court of old Egypt.
+
+The Princess and the others greeted me, and Bes also who had always been
+a favourite with them, before he went to take his seat at the lowest
+table, and I greeted them, looking all the while for Amada whom I did
+not see. Presently, however, as we took our places on the couches, she
+entered dressed, not as a priestess, but in the beautiful robes of a
+great lady of Egypt and wearing on her head the _uraeus_ circlet that
+signified her royal blood. As it chanced the only seat left vacant was
+that next to myself, which she took before she recognized me, for
+she was engaged in asking pardon for her lateness of the Prince and
+Princess, saying that she had been detained by the ceremonies at the
+temple. Seeing suddenly that I was her neighbour, she made as though she
+would change her place, then altered her mind and stayed where she was.
+
+"Greeting, Cousin Shabaka," she said, "though not for the first time
+to-day. Oh! my heart was glad when looking up, outside the temple, I
+caught sight of you clad in that strange Eastern armour, and knew that
+you had returned safe from your long wanderings. Yet afterwards I must
+do penance for it by saying two added prayers, since at such a time my
+thoughts should have been with the goddess only."
+
+"Greeting, Cousin Amada," I answered, "but she must be a jealous goddess
+who grudges a thought to a relative--and friend--at such a time."
+
+"She is jealous, Shabaka, as being the Queen of women she must be who
+demands to reign alone in the hearts of her votaries. But tell me of
+your travels in the East and how you came by that rope of wondrous
+pearls, if indeed there can be pearls so large and beautiful."
+
+This at the time I had little chance of doing, however, since the young
+Princess on the other side of her began to talk to Amada about some
+forthcoming festival, and the Prince's son next to me who was fond of
+hunting, to question me about sport in the East and when, unhappily, I
+said that I had shot lions there, gave me no peace for the rest of that
+feast. Also the Princess opposite was anxious to learn what food noble
+people ate in the East, and how it was cooked and how they sat at table,
+and what was the furniture of their rooms and did women attend feasts as
+in Egypt, and so forth. So it came about that what between these things
+and eating and drinking, which, being well-nigh starved, I was obliged
+to do, for, save a cup of wine, I had taken nothing in my mother's
+house, I found little chance of talking with the lovely Amada, although
+I knew that all the while she was studying me out of the corners of her
+large eyes. Or perhaps it was the rose-hued pearls she studied, I was
+not sure.
+
+Only one thing did she say to me when there was a little pause while the
+cup went round, and she pledged me according to custom and passed it on.
+It was,
+
+"You look well, Shabaka, though somewhat tired, but sadder than you
+used, I think."
+
+"Perhaps because I have seen things to sadden me, Amada. But you too
+look well but somewhat lovelier than you used, I think, if that be
+possible."
+
+She smiled and blushed as she replied,
+
+"The Eastern ladies have taught you how to say pretty things. But you
+should not waste them upon me who have done with women's vanities and
+have given myself to learning and--religion."
+
+"Have learning and religion no vanities of their own?" I began, when
+suddenly the Prince gave a signal to end the feast.
+
+Thereon all the lower part of the hall went away and the little tables
+at which we ate were removed by servants, leaving us only wine-cups in
+our hands which a butler filled from time to time, mixing the wine with
+water. This reminded me of something, and having asked leave, I beckoned
+to Bes, who still lingered near the door, and took from him that
+splendid, golden goblet which the Great King had given me, that by my
+command he had brought wrapped up in linen and hidden beneath his robe.
+Having undone the wrappings I bowed and offered it to the Prince Peroa.
+
+"What is this wondrous thing?" asked the Prince, when all had finished
+admiring its workmanship. "Is it a gift that you bring me from the King
+of the East, Shabaka?"
+
+"It is a gift from myself, O Prince, if you will be pleased to accept
+it," I answered, adding, "Yet it is true that it comes from the King of
+the East, since it was his own drinking-cup that he gave me in exchange
+for a certain bow, though not the one he sought, after he had pledged
+me."
+
+"You seem to have found much favour in the eyes of this king, Shabaka,
+which is more than most of us Egyptians do," he exclaimed, then went
+on hastily, "Still, I thank you for your splendid gift, and however you
+came by it, shall value it much."
+
+"Perhaps my cousin Shabaka will tell us his story," broke in Amada, her
+eyes still fixed upon the rose-hued pearls, "and of how he came to win
+all the beauteous things that dazzle our eyes to-night."
+
+Now I thought of offering her the pearls, but remembering my mother's
+words, also that the Princess might not like to see another woman bear
+off such a prize, did not do so. So I began to tell my story instead,
+Bes seated on the ground near to me by the Prince's wish, that he might
+tell his.
+
+The tale was long for in it was much that went before the day when I saw
+myself in the chariot hunting lions with the King of kings, which I, the
+modern man who set down all this vision, now learned for the first time.
+It told of the details of my journey to the East, of my coming to the
+royal city and the rest, all of which it is needless to repeat. Then I
+came to the lion hunt, to my winning of the wager, and all that happened
+to me; of my being condemned to death, of the weighing of Bes against
+the gold, and of how I was laid in the boat of torment, a story at which
+I noticed Amada turn pale and tremble.
+
+Here I ceased, saying that Bes knew better than I what had chanced at
+the Court while I was pinned in the boat, whereon all present cried out
+to Bes to take up the tale. This he did, and much better than I could
+have done, bringing out many little things which made the scene appear
+before them, as Ethiopians have the art of doing. At last he came to the
+place in his story where the king asked him if he had ever seen a woman
+fairer than the dancers, and went on thus:
+
+"O Prince, I told the Great King that I had; that there dwelt in Egypt
+a lady of royal blood with eyes like stars, with hair like silk and long
+as an unbridled horse's tail, with a shape like to that of a goddess,
+with breath like flowers, with skin like milk, with a voice like honey,
+with learning like to that of the god Thoth, with wit like a razor's
+edge, with teeth like pearls, with majesty of bearing like to that of
+the king himself, with fingers like rosebuds set in pink seashells, with
+motion like that of an antelope, with grace like that of a swan floating
+upon water, and--I don't remember the rest, O Prince."
+
+"Perhaps it is as well," exclaimed Peroa. "But what did the King say
+then?"
+
+"He asked her name, O Prince."
+
+"And what name did you give to this wondrous lady who surpasses all the
+goddesses in loveliness and charm, O dwarf Bes?" inquired Amada much
+amused.
+
+"What name, O High-born One? Is it needful to ask? Why, what name could
+I give but your own, for is there any other in the world of whom a man
+whose heart is filled with truth could speak such things?"
+
+Now hearing this I gasped, but before I could speak Amada leapt up,
+crying,
+
+"Wretch! You dared to speak my name to this king! Surely you should be
+scourged till your bones are bare."
+
+"And why not, Lady? Would you have had me sit still and hear those
+fat trollops of the East exalted above you? Would you have had me so
+disloyal to your royal loveliness?"
+
+"You should be scourged," repeated Amada stamping her foot. "My Uncle, I
+pray you cause this knave to be scourged."
+
+"Nay, nay," said Peroa moodily. "Poor simple man, he knew no better and
+thought only to sing your praises in a far land. Be not angry with the
+dwarf, Niece. Had it been Shabaka who gave your name, the thing would be
+different. What happened next, Bes?"
+
+"Only this, Prince," said Bes, looking upwards and rolling his eyes, as
+was his fashion when unloading some great lie from his heart. "The
+King sent his servants to bring my master from the boat, that he might
+inquire of him whether he had always found me truthful. For, Prince,
+those Easterns set much store by truth which here in Egypt is worshipped
+as a goddess. There they do not worship her because she lives in the
+heart of every man, and some women."
+
+Now all stared at Bes who continued to stare at the ceiling, and I rose
+to say something, I know not what, when suddenly the doors opened and
+through them appeared heralds, crying,
+
+"Hearken, Peroa, Prince of Egypt by grace of the Great King. A message
+from the Great King. Read and obey, O Peroa, Prince of Egypt by grace of
+the Great King!"
+
+As they cried thus from between them emerged a man whose long Eastern
+robes were stained with the dust of travel. Advancing without salute he
+drew out a roll, touched his forehead with it, bowing deeply, and handed
+it to the prince, saying,
+
+"Kiss the Word. Read the Word. Obey the Word, O servant of our Master,
+the King of kings, beneath whose feet we are all but dust."
+
+Peroa took the roll, made a semblance of lifting it to his forehead,
+opened and read it. As he did so I saw the veins swell upon his neck and
+his eyes flash, but he only said,
+
+"O Messenger, to-night I feast, to-morrow an answer shall be given to
+you to convey to the Satrap Idernes. My servants will find you food and
+lodging. You are dismissed."
+
+"Let the answer be given early lest you also should be dismissed, O
+Peroa," said the man with insolence.
+
+Then he turned his back upon the prince, as one does on an inferior, and
+walked away, accompanied by the herald.
+
+When they were gone and the doors had been shut, Peroa spoke in a voice
+that was thick with fury, saying,
+
+"Hearken, all of you, to the words of the writing."
+
+Then he read it.
+
+
+ "From the King of kings, the Ruler of all the earth, to Peroa, one
+  of his servants in the Satrapy of Egypt,
+
+ "Deliver over to my servant Idernes without delay, the person of
+  Amada, a lady of the blood of the old Pharaohs of Egypt, who is
+  your relative and in your guardianship, that she may be numbered
+  among the women of my house."
+
+
+Now all present looked at each other, while Amada stood as though she
+had been frozen into stone. Before she could speak, Peroa went on,
+
+"See how the King seeks a quarrel against me that he may destroy me and
+bray Egypt in his mortar, and tan it like a hide to wrap about his feet.
+Nay, hold your peace, Amada. Have no fear. You shall not be sent to the
+East; first will I kill you with my own hands. But what answer shall
+we give, for the matter is urgent and on it hang all our lives? Bethink
+you, Idernes has a great force yonder at Sais, and if I refuse outright,
+he will attack us, which indeed is what the King means him to do before
+we can make preparation. Say then, shall we fight, or shall we fly to
+Upper Egypt, abandoning Memphis, and there make our stand?"
+
+Now the Councillors present seemed to find no answer, for they did not
+know what to say. But Bes whispered in my ear,
+
+"Remember, Master, that you hold the King's seal. Let an answer be sent
+to Idernes under the White Seal, bidding him wait on you."
+
+Then I rose and spoke.
+
+"O Peroa," I said, "as it chances I am the bearer of the private signet
+of the Great King, which all men must obey in the north and in the
+south, in the east and in the west, wherever the sun shines over the
+dominions of the King. Look on it," and taking the ancient White Seal
+from about my neck, I handed it to him.
+
+He looked and the Councillors looked. Then they said almost with one
+voice,
+
+"It is the White Seal, the very signet of the Great Kings of the East,"
+and they bowed before the dreadful thing.
+
+"How you came by this we do not know, Shabaka," said Peroa. "That can
+be inquired of afterwards. Yet in truth it seems to be the old Signet
+of signets, that which has come down from father to son for countless
+generations, that which the King of kings carries on his person and
+affixes to his private orders and to the greatest documents of State,
+which afterwards can never be recalled, that of which a copy is
+emblazoned on his banner."
+
+"It is," I answered, "and from the King's person it came to me for a
+while. If any doubt, let the impress be brought, that is furnished to
+all the officers throughout the Empire, and let the seal be set in the
+impress."
+
+Now one of the officers rose and went to bring the impress which was in
+his keeping, but Peroa continued,
+
+"If this be the true seal, how would you use it, Shabaka, to help us in
+our present trouble?"
+
+"Thus, Prince," I answered. "I would send a command under the seal to
+Idernes to wait upon the holder of the seal here in Memphis. He will
+suspect a trap and will not come until he has gathered a great army.
+Then he will come, but meanwhile, you, Prince, can also collect an
+army."
+
+"That needs gold, Shabaka, and I have little. The King of kings takes
+all in tribute."
+
+"I have some, Prince, to the weight of a heavy man, and it is at the
+service of Egypt."
+
+"I thank you, Shabaka. Believe me, such generosity shall not go
+unrewarded," and he glanced at Amada who dropped her eyes. "But if we
+can collect the army, what then?"
+
+"Then you can put Memphis into a state of defence. Then too when Idernes
+comes I will meet him and, as the bearer of the seal, command him under
+the seal to retreat and disperse his army."
+
+"But if he does, Shabaka, it will only be until he has received fresh
+orders from the Great King, whereon he will advance again."
+
+"No, Prince, _he_ will not advance, or that army either. For when they
+are in retreat we will fall on them and destroy them, and declare you,
+O Prince, Pharaoh of Egypt, though what will happen afterwards I do not
+know."
+
+When they heard this all gasped. Only Amada whispered,
+
+"Well said!" and Bes clapped his big hands softly in the Ethiopian
+fashion.
+
+"A bold counsel," said Peroa, "and one on which I must have the night to
+think. Return here, Shabaka, an hour after sunrise to-morrow, by which
+time I can gather all the wisest men in Memphis, and we will discuss
+this matter. Ah! here is the impress. Now let the seal be tried."
+
+A box was brought and opened. In it was a slab of wood on which was an
+impress of the King's seal in wax, surrounded by those of other seals
+certifying that it was genuine. Also there was a writing describing
+the appearance of the seal. I handed the signet to Peroa who, having
+compared it with the description in the writing, fitted it to the
+impress on the wax.
+
+"It is the same," he said. "See, all of you."
+
+They looked and nodded. Then he would have given it back to me but I
+refused to take it, saying,
+
+"It is not well that this mighty symbol should hang about the neck of a
+private man whence it might be stolen or lost."
+
+"Or who might be murdered for its sake," interrupted Peroa.
+
+"Yes, Prince. Therefore take it and hide it in the safest and most
+secret place in the palace, and with it these pearls that are too
+priceless to be flaunted about the streets of Memphis at night, unless
+indeed----" and I turned to look for Amada, but she was gone.
+
+So the seal and the pearls were taken and locked in the box with the
+impress and borne away. Nor was I sorry to see the last of them, wisely
+as it happened. Then I bade the Prince and his company good night, and
+presently was driving homeward with Bes in the chariot.
+
+Our way led us past some large houses once occupied by officers of the
+Court of Pharaoh, but now that there was no Court, fallen into ruins.
+Suddenly from out of these houses sprang a band of men disguised as
+common robbers, whose faces were hidden by cloths with eye-holes cut
+in them. They seized the horses by the bridles, and before we could do
+anything, leapt upon us and held us fast. Then a tall man speaking with
+a foreign accent, said,
+
+"Search that officer and the dwarf. Take from them the seal upon a gold
+chain and a rope of rose-hued pearls which they have stolen. But do them
+no harm."
+
+So they searched us, the tall man himself helping and, aided by others,
+holding Bes who struggled with them, and searched the chariot also, by
+the light of the moon, but found nothing. The tall man muttered that I
+must be the wrong officer, and at a sign they left us and ran away.
+
+"That was a wise thought of mine, Bes, which caused me to leave certain
+ornaments in the palace," I said. "As it is they have taken nothing."
+
+"Yes, Master," he answered, "though I have taken something from them,"
+a saying that I did not understand at the time. "Those Easterns whom we
+met by the canal told Idernes about the seal, and he ordered this to be
+done. That tall man was one of the messengers who came to-night to the
+palace."
+
+"Then why did they not kill us, Bes?"
+
+"Because murder, especially of one who holds the seal, is an ugly
+business, that is easily tracked down, whereas thieves are many in
+Memphis and who troubles about them when they have failed? Oh! the
+Grasshopper, or Amen, or both, have been with us to-night."
+
+So I thought although I said nothing, for since we had come off
+scatheless, what did it matter? Well, this. It showed me that the signet
+of the Great King was indeed to be dreaded and coveted, even here in
+Egypt. If Idernes could get it into his possession, what might he not do
+with it? Cause himself to be proclaimed Pharaoh perhaps and become the
+forefather of an independent dynasty. Why not, when the Empire of the
+East was taxed with a great war elsewhere? And if this was so why should
+not Peroa do the same, he who had behind him all Old Egypt, maddened
+with its wrongs and foreign rule?
+
+That same night before I slept, but after Bes and I had hidden away the
+bags of gold by burying them beneath the clay floor, I laid the whole
+matter before my mother who was a very wise woman. She heard me out,
+answering little, then said,
+
+"The business is very dangerous, and of its end I will not speak until
+I have heard the counsel of your great-uncle, the holy Tanofir. Still,
+things having gone so far, it seems to me that boldness may be the best
+course, since the great King has his Grecian wars to deal with, and
+whatever he may say, cannot attack Egypt yet awhile. Therefore if Peroa
+is able to overcome Idernes and his army he may cause himself to be
+proclaimed Pharaoh and make Egypt free if only for a time."
+
+"Such is my mind, Mother."
+
+"Not all your mind, Son, I think," she answered smiling, "for you
+think more of the lovely Amada than of these high policies, at any
+rate to-night. Well, marry your Amada if you can, though I misdoubt me
+somewhat of a woman who is so lost in learning and thinks so much about
+her soul. At least if you marry her and Egypt should become free, as it
+was for thousands of years, you will be the next heir to the throne as
+husband of the Great Royal Lady."
+
+"How can that be, Mother, seeing that Peroa has a son?"
+
+"A vain youth with no more in him than a child's rattle. If once Amada
+ceases to think about her soul she will begin to think about her throne,
+especially if she has children. But all this is far away and for the
+present I am glad that neither she nor the thieves have got those
+pearls, though perhaps they might be safer here than where they are.
+And now, my son, go rest for you need it, and dream of nothing, not even
+Amada, who for her part will dream of Isis, if at all. I will wake you
+before the dawn."
+
+So I went, being too tired to talk more, and slept like a crocodile
+in the sun, till, as it seemed to me, but a few minutes later I saw my
+mother standing over me with a lamp, saying that it was time to rise. I
+rose, unwillingly enough, but refreshed, washed and dressed myself,
+by which time the sun had begun to appear. Then I ate some food and,
+calling Bes, made ready to start for the palace.
+
+"My son," said my mother, the lady Tiu, before we parted, "while you
+have been sleeping I have been thinking, as is the way of the old.
+Peroa, your cousin, will be glad enough to make use of you, but he does
+not love you over much because he is jealous of you and fears lest you
+should become his rival in the future. Still he is an honest man and
+will keep a bargain which he once has made. Now it seems that above
+everything on earth you desire Amada on whom you have set your heart
+since boyhood, but who has always played with you and spoken to you with
+her arm stretched out. Also life is short and may come to an end any
+day, as you should know better than most men who have lived among
+dangers, and therefore it is well that a man should take what he
+desires, even if he finds afterwards that the rose he crushes to his
+breast has thorns. For then at least he will have smelt the rose, not
+only have looked on and longed to smell it. Therefore, before you hand
+over your gold, and place your wit and strength at the service of Peroa,
+make your bargain with him; namely, that if thereby you save Amada from
+the King's House of Women and help to set Peroa on the throne, he shall
+promise her to you free of any priestly curse, you giving her as dowry
+the priceless rose-hued pearls that are worth a kingdom. So you will get
+your rose till it withers, and if the thorns prick, do not blame me, and
+one day you may become a king--or a slave, Amen knows which."
+
+Now I laughed and said that I would take her counsel who desired Amada
+and nothing else. As for all her talk about thorns, I paid no heed to
+it, knowing that she loved me very much and was jealous of Amada who she
+thought would take her place with me.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X. SHABAKA PLIGHTS HIS TROTH
+
+Bes and I went armed to the palace, walking in the middle of the road,
+but now that the sun was up we met no more robbers. At the gate a
+messenger summoned me alone to the presence of Peroa, who, he said,
+wished to talk with me before the sitting of the Council. I went and
+found him by himself.
+
+"I hear that you were attacked last night," he said after greeting me.
+
+I answered that I was and told him the story, adding that it was
+fortunate I had left the White Seal and the pearls in safe keeping,
+since without doubt the would-be thieves were Easterns who desired to
+recover them.
+
+"Ah! the pearls," he said. "One of those who handled them, who was once
+a dealer in gems, says that they are without price, unmatched in the
+whole world, and that never in all his life has he seen any to equal the
+smallest of them."
+
+I replied that I believed this was so. Then he asked me of the value of
+the gold of which I had spoken. I told him and it was a great sum, for
+gold was scarce in Egypt. His eyes gleamed for he needed wealth to pay
+soldiers.
+
+"And all this you are ready to hand over to me, Shabaka?"
+
+Now I bethought me of my mother's words, and answered,
+
+"Yes, Prince, at a price."
+
+"What price, Shabaka?"
+
+"The price of the hand of the Royal Lady, Amada, freed from her vows.
+Moreover, I will give her the pearls as a marriage dowry and place at
+your service my sword and all the knowledge I have gained in the East,
+swearing to stand or fall with you."
+
+"I thought it, Shabaka. Well, in this world nothing is given for nothing
+and the offer is a fair one. You are well born, too, as well as myself,
+and a brave and clever man. Further, Amada has not taken her final vows
+and therefore the high priests can absolve her from her marriage to
+the goddess, or to her son Horus, whichever it may be, for I do not
+understand these mysteries. But, Shabaka, if Fortune should chance to go
+with us and I should became the first Pharaoh of a new dynasty in Egypt,
+he who was married to the Royal Princess of the true blood might become
+a danger to my throne and family."
+
+"I shall not be that man, Prince, who am content with my own station,
+and to be your servant."
+
+"And my son's, Shabaka? You know that I have but one lawful son."
+
+"And your son's, Prince."
+
+"You are honest, Shabaka, and I believe you. But how about your sons,
+if you have any, and how about Amada herself? Well, in great businesses
+something must be risked, and I need the gold and the rest which I
+cannot take for nothing, for you won them by your skill and courage and
+they are yours. But how you won the seal you have not told us, nor is
+there time for you to do so now."
+
+He thought a little, walking up and down the chamber, then went on,
+
+"I accept your offer, Shabaka, so far as I can."
+
+"So far as you can, Prince?"
+
+"Yes; I can give you Amada in marriage and make that marriage easy, but
+only if Amada herself consents. The will of a Royal Princess of Egypt of
+full age cannot be forced, save by her father if he reigns as Pharaoh,
+and I am not her father, but only her guardian. Therefore it stands
+thus. Are you willing to fulfil your part of the bargain, save only as
+regards the pearls, if she does not marry you, and to take your chance
+of winning Amada as a man wins a woman, I on my part promising to do all
+in my power to help your suit?"
+
+Now it was my turn to think for a moment. What did I risk? The gold and
+perhaps the pearls, no more, for in any case I should fight for Peroa
+against the Eastern king whom I hated, and through him for Egypt. Well,
+these came to me by chance, and if they went by chance what of it? Also
+I was not one who desired to wed a woman, however much I worshipped
+her, if she desired to turn her back on me. If I could win her in fair
+love--well. If not, it was my misfortune, and I wanted her in no other
+way. Lastly, I had reason to think that she looked on me more favourably
+than she had ever done on any other man, and that if it had not been for
+what my mother called her soul and its longings, she would have given
+herself to me before I journeyed to the East. Indeed, once she had said
+as much, and there was something in her eyes last night which told me
+that in her heart she loved me, though with what passion at the time I
+did not know. So very swiftly I made up my mind and answered,
+
+"I understand and I accept. The gold shall be delivered to you to-day,
+Prince. The pearls are already in your keeping to await the end."
+
+"Good!" he exclaimed. "Then let the matter be reduced to writing and at
+once, that afterwards neither of us may have cause to complain of the
+other."
+
+So he sent for his secret scribe and dictated to him, briefly but
+clearly, the substance of our bargain, nothing being added, and nothing
+taken away. This roll written on papyrus was afterwards copied twice,
+Peroa taking one copy, I another, and a third being deposited according
+to custom, in the library of the temple of Ptah.
+
+When all was done and Peroa and I had touched each other's breasts and
+given our word in the name of Amen, we went to the hall in which we
+had dined, where those whom the Prince had summoned were assembled.
+Altogether there were about thirty of them, great citizens of Memphis,
+or landowners from without who had been called together in the night.
+Some of these men were very old and could remember when Egypt had a
+Pharaoh of its own before the East set its heel upon her neck, of noble
+blood also.
+
+Others were merchants who dealt with all the cities of Egypt; others
+hereditary generals, or captains of fleets of ships; others Grecians,
+officers of mercenaries who were supposed to be in the pay of the King
+of kings, but hated him, as did all the Greeks. Then there were the high
+priests of Ptah, of Amen, of Osiris and others who were still the most
+powerful men in the land, since there was no village between Thebes and
+the mouths of the Nile in which they had not those who were sworn to the
+service of their gods.
+
+Such was the company representing all that remained or could be gathered
+there of the greatness of Egypt the ancient and the fallen.
+
+To these when the doors had been closed and barred and trusty watchmen
+set to guard them, Peroa expounded the case in a low and earnest voice.
+He showed them that the King of the East sought a new quarrel against
+Egypt that he might grind her to powder beneath his heel, and that he
+did this by demanding the person of Amada, his own niece and the Royal
+Lady of Egypt, to be included in his household like any common woman. If
+she were refused then he would send a great army under pretext of taking
+her, and lay the land waste as far as Thebes. And if she were granted
+some new quarrel would be picked and in the person of the royal Amada
+all of them be for ever shamed.
+
+Next he showed the seal, telling them that I--who was known to many of
+them, at least by repute--had brought it from the East, and repeating to
+them the plan that I had proposed upon the previous night. After this he
+asked their counsel, saying that before noon he must send an answer to
+Idernes, the King's Satrap at Sais.
+
+Then I was called upon to speak and, in answer to questions, answered
+frankly that I had stolen the ancient White Seal from the King's servant
+who carried it as a warrant for the King's private vengeance on one who
+had bested him. How I did not mention. I told them also of the state of
+the Great King's empire and that I had heard that he was about to enter
+upon a war with the Greeks which would need all its strength, and that
+therefore if they wished to strike for liberty the time was at hand.
+
+Then the talk began and lasted for two hours, each man giving his
+judgment according to precedence, some one way and some another. When
+all had done and it became clear that there were differences of opinion,
+some being content to live on in slavery with what remained to them and
+others desiring to strike for freedom, among whom were the high priests
+who feared lest the Eastern heretics should utterly destroy their
+worship, Peroa spoke once more.
+
+"Elders of Egypt," he said briefly, "certain of you think one way, and
+certain another, but of this be sure, such talk as we have held together
+cannot be hid. It will come to the ears of spies and through them to
+those of the Great King, and then all of us alike are doomed. If you
+refuse to stir, this very day I with my family and household and the
+Royal Lady Amada, and all who cling to me, fly to Upper Egypt and
+perhaps beyond it to Ethiopia, leaving you to deal with the Great King,
+as you will, or to follow me into exile. That he will attack us there is
+no doubt, either over the pretext of Amada or some other, since Shabaka
+has heard as much from his own lips. Now choose."
+
+Then, after a little whispering together, every man of them voted for
+rebellion, though some of them I could see with heavy hearts, and bound
+themselves by a great oath to cling together to the last.
+
+The matter being thus settled such a letter was written to Idernes as
+I had suggested on the night before, and sealed with the Signet of
+signets. Of the yielding up of Amada it said nothing, but commanded
+Idernes, under the private White Seal that none dared disobey, to wait
+upon the Prince Peroa at Memphis forthwith, and there learn from him,
+the Holder of the Seal, what was the will of the Great King. Then
+the Council was adjourned till one hour after noon, and most of them
+departed to send messengers bearing secret word to the various cities
+and nomes of Egypt.
+
+Before they went, however, I was directed to wait upon my relative,
+the holy Tanofir, whom all acknowledged to be the greatest magician in
+Egypt, and to ask of him to seek wisdom and an oracle from his Spirit
+as to the future and whether in it we should fare well or ill. This I
+promised to do.
+
+When most of the Council were gone the messengers of Idernes were
+summoned, and came proudly, and with them, or rather before them, Bes
+for whom I had sent as he was not present at the Council.
+
+"Master," he whispered to me, "the tallest of those messengers is the
+man who captained the robbers last night. Wait and I will prove it."
+
+Peroa gave the roll to the head messenger, bidding him bear it to the
+Satrap in answer to the letter which he had delivered to him. The man
+took it insolently and thrust it into his robe, as he did so revealing
+a silver chain that had been broken and knotted together, and asked
+whether there were words to bear besides those written in the roll.
+Before Peroa could answer Bes sprang up saying,
+
+"O Prince, a boon, the boon of justice on this man. Last night he and
+others with him attacked my master and myself, seeking to rob us, but
+finding nothing let us go."
+
+"You lie, Abortion!" said the Eastern.
+
+"Oh! I lie, do I?" mocked Bes. "Well, let us see," and shooting out his
+long arm, he grasped the chain about the messenger's neck and broke it
+with a jerk. "Look, O Prince," he said, "you may have noted last night,
+when that man entered the hall, that there hung about his neck this
+chain to which was tied a silver key."
+
+"I noted it," said Peroa.
+
+"Then ask him, O Prince, where is the key now."
+
+"What is that to you, Dwarf?" broke in the man. "The key is my mark of
+office as chief butler to the High Satrap. Must I always bear it for
+your pleasure?"
+
+"Not when it has been taken from you, Butler," answered Bes. "See, here
+it is," and from his sleeve he produced the key hanging to a piece of
+the chain. "Listen, O Prince," he said. "I struggled with this man and
+the key was in my left hand though he did not know it at the time, and
+with it some of the chain. Compare them and judge. Also his mask slipped
+and I saw his face and knew him again."
+
+Peroa laid the pieces of the chain together and observed the workmanship
+which was Eastern and rare. Then he clapped his hands, at which sign
+armed men of his household entered from behind him.
+
+"It is the same," he said. "Butler of Idernes, you are a common thief."
+
+The man strove to answer, but could not for the deed was proved against
+him.
+
+"Then, O Prince," asked Bes, "what is the punishment of those thieves
+who attack passers-by with violence in the streets of Memphis, for such
+I demand on him?"
+
+"The cutting off of the right hand and scourging," answered Peroa, at
+which words the butler turned to fly. But Bes leapt on him like an ape
+upon a bird, and held him fast.
+
+"Seize that thief," said Peroa to his servants, "and let him receive
+fifty blows with the rods. His hand I spare because he must travel."
+
+They laid the man down and the rods having been fetched, gave him the
+blows until at the thirtieth he howled for mercy, crying out that it was
+true and that it was he who had captained the robbers, words which Peroa
+caused to be written down. Then he asked him why he, a messenger from
+the Satrap, had robbed in the streets of Memphis, and as he refused to
+answer, commanded the officer of justice to lay on. After three more
+blows the man said,
+
+"O Prince, this was no common robbery for gain. I did what I was
+commanded to do, because yonder noble had about him the ancient White
+Seal of the Great King which he showed to certain of the Satrap's
+servants by the banks of the canal. That seal is a holy token, O Prince,
+which, it is said, has descended for twice a thousand years in the
+family of the Great King, and as the Satrap did not know how it had come
+into the hands of the noble Shabaka, he ordered me to obtain it if I
+could."
+
+"And the pearls too, Butler?"
+
+"Yes, O Prince, since those gems are a great possession with which any
+Satrap could buy a larger satrapy."
+
+"Let him go," said Peroa, and the man rose, rubbing himself and weeping
+in his pain.
+
+"Now, Butler," he went on, "return to your master with a grateful heart,
+since you have been spared much that you deserve. Say to him that he
+cannot steal the Signet, but that if he is wise he will obey it, since
+otherwise his fate may be worse than yours, and to all his servants say
+the same. Foolish man, how can you, or your master, guess what is in
+the mind of the Great King, or for what purpose the Signet of signets is
+here in Egypt? Beware lest you fall into a pit, all of you together, and
+let Idernes beware lest he find himself at the very bottom of that pit."
+
+"O Prince, I will beware," said the humbled butler, "and whatever is
+written over the seal, that I will obey, like many others."
+
+"You are wise," answered Peroa; "I pray for his own sake that the Satrap
+Idernes may be as wise. Now begone, thanking whatever god you worship
+that your life is whole in you and that your right hand remains upon
+your wrist."
+
+So the butler and those with him prostrated themselves before Peroa
+and bowed humbly to me and even to Bes because in their hearts now they
+believed that we were clothed by the Great King with terrible powers
+that might destroy them all, if so we chose. Then they went, the butler
+limping a little and with no pride left in him.
+
+"That was good work," said Peroa to me afterwards when we were alone,
+"for now yonder knave is frightened and will frighten his master."
+
+"Yes," I answered, "you played that pipe well, Prince. Still, there is
+no time to lose, since before another moon this will all be reported in
+the East, whence a new light may arise and perchance a new signet."
+
+"You say you stole the White Seal?" he asked.
+
+"Nay, Prince, the truth is that Bes bought it--in a certain fashion--and
+I used it. Perhaps it is well that you should know no more at present."
+
+"Perhaps," he answered, and we parted, for he had much to do.
+
+That afternoon the Council met again. At it I gave over the gold and by
+help of it all was arranged. Within a week ten thousand armed men would
+be in Memphis and a hundred ships with their crews upon the Nile; also
+a great army would be gathering in Upper Egypt, officered for the most
+part by Greeks skilled in war. The Greek cities too at the mouths of the
+Nile would be ready to revolt, or so some of their citizens declared,
+for they hated the Great King bitterly and longed to cast off his yoke.
+
+For my part, I received the command of the bodyguard of Peroa in which
+were many Greeks, and a generalship in the army; while to Bes, at my
+prayer, was given the freedom of the land which he accepted with a
+smile, he who was a king in his own country.
+
+At length all was finished and I went out into the palace garden to rest
+myself before I rode into the desert to see my great uncle, the holy
+Tanofir. I was alone, for Bes had gone to bring our horses on which we
+were to ride, and sat myself down beneath a palm-tree, thinking of the
+great adventure on which we had entered with a merry heart, for I loved
+adventures.
+
+Next I thought of Amada and was less merry. Then I looked up and lo!
+she stood before me, unaccompanied and wearing the dress, not of a
+priestess, but of an Egyptian lady with the little circlet of her rank
+upon her hair. I rose and bowed to her and we began to walk together
+beneath the palms, my heart beating hard within me, for I knew that my
+hour had come to speak.
+
+Yet it was she who spoke the first, saying,
+
+"I hear that you have been playing a high part, Shabaka, and doing great
+things for Egypt."
+
+"For Egypt and for you who are Egypt," I answered.
+
+"So I should have been called in the old days, Cousin, because of my
+blood and the rank it gives, though now I am but as any other lady of
+the land."
+
+"And so you shall be called in days to come, Amada, if my sword and wit
+can win their way."
+
+"How so, Cousin, seeing that you have promised certain things to my
+uncle Peroa and his son?"
+
+"I have promised those things, Amada, and I will abide by my promise;
+but the gods are above all, and who knows what they may decree?"
+
+"Yes, Cousin, the gods are above all, and in their hands we will let
+these matters rest, provoking them in no manner and least of all by
+treachery to our oaths."
+
+We walked for a little way in silence. Then I spoke.
+
+"Amada, there are more things than thrones in the world."
+
+"Yes, Cousin, there is that in which all thrones end--death, which it
+seems we court."
+
+"And, Amada, there is that in which all thrones begin--love, which I
+court from you."
+
+"I have known it long," she said, considering me gravely, "and been
+grateful to you who are more to me than any man has been or ever will
+be. But, Shabaka, I am a priestess bound to set the holy One I serve
+above a mortal."
+
+"That holy One was wed and bore a child, Amada, who avenged his father,
+as I trust that we shall avenge Egypt. Therefore she looks with a kind
+eye upon wives and mothers. Also you have not taken your final vows and
+can be absolved."
+
+"Yes," she said softly.
+
+"Then, Amada, will you give yourself into my keeping?"
+
+"I think so, Shabaka, though it has been in my mind for long, as you
+know well, to give myself only to learning and the service of the
+heavenly Lady. My heart calls me to you, it is true, day and night it
+calls, how loudly I will not tell; yet I would not yield myself to that
+alone. But Egypt calls me also, since I have been shown in a dream while
+I watched in the sanctuary, that you are the only man who can free her,
+and I think that this dream came from on high. Therefore I will give
+myself, but not yet."
+
+"Not yet," I said dismayed. "When?"
+
+"When I have been absolved from my vows, which must be done on the night
+of the next new moon, which is twenty-seven days from this. Then, if
+nothing comes between us during those twenty-seven days, it shall be
+announced that the Royal Lady of Egypt is to wed the noble Shabaka."
+
+"Twenty-seven days! In such times much may happen in them, Amada. Still,
+except death, what can come between us?"
+
+"I know of nothing, Shabaka, whose past is shadowless as the noon."
+
+"Or I either," I replied.
+
+Now we were standing in the clear sunlight, but as I said the words a
+wind stirred the palm-trees and the shadow from one of them fell full
+upon me, and she who was very quick, noted it.
+
+"Some might take that for an omen," she said with a little laugh,
+pointing to the line of the shadow. "Oh! Shabaka, if you have aught
+to confess, say it now and I will forgive it. But do not leave me to
+discover it afterwards when I may not forgive. Perchance during your
+journeyings in the East----"
+
+"Nothing, nothing," I exclaimed joyfully, who during all that time had
+scarcely spoken to a youthful woman.
+
+"I am glad that nothing happened in the East that could separate us,
+Shabaka, though in truth my thought was not your own, for there are more
+things than women in the world. Only it seems strange to me that you
+should return to Egypt laden with such priceless gifts from him who is
+Egypt's greatest enemy."
+
+"Have I not told you that I put my country before myself? Those gifts
+were won fairly in a wager, Amada, whereof you heard the story but last
+night. Moreover you know the purpose to which they are to be put," I
+replied indignantly.
+
+"Yes, I know and now I am sure. Be not angry, Shabaka, with her who
+loves you truly and hopes ere long to call you husband. But till that
+day take it not amiss if I keep somewhat aloof from you, who must break
+with the past and learn to face a future of which I did not dream."
+
+For the rest she stretched out her hand and I kissed it, for while she
+was still a priestess her lips she would not suffer me to touch. Another
+moment and smiling happily, she had glided away, leaving me alone in the
+garden.
+
+Then it was for the first time that I bethought me of the warnings of
+Bes and remembered that it was I, not he, who had told the Great
+King the name of the most beautiful woman in Egypt, although in all
+innocence. Yes, I remembered, and felt as if all the shadows on the
+earth had wrapped me round. I thought of finding her, but she had gone
+whither I knew not in that great palace. So I determined that the next
+time we were alone I would tell her of the matter, explaining all, and
+with this thought I comforted myself who did not know that until many
+days were past we should be alone no more.
+
+After this I went home and told my mother all my joy, for in truth there
+was no happier man in Egypt. She listened, then answered, smiling a
+little.
+
+"When your father wished to take me to wife, Shabaka, it was not my hand
+that I gave him to kiss, and as you know, I too have the blood of kings
+in me. But then I was not a priestess of Isis, so doubtless all is well.
+Only in twenty-seven days much may happen, as you said to Amada. Now I
+wonder why did she----? Well, no matter, since priestesses are not like
+other women who only think of the man they have won and of naught before
+or after. The blessing of the gods and mine be on you both, my son," and
+she went away to attend to her household matters.
+
+As we rode to Sekera to find the holy Tanofir I told Bes also, adding
+that I had forgotten to reveal that it was I who had spoken Amada's name
+to the king, but that I intended to do so ere long.
+
+Bes rolled his eyes and answered,
+
+"If I were you, Master, as I had forgotten, I should continue to forget,
+for what is welcome in one hour is not always welcome in another. Why
+speak of the matter at all, which is one hard to explain to a woman,
+however wise and royal? I have already said that _I_ spoke the name to
+the King and that you were brought from the boat to say whether I was
+noted for my truthfulness. Is not that enough?"
+
+While I considered, Bes went on,
+
+"You may remember, Master, that when I told, well--the truth about this
+story, the lady Amada asked earnestly that I should be scourged, even
+to the bones. Now if you should tell another truth which will make mine
+dull as tarnished silver, she will not leave me even my bones, for I
+shall be proved a liar, and what will happen to you I am sure I do
+not know. And, Master, as I am no longer a slave here in Egypt, to say
+nothing of what I may be elsewhere, I have no fancy for scourgings, who
+may not kiss the hand that smites me as you can."
+
+"But, Bes," I said, "what is, is and may always be learned in this way
+or in that."
+
+"Master, if what is were always learned, I think the world would fall
+to pieces, or at least there would be no men left on it. Why should
+this matter be learned? It is known to you and me alone, leaving out the
+Great King who probably has forgotten as he was drunk at the time. Oh!
+Master, when you have neither bow nor spear at hand, it is not wise
+to kick a sleeping lion in the stomach, for then he will remember its
+emptiness and sup off you. Beside, when first I told you that tale
+I made a mistake. I did tell the Great King, as I now remember quite
+clearly, that the beautiful lady was named Amada, and he only sent for
+you to ask if I spoke the truth."
+
+"Bes," I exclaimed, "you worshippers of the Grasshopper wear virtue
+easily."
+
+"Easily as an old sandal, Master, or rather not at all, since the
+Grasshopper has need of none. For ages they have studied the ways of
+those who worship the gods of Egypt, and from them have learned----"
+
+"What?"
+
+"Amongst other things, Master, that woman, being modest, is shocked at
+the sight of the naked Truth."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI. THE HOLY TANOFIR
+
+We entered the City of Graves that is called Sekera. In the centre
+towered pyramids that hid the bones of ancient and forgotten kings,
+and everywhere around upon the desert sands was street upon street of
+monuments, but save for a priest or two hurrying to patter his paid
+office in the funeral chapels of the departed, never a living man. Bes
+looked about him and sniffed with his wide nostrils.
+
+"Is there not death enough in the world, Master," he asked, "that the
+living should wish to proclaim it in this fashion, rolling it on their
+tongues like a morsel they are loth to swallow, because it tastes so
+good? Oh! what a waste is here. All these have had their day and yet
+they need houses and pyramids and painted chambers in which to sleep,
+whereas if they believed the faith they practised, they would have been
+content to give their bones to feed the earth they fed on, and fill
+heaven with their souls."
+
+"Do your people thus, Bes?"
+
+"For the most part, Master. Our dead kings and great ones we enclose in
+pillars of crystal, but we do this that they may serve a double purpose.
+One is that the pillars may support the roof of their successors, and
+the other, that those who inherit their goods may please themselves by
+reflecting how much handsomer they are than those who went before them.
+For no mummy looks really nice, Master, at least with its wrappings off,
+and our kings are put naked into the crystal."
+
+"And what becomes of the rest, Bes?"
+
+"Their bodies go to the earth or the water and the Grasshopper carries
+off their souls to--where, Master?"
+
+"I do not know, Bes."
+
+"No, Master, no one knows, except the lady Amada and perhaps the holy
+Tanofir. Here I think is the entrance to his hole," and he pulled up his
+beast with a jerk at what looked like the doorway of a tomb.
+
+Apparently we were expected, for a tall and proud-looking girl clad in
+white and with extraordinarily dark eyes, appeared in the doorway and
+asked in a soft voice if we were the noble Shabaka and Bes, his slave.
+
+"I am Shabaka," I answered, "and this is Bes, who is not my slave but a
+free citizen of Egypt."
+
+The girl contemplated the dwarf with her big eyes, then said,
+
+"And other things, I think."
+
+"What things?" inquired Bes with interest, as he stared at this
+beautiful lady.
+
+"A very brave and clever man and one perhaps who is more than he seems
+to be?"
+
+"Who has been telling you about me?" exclaimed Bes anxiously.
+
+"No one, O Bes, at least not that I can remember."
+
+"Not that you can remember! Then who and what are you who learn things
+you know not how?"
+
+"I am named Karema and desert-bred, and my office is that of Cup to the
+holy Tanofir."
+
+"If hermits drink from such a cup I shall turn hermit," said Bes,
+laughing. "But how can a woman be a man's cup and what kind of a wine
+does he drink from her?"
+
+"The wine of wisdom, O Bes," she replied colouring a little, for like
+many Arabs of high blood she was very fair in hue.
+
+"Wine of wisdom," said Bes. "From such cups most drink the wine of
+folly, or sometimes of madness."
+
+"The holy Tanofir awaits you," she interrupted, and turning, entered the
+doorway.
+
+A little way down the passage was a niche in which stood three lamps
+ready lighted. One of these she took and gave the others to us. Then we
+followed her down a steep incline of many steps, till at length we
+found ourselves in a hot and enormous hall hewn from the living rock and
+filled with blackness.
+
+"What is this place?" said Bes, who looked frightened, and although he
+spoke in a low whisper, our guide overheard him and turning, answered,
+
+"This is the burial place of the Apis bulls. See, here lies the last,
+not yet closed in," and holding up her lamp she revealed a mighty
+sarcophagus of black granite set in a niche of the mausoleum.
+
+"So they make mummies of bulls as well as of men," groaned Bes. "Oh!
+what a land. But when I have seen the holy Tanofir it was in a brick
+cell beneath the sky."
+
+"Doubtless that was at night, O Bes," answered Karema, "for in such a
+house he sleeps, spending his days in the Apis tomb, because of all the
+evil that is worked beneath the sun."
+
+"Hump," said Bes, "I should have thought that more was worked beneath
+the moon, but doubtless the holy Tanofir knows better, or being asleep
+does not mind."
+
+Now in front of each of the walled-up niches was a little chapel, and at
+the fourth of these whence a light came, the maiden stopped, saying,
+
+"Enter. Here dwells the holy Tanofir. He tended this god during its
+life-days in his youth, and now that the god is dead he prays above its
+bones."
+
+"Prays to the bones of a dead bull in the dark! Well, give me a live
+grasshopper in the light; he is more cheerful," muttered Bes.
+
+"O Dwarf," cried a deep and resounding voice from within the chapel,
+"talk no more of things you do not understand. I do not pray to the
+bones of a dead bull, as you in your ignorance suppose. I pray to the
+spirit whereof this sacred beast was but one of the fleshly symbols,
+which in this haunted place you will do well not to offend."
+
+Then for once I saw Bes grow afraid, for his great jaw dropped and he
+trembled.
+
+"Master," he said to me, "when next you visit tombs where maidens look
+into your heart and hermits hear your very thoughts, I pray you leave me
+behind. The holy Tanofir I love, if from afar, but I like not his house,
+or his----" Here he looked at Karema who was regarding him with a sweet
+smile over the lamp flame, and added, "There is something the matter
+with me, Master; I cannot even lie."
+
+"Cease from talking follies, O Shabaka and Bes, and enter," said the
+tremendous voice from within.
+
+So we entered and saw a strange sight. Against the back wall of the
+chapel which was lit with lamps, stood a life-sized statue of Maat,
+goddess of Law and Truth, fashioned of alabaster. On her head was a tall
+feather, her hair was covered with a wig, on her neck lay a collar of
+blue stones; on her arms and wrists were bracelets of gold. A tight robe
+draped her body. In her right hand that hung down by her side, she held
+the looped Cross of Life, and in her left which was advanced, a long,
+lotus-headed sceptre, while her painted eyes stared fixedly at the
+darkness. Crouched upon the ground, at the feet of the statue, scribe
+fashion, sat my great-uncle Tanofir, a very aged man with sightless
+eyes and long hands, so thin that one might see through them against the
+lamp-flame. His head was shaven, his beard was long and white; white too
+was his robe. In front of him was a low altar, on which stood a shallow
+silver vessel filled with pure water, and on either side of it a burning
+lamp.
+
+We knelt down before him, or rather I knelt, for Bes threw himself flat
+upon his face.
+
+"Am I the King of kings whom you have so lately visited, that you should
+prostrate yourselves before me?" said Tanofir in his great voice, which,
+coming from so frail and aged a man seemed most unnatural. "Or is it
+to the goddess of Truth beyond that you bow yourselves? If so, that is
+well, since one, if not both of you, greatly needs her pardon and her
+help. Or is it to the sleeping god beyond who holds the whole world on
+his horns? Or is it to the darkness of this hallowed place which causes
+you to remember the nearness of the awaiting tomb?"
+
+"Nay, my Uncle," I said, "we would greet you, no more, who are so worthy
+of our veneration, seeing we believe, both of us, that you saved us
+yonder in the East, from that tomb of which you speak, or rather from
+the jaws of lions or a cruel death by torments."
+
+"Perchance I did, I or the gods of which I am the instrument. At least I
+remember that I sent you certain messages in answer to a prayer for help
+that reached me, here in my darkness. For know that since we parted I
+have gone quite blind so that I must use this maiden's eyes to read what
+is written in yonder divining-cup. Well, it makes the darkness of this
+sepulchre easier to bear and prepares me for my own. 'Tis full a hundred
+and twenty years since first I looked upon the light, and now the time
+of sleep draws near. Come hither, my nephew, and kiss me on the brow,
+remembering in your strength that a day will dawn when as I am, so shall
+you be, if the gods spare you so long."
+
+So I kissed him, not without fear, for the old man was unearthly. Then
+he sent Karema from the place and bade me tell him my story, which I
+did. Why he did this I cannot say, since he seemed to know it already
+and once or twice corrected me in certain matters that I had forgotten,
+for instance as to the exact words that I had used to the Great King in
+my rage and as to the fashion in which I was tied in the boat. When I
+had done, he said,
+
+"So you gave the name of Amada to the Great King, did you? Well,
+you could have done nothing else if you wished to go on living, and
+therefore cannot be blamed. Yet before all is finished I think it will
+bring you into trouble, Shabaka, since among many gifts, the gods did
+not give that of reason to women. If so, bear it, since it is better to
+have trouble and be alive than to have none and be dead, that is, for
+those whose work is still to do in the world. And you, or rather Bes,
+stole the White Signet of signets of which, although it is so simple and
+ancient, there is not the like for power in the whole world. That
+was well done since it will be useful for a while. And now Peroa has
+determined to rebel against the King, which also is well done. Oh!
+trouble not to tell me of that business for I know all. But what would
+you learn of me, Shabaka?"
+
+"I am instructed to learn from you the end of these great matters, my
+Uncle."
+
+"Are you mad, Shabaka, that you should think me a god who can read the
+future?"
+
+"Not at all, my Uncle, who know that you can if you will."
+
+"Call the maiden," he said.
+
+So Bes went out and brought her in.
+
+"Be seated, Karema, there in front of the altar, and look into my eyes."
+
+She obeyed and presently seemed to go to sleep for her head nodded. Then
+he said,
+
+"Wake, woman, look into the water in the bowl upon the altar and tell me
+what you see."
+
+She appeared to wake, though I perceived that this was not really so,
+for she seemed a different woman with a fixed face that frightened me,
+and wide and frozen eyes. She stared into the silver bowl, then spoke in
+a new voice, as though some spirit used her tongue.
+
+"I see myself crowned a queen in a land I hate," she said coldly, a
+saying at which I gasped. "I am seated on a throne beside yonder dwarf,"
+a saying at which Bes gasped. "Although so hideous, this dwarf is a
+great man with a good heart, a cunning mind and the courage of a lion.
+Also his blood is royal."
+
+Here Bes rolled his eyes and smiled, but Tanofir did not seem in the
+least astonished, and said,
+
+"Much of this is known to me and the rest can be guessed. Pass on to
+what will happen in Egypt, before the spirit leaves you."
+
+"There will be war in Egypt," she answered. "I see fightings; Shabaka
+and others lead the Egyptians. The Easterns are driven away or slain.
+Peroa rules as Pharaoh, I see him on his throne. Shabaka is driven away
+in his turn, I see him travelling south with the dwarf and with
+myself, looking very sad. Time passes. I see the moons float by; I see
+messengers reach Shabaka, sent by Peroa and you O holy Tanofir; they
+tell of trouble in Egypt. I see Shabaka and the dwarf coming north at
+the head of a great army of black men armed with bows. With them I come
+rejoicing, for my heart seems to shine. He reaches a temple on the Nile
+about which is camped another great army, a countless army of Easterns
+under the command of the King of kings. Shabaka and the dwarf give
+battle to that army and the fray is desperate. They destroy it, they
+drive it into the Nile; the Nile runs red with blood. The Great King
+falls, an arrow from the bow of Shabaka is in his heart. He enters
+the temple, a conqueror, and there lies Peroa, dying or dead. A veiled
+priestess is there before an image, I cannot see her face. Shabaka looks
+on her. She stretches out her arms to him, her eyes burn with woman's
+love, her breast heaves, and above the image frowns and threatens. All
+is done, for Tanofir, Master of spirits, you die, yonder in the temple
+on the Nile, and therefore I can see no more. The power that comes
+through you, has left me."
+
+Then once more she became as a woman asleep.
+
+"You have heard, Shabaka and Bes," said Tanofir quietly and stroking his
+long white beard, "and what that maiden seemed to read in the water you
+may believe or disbelieve as you will."
+
+"What do you believe, O holy Tanofir?" I asked.
+
+"The only part of the story whereof I am sure," he replied, evading a
+direct answer, "is that which said that I shall die, and that when I
+am dead I shall no longer be able to cause the maiden Karema to see
+visions. For the rest I do not know. These things may happen or they may
+not. But," he added with a note of warning in his voice, "whether they
+happen or not, my counsel to you both is that you say nothing of them
+beforehand."
+
+"What then shall we report to those who bid me seek the oracle of your
+wisdom, O Tanofir?"
+
+"You can tell them that my wisdom declared that the omens were mixed
+with good and evil, but that time would show the truth. Hush now, the
+maiden is about to awake and must not be frightened. Also it is time for
+me to be led from this sepulchre to where I sleep, for I think that Ra
+has set and I am weary. Oh! Shabaka, why do you seek to peer into the
+future, which from day to day will unroll itself as does a scroll? Be
+content with the present, man, and take what Fate gives you of good or
+ill, not seeking to learn what offerings he hides beneath his robe in
+the days and the years and the centuries to come."
+
+"Yet you have sought to learn those things, O Tanofir, and not in vain."
+
+"Aye and what have they made of me? A blind old hermit weighed down with
+the weight of years and holding in my fingers but some few threads that
+with pain and grief I have plucked from the fringe of Wisdom's robe. Be
+warned by me, Nephew. While you are a man, live the life of a man, and
+when you become a spirit, live the life of a spirit. But do not seek to
+mix the two together like oil and wine, and thus spoil both. I am glad
+to learn, O Bes, that you are going to make a king's, or a slave's wife,
+whichever it may be, of this maiden, seeing that I love her well and
+hold this trade unwholesome for her. She will be better bearing babes
+than reading visions in a diviner's cup, and I will pray the gods that
+they may not be dwarfs as you are, but take on the likeness of their
+mother, who tells me that she is fair. Hush! she stirs.
+
+"Karema, are you awake? Good. Then lead me from the sepulchre, that I
+may make my evening prayer beneath the stars. Go, Shabaka and Bes, you
+are brave men, both of you, and I am glad to have the one for nephew
+and the other for pupil. My greetings to your mother, Tiu. She is a good
+woman and a true, one to whom you will do well to hearken. To the lady
+Amada also, and bid her study her beauteous face in a mirror and not be
+holy overmuch, since too great holiness often thwarts itself and ends in
+trouble for the unholy flesh. Still she loves pearls like other women,
+does she not, and even the statue of Isis likes to be adorned. As for
+you, Bes, though I think that is not your name, do not lie except when
+you are obliged, for jugglers who play with too many knives are apt
+to cut their fingers. Also give no more evil counsel to your Master
+on matters that have to do with woman. Now farewell. Let me hear how
+fortune favours you from time to time, Shabaka, for you take part in a
+great game, such as I loved in my youth before I became a holy hermit.
+Oh! if they had listened to me, things would have been different in
+Egypt to-day. But it was written otherwise, and as ever, women were the
+scribes. Good night, good night, good night! I am glad that my thought
+reached you yonder in the East, and taught you what to say and do. It
+is well to be wise sometimes, for others' sake, but not for our own, oh!
+not for our own."
+
+
+
+"Master," said Bes as we ambled homewards beneath the stars, "the holy
+Tanofir is a man for thought to feed on, since having climbed to the
+topmost peak of holiness, he does not seem to like its cold air and
+warns off those who would follow in his footsteps."
+
+"Then he might have spared himself the pains in your case, Bes, or in my
+own for that matter, since we shall never come so high."
+
+"No, Master, and I am glad to have his leave to stay lower down, since
+that hot place of dead bulls is not one which I wish to inhabit in my
+age, making use of a maiden to stare into a pot of water, and there read
+marvels, which I could invent better for myself after a jug or two of
+wine. Oh! the holy Tanofir is quite right. If these things are going
+to happen let them happen, for we cannot change them by knowing of them
+beforehand. Who wishes to know, Master, if his throat will be cut?"
+
+"Or that he will be married," I suggested.
+
+"Just so, Master, seeing that such prophecies end in becoming truths
+because we make them true, feeling that we must. Thus, now I must marry
+yonder Karema if she will marry me for fear lest I should prove the holy
+Tanofir to be what he called me--a liar."
+
+I laughed and then asked Bes if he had taken note of what the seeress
+said of our flight south and our return thence with a great army of
+black men armed with bows.
+
+"Yes, Master," he answered gravely, "and I think this army can be none
+other than that of the Ethiopians of whom by right I am the King. This
+very night I send messengers to tell those who rule in my place that I
+still live and am changing my mind on the matter of marriage. Also that
+if I do change it I may return to them, the wisest man who ever wore the
+crown of Ethiopia, having journeyed all about the world and collected
+much knowledge."
+
+"Perhaps, Bes, those who rule in your place may not wish to give it up
+to you. Perhaps they will kill you."
+
+"Have no fear, Master; as I have told you, the Ethiopians are a faithful
+people. Moreover they know that such a deed would bring the curse of the
+Grasshopper on them, since then the locusts would appear and eat up all
+their land, and when they were starving their enemies would attack them.
+Lastly they are a very tall folk and simple-minded and would not wish
+to miss the chance of being ruled over by the wisest dwarf in all the
+world, if only because it would be something new to them, Master."
+
+Again I laughed thinking that Bes was jesting according to his fashion.
+But when that night, chancing to go round the corner of the house, I
+came upon him with a circlet of feathers round his head and his big bow
+in his hand, addressing three great black men who knelt before him as
+though he were a god, I changed my mind. As I withdrew he caught sight
+of me and said,
+
+"I pray you, my lord Shabaka, stay one moment." Then he spoke to the
+three men in his own language, translating sentence by sentence to me
+what he said to them. Briefly it was this:--
+
+"Say to the Lords and Councillors of the Ancient Kingdom that I, the
+Karoon" (for such it seemed was his title) "have a friend named the lord
+Shabaka, he whom you see before you, who again and again has saved my
+life, nursing me in his arms as a mother nurses her babe, and who is,
+after me, the bravest and the wisest man in all the world. Say to them
+that if indeed I double myself by marriage and return having fulfilled
+the law, I will beg this mighty prince to accompany me, and that if he
+consents that will be the most joyful day which the Ethiopians have seen
+for a thousand years, since he will teach them wisdom and lead their
+armies in great and glorious battles. Let the priests of the Grasshopper
+pray therefore that he may consent to do so. Now salute the mighty lord
+Shabaka who can send one arrow through all three of you and two more
+behind, and depart, tarrying not day or night till you reach the land
+of Ethiopia. Then when you have delivered the message of Karoon to the
+Captains and the Councillors, return, or let others return and seek me
+out wherever I may be, bringing of the gold of Ethiopia and other gifts,
+together with their answer, seeing that I and the lord Shabaka who have
+the world beneath our feet, will not come to a land where we are not
+welcome."
+
+So these great men saluted me as though I were the King of kings
+himself, after which they rubbed their foreheads in the dust before Bes,
+said something which I did not understand, leapt to their feet, crying
+"Karoon" and sprang away into the night.
+
+"It is good to have been a slave, Master," said Bes when they had gone,
+"since it teaches one that it is even better to be a king, at least
+sometimes."
+
+Here I may add that during the days which followed Bes was often absent.
+When I asked him where he had gone, he would answer, to drink in the
+wisdom of the holy Tanofir by help of a certain silver vessel that the
+maiden Karema held to his lips. From all of which I gathered that he was
+wooing the lady who had called herself the Cup of Tanofir, and wondered
+how the business went, though as he said no more I did not ask him.
+
+Indeed I had little time to talk with Bes about such light matters,
+since things moved apace in Memphis. Within six days all the great lords
+left in Upper Egypt were sworn to the revolt under the leadership of
+Peroa, and hour by hour their vassals or hired mercenaries flowed into
+the city. These it was my duty to weld into an army, and at this task I
+toiled without cease, separating them into regiments and drilling them,
+also arranging for the arming and victualling of the boats of war. Then
+news came that Idernes was advancing from Sais with a great force of
+Easterns, all the garrison of Lower Egypt indeed, as his messengers
+said, to answer the summons conveyed to him under the private Seal of
+seals.
+
+Of Amada during this time I saw little, only meeting her now and again
+at the table of Peroa, or elsewhere in public. For the rest it pleased
+her to keep away from me. Once or twice I tried to find her alone, only
+to discover that she was engaged in the service of the goddess. Once,
+too, as she left Peroa's table, I whispered into her ear that I wished
+to speak with her. But she shook her head, saying,
+
+"After the new moon, Shabaka. Then you shall speak with me as much as
+you wish."
+
+Thus it came about that never could I find opportunity to tell her of
+that matter of what had happened at the court of the Great King. Still
+every morning she sent me some token, flowers or trifling gifts, and
+once a ring that must have belonged to her forefathers, since on its
+bezel was engraved the royal _uraeus_, together with the signs of long
+life and health, which ring I wore hung about my neck but not upon my
+finger, fearing lest that emblem of royalty might offend Peroa or some
+of his House, if they chanced to see it. So in answer I also sent her
+flowers and other gifts, and for the rest was content to wait.
+
+All of which things my mother noted with a smile, saying that the lady
+Amada showed a wonderful discretion, such as any man would value in
+a wife of so much beauty, which also must be most pleasing to her
+mistress, the goddess Isis. To this I answered that I valued it less as
+a lover than I might do as a husband. My mother smiled again and spoke
+of something else.
+
+Thus things went on while the storm-clouds gathered over Egypt.
+
+One night I could not sleep. It was that of the new moon and I knew that
+during those hours of darkness, before the solemn conclave of the high
+priests, with pomp and ceremony in the sanctuary of the temple, Amada
+had undergone absolution of her vows to Isis and been given liberty
+to wed as other women do. Indeed my mother, in virtue of her rank as a
+Singer of Amen, had been present at the rite, and returning, told me all
+that happened.
+
+She described how Amada had appeared, clad as a priestess, how she had
+put up her prayer to the four high priests seated in state, demanding to
+be loosed from her vow "for the sake of her heart and of Egypt."
+
+Then one of the high priests, he of Amen, I think, as the chief of them
+all, had advanced to the statue of the goddess Isis and whispered the
+prayer to it, whereon after a pause the goddess nodded thrice in the
+sight of all present, thereby signifying her assent. This done the high
+priest returned and proclaimed the absolution in the ancient words "for
+the sake of the suppliant's heart and of Egypt" and with it the blessing
+of the goddess on her union, adding, however, the formula, "at thy
+prayer, daughter and spouse, I, the goddess Isis, cut the rope that
+binds thee to me on earth. Yet if thou should'st tie it again, know that
+it may never more be severed, for if thou strivest so to do, it shall
+strangle thee in whatever shape thou livest on the earth throughout the
+generations, and with thee the man thou choosest and those who give thee
+to him. Thus saith Isis the Queen of Heaven."
+
+"What does that mean?" I asked my mother.
+
+"It means, my son, that if, having broken her vows to Isis, a woman
+should repeat them and once more enter the service of the goddess, and
+then for the second time seek to break them, she and the man for whom
+she did this thing would be like flies in a spider's web, and that not
+only in this life, but in any other that may be given to them in the
+world."
+
+"It seems that Isis has a long arm," I said.
+
+"Without doubt a very long arm, my son, since Isis, by whatever name she
+is called, is a power that does not die or forget."
+
+"Well, Mother, in this case she can have no reason to remember, since
+never again will Amada be her priestess."
+
+"I think not, Shabaka. Yet who can be sure of what a woman will or will
+not do, now or hereafter? For my part I am glad that I have served Amen
+and not Isis, and that after I was wed."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII. THE SLAYING OF IDERNES
+
+Whilst I was still talking to my mother I received an urgent summons to
+the palace. I went and in a little ante-chamber met Amada alone, who,
+I could see, was waiting there for me. She was arrayed in her secular
+dress and wore the insignia of royalty, looking exceedingly beautiful.
+Moreover, her whole aspect had changed, for now she was no longer a
+priestess sworn to mysteries, but just a lovely and a loving woman.
+
+"It is done, Shabaka," she whispered, "and thou art mine and I am
+thine."
+
+Then I opened my arms and she sank upon my breast and for the first time
+I kissed her on the lips, kissed her many times and oh! my heart almost
+burst with joy. But all too fleeting was that sweet moment of love's
+first fruits, whereon I had sown the seed so many years ago, for while
+we yet clung together, whispering sweet things into each other's ears,
+I heard a voice calling me and was forced to go away before I had even
+time to ask when we might be wed.
+
+Within the Council was gathered. The news before it was that the Satrap
+Idernes lay camped upon the Nile with some ten thousand men, not far
+from the great pyramids, that is, within striking distance of Memphis.
+Moreover his messengers announced that he purposed to visit the Prince
+Peroa that day with a small guard only, to inquire into this matter of
+the Signet, for which visit he demanded a safe-conduct sworn in the
+name of the Great King and in those of the gods of Egypt and the
+East. Failing this he would at once attack Memphis notwithstanding
+any commands that might be given him under the Signet, which, until he
+beheld it with his own eyes, he believed to be a forgery.
+
+The question was--what answer should be sent to him? The debate that
+followed proved long and earnest. Some were in favour of attacking
+Idernes at once although his camp was reported to be strongly entrenched
+and flanked on one side by the Nile and on the other by the rising
+ground whereon stood the great sphinx and the pyramids. Others, among
+whom I was numbered, thought otherwise, for I hold that some evil god
+led me to give counsel that day which, if it were good for Egypt was
+most ill for my own fortunes. Perchance this god was Isis, angry at the
+loss of her votary.
+
+I pointed out that by receiving Idernes Peroa would gain time which
+would enable a body of three thousand men, if not more, who were
+advancing down the Nile, to join us before they were perhaps cut off
+from the city, and thus give us a force as large as his, or larger. Also
+I showed that having summoned Idernes under the Signet, we should put
+ourselves in the wrong if we refused to receive him and instead attacked
+him at once.
+
+A third party was in favour of allowing him to enter Memphis with his
+guard and then making him prisoner or killing him. As to this I pointed
+out again that not only would it involve the breaking of a solemn oath,
+which might bring the curse of the gods upon our cause and proclaim us
+traitors to the world, but it would also be foolish since Idernes was
+not the only general of the Easterns and if we cut off him and his
+escort, it would avail us little for then the rest of the Easterns would
+fight in a just cause.
+
+So in the end it was agreed that the safe-conduct should be sent and
+that Peroa should receive Idernes that very day at a great feast given
+in his honour. Accordingly it was sent in the ancient form, the oaths
+being taken before the messengers that neither he nor those with him
+who must not number more than twenty men, would be harmed in Memphis and
+that he would be guarded on the road back until he reached the outposts
+of his own camp.
+
+This done, I was despatched up the Nile bank in a chariot accompanied
+only by Bes, to hurry on the march of those troops of which I have
+spoken, so that they might reach Memphis by sundown. Before I went,
+however, I had some words alone with Peroa. He told me that my immediate
+marriage with the lady Amada would be announced at the feast that night.
+Thereon I prayed him to deliver to Amada the rope of priceless rose-hued
+pearls which was in his keeping, as my betrothal gift, with the prayer
+that she would wear them at the feast for my sake. There was no time for
+more.
+
+The journey up Nile proved long for the road was bad being covered with
+drifted sand in some places and deep in mud from the inundation waters
+in others. At length I found the troops just starting forward after
+their rest, and rejoiced to see that there were more of them than I
+had thought. I told the case to their captains, who promised to make a
+forced march and to be in Memphis two hours before midnight.
+
+As we drove back Bes said to me suddenly,
+
+"Do you know why you could not find me this morning?"
+
+I answered that I did not.
+
+"Because a good slave should always run a pace ahead of his master, to
+clear the road and tell him of its pitfalls. I was being married. The
+Cup of the holy Tanofir is now by law and right Queen of the Ethiopians.
+So when you meet her again you must treat her with great respect, as I
+do already."
+
+"Indeed, Bes," I said laughing, "and how did you manage that business?
+You must have wooed her well during these days which have been so full
+for both of us."
+
+"I did not woo her over much, Master; indeed, the time was lacking. I
+wooed the holy Tanofir, which was more important."
+
+"The holy Tanofir, Bes?" I exclaimed.
+
+"Yes, Master. You see this beautiful Cup of his is after all--his
+beautiful Cup. Her mind is the shadow of his mind and from her he pours
+out his wisdom. So I told him all the case. At first he was angry, for,
+notwithstanding the words he spoke to you and me, when it came to a
+point the holy Tanofir, being after all much like other men, did not
+wish to lose his Cup. Indeed had he been a few score of years younger
+I am not sure but that he would have forgotten some of his holiness
+because of her. Still he came to see matters in the true light at
+last--for your sake, Master, not for mine, since his wisdom told him
+it was needful that I should become King of the Ethiopians again, to do
+which I must be married. At any rate he worked upon the mind of that Cup
+of his--having first settled that she should procure a younger sister of
+her own to fill her place--in such fashion that when at length I spoke
+to her on the matter, she did not say no."
+
+"No doubt because she was fond of you for yourself, Bes. A woman would
+not marry even to please the holy Tanofir."
+
+"Oh! Master," he replied in a new voice, a very sad voice, "I would
+that I could think so. But look at me, a misshapen dwarf, accursed from
+birth. Could a fair lady like this Karema wed such a one for his own
+sake?"
+
+"Well, Bes, there might be other reasons besides the holy Tanofir," I
+said hurriedly.
+
+"Master, there were no other reasons, unless the Cup, when it is awake,
+remembers what it has held in trance, which I do not believe. I wooed
+her as I was, not telling her that I am also King of the Ethiopians, or
+any more than I seem to be. Moreover the holy Tanofir told her nothing,
+for he swore as much to me and he does not lie."
+
+"And what did she say to you, Bes?" I asked, for I was curious.
+
+"She lied fast enough, Master. She said--well, what she said when first
+we met her, that there was more in me than the eye saw and that she who
+had lived so much with spirits looked to the spirit rather than to the
+flesh, and that dwarf or no she loved me and desired nothing better than
+to marry me and be my true and faithful wife and helpmeet. She lied so
+well that once or twice almost I believed her. At any rate I took her
+at her word, not altogether for myself, believe me, Master, but because
+without doubt what the holy Tanofir has shown us will come to pass, and
+it is necessary to you that I should be married."
+
+"You married her to help me, Bes?"
+
+"That is so, Master--after all, but a little thing, seeing that she is
+beautiful, well born and very pleasant, and I am fond of her. Also I do
+her no wrong for she has bought more than she bargained for, and if she
+has any that are not dwarfs, her children may be kings. I do not think,"
+he added reflectively, "that even the faithful Ethiopians could accept
+a second dwarf as their king. One is very well for a change, but not two
+or three. The stomach of a tall people would turn against them."
+
+I took Bes's hand and pressed it, understanding the depth of his
+love and sacrifice. Also some spirit--doubtless it came from the holy
+Tanofir--moved me to say,
+
+"Be comforted, Bes, for I am sure of this. Your children will be strong
+and straight and tall, more so than any of their forefathers that went
+before them."
+
+This indeed proved to be the case, for their father's deformity was but
+an accident, not born in his blood.
+
+"Those are good-omened words, Master, for which I thank you, though the
+holy Tanofir said the like when he wed us with the sacred words this
+morning and gave us his blessing, endowing my wife with certain gifts of
+secret wisdom which he said would be of use to her and me."
+
+"Where is she now, Bes?"
+
+"With the holy Tanofir, Master, until I fetch her, training her younger
+sister to be a diviner's worthy Cup. Only perhaps I shall never send,
+seeing that I think there will be fighting soon."
+
+"Yes, Bes, but being newly married you will do well to leave it to
+others."
+
+"No, no, Master. Battle is better than wives. Moreover, could you think
+that I would leave you to stand alone in the fray? Why if I did and harm
+came to you I should die of shame or hang myself and then Karema would
+never be a queen. So both her trades would be gone, since after marriage
+she cannot be a Cup, and her heart would break. But here are the gates
+of Memphis, so we will forget love and think of war."
+
+
+
+An hour later I and my mother, the lady Tiu, stood in the banqueting
+hall of the palace with many others, and learned that the Satrap Idernes
+and his escort had reached Memphis and would be present at the feast. A
+while later trumpets blew and a glittering procession entered the hall.
+At the head of it was Peroa who led Idernes by the hand. This Eastern
+was a big, strong man with tired and anxious eyes, such as I had noted
+were common among the servants of the Great King who from day to day
+never knew whether they would fill a Satrapy or a grave. He was clad in
+gorgeous silks and wore a cap upon his head in which shone a jewel, but
+beneath his robes I caught the glint of mail.
+
+As he came into the hall and noted the number and quality of the guests
+and the stir and the expectant look upon their faces, he started as
+though he were afraid, but recovering himself, murmured some courteous
+words to his host and advanced towards the seat of honour which was
+pointed out to him upon the Prince's right. After these two followed the
+wife of Peroa with her son and daughters. Then, walking alone in token
+of her high rank, appeared Amada, the Royal Lady of Egypt, wonderfully
+arrayed. Now, however, she wore no emblems of royalty, either because it
+was not thought wise that these should be shown in the presence of the
+Satrap, or because she was about to be given in marriage to one who was
+not royal. Indeed, as I noted with joy, her only ornament was the rope
+of rose-hued pearls which were arranged in a double row upon her breast.
+
+She searched me out with her eyes, smiled, touching the pearls with her
+finger, and passed on to her place next to the daughters of Peroa, at
+one end of the head table which was shaped like a horse's hoof.
+
+After her came the nobles who had accompanied Idernes, grave Eastern
+men. One of these, a tall captain with eyes like a hawk, seemed familiar
+to me. Nor was I mistaken, for Bes, who stood behind me and whose
+business it would be to wait on me at the feast, whispered in my ear,
+
+"Note that man. He was present when you were brought before the Great
+King from the boat and saw and heard all that passed."
+
+"Then I wish he were absent now," I whispered back, for at the words a
+sudden fear shot through me, of what I could not say.
+
+By degrees all were seated in their appointed places. Mine was by that
+of my mother at a long table that stood as it were across the ends of
+the high table but at a little distance from them, so that I was almost
+opposite to Peroa and Idernes and could see Amada, although she was too
+far away for me to be able to speak to her.
+
+The feast began and at first was somewhat heavy and silent, since, save
+for the talk of courtesy, none spoke much. At length wine, whereof I
+noted that Idernes drank a good deal, as did his escort, but Peroa and
+the Egyptians little, loosened men's tongues and they grew merrier.
+For it was the custom of the people of the Great King to discuss both
+private and public business when full of strong drink, but of the
+Egyptians when they were quite sober. This was well known to Peroa and
+many of us, especially to myself who had been among them, which was one
+of the reasons why Idernes had been asked to meet us at a feast, where
+we might have the advantage of him in debate.
+
+Presently the Satrap noted the splendid cup from which he drank and
+asked some question concerning it of the hawk-eyed noble of whom I have
+spoken. When it had been answered he said in a voice loud enough for me
+to overhear,
+
+"Tell me, O Prince Peroa, was this cup ever that of the Great King which
+it so much resembles?"
+
+"So I understand, O Idernes," answered Peroa. "That is, until it became
+mine by gift from the lord Shabaka, who received it from the Great
+King."
+
+An expression of horror appeared upon the face of the Satrap and upon
+those of his nobles.
+
+"Surely," he answered, "this Shabaka must hold the King's favours
+lightly if he passes them on thus to the first-comer. At the least, let
+not the vessel which has been hallowed by the lips of the King of kings
+be dishonoured by the humblest of his servants. I pray you, O Prince,
+that I may be given another cup."
+
+So a new goblet was brought to him, Peroa trying to pass the matter off
+as a jest by appealing to me to tell the story of the cup. Then I said
+while all listened,
+
+"O Prince, the most high Satrap is mistaken. The King of kings did not
+give me the cup, I bought it from him in exchange for a certain famous
+bow, and therefore held it not wrong to pass it on to you, my lord."
+
+Idernes made no answer and seemed to forget the matter.
+
+A while later, however, his eye fell upon Amada and the rose-hued pearls
+she wore, and again he asked a question of the hawk-eyed captain, then
+said,
+
+"Think me not discourteous, O Prince, if I seem to look upon yonder
+lovely lady which in our country, where women do not appear in public,
+we should think it an insult to do. But on her fair breast I see certain
+pearls like to some that are known throughout the world, which for many
+years have been worn by those who sit upon the throne of the East. I
+would ask if they are the same, or others?"
+
+"I do not know, O Idernes," answered Peroa; "I only know that the
+lord Shabaka brought them from the East. Inquire of him, if it be your
+pleasure."
+
+"Shabaka again----" began Idernes, but I cut him short, saying,
+
+"Yes, O Satrap, Shabaka again. I won those pearls in a bet from the
+Great King, and with them a certain weight of gold. This I think you
+knew before, since your messenger of a while ago was whipped for
+trying to steal them, which under the rods he said he did by command, O
+Satrap."
+
+To this bold speech Idernes made no answer. Only his captains frowned
+and many of the Egyptians murmured approval.
+
+After this the feast went on without further incident for a while,
+the Easterns always drinking more wine, till at length the tables were
+cleared and all of the meaner sort departed from the hall, save the
+butlers and the personal servants such as Bes, who stood behind the
+seats of their masters. There came a silence such as precedes the
+bursting of a storm, and in the midst of it Idernes spoke, somewhat
+thickly.
+
+"I did not come here, O Peroa," he said, "from the seat of government
+at Sais to eat your meats and drink your wine. I came to speak of high
+matters with you."
+
+"It is so, O Satrap," answered Peroa. "And now what may be your will?
+Would you retire to discuss them with me and my Councillors?"
+
+"Where is the need, O Peroa, seeing that I have naught to say which may
+not be heard by all?"
+
+"As it pleases you. Speak on, O Satrap."
+
+"I have been summoned here, Prince Peroa, by a writing under what seems
+to be the Signet of signets--the ancient White Seal that for generations
+unknown has been worn by the forefathers of the King of kings. Where is
+this Signet?"
+
+"Here," said the Prince, opening his robe. "Look on it, Satrap, and let
+your lords look, but let none of you dare to touch it."
+
+Idernes looked long and earnestly, and so did some of his people,
+especially the lord with the hawk eyes. Then they stared at each other
+bewildered and whispered together.
+
+"It seems to be the very Seal--the White Seal itself!" exclaimed Idernes
+at length. "Tell me now, Peroa. How came this sacred thing that dwells
+in the East hither into Egypt?"
+
+"The lord Shabaka brought it to me with certain letters from the Great
+King, O Satrap."
+
+"Shabaka for the third time, by the holy Fire!" cried Idernes. "He
+brought the cup; he brought the famous pearls; he brought the gold, and
+he brought the Signet of signets. What is there then that he did not
+bring? Perchance he has the person of the King of kings himself in his
+keeping!"
+
+"Not that, O Satrap, only the commands of the King of kings which
+are prepared ready to deliver to you under the White Seal that you
+acknowledge."
+
+"And what may they be, Egyptian?"
+
+"This, O Satrap: That you and all the army which you have brought with
+you retire to Sais and thence out of Egypt as quickly as you may, or pay
+for disobedience with your lives."
+
+Now Idernes and his captains gasped.
+
+"Why this is rebellion!" he said.
+
+"No, O Satrap, only the command of the Great King given under the White
+Seal," and drawing a roll from his breast, Peroa laid it on his brow and
+cast it down before Idernes, adding,
+
+"Obey the writing and the Signet, or by virtue of my commission, as soon
+as you are returned to your army and your safe-conduct is expired, I
+fall upon you and destroy you."
+
+Idernes looked about him like a wolf in a trap, then asked,
+
+"Do you mean to murder me here?"
+
+"Not so," answered Peroa, "for you have our safe-conduct and Egyptians
+are honourable men. But you are dismissed your office and ordered to
+leave Egypt."
+
+Idernes thought a little while, then said,
+
+"If I leave Egypt, there is at least one whom I am commanded to take
+with me under orders and writings that you will not dispute, a maiden
+named Amada whom the Great King would number among his women. I am told
+it is she who sits yonder--a jewel indeed, fair as the pearls upon her
+breast which thus will return into the King's keeping. Let her be handed
+over, for she rides with me at once."
+
+Now in the midst of an intense silence Peroa answered,
+
+"Amada, the Royal Lady of Egypt, cannot be sent to dwell in the House of
+Women of the Great King without the consent of the lord Shabaka, whose
+she is."
+
+"Shabaka for the fourth time!" said Idernes, glaring at me. "Then let
+Shabaka come too. Or his head in a basket will suffice, since that will
+save trouble afterwards, also some pain to Shabaka. Why, now I remember.
+It was this very Shabaka whom the Great King condemned to death by
+the boat for a crime against his Majesty, and who bought his life by
+promising to deliver to him the fairest and most learned woman in the
+world--the lady Amada of Egypt. And thus does the knave keep his oath!"
+
+Now I leapt to my feet, as did most of those present. Only Amada kept
+her seat and looked at me.
+
+"You lie!" I cried, "and were it not for your safe-conduct I would kill
+you for the lie."
+
+"I lie, do I?" sneered Idernes. "Speak then, you who were present, and
+tell this noble company whether I lie," and he pointed to the hawk-eyed
+lord.
+
+"He does not lie," said the Captain. "I was in the Court of the Great
+King and heard yonder Shabaka purchase pardon by promising to hand over
+his cousin, the lady Amada, to the King. The pearls were entrusted to
+him as a gift to her and I see she wears them. The gold also of which
+mention has been made was to provide for her journey in state to the
+East, or so I heard. The cup was his guerdon, also a sum for his own
+purse."
+
+"It is false," I shouted. "The name of Amada slipped my lips by
+chance--no more."
+
+"So it slipped your lips by chance, did it?" sneered Idernes. "Now, if
+you are wise, you will suffer the lady Amada to slip your hand, and not
+by chance. But let us have done with this cunning knave. Prince, will
+you hand over yonder fair woman, or will you not?"
+
+"Satrap, I will not," answered Peroa. "The demand is an insult put
+forward to force us to rebellion, since there is no man in Egypt who
+will not be ready to die in defence of the Royal Lady of Egypt."
+
+This statement was received with a shout of applause by every Egyptian
+in the hall. Idernes waited until it had died away, then said,
+
+"Prince Peroa and Egyptians, you have conveyed to me certain commands
+sealed with the Signet of signets, which I think was stolen by yonder
+Shabaka. Now hearken; until this matter is made clear I will obey those
+commands thus far. I will return with my army to Sais and there wait
+until I have received the orders of the Great King, after report made to
+him. If so much as an arrow is shot at us on our march, it will be open
+rebellion, as the price of which Egypt shall be crushed as she was never
+crushed before, and every one of you here present shall lose his head,
+save only the lady Amada who is the property of the Great King. Now I
+thank you for your hospitality and demand that you escort me and those
+with me back to my camp, since it seems that here we are in the midst of
+enemies."
+
+"Before you go, Idernes," I shouted, "know that you and your lying
+captain shall pay with your lives for your slander on me."
+
+"Many will pay with their lives for this night's work, O thief of pearls
+and seals," answered the Satrap, and turning, left the hall with his
+company.
+
+Now I searched for Amada, but she also had gone with the ladies of
+Peroa's household who feared lest the feast should end in blows and
+bloodshed, also lest she should be snatched away. Indeed of all the
+women in the hall, only my mother remained.
+
+"Search out the lady Amada," I said to her, "and tell her the truth."
+
+"Yes, my son," she answered thoughtfully; "but what is the truth? I
+understood it was Bes who first gave the name of the lady Amada to the
+Great King. Now we learn from your own lips that it was you. Wise would
+you have been, my son, if you had bitten out your tongue before you said
+it, since this is a matter that any woman may well misunderstand."
+
+"Her name was surprised out of me, Mother. It was Bes who spoke to the
+King of the beauty of a certain lady of Egypt."
+
+"And I think, my son, it was Bes who told Peroa and his guests that he
+and not you had given the King her name, which you do not seem to have
+denied. Well, doubtless both of you are to blame for foolishness, no
+more, since well I know that you would have died ten times over rather
+than buy your life at the price of the honour of the Lady of Egypt. This
+I will say to her as soon as I may, praying that it may not be too late,
+and afterwards you shall tell me everything, which you would have done
+well to do at first, if Bes, as I think, had not been over cunning after
+the fashion of black people, and counselled you otherwise. See, Peroa
+calls you and I must go, for there are greater matters afoot than that
+of who let slip the name of the lady Amada to the King of kings."
+
+So she went and there followed a swift council of war, the question
+being whether we were to strike at the Satrap's army or to allow it to
+retreat to Sais. In my turn I was asked for my judgment of the issue,
+and answered,
+
+"Strike and at once, since we cannot hope to storm Sais, which is far
+away. Moreover such strength as we have is now gathered and if it is
+idle and perhaps unpaid, will disperse again. But if we can destroy
+Idernes and his army, it will be long before the King of kings, who is
+sending all his multitudes against the Greeks, can gather another, and
+during this time Egypt may again become a nation and able to protect
+herself under Peroa her own Pharaoh."
+
+In the end I, and those who thought like me, prevailed, so that before
+the dawn I was sailing down the Nile with the fleet, having two thousand
+men under my command. Also I took with me the six hunters whom I had won
+from the Great King, since I knew them to be faithful, and thought that
+their knowledge of the Easterns and their ways might be of service. Our
+orders were to hold a certain neck of land between the river and the
+hills where the army of Idernes must pass, until Peroa and all his
+strength could attack him from behind.
+
+Four hours later, the wind being very favourable to us, we reached that
+place and there took up our station and having made all as ready as we
+could, rested.
+
+In the early afternoon Bes awakened me from the heavy sleep into which
+I had fallen, and pointed to the south. I looked and through the desert
+haze saw the chariots of Idernes advancing in ordered ranks, and after
+them the masses of his footmen.
+
+Now we had no chariots, only archers, and two regiments armed with long
+spears and swords. Also the sailors on the boats had their slings and
+throwing javelins. Lastly the ground was in our favour since it sloped
+upwards and the space between the river and the hills was narrow,
+somewhat boggy too after the inundation of the Nile, which meant that
+the chariots must advance in a column and could not gather sufficient
+speed to sweep over us.
+
+Idernes and his captains noted all this also, and halted. Then they sent
+a herald forward to ask who we were and to command us in the name of the
+Great King to make way for the army of the Great King.
+
+I answered that we were Egyptians, ordered by Peroa to hold the road
+against the Satrap who had done affront to Egypt by demanding that
+its Royal Lady should be given over to him to be sent to the East as
+a woman-slave, and that if the Satrap wished to clear a road, he could
+come and do so. Or if it pleased him he could go back towards Memphis,
+or stay where he was, since we did not wish to strike the first blow. I
+added this,
+
+"I who speak on behalf of the Prince Peroa, am the lord Shabaka, that
+same man whom but last night the Satrap and a certain captain of his
+named a liar. Now the Easterns are brave men and we of Egypt have
+always heard that among them none is braver than Idernes who gained his
+advancement through courage and skill in war. Let him therefore come out
+together with the lord who named me a liar, armed with swords only, and
+I, who being a liar must also be a coward, together with my servant, a
+black dwarf, will meet them man to man in the sight of both the armies,
+and fight them to the death. Or if it pleases Idernes better, let him
+not come and I will seek him and kill him in the battle, or by him be
+killed."
+
+The herald, having taken stock of me and of Bes at whom he laughed,
+returned with the message.
+
+"Will he come, think you, Master?" asked Bes.
+
+"Mayhap," I answered, "since it is a shame for an Eastern to refuse
+a challenge from any man whom he calls barbarian, and if he did so it
+might cost him his life afterwards at the hands of the Great King. Also
+if he should fall there are others to take his command, but none who can
+wipe away the stain upon his honour."
+
+"Yes," said Bes; "also they will think me a dwarf of no account, which
+makes the task of killing you easy. Well, they shall see."
+
+Now when I sent this challenge I had more in my mind than a desire to
+avenge myself upon Idernes and his captain for the public shame they had
+put upon me. I wished to delay the attack of their host upon our little
+band and give time for the army of Peroa to come up behind. Moreover, if
+I fell it did not greatly matter, except as an omen, seeing that I had
+good officers under me who knew all my plans.
+
+We saw the herald reach the Satrap's army and after a while return
+towards us again, which made us think my challenge had been refused,
+especially as with him was an officer who, I took it, was sent to spy
+out our strength. But this was not so, for the man said,
+
+"The Satrap Idernes has sworn by the Great King to kill the thief of the
+Signet and send his head to the Great King, and fears that if he waits
+to meet him in battle, he may slip away. Therefore he is minded to
+accept your challenge, O Shabaka, and put an end to you, and indeed
+under the laws of the East he may not refuse. But a noble of the Great
+King may not fight against a black slave save with a whip, so how can
+that noble accept the challenge of the dwarf Bes?"
+
+"Quite well," answered Bes, "seeing that I am no slave but a free
+citizen of Egypt. Moreover, in my own country of Ethiopia I am of
+royal blood. Lastly, tell the man this, that if he does not come and
+afterwards falls into my hands or into those of the lord Shabaka, he who
+talks of whips shall be scourged with them till his life creeps out from
+between his bare bones."
+
+Thus spoke Bes, rolling his great eyes and looking so terrible that the
+herald and the officer fell back a step or two. Then I told them that
+if my offer did not please them, I myself would fight, first Idernes and
+then the noble. So they returned.
+
+The end of it was that we saw Idernes and his captain advancing,
+followed by a guard of ten men. Then after I had explained all things to
+my officers, I also advanced with Bes, followed by a guard of ten picked
+men. We met between the armies on a little sandy plain at the foot of
+the rise and there followed talk between the captains of our guards as
+to arms and so forth, but we four said nothing to each other, since the
+time for words was past. Only Bes and I sat down upon the sand and spoke
+a little together of Amada and Karema and of how they would receive the
+news of our victory or deaths.
+
+"It does not much matter, Master," said Bes at last, "seeing that if we
+die we shall never know, and if we live we shall learn for ourselves."
+
+At length all was arranged and we stood up to face each other, the four
+of us being armed in the same way. For as did Idernes and the hawk-eyed
+lord, Bes and I wore shirts of mail and helms, those that we had brought
+with us from the East. For weapons we had short and heavy swords, small
+shields and knives at our girdles.
+
+"Look your last upon the sun, Thieves," mocked Idernes, "for when you
+see it again, it shall be with blind eyes from the points of spears
+fastened to the gateway pillars of the Great King's palace."
+
+"Liars you have lived and liars you shall die," shouted Bes, but I said
+nothing.
+
+Now the agreement was that when the word had been given Idernes and I,
+and the noble and Bes, should fight together, but if they killed one of
+us, or we killed one of them, the two who survived might fall together
+on the remaining man. Remembering this, as he told me afterwards, at the
+signal Bes leapt forward like a flash with working face and foam upon
+his lips, and before ever I could come to Idernes, how I know not,
+had received the blow of the Eastern lord upon his shield and without
+striking back, had gripped him in his long arms and wrapped him
+round with his bowed legs. In an instant they were on the ground, Bes
+uppermost, and I heard the sound of blow upon blow struck with knife or
+sword, I knew not which, upon the Eastern's mail, followed by a shout of
+victory from the Egyptians which told me that Bes had slain him.
+
+Now Idernes and I were smiting at each other. He was a taller and
+a bigger man than myself, but older and one who had lived too well.
+Therefore I thought it wise to keep him at a distance and tire him,
+which I did by retreating and catching his sword-cuts on my shield, only
+smiting back now and again.
+
+"He runs! He runs!" shouted the Easterns. "O Idernes, beware the dwarf!"
+
+"Stand away, Bes," I called; "this is my game," and he obeyed, as often
+he had done when we were hunting together.
+
+Now a shrewd blow from Idernes cut through my helm and staggered me, and
+another before I could recover myself, shore the shield from my hand,
+whereat the Easterns shouted more loudly than before. Then fear of
+defeat entered into me and made me mad, for this Satrap was a great
+fighter. With a shout of "Egypt!" I went at him like a wounded lion and
+soon it was his turn to stagger back. But alas! I struck too hard, for
+my sword snapped upon his mail.
+
+"The knife!" screamed Bes; "the knife!"
+
+I hurled the sword hilt in the Satrap's face and drew the dagger from
+my belt. Then I ran in beneath his guard and stabbed and stabbed and
+stabbed. He gripped me and we went down side by side, rolling over each
+other. The gods know how it ended, for things were growing dim to me
+when some thrust of mine found a rent in his mail made when the sword
+broke and he became weak. His spirit weakened also, for he gasped,
+
+"Spare my life, Egyptian, and my treasure is yours. I swear it by the
+Fire."
+
+"Not for all the treasure in the world, Slanderer," I panted back
+and drove the dagger home to the hilt thrice, until he died. Then I
+staggered to my feet, and when the armies saw that it was I who rose
+while Idernes lay still a roar of triumph went up from the Egyptians,
+answered by a roar of rage from the Easterns.
+
+With a cry of "Well done, Master!" Bes leapt upon the dead man and hewed
+his head from him, as already he had served the hawk-eyed noble. Then
+gripping one head in each hand he held them up for the Easterns to see.
+
+"Men of the Great King," I said, "bear us witness that we have fought
+fairly, man to man, when we need not have done so."
+
+The ten of the Satrap's guard stood silent, but my own shouted,
+
+"Back, Shabaka! The Easterns charge!"
+
+I looked and saw them coming like waves of steel, then supported by my
+men and preceded by Bes who danced in front shaking the severed heads, I
+ran back to my own ranks where one gave me wine to drink and threw
+water over my hurts which were but slight. Scarcely was it done when the
+battle closed in and soon in it I forgot the deaths of Idernes and the
+Eastern liar.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII. AMADA RETURNS TO ISIS
+
+We fought a very terrible fight that evening there by the banks of Nile.
+Our position was good, but we were outnumbered by four or five to one,
+and the Easterns and their mercenaries were mad at the death of the
+Satrap by my hand. Time upon time they came on furiously, charging up
+the slope like wild bulls. For the most part we relied upon our archers
+to drive them back, since our half-trained troops could scarcely hope to
+stand against the onset of veterans disciplined in war. So taking cover
+behind the rocks we rained arrows on them, shooting the horses in the
+chariots, and when these were down, pouring our shafts upon the footmen
+behind. Myself I took my great black bow and drew it thrice, and each
+time I saw a noble fall, for no mail could withstand the arrows which it
+sent, and of that art I was a master. None in Egypt could shoot so far
+or so straight as I did, save perhaps Peroa himself. I had no time to do
+more since always I must be moving up and down the line encouraging my
+men.
+
+Three times we drove them back, after which they grew cunning. Ceasing
+from a direct onslaught and keeping what remained of their chariots in
+reserve, they sent one body of men to climb along the slope of the hill
+where the rocks gave them cover from our arrows, and another to creep
+through the reeds and growing crops upon the bank of the river where we
+could not see to shoot them well, although the slingers in the ships did
+them some damage.
+
+Thus they attacked us on either flank, and while we were thus engaged
+their centre made a charge. Then came the bitterest of the fighting
+for now the bows were useless, and it was sword against sword and spear
+against spear. Once we broke and I thought that they were through. But
+I led a charge against them and drove them back a little way. Still the
+issue was doubtful till I saw Bes rush past me grinning and leaping,
+and with him a small body of Greeks whom we held in reserve, and I
+think that the sight of the terrible dwarf whom they thought a devil,
+frightened the Easterns more than did the Greeks.
+
+At any rate, shouting out something about an evil spirit whom the
+Egyptians worshipped, by which I suppose they meant that god after
+whom Bes was named, they retreated, leaving many dead but taking their
+wounded with them, for they were unbroken.
+
+At the foot of the slope they reformed and took counsel, then sat down
+out of bowshot as though to rest. Now I guessed their plan. It was to
+wait till night closed in, which would be soon for the sun was sinking,
+and then, when we could not see to shoot, either rush through us by
+the weight of numbers, or march back to where the cliffs were lower and
+climb them, thus passing us on the higher open land.
+
+Now we also took counsel, though little came of it, since we did not
+know what to do. We were too few to attack so great an army, nor if we
+climbed the cliffs could we hope to withstand them in the desert sands,
+or to hold our own against them if they charged in the dark. If this
+happened it seemed that all we could do would be to fight as long as we
+could, after which the survivors of us must take refuge on our boats. So
+it came to this, that we should lose the battle and the greater part of
+the Easterns would win back to Sais, unless indeed the main army under
+Peroa came to our aid.
+
+Whilst we talked I caused the wounded to be carried to the ships
+before it grew too dark to move them. Bes went with them. Presently he
+returned, running swiftly.
+
+"Master," he said, "the evening wind is blowing strong and stirs the
+sand, but from a mast-head through it I caught sight of Peroa's banners.
+The army comes round the bend of the river not four furlongs away. Now
+charge and those Easterns will be caught between the hammer and the
+stone, for while they are meeting us they will not look behind."
+
+So I went down the lines of our little force telling them the good news
+and showing them my plan. They listened and understood. We formed up,
+those who were left of us, not more than a thousand men perhaps, and
+advanced. The Easterns laughed when they saw us coming down the slope,
+for they thought that we were mad and that they would kill us every one,
+believing as they did that Peroa had no other army. When we were within
+bowshot we began to shoot, though sparingly, for but few arrows were
+left. Galled by our archery they marshalled their ranks to charge us
+again. With a shout we leapt forward to meet them, for now from the
+higher ground I saw the chariots of Peroa rushing to our rescue.
+
+We met, we fought. Surely there had been no such fighting since the days
+of Thotmes and Rameses the Great. Still they drove us back till unseen
+and unsuspected the chariots and the footmen of Peroa broke on them from
+behind, broke on them like a desert storm. They gave, they fled this way
+and that, some to the banks of the Nile, some to the hills. By the light
+of the setting sun we finished it and ere the darkness closed in the
+Great King's army was destroyed, save for the fugitives whom we hunted
+down next day.
+
+Yes, in that battle perished ten thousand of the Easterns and their
+mercenaries, and upon its field at dawn we crowned Peroa Pharaoh of
+Egypt, and he named me the chief general of his army. There, too, fell
+over a thousand of my men and among them those six hunters whom I had
+won in the wager with the Great King and brought with me from the East.
+Throughout the fray they served me as a bodyguard, fighting furiously,
+who knew that they could hope for no mercy from their own people. One by
+one they were slain, the last two of them in the charge at sunset. Well,
+they were brave and faithful to me, so peace be on their spirits. Better
+to die thus than in the den of lions.
+
+
+
+In triumph we returned to Memphis, I bringing in the rear-guard and the
+spoils. Before Pharaoh and I parted a messenger brought me more good
+news. Sure tidings had come that the King of kings had been driven by
+revolt in his dominions to embark upon a mighty war with Syria, Greece
+and Cyprus and other half-conquered countries, in which, doubtless
+by agreement, the fires of insurrection had suddenly burned up. Also
+already Peroa's messengers had departed to tell them of what was passing
+on the Nile.
+
+"If this be true," said Peroa when he had heard all, "the Great King
+will have no new army to spare for Egypt."
+
+"It is so, Pharaoh," I answered. "Yet I think he will conquer in this
+great war and that within two years you must be prepared to meet him
+face to face."
+
+"Two years are long, Shabaka, and in them, by your help, much may be
+done."
+
+But as it chanced he was destined to be robbed of that help, and this by
+the work of Woman the destroyer.
+
+It happened thus. Amidst great rejoicings Pharaoh reached Memphis and in
+the vast temple of Amen laid down our spoils in the presence of the god,
+thousands of right hands hewn from the fallen, thousands of swords and
+other weapons and tens of chariots, together with much treasure of which
+a portion was given to the god. The high priests blessed us in the name
+of Amen and of the other gods; the people blessed us and threw flowers
+in our path; all the land rejoiced because once more it was free.
+
+There too that day in the temple with ancient form and ceremonial Peroa
+was crowned Pharaoh of Egypt. Sceptres and jewels that had been hid
+for generations were brought out by those who knew the secret of their
+hiding-places; the crowns that had been worn by old Pharaohs, were set
+upon his head; yes, the double crown of the Upper and the Lower Land.
+Thus in a Memphis mad with joy at the casting off of the foreign yoke,
+he was anointed the first of a new dynasty, and with him his queen.
+
+I too received honours, for the story of the slaying of Idernes at
+my hands and of how I held the pass had gone abroad, so that next to
+Pharaoh, I was looked upon as the greatest man in Egypt. Nor was Bes
+forgotten, since many of the common people thought that he was a
+spirit in the form of a dwarf whom the gods had sent to aid us with his
+strength and cunning. Indeed at the close of the ceremony voices cried
+out in the multitude of watchers, demanding that I who was to marry the
+Royal Lady of Egypt should be named next in succession to the throne.
+
+The Pharaoh heard and glanced first at his son and then at me,
+doubtfully, whereon, covered with confusion, I slipped away.
+
+The portico of the temple was deserted, since all, even the guards, had
+crowded into the vast court to watch the coronation. Only in the shadow,
+seated against the pedestal of one of the two colossal statues in front
+of the outer pylon gate and looking very small beneath its greatness,
+was a man wrapped in a dark cloak whom noting vaguely I took to be a
+beggar. As I passed him, he plucked at my robe, and I stopped to search
+for something to give to him but could find naught.
+
+"I have nothing, Father," I said laughing, "except the gold hilt of my
+sword."
+
+"Do not part with that, Son," answered a deep voice, "for I think you
+will need it before all is over."
+
+Then while I stared at him he threw back his hood and I saw that
+beneath was the ancient withered face and the long white beard of my
+great-uncle, the holy Tanofir, the hermit and magician.
+
+"Great things happen yonder, Shabaka. So great that I have come from my
+sepulchre to see, or rather, being blind, to listen, who thrice in my
+life days have known the like before," and he pointed to the glittering
+throng in the court within. "Yes," he went on, "I have seen Pharaohs
+crowned and Pharaohs die--one of them at the hand of a conqueror. What
+will happen to this Pharaoh, think you, Shabaka?"
+
+"You should be better able to answer that question than I, who am no
+prophet, my Uncle."
+
+"How, my Nephew, seeing that your dwarf has borne away my magic Cup? I
+do not grudge her to him for he is a brave dwarf and clever, who may yet
+prove a good prop to you, as he has done before, and to Egypt also. But
+she has gone and the new vessel is not yet shaped to my liking. So how
+can I answer?"
+
+"Out of the store of wisdom gathered in your breast."
+
+"So! my Nephew. Well, my store of wisdom tells me that feasts are
+sometimes followed by want and rejoicings by sorrow and victories by
+defeat, and splendid sins by repentance and slow climbing back to good
+again. Also that you will soon take a long journey. Where is the Royal
+Lady Amada? I did not hear her step among those who passed in to the
+Crowning. But even my hearing has grown somewhat weak of late, except in
+the silence of the night, Shabaka."
+
+"I do not know, my Uncle, who have only been in Memphis one hour. But
+what do you mean? Doubtless she prepares herself for the feast where I
+shall meet her."
+
+"Doubtless. Tell me, what passes at the temple of Isis? As I crept past
+the pylon feeling my way with my beggar's staff, I thought--but how
+can you know who have only been in Memphis an hour? Yet surely I heard
+voices just now calling out that you, Shabaka, should be named as the
+next successor to the throne of Egypt. Was it so?"
+
+"Yes, holy Tanofir. That is why I have left who was vexed and am sworn
+to seek no such honour, which indeed I do not desire."
+
+"Just so, Nephew. Yet gifts have a way of coming to those who do not
+desire them and the last vision that I saw before my Cup left me, or
+rather that she saw, was of you wearing the Double Crown. She said that
+you looked very well in it, Shabaka. But now begone, for hark, here
+comes the procession with the new-anointed Pharaoh whose royal robe you
+won for him yonder in the pass, when you smote down Idernes and held his
+legions. Oh! it was well done and my new Cup, though faulty, was good
+enough to show me all. I felt proud of you, Shabaka, but begone, begone!
+'A gift for the poor old beggar! A gift, my lords, for the poor blind
+beggar who has had none since the last Pharaoh was crowned in Egypt and
+finds it hard to live on memories!'"
+
+
+
+At our house I found my mother just returned from the Coronation, but
+Bes I did not find and guessed that he had slipped away to meet his
+new-made wife, Karema. My mother embraced me and blessed me, making much
+of me and my deeds in the battle; also she doctored such small hurts as
+I had. I put the matter by as shortly as I could and asked her if she
+had seen aught of Amada. She answered that she had neither seen nor
+heard of her which I was sure she thought strange, as she began to
+talk quickly of other things. I said to her what I had said to the holy
+Tanofir, that doubtless she was making ready for the feast since I could
+not find her at the Crowning.
+
+"Or saying good-bye to the goddess," answered my mother nodding, "since
+there are some who find it even harder to fall from heaven to earth than
+to climb from earth to heaven, and after all you are but a man, my son."
+
+Then she slipped away to attire herself, leaving me wondering, because
+my mother was shrewd and never spoke at random.
+
+There was the holy Tanofir, too, with his talk about the temple of Isis,
+and he also did not speak at random. Oh! now I felt as I had done when
+the shadow of the palm-tree fell on me yonder in the palace garden.
+
+The mood passed for my blood still tingled with the glory of that great
+fight, and my heart shut its doors to sadness, knowing as I did, that I
+was the most praised man in Memphis that day. Indeed had I not, I should
+have learned it when with my mother I entered the great banqueting-hall
+of the palace somewhat late, for she was long in making ready.
+
+The first thing I saw there was Bes gorgeously arrayed in Eastern silks
+that he had plundered from the Satrap's tent, standing on a table so
+that all might see and hear him, and holding aloft in one hand the
+grisly head of Idernes and in the other that of the hawk-eyed noble whom
+he had slain, while in his thick, guttural voice he told the tale of
+that great fray. Catching sight of me, he called aloud,
+
+"See! Here comes the man! Here comes the hero to whom Egypt owes its
+liberty and Pharaoh his crown."
+
+Thereon all the company and the soldiers and servants who were gathered
+about the door began to shout and acclaim me, till I wished that I could
+vanish away as the holy Tanofir was said to be able to do. Since this
+was impossible I rushed at Bes who leapt from the table like a monkey
+and, still waving the heads and talking, slipped from the hall, I know
+not how, followed by the loud laughter of the guests.
+
+Then heralds announced the coming of Pharaoh and all grew silent. He and
+his company entered with pomp and we, his subjects, prostrated ourselves
+in the ancient fashion.
+
+"Rise, my guests," he cried. "Rise, my people. Above all do you rise,
+Shabaka, my beloved cousin, to whom Egypt and I owe so much."
+
+So we rose and I took my seat in a place of honour having my mother
+at my side, and looked about me for Amada, but in vain. There was
+the carven chair upon which she should have been among those of the
+princesses, but it was empty. At first I thought that she was late, but
+when time went by and she did not appear, I asked if she were ill, a
+question that none seemed able to answer.
+
+The feast went on with all the ancient ceremonies that attended the
+crowning of a Pharaoh of Egypt, since there were old men who remembered
+these, also the scribes and priests had them written in their books.
+
+I took no heed of them and will not set them down. At length Pharaoh
+pledged his subjects, and his subjects pledged Pharaoh. Then the doors
+were opened and through them came a company of white-robed, shaven
+priests bearing on a bier the body of a dead man wrapped in his
+mummy-cloths. At first some laughed for this rite had not been performed
+in Egypt since she passed into the hands of the Great Kings of the East
+and therefore was strange to them. Then they grew silent since after
+all it was solemn to see those death-bearing priests flitting in and out
+between the great columns, now seen and now lost in the shadows, and to
+listen to their funeral chants.
+
+In the hush my mother whispered to me that this body was that of the
+last Pharaoh of Egypt brought from his tomb, but whether this were so
+I cannot say for certain. At length they brought the mummy which was
+crowned with a snake-headed circlet of the royal _uraeus_ and still
+draped with withered funeral wreaths, and stood it on its feet opposite
+to Peroa just behind and between my mother and me in such a fashion that
+it cut off the light from us.
+
+The faint and heavy smell of the embalmer's spices struck upon my
+nostrils, a dead flower from the chaplets fell upon my head and,
+glancing over my shoulder, I saw the painted or enamelled eyes in the
+gilded mask staring at me. The thing filled me with fear, I knew not
+of what. Not of death, surely, for that I had faced a score of times of
+late and thought nothing of it. Indeed I am not sure that it was fear I
+felt, but rather a deep sense of the vanity of all things. It seemed
+to come home to me--Shabaka or Allan Quatermain, for in my dream the
+inspiration or whatever it might be, struck through the spirit that
+animated both of us--as it had never done before, that everything is
+_nothing_, that victory and love and even life itself have no meaning;
+that naught really exists save the soul of man and God, of whom
+perchance that soul is a part sent forth for a while to do His work
+through good and ill. The thought lifted me up and yet crushed me,
+since for a moment all that makes a man passed away, and I felt myself
+standing in utter loneliness, naked before the glory of God, watched
+only by the flaming stars that light his throne. Yes, and at that moment
+suddenly I learned that all the gods are but one God, having many shapes
+and called by many names.
+
+Then I heard the priests saying,
+
+"Pharaoh the Osiris greets Pharaoh the living on the Earth and sends to
+him this message--'As I am, so shalt thou be, and where I am, there thou
+shalt dwell through all the ages of Eternity.'"
+
+Then Pharaoh the living rose and bowed to Pharaoh the dead and Pharaoh
+the dead was taken away back to his Eternal House and I wondered whether
+his Ka or his spirit, or whatever is the part of him that lives on, were
+watching us and remembering the feasts whereof he had partaken in his
+pomp in this pillared hall, as his forefathers had done before him for
+hundreds or thousands of years.
+
+Not until the mummy had gone and the last sound of the chanting of the
+priests had died, did the hearts of the feasters grow light again. But
+soon they forgot, as men alive always forget death and those whom Time
+has devoured, for the wine was good and strong and the eyes of the women
+were bright and victory had crowned our spears, and for a while Egypt
+was once more free.
+
+So it went on till Pharaoh rose and departed, the great gold earrings
+in his ears jingling as he walked, and the trumpets sounding before and
+after him. I too rose to go with my mother when a messenger came and
+bade me wait upon Pharaoh, and with me the dwarf Bes. So we went,
+leaving an officer to conduct my mother to our home. As I passed her she
+caught me by the sleeve and whispered in my ear,
+
+"My son, whatever chances to you, be brave and remember that the world
+holds more than women."
+
+"Yes," I answered, "it holds death and God, or they hold it," though
+what put the words into my mind I do not know, since I did not
+understand and had no time to ask her meaning.
+
+The messenger led us to the door of Peroa's private chamber, the same in
+which I had seen him on my return from the East. Here he bade me enter,
+and Bes to wait without. I went in and found two men and a woman in the
+chamber, all standing very silent. The men were Pharaoh who still wore
+his glorious robe and Double Crown, and the high priest of Isis clothed
+in white; the other was the lady Amada also clothed in the snowy robes
+of Isis.
+
+At the sight of her thus arrayed my heart stopped and I stood silent
+because I could not speak. She too stood silent and I saw that beneath
+her thin veil her beautiful face was set and pale as that of an
+alabaster statue. Indeed she might have been not a lovely living woman,
+but the goddess Isis herself whose symbols she bore about her.
+
+"Shabaka," said Pharaoh at length, "the Royal Lady of Egypt, Amada,
+priestess of Isis, has somewhat to say to you."
+
+"Let the Royal Lady of Egypt speak on to her servant and affianced
+husband," I answered.
+
+"Count Shabaka, General of the armies," she began in a cold clear voice
+like to that of one who repeats a lesson, "learn that you are no more my
+affianced husband and that I who am gathered again to Isis the divine,
+am no more your affianced wife."
+
+"I do not understand. Will it please you to be more plain?" I said
+faintly.
+
+"I will be more plain, Count Shabaka, more plain than you have been with
+me. Since we speak together for the last time it is well that I should
+be plain. Hear me. When first you returned from the East, in yonder hall
+you told us of certain things that happened to you there. Then the dwarf
+your servant took up the tale. He said that he gave my name to the Great
+King. I was wroth as well I might be, but even when I prayed that he
+should be scourged, you did not deny that it was he who gave my name to
+the King, although Pharaoh yonder said that if you had spoken the name
+it would have been another matter."
+
+"I had no time," I answered, "for just then the messengers came from
+Idernes and afterwards when I sought you you were gone."
+
+"Had you then no time," she asked coldly, "beneath the palms in the
+garden of the palace when we were affianced? Oh! there was time in
+plenty but it did not please you to tell me that you had bought safety
+and great gifts at the price of the honour of the Lady of Egypt whose
+love you stole."
+
+"You do not understand!" I exclaimed wildly.
+
+"Forgive me, Shabaka, but I understand very well indeed, since from
+your own words I learned at the feast given to Idernes that 'the name
+of Amada' slipped your lips by chance and thus came to the ears of the
+Great King."
+
+"The tale that Idernes and his captain told was false, Lady, and for it
+Bes and I took their lives with our own hands."
+
+"It had perhaps been better, Shabaka, if you had kept them living that
+they might confess that it was false. But doubtless you thought them
+safer dead, since dead men cannot speak, and for this reason challenged
+them to single combat."
+
+I gasped and could not answer for my mind seemed to leave me, and she
+went on in a gentler voice,
+
+"I do not wish to speak angrily to you, my cousin Shabaka, especially
+when you have just wrought such great deeds for Egypt. Moreover by the
+law I serve I may speak angrily to no man. Know then that on learning
+the truth, since I could love none but you according to the flesh and
+therefore can never give myself in marriage to another, I sought refuge
+in the arms of the goddess whom for your sake I had deserted. She was
+pleased to receive me, forgetting my treason. On this very day for the
+second time I took the oaths which may no more be broken, and that I may
+dwell where I shall never see you more, Pharaoh here has been pleased,
+at my request to name me high priestess and prophetess of Isis and to
+appoint me as a dwelling-place her temple at Amada where I was born far
+away in Upper Egypt. Now all is said and done, so farewell."
+
+"All is not said and done," I broke out in fury. "Pharaoh, I ask your
+leave to tell the full story of this business of the naming of the lady
+Amada to the King of kings, and that in the presence of the dwarf Bes.
+Even a slave is allowed to set out his tale before judgment is passed
+upon him."
+
+Peroa glanced at Amada who made no sign, then said,
+
+"It is granted, General Shabaka."
+
+So Bes was called into the chamber and having looked about him
+curiously, seated himself upon the ground.
+
+"Bes," I said, "you have heard nothing of what has passed." (Here I was
+mistaken, for as he told me afterwards he had heard everything through
+the door which was not quite closed.) "It is needful, Bes, that you
+should repeat truly all that happened at the court of the King of kings
+before and after I was brought from the boat."
+
+Bes obeyed, telling the tale very well, so well that all listened
+earnestly, without error moreover. When he had finished I also told my
+story and how, shaken by all I had gone through and already weak from
+the torment of the boat, the name of Amada was surprised from me who
+never dreamed that the King would at once make demand of her, and who
+would have perished a thousand times rather than such a thing should
+happen. I added what I had learned afterwards from our escort, that this
+name was already well known to the Great King who meant to make use of
+it as a cause of quarrel with Egypt. Further, that he had let me escape
+from a death by horrible torments because of some dream that he had
+dreamed while he rested before the banquet, in which a god appeared and
+told him that it was an evil thing to slay a man because that man had
+bested him at a hunting match and one of which heaven would keep an
+account. Still because of the law of his land he must find a public
+pretext for loosing one whom he had once condemned, and therefore chose
+this matter of the lady Amada whom he pretended to send me to bring to
+him.
+
+When I had finished, as Amada still remained silent, Pharaoh asked of
+Bes how it came about that he told one story on the night of our return
+and another on this night.
+
+"Because, O Pharaoh," answered Bes rolling his eyes, "for the first time
+in my life I have been just a little too clever and shot my arrow just
+a little too far. Hearken, Pharaoh, and Royal Lady, and High Priest. I
+knew that my master loves the lady Amada and knew also that she is quick
+of tongue and temper, one who readily takes offence even if thereby
+she breaks her own heart and so brings her life to ruin, and with it
+perchance her country. Therefore, knowing women whom I have studied in
+my own land, I saw in this matter just such a cause of offence as she
+would lay hold of, and counselled my master to keep silent as to the
+story of the naming of her before the King. Some evil spirit made him
+listen to this bad counsel, so far at least, that when I lied as to
+what had chanced, for which lie the lady Amada prayed that I might be
+scourged till my bones broke through the skin, he did not at once tell
+all the truth. Nor did he do so afterwards because he feared that if he
+did I should in fact be scourged, for my master and I love each other.
+Neither of us wishes to see the other scourged, though such is my lot
+to-night," and he glanced at Amada. "I have said."
+
+Then at last Amada spoke.
+
+"Had I known all this story from the first, perhaps I should not have
+done what I have done to-day and perhaps I should have forgiven and
+forgotten, for in truth even if the dwarf still lies, I believe your
+word, O Shabaka, and understand how all came about. But now it is too
+late to change. Say, O Priest of the Mother, is it not too late?"
+
+"It is too late," said the priest solemnly, "seeing that if such vows
+as yours are broken for the second time, O Prophetess, the curse of the
+goddess will pursue you and him for whom they were broken, yes, through
+this life and all other lives that perchance may be given to you upon
+the earth or elsewhere."
+
+"Pharaoh," I cried in despair, "I made a bond with you. It is recorded
+in writing and sealed. I have kept my part of the bond; my treasure you
+have spent; your enemies I have slain; your army I have commanded not so
+ill. Will you not keep yours and bid the priests release this lady from
+her vow and give her to me to whom she was promised? Or must I believe
+that you refuse, not because of goddesses and vows, but because yonder
+is the Royal Lady of Egypt, the true heiress to the throne who might
+perchance bear children, which as prophetess of Isis she can never do.
+Yes, because of this and because of certain cries that came to your ears
+in the hour of your crowning before Amen-ra and all the gods?"
+
+Peroa flushed as he heard me and answered,
+
+"You speak roughly, Cousin, and were you any other man I might be
+tempted to answer roughly. But I know that you suffer and therefore I
+forgive. Nay, you must believe no such things. Rather must you remember
+that in this bond of which you speak, it was set down that I only
+promised you the lady Amada with her own consent, and this she has
+withdrawn."
+
+"Then, Pharaoh, hearken! To-morrow I leave Egypt for another land,
+giving you back your generalship and sheathing the sword that I had
+hoped to wield in its defence and yours when the last great day of trial
+by battle comes, as come it will. I tell you that I go to return no
+more, unless the lady Amada yonder shall summon me back to fight for her
+and you, promising herself to me in guerdon."
+
+"That can never be," said Amada.
+
+Then I became aware of another presence in the room, though how and when
+it appeared I do not know, but I suppose that it had crept in while we
+were lost in talk. At least between me and Pharaoh, crouched upon the
+ground, was the figure of a man wrapped in a beggar's cloak. It threw
+back the hood and there appeared the ashen face and snowy beard of the
+holy Tanofir.
+
+"You know me, Pharaoh," he said in his deep, solemn voice. "I am
+Tanofir, the King's son; Tanofir the hermit, Tanofir the seer. I have
+heard all that passes, it matters not how and I come to you with a
+message, I who read men's hearts. Of vows and goddesses and women I say
+nothing. But this I say to you, that if you break the spirit of your
+bond and suffer yonder Shabaka to go hence with a bitter heart, trouble
+shall come on you. All the Great King's armies did not die yonder by the
+banks of Nile, and mayhap one day he will journey to bury the bones of
+those who fell, and with them _yours_, O Pharaoh. I do not think that
+you will listen to me to-night, and I am sure that yonder lady, full of
+the new-fanned flame of the jealous goddess, will not listen. Still let
+her take counsel and remember my words: In the hour of desperate danger
+let her send to Shabaka and demand his help, promising in return what he
+has asked and remembering that if Isis loves her, that goddess was born
+upon the Nile and loves Egypt more."
+
+"Too late, too late, _too late!_" wailed Amada
+
+Then she burst into tears and turning fled away with the high priest.
+Pharaoh went also leaving me and Bes alone. I looked for the holy
+Tanofir to speak with him, but he too was gone.
+
+"It is time to sleep, Master," said Bes, "for all this talk is more
+wearisome than any battle. Why! what is this that has your name upon
+it?" and he picked a silk-wrapped package from the floor and opened it.
+
+Within were the priceless rose-hued pearls!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV. SHABAKA FIGHTS THE CROCODILE
+
+"Where to?" I said to Bes when we were outside the palace, for I was so
+broken with grief that I scarcely knew what I did.
+
+"To the house of the lady Tiu, I think, Master, since there you must
+make preparations for your start on the morrow, also bid her farewell.
+Oh!" he went on in a kind of rapture which afterwards I knew was feigned
+though at the time I did not think about it, "Oh! how happy should you
+be who now are free from all this woman-coil, with life new and fresh
+before you. Reflect, Master, on the hunting we will have yonder in
+Ethiopia. No more cares, no more plannings for the welfare of Egypt,
+no more persuading of the doubtful to take up arms, no more desperate
+battle-ventures with your country's honour on your sword-point. And if
+you must see women--well, there are plenty in Ethiopia who come and go
+lightly as an evening breeze laden with the odour of flowers, and never
+trouble in the morning."
+
+"At any rate _you_ are not free from such coils, Bes," I said and in the
+moonlight I saw his great face fall in.
+
+"No, Master, I am tying them about my throat. See, such is the way of
+the world, or of the gods that rule the world, I know not which. For
+years I have been happy and free, I have enjoyed adventures and visited
+strange countries and have gathered learning, till I think I am the
+wisest man upon the Nile, at the side of one whom I loved and holding
+nothing at risk, except my own life which mattered no more than that of
+a gnat dancing in the sun. Now all is changed. I have a wife whom I love
+also, more than I can tell you," and he sighed, "but who still must
+be looked after and obeyed--yes, obeyed. Further, soon I shall have a
+people and a crown to wear, and councillors and affairs of state, and
+an ancient religion to support and the Grasshopper itself knows what
+besides. The burden has rolled from your back to mine, Master, making my
+heart which was so light, heavy, and oh! I wish it had stopped where it
+was."
+
+Even then I laughed, sad as I was, for truth lived in the philosophy of
+Bes.
+
+"Master," he went on in a changed voice, "I have been a fool and my
+folly has worked you ill. Forgive me since I acted for the best, only
+until the end no one ever knows what is the best. Now here is the house
+and I go to meet my wife and to make certain arrangements. By dawn
+perhaps you will be ready to start to Ethiopia."
+
+"Do you really desire that I should accompany you there, Bes?"
+
+"Certainly, Master. That is unless you should desire that I accompany
+you somewhere else instead, by sea southward for instance. If so, I do
+not know that I would refuse, since Ethiopia will not run away and there
+is much of the world that I should still like to visit. Only then there
+is Karema to be thought about, who expects, or, when she learns all,
+soon will expect, to be a queen," he added doubtfully.
+
+"No, Bes, I am too tired to make new plans, so let us go to Ethiopia and
+not disappoint Karema, who after holding a cup so long naturally would
+like to try a sceptre."
+
+"I think that is wisest, Master; at any rate the holy Tanofir thinks
+it wisest, and he is the voice of Fate. Oh! why do we trouble who after
+all, every one of us, are nothing but pieces upon the board of Fate."
+
+Then he turned and left me and I entered the house where I found my
+mother sitting, still in her festal robes, like one who waits. She
+looked at my face, then asked what troubled me. I sat down on a stool at
+her feet and told her everything.
+
+"Much as I thought," she said when I had finished. "These over-learned
+women are strange fish to catch and hold, and too much soul is like too
+much sail upon a boat when the desert wind begins to blow across the
+Nile. Well, do not let us blame her or Bes, or Peroa who is already
+anxious for his dynasty and would rather that Amada were a priestess
+than your wife, or even the goddess Isis, who no doubt is anxious for
+her votaries. Let us rather blame the Power that is behind the veil, or
+to it bow our heads, seeing that we know nothing of the end for which it
+works. So Egypt shuts her doors on you, my Son, and whither away? Not
+to the East again, I trust, for there you would soon grow shorter by a
+head."
+
+"I go to Ethiopia, my Mother, where it seems that Bes is a great man and
+can shelter me."
+
+"So we go to Ethiopia, do we? Well, it is a long journey for an old
+woman, but I weary of Memphis where I have lived for so many years and
+doubtless the sands of the south make good burial grounds."
+
+"We!" I exclaimed. "_We?_"
+
+"Surely, my Son, since in losing a wife you have again found a mother
+and until I die we part no more."
+
+When I heard this my eyes filled with tears. My conscience smote me also
+because of late, and indeed for years past, I had thought so much of
+Amada and so little of my mother. And now it was Amada who had cast me
+out, unjustly, without waiting to learn the truth, because at the worst
+I, who worshipped her, had saved myself from death in slow torment by
+speaking her name, while my mother, forgetting all, took me to her bosom
+again as she had done when I was a babe. I knew not what to say,
+but remembering the pearls, I drew them out and placed them round my
+mother's neck.
+
+She looked at the wonderful things and smiled, then said,
+
+"Such gems as these become white locks and withered breasts but ill.
+Yet, my Son, I will keep them for you till you find a wife, if not
+Amada, then another."
+
+"If not Amada, I shall never find a wife," I said bitterly, whereat she
+smiled.
+
+Then she left me to make ready before she slept a while.
+
+
+
+Work as we would noon had passed two hours, on the following day, before
+we were prepared to start, for there was much to do. Thus the house must
+be placed in charge of friends and the means of travel collected. Also a
+messenger came from Pharaoh praying me for his and Egypt's sake to think
+again before I left them, and an answer sent that go I must, whither
+the holy Tanofir would know if at any time Pharaoh desired to learn. In
+reply to this came another messenger who brought me parting gifts from
+Pharaoh, a chain of honour, a title of higher nobility, a commission
+as his envoy to whatever land I wandered, and so forth, which I must
+acknowledge. Lastly as we were leaving the house to seek the boat which
+Bes had made ready on the Nile, there came yet another messenger at the
+sight of whom my heart leapt, for he was priest of Isis.
+
+He bowed and handed me a roll. I opened it with a trembling hand and
+read:
+
+
+ "From the Prophetess of Isis whose house is at Amada, aforetime
+  Royal Lady of Egypt, to the Count Shabaka,
+
+ "I learn, O my Cousin, that you depart from Egypt and knowing the
+  reason my heart is sore. Believe me, my Cousin, I love you well,
+  better than any who lives upon the earth, nor will that love ever
+  change, since the goddess who holds my future in her hands, knows
+  of what we are made and is not jealous of the past. Therefore she
+  will not be wroth at the earthly love of one who is gathered to
+  her heavenly arms. Her blessing and mine be on you and if we see
+  each other no more face to face in the world, may we meet again in
+  the halls of Osiris. Farewell, beloved Shabaka. Oh! why did you
+  suffer that black master of lies, the dwarf Bes, to persuade you
+  to hide the truth from me?"
+
+
+So the writing ended and below it were two stains still wet, which I
+knew were caused by tears. Moreover, wrapped in a piece of silk and
+fastened to the scroll was a little gold ring graven with the royal
+_uraeus_ that Amada had always worn from childhood. Only on the previous
+night I had noted it on the first finger of her right hand.
+
+I took my stylus and my waxen tablets and wrote on one of them:
+
+
+ "Had you been a man, Amada, and not a woman, I think you would have
+  judged me differently but, learned priestess and prophetess as you
+  are, a woman you remain. Perchance a time may come when once more
+  you will turn to me in the hour of your need; if so and I am
+  living, I will come. Yea, if I am dead I think that I still shall
+  come, since nothing can really part us. Meanwhile by day and by
+  night I wear your ring and whenever I look on it I think of Amada
+  the woman whose lips have pressed my own, and forget Amada the
+  priestess who for her soul's sake has been pleased to break the
+  heart of the man who loved her and whom she misjudged so sorely in
+  her pride and anger."
+
+
+This tablet I wrapped up and sealed, using clay and her own ring to make
+the seal, and gave it for delivery to the priest.
+
+At length we drew near to the river and here, gathered on the open land,
+I found the most of those who had fought with me in the battle against
+the Easterns, and with them a great concourse of others from the
+city. These collected round me, some of them wounded and hobbling upon
+crutches, praying me not to go, as did the others who foresaw sorrow to
+Egypt from my loss. But I broke away from them almost in tears and
+with my mother hid myself beneath the canopy of the boat. Here Bes was
+waiting, also his beautiful wife who, although she seemed sad at leaving
+Egypt, smiled a greeting to us while the steersmen and rowers of the
+boat, tall Ethiopians every one of them, rose and gave me a General's
+salute. Then, as the wind served, we hoisted the sail and glided away up
+Nile, till presently the temples and palm-groves of Memphis were lost to
+sight.
+
+
+
+Of that long, long journey there is no need to tell. Up the Nile we
+travelled slowly, dragging the boat past the cataracts till Egypt was
+far behind us. In the end, many days after we had passed the mouth of
+another river that was blue in colour which flowed from the northern
+mountain lands down into the Nile, we came to a place where the rapids
+were so long and steep that we must leave the boat and travel overland.
+Drawing near to it at sunset I saw a multitude of people gathered on the
+sand and beyond them a camp in which were set many beautiful pavilions
+that seemed to be broidered with silk and gold, as were the banners that
+floated above them whereon appeared the effigy of a grasshopper, also
+done in gold with silver legs.
+
+"It seems that my messengers travelled in safety," said Bes to me, "for
+know, that yonder are some of my subjects who have come here to meet
+us. Now, Master, I must no longer call you master since I fear I am once
+more a king. And you must no longer call me Bes, but Karoon. Moreover,
+forgive me, but when you come into my presence you must bow, which I
+shall like less than you do, but it is the custom of the Ethiopians.
+Oh! I would that you were the king and that I were your friend, for
+henceforth good-bye to ease and jollity."
+
+I laughed, but Bes did not laugh at all, only turned to his wife who
+already ruled him as though he were indeed a slave, and said, "Lady
+Karema, make yourself as beautiful as you can and forget that you have
+ever been a Cup or anything useful, since henceforth you must be a
+queen, that is if you please my people."
+
+"And what happens if I do not please them, Husband?" asked Karema
+opening her fine eyes.
+
+"I do not quite know, Wife. Perhaps they may refuse to accept me, at
+which I shall not weep. Or perhaps they may refuse to accept you, at
+which of course I should weep very much, for you see you are so very
+white and, heretofore, all the queens of the Ethiopians have been
+black."
+
+"And if they refuse to accept me because I am white, or rather brown,
+instead of black like oiled marble, what then, O Husband?"
+
+"Then--oh! then I cannot say, O Wife. Perhaps they will send you back
+to your own country. Or perhaps they will separate us and place you in
+a temple where you will live alone in all honour. I remember that once
+they did that to a white woman, making a goddess of her until she died
+of weariness. Or perhaps--well, I do not know."
+
+Then Karema grew angry.
+
+"Now I wish I had remained a Cup," she said, "and the servant of the
+holy Tanofir who at least taught me many secret things, instead of
+coming to dwell among black barbarians in the company of a dwarf who,
+even if he be a king, it seems has no power to protect the wife whom he
+has chosen."
+
+"Why will women always grow wroth before there is need?" asked Bes
+humbly. "Surely it would be time to rate me when any of these things had
+happened."
+
+"If any of them do happen, Husband, I shall say much worse things than
+that," she replied, but the talk went no further, for at this moment our
+boat grounded and singing a wild song, many of those who waited rushed
+into the water to drag it to the bank.
+
+Then Bes stood up on the prow, waving his bow and there arose a mighty
+shout of, "_Karoon! Karoon!_ It is he, it is he returned after many
+years!"
+
+Twice they shouted thus and then, every one of them, threw themselves
+face downwards in the sand.
+
+"Yes, my people," cried Bes, "it is I, Karoon, who having been
+miraculously preserved from many dangers in far lands by the help of the
+Grasshopper in heaven, and, as my messengers will have told you, of my
+beloved friend, lord Shabaka the Egyptian, who has deigned to come to
+dwell with us for a while, have at length returned to Ethiopia that I
+may shed my wisdom on you like the sun and pour it on your heads like
+melted honey. Moreover, mindful of our laws which aforetime I defied and
+therefore left you, I have searched the whole world through till I found
+the most beautiful woman that it contained, and made her my wife. She
+too has deigned to come to this far country to be your queen. Advance,
+fair Karema, and show yourself to these my Ethiopians."
+
+So Karema stepped forward and stood on the prow of the boat by the side
+of Bes, and a strange couple they looked. The Ethiopians who had risen,
+considered her gravely, then one of them said,
+
+"Karoon called her beautiful, but in truth she is almost white and very
+ugly."
+
+"At least she is a woman," said another, "for her shape is female."
+
+"Yes, and he has married her," remarked a third, "and even a king
+may choose his own wife sometimes. For in such matters who can judge
+another's taste?"
+
+"Cease," said Bes in a lordly way. "If you do not think her beautiful
+to-night, you will to-morrow. And now let us land and rest."
+
+So we landed and while I did so I took note of these Ethiopians. They
+were great men, black as charcoal with thick lips, white teeth and flat
+noses. Their eyes were large and the whites of them somewhat yellow,
+their hair curled like wool, their beards were short and on their faces
+they wore a continual smile. Of dress most of them had little, but their
+elders or leaders wore lion and leopard skins and some were clad in a
+kind of silken tunic belted about the middle. All were armed for war
+with long bows, short swords and small shields round in shape and made
+from the hide of the hippopotamus or of the unicorn. Gold was plentiful
+amongst them since even the humblest wore bracelets of that metal, while
+about the necks of the chieftains it was wound in great torques, also
+sometimes on their ankles. They wore sandals on their feet and some
+of them had ostrich feathers stuck in their hair, a few also had
+grasshoppers fashioned of gold bound on the top of their heads, and
+these I took to be the priests. There were no women in their number.
+
+As the sun was sinking we were led at once to a very beautiful tent made
+of woven flax and ornamented as I have described, where we found food
+made ready for us in plenty, milk in bowls and the flesh of sheep and
+oxen boiled and roasted. Bes, however, was taken to a place apart, which
+made Karema even more angry than she was before.
+
+Scarcely had we finished eating when a herald rushed into the tent
+crying, "Prostrate yourselves! Yea, be prostrated, the Grasshopper
+comes! Karoon comes."
+
+Here I must say that I found that the title of Karoon meant "Great
+Grasshopper," but Karema who did not know this, asked indignantly why
+she should prostrate herself to a grasshopper. Indeed she refused to
+do so even when Bes entered the pavilion wonderfully attired in a
+gorgeous-coloured robe of which the train was held by two huge men. So
+absurd did he look that my mother and I must bow very deeply to hide our
+laughter while Karema said,
+
+"It would be better, Husband, if you found children to carry your robe
+instead of two giants. Moreover, if it is meant to copy the colours of
+a grasshopper, 'tis badly done, since grasshoppers are green and you
+are gold and scarlet. Also they do not wear feathers set awry upon their
+heads."
+
+Bes rolled his eyes as though in agony, then turning, bade his
+attendants be gone. They obeyed, though doubtfully as though they did
+not like to leave him alone with us, whereon he let down the flap of the
+pavilion, threw off his gorgeous coverings and said,
+
+"You must learn to understand, Wife, that our customs are different from
+those of Egypt. There I was happy as a slave and you were held to
+be beautiful as the Cup of the holy Tanofir, also learned. Here I am
+wretched as a king and you are held to be ugly, also ignorant as a
+stranger. Oh! do not answer, I pray you, but learn that all goes well.
+For the time you are accepted as my wife, subject to the decision of a
+council of matrons, aged relatives of my family, who will decide when
+we reach the City of the Grasshopper whether or not you shall be
+acknowledged as the Queen of the Ethiopians. No, no, I pray you say
+nothing since I must go away at once, as according to the law of the
+Ethiopians the time has come for the Grasshopper to sleep, alone,
+Karema, as you are not yet acknowledged as my wife. You also can sleep
+with the lady Tiu and for Shabaka a tent is provided. Rest sweetly,
+Wife. Hark! They fetch me."
+
+"Now, if I had my way," said Karema, "I would rest in that boat going
+back to Egypt. What say you, lord Shabaka?"
+
+But I made no answer who followed Bes out of the tent, leaving her to
+talk the matter over with my mother. Here I found a crowd of his people
+waiting to convey him to sleep and watching, saw them place him in
+another tent round which they ranged themselves, playing upon musical
+instruments. After this someone came and led me to my own place where
+was a good bed in which I lay down to sleep. This however I could not do
+for a long while because of my own laughter and the noise of the drums
+and horns that were soothing Bes to his rest. For now I understood why
+he had preferred to be a slave in Egypt rather than a king in Ethiopia.
+
+In the morning I rose before the dawn and went out to the river-bank to
+bathe. While I was making ready to wash myself, who should appear but
+Bes, followed, but at a distance, by a number of his people.
+
+"Never have I spent such a night, Master," he said, "at least not since
+you took me prisoner years ago, since by law I may not stop those horns
+and musical instruments. Now, however, also according to the law of the
+Ethiopians, I am my own lord until the sun rises. So I have come here
+to gather some of those blue lilies which she loves as a present for
+Karema, because I fear that she is angry and must be appeased."
+
+"Certainly she is very angry," I said, "or at least was so when I left
+her last night. Oh! Bes, why did you let your people tell her that she
+was ugly?"
+
+"How can I help it, Master? Have you not always heard that the
+Ethiopians are chiefly famous for one thing, namely that they speak
+nothing but the truth. To them she, being different, seems to be ugly.
+Therefore when they say that she is ugly, they speak the truth."
+
+"If so, it is a truth that she does not like, Bes, as I have no doubt
+she will tell you by and by. Do they think me ugly also?"
+
+"Yes, they do, Master; but they think also that you look like a man who
+can draw a bow and use a sword, and that goes far with the Ethiopians.
+Of your mother they say nothing because she is old and they venerate the
+aged whom the Grasshopper is waiting to carry away."
+
+Now I began to laugh again and went with Bes to gather the lilies. These
+grew at the end of a mass of reeds woven together by the pressure of the
+current and floating on the water. Bes lay down upon his stomach while
+his people watched from a distance on the bank amazed into silence, and
+stretched out his long arms to reach the blue lotus flowers. Suddenly
+the reeds gave way beneath him just as he had grasped two of the flowers
+and was dragging at them, so that he fell into the river.
+
+Next instant I saw a swirl in the brown water and perceived a huge
+crocodile. It rushed at Bes open-mouthed. Being a good swimmer he
+twisted his body in order to avoid it, but I heard the great teeth
+close with a snap on the short leathern garment which he wore about his
+middle.
+
+"The devil has me! Farewell!" he cried and vanished beneath the water.
+
+Now, as I have said, I was almost stripped for bathing, but had not
+yet taken off my short sword which was girded round me by a belt. In an
+instant I drew it and amidst the yells of horror of the Ethiopians who
+had seen all from the bank, I plunged into the river. There are few able
+to swim as I could and I had the art of diving with my eyes open and
+remaining long beneath the surface without drawing breath, for this I
+had practised from a child.
+
+Immediately I saw the great reptile sinking to the mud and dragging Bes
+with him to drown him there. But here the river was very deep and with
+a few swift strokes I was able to get under the crocodile. Then with all
+my strength I stabbed upwards, driving the sword far into the soft part
+of the throat. Feeling the pain of the sharp iron the beast let go of
+Bes and turned on me. How it happened I do not know but presently I
+found myself upon its back and was striking at its eyes. One thrust at
+least went home, for the blinded brute rose to the surface, bearing me
+with him, and oh! the sweetness of the air as I breathed again.
+
+Thus we appeared, I riding the crocodile like a horse and stabbing
+furiously, while close by was Bes rolling his yellow eyes but helpless,
+for he had no weapon. Still the devil was not dead although blood
+streamed from him, only mad with pain and rage. Nor could the shouting
+Ethiopians help me since they had only bows and dared not shoot lest
+their shafts should pierce me. The crocodile began to sink again,
+snapping furiously at my legs. Then I bethought me of a trick I had seen
+practised by natives on the Nile.
+
+Waiting till its huge jaws were open I thrust my arm between them,
+grasping the short sword in such fashion that the hilt rested on its
+tongue and the point against the roof of its mouth. It tried to close
+its jaws and lo! the good iron was fixed between them, holding them wide
+open. Then I withdrew my hand and floated upwards with nothing worse
+than a cut upon the wrist from one of its sharp fangs. I appeared upon
+the surface and after me the crocodile spouting blood and wallowing in
+its death agonies. I remembered no more till I found myself lying on the
+bank surrounded by a multitude with Bes standing over me. Also in the
+shallow water was the crocodile dead, my sword still fixed between its
+jaws.
+
+"Are you harmed, Master" cried Bes in a voice of agony.
+
+"Very little I think," I answered, sitting up with the blood pouring
+from my arm.
+
+Bes thrust aside Karema who had come lightly clothed from her tent,
+saying,
+
+"All is well, Wife. I will bring you the lilies presently."
+
+Then he flung his arms about me, kissed my hands and my brow and turning
+to the crowd, shouted,
+
+"Last night you were disputing as to whether this Egyptian lord should
+be allowed to dwell with me in the land of Ethiopia. Which of you
+disputes it now?"
+
+"No one!" they answered with a roar. "He is not a man but a god. No man
+could have done such a deed."
+
+"So it seems," answered Bes quietly. "At least none of you even tried
+to do it. Yet he is not a god but only that kind of man who is called
+a hero. Also he is my brother, and while I reign in Ethiopia either he
+shall reign at my side, or I go away with him."
+
+"It shall be so, Karoon!" they shouted with one voice. And after this I
+was carried back to the tent.
+
+In front of it my mother waited and kissed me proudly before them all,
+whereat they shouted again.
+
+
+
+So ended this adventure of the crocodile, except that presently Bes went
+back and recovered the two lilies for Karema, this time from a boat,
+which caused the Ethiopians to call out that he must love her very much,
+though not as much as he did me.
+
+That afternoon, borne in litters, we set out for the City of the
+Grasshopper, which we reached on the fourth day. As we drew near the
+place regiments of men to the number of twelve thousand or more, came
+out to meet us, so that at last we arrived escorted by an army who sang
+their songs of triumph and played upon their musical instruments until
+my head ached with the noise.
+
+This city was a great place whereof the houses were built of mud and
+thatched with reeds. It stood upon a wide plain and in its centre rose
+a natural, rocky hill upon the crest of which, fashioned of blocks of
+gleaming marble and roofed with a metal that shone as gold, was the
+temple of the Grasshopper, a columned building very like to those of
+Egypt. Round it also were other public buildings, among them the palace
+of the Karoon, the whole being surrounded by triple marble walls as a
+protection from attack by foes. Never had I seen anything so beautiful
+as that hill with its edifices of shining white roofed with gold or
+copper and gleaming in the sun.
+
+Descending from my litter I walked to those of my mother and Karema, for
+Bes in his majesty might not be approached, and said as much to them.
+
+"Yes, Son," answered my mother, "it is worth while to have travelled so
+far to see such a sight. I shall have a fine sepulchre, Son."
+
+"I have seen it all before," broke in Karema.
+
+"When?" I asked.
+
+"I do not know. I suppose it must have been when I was the Cup of the
+holy Tanofir. At least it is familiar to me. Already I weary of it, for
+who can care for a land or a city where they think white people hideous
+and scarcely allow a wife to go near her husband, save between midnight
+and dawn when they cease from their horrible music?"
+
+"It will be your part to change these customs, Karema."
+
+"Yes," she exclaimed, "certainly that will be my part," after which I
+went back to my litter.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV. THE SUMMONS
+
+Now at the gates of the City of the Grasshopper we were royally
+received. The priests came out to meet us, pushing a colossal image
+of their god before them on a kind of flat chariot, and I remember
+wondering what would be the value of that huge golden locust, if it were
+melted down. Also the Council came, very ancient men all of them,
+since the Ethiopians for the most part lived more than a hundred years.
+Perhaps that is why they were so glad to welcome Bes since they were too
+old to care about retaining power in their own hands as they had done
+during his long absence. For save Bes there was no other man living of
+the true royal blood who could take the throne.
+
+Then there were thousands of women, broad-faced and smiling whose black
+skins shone with scented oils, for they wore little except a girdle
+about their waists and many ornaments of gold. Thus their earrings
+were sometimes a palm in breadth and many of them had great gold rings
+through their noses, such as in Egypt are put in those of bulls. My
+mother laughed at them, but Karema said that she thought them hideous
+and hateful.
+
+They were a strange people, these Ethiopians, like children, most of
+them, being merry and kind and never thinking of one thing for more
+than a minute. Thus one would see them weep and laugh almost in the same
+breath. But among them was an upper class who had great learning and
+much ancient knowledge. These men made their laws wherein there was
+always sense under what seemed to be folly, designed the temples,
+managed the mines of gold and other metals and followed the arts. They
+were the real masters of the land, the rest were but slaves content to
+live in plenty, for in that fertile soil want never came near them, and
+to do as they were bid.
+
+Thus they passed from the cradle to the grave amidst song and flowers,
+carrying out their light, allotted tasks, and for the rest, living as
+they would and loving those they would, especially their children, of
+whom they had many. By nature and tradition the men were warriors and
+hunters, being skilled in the use of the bow and always at war when they
+could find anyone to fight. Indeed when we came among them their trouble
+was that they had no enemies left, and at once they implored Bes to lead
+them out to battle since they were weary of herding kine and tilling
+fields.
+
+All of these things I found out by degrees, also that they were a great
+people who could send out an army of seventy thousand men and yet leave
+enough behind them to defend their land. Of the world beyond their
+borders the most of them knew little, but the learned men of whom I have
+spoken, a great deal, since they travelled to Egypt and elsewhere to
+study the customs of other countries. For the rest their only god was
+the Grasshopper and like that insect they skipped and chirruped through
+life and when the winter of death came sprang away to another of which
+they knew nothing, leaving their young behind them to bask in the sun of
+unborn summers. Such were the Ethiopians.
+
+Now of all the ceremonies of the reception of Bes and his re-crowning
+as Karoon, I knew little, for the reason that the tooth of the crocodile
+poisoned my blood and made me very ill, so that I remained for a moon
+or more lying in a fine room in the palace where gold seemed to be as
+plentiful as earthen pots are in Egypt, and all the vessels were of
+crystal. Had it not been for the skill of the Ethiopian leeches and
+above all for the nursing of my mother, I think that I must have died.
+She it was who withstood them when they wished to cut off my arm, and
+wisely, for it recovered and was as strong as it had ever been. In the
+end I grew well again and from the platform in front of the temple was
+presented to the people by Bes as his saviour and the next greatest to
+him in the kingdom, nor shall I ever forget the shoutings with which I
+was received.
+
+Karema also was presented as his wife, having passed the Ordeal of the
+Matrons, but only, I think, because it was found that she was in the way
+to give an heir to the throne. For to them her beauty was ugliness, nor
+could they understand how it came about that their king, who contrary
+to the general customs of the land, was only allowed one wife lest the
+children should quarrel, could have chosen a lady who was not black.
+So they received her in silence with many whisperings which made Karema
+very angry.
+
+When in due course, however, the child came and proved to be a son black
+as the best of them and of perfect shape, they relented towards her and
+after the birth of a second, grew to love her. But she never forgave and
+loved them not at all. Nor was she over-fond of these children of hers
+because they were so black which, she said, showed how poisonous was the
+blood of the Ethiopians. And indeed this is so, for often I have noticed
+that if an Ethiopian weds with one of another colour, their offspring
+is black down to the third or fourth generation. Therefore Karema longed
+for Egypt notwithstanding the splendour in which she dwelt.
+
+So greatly did she long that she had recourse to the magic lore which
+she had learned from the holy Tanofir, and would sit for hours gazing
+into water in a crystal bowl, or sometimes into a ball of crystal
+without the water, trying to see visions therein that had to do with
+what passed in Egypt. Moreover in time much of her gift returned to her
+and she did see many things which she repeated to me, for she would tell
+no one else of them, not even her husband.
+
+Thus she saw Amada kneeling in a shrine before the statue of Isis and
+weeping: a picture that made me sad. Also she saw the holy Tanofir
+brooding in the darkness of the Cave of the Bulls, and read in his mind
+that he was thinking of us, though what he thought she could not read.
+Again she saw Eastern messengers delivering letters to Pharaoh and knew
+from his face that he was disturbed and that Egypt was threatened with
+calamities. And so forth.
+
+Soon the news of her powers of divination spread abroad, so that all the
+Ethiopians grew to fear her as a seeress and thenceforth, whatever they
+may have thought, none of them dared to say that she was ugly. Further,
+her gift was real, since if she told me of a certain thing such as that
+messengers were approaching, in due course they would arrive and make
+clear much that she had not been able to understand in her visions.
+
+Now from the time that I grew strong again and as soon as Bes was firmly
+seated on his throne, he and I set to work to train and drill the army
+of the Ethiopians, which hitherto had been little more than a mob of men
+carrying bows and swords. We divided it into phalanxes after the Greek
+fashion, and armed these bodies with long lances, swords, and large
+shields in the place of the small ones they had carried before. Also we
+trained the archers, teaching them to advance in open order and shoot
+from cover, and lastly chose the best soldiers to be captains and
+generals. So it came about that at the end of the two years that I
+spent in Ethiopia there was a force of sixty thousand men or more whom
+I should not have been afraid to match against any troops in the world,
+since they were of great strength and courage, and, as I have said, by
+nature lovers of war. Also their bows being longer and more powerful,
+they could shoot arrows farther than the Easterns or the Egyptians.
+
+The Ethiopian lords wondered why their King and I did these things,
+since they saw no enemy against which so great an army could be led to
+battle. On that matter Bes and I kept our own counsel, telling them only
+that it was good for the men to be trained to war, since, hearing of
+their wealth, one day the King of kings might attempt to invade their
+country. So month by month I laboured at this task, leading armies into
+distant regions to accustom them to travelling far afield, carrying with
+them what was necessary for their sustenance.
+
+So it went on until a sad thing happened, since on returning from one
+of these forays in which I had punished a tribe that had murdered some
+Ethiopian hunters and we had taken many thousands of their cattle, I
+found my mother dying. She had been smitten by a fever which was common
+at that season of the year, and being old and weak had no strength to
+throw it off.
+
+As medicine did not help her, the priests of the Grasshopper prayed day
+and night in their temple for her recovery. Yes, there they prayed to a
+golden locust standing on an altar in a sanctuary that was surrounded by
+crystal coffins wherein rested the flesh of former kings of the land.
+To me the sight was pitiful, but Bes asked me what was the difference
+between praying to a locust and praying to images with the heads of
+beasts, or to a dwarf shaped as he was like we did in Egypt, and I could
+not answer him.
+
+"The truth is, Brother," he said, for so he called me now, "that all
+peoples in the world do not offer petitions to what they see and have
+been taught to revere, but to something beyond of which to them it is
+a sign. But why the Ethiopians should have chosen a grasshopper as a
+symbol of God who is everywhere, is more than I can tell. Still they
+have done so for thousands of years."
+
+When I came to my mother's bedside she was wandering and I saw that she
+could not live long. In a little while, however, her mind cleared so
+that she knew me and tears of joy ran down her pale cheeks because I had
+returned before she died. She reminded me that she had always said that
+she would find a grave in Ethiopia, and asked to be buried and not kept
+above ground in crystal, as was the custom there. Then she said that she
+had been dreaming of my father and of me; also that she did not think
+that I need fret myself overmuch about Amada, since she was sure that
+before long I should kiss her on the lips.
+
+I asked if she meant that I should marry her and that we should be happy
+and fortunate. She replied that she supposed that I should marry her,
+but of the rest would say nothing. Indeed her face grew troubled, as
+though some thought hurt her, and leaving the matter of Amada she bade
+Karema bring me the rose-hued pearls, blessed me, prayed for our reunion
+in the halls of Osiris, and straightway died.
+
+So I caused her to be embalmed after the Egyptian fashion and enclosed
+in a coffin of crystal with a scarab on her heart that Karema had
+discovered somewhere in the city, for always she was searching for
+things that reminded her of Egypt, whereof many were to be found brought
+from time to time by travellers or strangers. Then with such ceremony
+as we could without the services of the priests of Osiris, Karema and I
+buried her in a tomb that Bes had caused to be made near to the steps of
+the temple of the Grasshopper, while Bes and his nobles watched from a
+distance.
+
+And so farewell to my beloved mother, the lady Tiu.
+
+
+
+After she was gone I grew very sad and lonely. While she lived I had a
+home, but now I was an exile, a stranger in a strange land with no one
+of my own people to talk to except Karema, with whom, as there were
+gossips even in Ethiopia, I thought it well not to talk too much. There
+was Bes it was true, but now he was a great king and the time of kings
+is not their own. Moreover Bes was Bes and an Ethiopian and I was I and
+an Egyptian, and therefore notwithstanding our love and brotherhood, we
+could never be like men of the same blood and country.
+
+I grew weary of Ethiopia with its useless gold and damp eternal green
+and heat, and longed for the sand and the keen desert air. Bes noted it
+and offered me wives, but I shrank from these black women however buxom
+and kindly, and wished for no offspring of their race whom afterwards I
+could never leave. To Egypt I had sworn not to return unless one voice
+called me and it remained silent. What then was I to do, being no longer
+content to discipline and command an army that I might not lead into
+battle?
+
+At length I made up my mind. By nature I was a hunter as much as a
+soldier; I would beg from Bes a band of brave men whom I knew, lovers
+of adventure who sought new things, and with them strike down south,
+following the path of the elephants to wherever the gods might lead us.
+Doubtless in the end it would be to death, but what matter when there is
+nothing for which one cares to live?
+
+While I was brooding over these plans Karema read my mind, perhaps
+because it was her own, perhaps by help of her strange arts, which I do
+not know. At least one day when I was sitting alone looking at the city
+beneath from one of the palace window-places, she came to me looking
+very beautiful and very mystic in the white robes she always loved to
+wear, and said,
+
+"My lord Shabaka, you tire of this land of honey and sweetness and soft
+airs and flowers and gold and crystal and black people who grin and
+chatter and are not pleasant to be near, is it not so?"
+
+"Yes, Queen," I answered.
+
+"Do not call me queen, my lord Shabaka, for I weary of that name, as we
+both do of the rest. Call me Karema the Arab, or Karema the Cup, which
+you will, but by the name of Thoth, god of learning, do _not_ call me
+queen."
+
+"Karema then," I said. "Well, how do you know that I tire of all this,
+Karema?"
+
+"How could you do otherwise who are not a barbarian and who have Egypt
+in your heart, and Egypt's fate and----" here she looked me straight in
+the eye's, "Egypt's Lady. Besides, I measure you by myself."
+
+"You at least should be happy, Karema, who are great and rich and
+beloved, and the wife of a King who is one of the best of men, and the
+mother of children."
+
+"Yes, Shabaka, I should be but I am not, for who can live on sweetmeats
+only, especially when they like what is sour? See now how strangely we
+are made. When I was a girl, the daughter of an Arab chief, well bred
+and well taught as it chanced, I tired of the hard life of the desert
+and the narrow minds about me, I who longed for wisdom and to know great
+men. Then I became the Cup of the holy Tanofir and wisdom was all about
+me, strange wisdom from another world, rough, sharp wisdom from Tanofir,
+and the quiet wisdom of the dead among whom I dwelt. I wearied of that
+also, Shabaka. I was beautiful and knew it and I longed to shine in
+a Court, to be admired among men, to be envied of women, to rule. My
+husband came my way. He was clever with a great heart. He was your
+friend and therefore I was sure that he must be loyal and true. He was,
+or might be, a king, as I knew, though he thought that I did not. I
+married him and the holy Tanofir laughed but he did not say me nay, and
+I became a queen. And now I wish sometimes that I were dead, or back
+holding the cup of the holy Tanofir with the wisdom of the heavens
+flowing round me and the soft darkness of the tombs about me. It seems
+that in this world we never can be content, Shabaka."
+
+"No, Karema, we only think that we should be if things were otherwise
+than they are. But how can I help you, Karema?"
+
+"Least of all by going away and leaving me alone," she answered with the
+tears starting to her eyes.
+
+Looking at her, I began to think that the best thing I could do would be
+to go away and at once, but as ever she read my thought, shook her head
+and laughed.
+
+"No, no, I have put on my yoke and will carry it to the end. Have I not
+two black children and a husband who is a hero, a wit and a mountebank
+in one, and a throne and more gold and crystal than I ever wish to see
+again even in a dream, and shall I not cling to these good things? If
+you went I should only be a little more unhappy than before, that is
+all. Not for my sake do I ask you to stay, but for your own."
+
+"How for my own, Karema? I have done all that I can do here. I have
+built the army afresh from cook-boys to generals. Bes needs me no longer
+who has you, his children and his country, and I die of weariness."
+
+"You can stop to make use of that army you have built afresh, Shabaka."
+
+"Against whom? There are none to fight."
+
+"Against the Great King of the East. Listen. My gift of vision has grown
+strong and clear of late. Only to-day I have seen a meeting between
+Pharaoh, the holy Tanofir and the lady Amada. They were all disturbed,
+I know not at what, and the end of it was that Amada wrote in a roll
+and gave the writing to messengers, who I think even now are speeding
+southward--to you, Shabaka. Nay, do not look doubtfully on me, it is
+true."
+
+"Then you did well to tell me, Karema, for within a moon of this day I
+should have been where perhaps no messengers would have found me. Now
+I will wait and let it be your part to prepare the mind of Bes. Do you
+think that he would give me an army to lead to Egypt, if there were
+need?"
+
+She nodded and answered,
+
+"He would do so for three reasons. The first is because he loves you,
+the second because he too wearies of Ethiopia and this rich, fat life of
+peace, and the third, because I shall tell him that he must."
+
+"Then why trouble to speak of the other two?" I said laughing.
+
+So I stayed on in the City of the Grasshopper, and busied myself with
+the questions of how to transport and feed a great army that must hold
+the field for six months or a year; also with the setting of hundreds of
+skilled men to the making of bows, arrows, swords and shields. Nor did
+Bes say me no in these matters. Indeed he helped them forward by issuing
+the orders as his own, wherein I saw the hand of Karema.
+
+Three months went by and I began to think that Karema's power had been
+at fault, or that her vision was one that came from her lips and not
+from her heart, to keep me in Ethiopia. But again she read my mind and
+smiled.
+
+"Not so, Shabaka," she said. "Those messengers have come to trouble and
+are detained by a petty tribe beyond our borders over some matter of a
+woman. Ten days ago the frontier guards marched to set them free."
+
+So again I waited and at length the messengers came, three of them
+Egyptians and three men of Ethiopia who dwelt in Egypt to learn its
+wisdom, reporting that as Karema had said, through the foolishness of a
+servant they had been held prisoner by an Arab chief and thus delayed.
+Then they delivered the writings which they had kept safe. One was from
+Pharaoh to the Karoon of Ethiopia; one from the holy Tanofir to Karema;
+and one from the lady Amada to myself.
+
+With a trembling hand I broke the silk and seals and read. It ran thus:
+
+
+ "Shabaka, my Cousin,
+
+ "You departed from Egypt saying that never would you return unless
+  I, Amada the priestess, called you, and I told you that I should
+  never call. You said, moreover, that if you came at my call you
+  would demand me in guerdon, and I told you that never would I give
+  myself to you who was doubly sworn to Isis. Yet now I call and now
+  I say that if you come and conquer and I yet live, then, if you
+  still will it, I am yours. Thus stands the case: The Great King
+  advances upon Egypt with an army countless as the sands, nor can
+  Egypt hope to battle against him unaided and alone. He comes to
+  make of her a slave, to kill her children, to burn her temples, to
+  sack her cities and to defile her gods with blasphemies. Moreover
+  he comes to seize me and to drag me away to shame in his House of
+  Women.
+
+ "Therefore for the sake of the gods, for Egypt's sake and for my
+  own, I pray you come and save us. Moreover I still love you,
+  Shabaka, yes, more a thousand times, then ever I did, though
+  whether you still love me I know not. For that love's sake,
+  therefore, I am ready to break my vows to Isis and to dare her
+  vengeance, if she should desire to be avenged upon me who would
+  save her and her worship, praying that it may fall on my head and
+  not on yours. This will I do by the counsel of the holy Tanofir,
+  by command of Pharaoh, and with the consent of the high priests of
+  Egypt.
+
+ "Now I, Amada, have written. Choose, Shabaka, beloved of my heart."
+
+
+Such was the letter that caused my head to swim and set my soul on fire.
+Still I said nothing, but thrust it into my robe and waited. Presently
+Bes, who had been reading in his roll, looked up and spoke, saying,
+
+"Are you minded to see arrows fly and swords shine in war, Brother?
+If so, here is opportunity. Pharaoh writes to me above his own seal,
+seeking an alliance between Egypt and Ethiopia. He says that the King of
+kings invades him and that if he conquers Egypt he has sworn to travel
+on and conquer Ethiopia also, since he learns that it is now ruled by a
+certain dwarf who once stole his White Signet, and by a certain Egyptian
+who once killed his Satrap, Idernes."
+
+"What says the Karoon?" I asked.
+
+Bes rolled his eyes and turning to Karema, asked,
+
+"What says the Karoon's wife?"
+
+Karema laid down the roll she had been studying and answered,
+
+"She says that she has received a command from her master the holy
+Tanofir to wait upon him forthwith, for reasons that he will explain
+when she arrives, or to brave his curse upon her, her children, her
+country and her husband, and not only his but that of the spirits who
+serve him."
+
+"The curse of the holy Tanofir is not a thing to mock at," said Bes, "as
+I who revere him, know as well as any man."
+
+"No, Husband, and therefore I leave for Egypt as soon as may be. It
+seems that my sister is dead, this year past, and the holy Tanofir has
+no one to hold his cup."
+
+"And what shall I do?" asked Bes.
+
+"That is for you to say, Husband. But if you will, you can stay here
+and guard our children, giving the command of your army to the lord
+Shabaka."
+
+Now, for we were alone, Bes twisted himself about, rolling his eyes and
+laughing as he used to do before he became Karoon of Ethiopia.
+
+"O-ho-ho! Wife," he said, "so you are to go to Egypt, leaving me to play
+the nurse to babes, and my brother here is to command my armies, leaving
+me to look after the old men and the women. Nay, I think otherwise. I
+think that I shall come also, that is if my brother wishes it. Did he
+not save my life and is it not his and with it all I have? Oh! have
+done. Once more we will stand side by side in the battle, Brother, and
+afterwards let Fate do as it will with us. Tell me now, what is the tale
+of archers and of swordsmen with which we can march against the Great
+King with whom, like you, I have a score to settle?"
+
+"Seventy and five thousand," I answered.
+
+"Good! On the fifth day from now the army marches for Egypt."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI. TANOFIR FINDS HIS BROKEN CUP
+
+March we did, but on the fifteenth day, not the fifth, since there
+was much to make ready. First the Council of the Ethiopians must be
+consulted and through them the people. In the beginning there was
+trouble over the matter, since many were against a distant war, and this
+even after Bes had urged that it was better to attack than wait to be
+attacked. For they answered, and justly, that here in Ethiopia distance
+and the desert were their shields, since the King of kings, however
+great his strength, would be weary and famished before he set foot
+within their borders.
+
+In the end the knot was cut with a sword, for when the army came to
+learn of the dispute, from the generals down to the common soldiers,
+every man clamoured to be led to war, since, as I have said, these
+Ethiopians were fighters all of them, and near at hand there were none
+left with whom they could fight. So when the Council came to see that
+they must choose between war abroad and revolt at home, they gave way,
+bargaining only that the children of the Karoon should not leave the
+land so that if aught befell him, there would be some of the true blood
+left to succeed.
+
+Also the Grasshopper was consulted by the priests who found the omens
+favourable. Indeed I was told that this great golden locust sat up upon
+its hind legs upon the altar and waved its feelers in the air, which
+only happened when wonderful fortune was about to bless the land. The
+tale reminded me of the nodding of the statues of our own gods in Egypt
+when a new Pharaoh was presented to them, and of that of Isis when Amada
+put up her prayer to the divine Mother. To tell the truth, I suspected
+Karema of having some hand in the business. However, so it happened.
+
+At length we set forth, a mighty host, Bes commanding the swordsmen and
+I, under him, the archers, of whom there were more than thirty thousand
+men, and glad was I when all the farewells were said and we were free of
+the weeping crowds of women. At first Bes and Karema were somewhat sad
+at parting from their children, but in a little while they grew gay
+again since the one longed for battle and the other for the sands of
+Egypt.
+
+Now of our advance I need say little, except that it was slow, though
+none dared to bar the road of so mighty an array. Since we must go on
+foot, we were not able to cover more than five leagues a day, for even
+after we reached the river boats could not be found for so many, though
+Karema travelled in one with her ladies. Also cattle and corn must
+always be sent forward for food. Still we crept on to Egypt without
+sickness, accident, or revolt.
+
+When we drew near to its frontiers messengers met us from Pharaoh
+bearing letters in answer to those which we had sent with the tidings
+of our coming. These contained little but ill news. It seemed that the
+Great King with a countless host had taken all the cities of the Delta
+and, after a long siege, had captured Memphis and put it to the sack,
+and that the army of Egypt, fighting desperately by land and upon the
+Nile was being driven southwards towards Thebes. Pharaoh added that he
+proposed to make his last stand at the strong city of Amada, since he
+doubted whether the troops from Lower Egypt would not rather surrender
+to the Easterns than retreat further up the Nile. He thanked and blessed
+us for our promised aid and prayed that it might come in time to save
+Egypt from slavery and himself from death.
+
+Also there was a letter for me from Amada in which she said,
+
+
+ "Oh! come quickly. Come quickly, beloved Shabaka, lest of me you
+  should find but bones for never will I fall living into the hands
+  of the Great King. We are sore pressed and although Amada has been
+  made very strong, it can stand but a little while against such a
+  countless multitude armed with all the engines of war."
+
+
+For Karema, too, there were messages from the holy Tanofir of the same
+meaning, saying that unless we appeared within a moon of their receipt,
+all was lost.
+
+We read and took counsel. Then we pressed forward by double marches,
+sending swift runners forward to bid Pharaoh and his army hold on to the
+last spear and arrow.
+
+On the twenty-fifth day from the receipt of this news we came to the
+great frontier city which we found in tumult for its citizens were
+mad with fear. Here we rested one night and ate of the food that was
+gathered there in plenty. Then leaving a small rear-guard of five
+thousand men who were tired out, to hold the place, we pressed onwards,
+for Amada was still four days' march away. On the morning of the fourth
+day we were told that it was falling, or had fallen, and when at length
+we came in sight of the place we saw that it was beleaguered by an
+innumerable host of Easterns, while on the Nile was a great fleet of
+Grecian and Cyprian mercenaries. Moreover, heralds from the King of
+kings reached us, saying:
+
+"Surrender, Barbarians, or before the second day dawns you shall sleep
+sound, every one of you."
+
+To these we answered that we would take counsel on the matter and that
+perhaps on the morrow we would surrender, since when we had marched from
+Ethiopia, we did not know how great was the King's strength, having been
+deceived as to it by the letters of the Pharaoh. Meanwhile that the
+King of kings would do well to let us alone, since we were brave men and
+meant to die hard, and it would be better for him to leave us to march
+back to Ethiopia, rather than lose an army in trying to kill us.
+
+With these words which were spoken by Bes himself, the messengers
+departed. One of them however, who seemed to be a great lord, called in
+a loud voice to his companions, saying it was hard that nobles should
+have to do the errands, not of a man but of an ape who would look better
+hanging to a pole. Bes made no answer, only rolled his yellow eyes and
+said when the lord was out of hearing,
+
+"Now by the Grasshopper and all the gods of Egypt I swear that in
+payment for this insult I will choke the Nile with the army of the Great
+King, and hang that knave to a pole from the prow of the royal ship."
+Which last thing I hope he did.
+
+
+
+When the embassy had gone Bes gave orders that the whole army should eat
+and lie down to sleep.
+
+"I am sure," said he, "that the Great King will not attack us at once,
+since he will hope that we shall flee away during the night, having seen
+his strength."
+
+So the Ethiopians filled themselves and then lay down to sleep, which
+these people can do at any time, even if not tired as they were. But
+while they rested Bes and I and Karema, with some of the generals
+consulted together long and earnestly. For in truth we knew not what
+to do. But a league away lay the town of Amada beset by hundreds of
+thousands of the Easterns so that none could come in or out, and within
+its walls were the remains of Pharaoh's army, not more than twenty
+thousand men, all told, if what we heard were true. On the Nile also
+was the great Grecian and Cyprian fleet, two hundred vessels and more,
+though as we could see by the light of the setting sun the most of these
+were made fast to the western bank where the Egyptians could not come at
+them.
+
+For the rest our position was good, being on high desert beyond the
+cultivated land which bordered the eastern bank. But in front of us,
+separating us from the southern army of the King, stretched a swamp hard
+to cross, so that we could not hope to make an attack by night as there
+was no moon. Lastly, the main Eastern strength, to the number of two
+hundred thousand or more, lay to the north beyond Amada.
+
+All these things we considered, talking low and earnestly there in the
+tent, till it grew so dark that we could not see each other's faces
+while behind us slumbered our army that now numbered some seventy
+thousand men.
+
+"We are in a trap," said Bes at length. "If we await attack they will
+weigh us down with numbers. If we flee they have camels and horses and
+will overtake us; also ships of which we have none. If we attack it must
+be without cover through swamp where we shall be bogged.
+
+"Meanwhile Pharaoh is perishing within yonder walls of Amada which the
+engines batter down. By the Grasshopper! I know not what to do. It seems
+that our journey is vain and that few of us will see Ethiopia more; also
+that Egypt is sped."
+
+I made no answer, for here my generalship failed me and I had nothing
+to say. The captains, too, were silent, only woman-like, Karema wept a
+little, and I too went near to weeping who thought of Amada penned in
+yonder temple like a lamb that awaits the butcher's knife.
+
+Suddenly, coming from the door of the tent which I thought was closed, I
+heard a deep voice say,
+
+"I have ever noted that those of Ethiopian blood are melancholy after
+sundown, though of Egyptians I had thought better things."
+
+Now about this voice there was something familiar to me, still I said
+nothing, nor did the others, for to speak the truth, all of us were
+frightened and thought that we must dream. For how could any thing that
+breathed approach this tent through a triple line of sentries? So we sat
+still, staring at the darkness, till presently in that darkness appeared
+a glow of light, such as comes from the fire-flies of Ethiopia. It grew
+and grew while we gasped with fear, till presently it took shape, and
+the shape it took was that of the ancient withered face, the sightless
+eyes, and the white beard of the holy Tanofir. Yes, there not two feet
+from the ground seemed to float the head of the holy Tanofir, limned in
+faint flame, which I suppose must have been reflected on to it from the
+light of some camp-fire without.
+
+"O my beloved master!" cried Karema, and threw herself towards him.
+
+"O my beloved Cup!" answered Tanofir. "Glad am I to know you well and
+unshattered."
+
+Then a torch was lit and lo! there before us, wrapped in his dark cloak
+sat the holy Tanofir.
+
+"Whence come you, my Great-uncle?" I asked amazed.
+
+"From less far than you do, Nephew," he answered. "Namely out of Amada
+yonder. Oh! ask me not how. It is easy if you are a blind old beggar
+who knows the path. And by the way, if you have aught to eat I should be
+glad of a bite and a sup, since in Amada food has been scarce for this
+last month, and to-night there is little left."
+
+Karema sped from the tent and presently returned with bread and wine of
+which Tanofir partook almost greedily.
+
+"This is the first strong drink that I have tasted for many a year," he
+said as he drained the goblet; "but better a broken vow than broken wits
+when one has much to plan and do. At least I hope the gods will think so
+when I meet them presently. There--I am strong again. Now, say, what is
+your force?"
+
+We told him.
+
+"Good. And what is your plan?"
+
+We shook our heads, having none.
+
+"Bes," he said sternly, "I think you grow dull since you became a
+king--or perhaps it is marriage that makes you so. Why, in bygone years
+schemes would have come so fast that they would have choked each other
+between those thick lips of yours. And Shabaka, tell me, have you lost
+all your generalship whereof once you had plenty, in the soft air of
+Ethiopia? Or is it that even the shadow of marriage makes _you_ dull?
+Well, I must turn to the woman, for that is always the lot of man. Your
+plan, Karema, and quickly for there is no time to lose."
+
+Now the face of Karema grew fixed and her eyes dreamy as she spoke in a
+slow, measured voice like one who knows not what she says.
+
+"My plan is to destroy the armies of the Great King and to relieve the
+city of Amada."
+
+"A very good plan," said holy Tanofir, "but the question is, how?"
+
+"I think," went on Karema, "that about a league above this place there
+is a spot where at this season the Nile can be forded by tall men
+without the wetting of their shoulders. First then, I would send five
+thousand swordsmen across that ford and let them creep down on the navy
+of the Great King where the sailors revel in safety, or sleep sound, and
+fire the ships. The wind blows strongly from the south and the flames
+will leap fast from one of them to the other. Most of their crews will
+be burned and the rest can be slain by our five thousand."
+
+"Good, very good," said the holy Tanofir, "but not enough, seeing that
+on the eastern bank is gathered the host of over two hundred thousand
+men. Now how will you deal with _them_, Karema?"
+
+"I seem to see a road yonder beyond the swamp. It runs on the edge of
+the desert but behind the sand-hills. I would send the archers of whom
+there are more than thirty thousand, under the command of Shabaka along
+that road which leads them past Amada. On its farther side are low hills
+strewn with rocks. Here I would let the archers take cover and wait for
+the breaking of the dawn. Then beneath them they will see the most of
+the Eastern host and with such bows as ours they can sweep the plain
+from the hills almost to the Nile, and having a hundred arrows to a man,
+should slaughter the Easterns by the ten thousand, for when these turn
+to charge a shaft should pierce through two together."
+
+"Good again," said Tanofir. "But what of the army of the Great King
+which lies upon this side of Amada?"
+
+"I think that before the dawn, believing us so few, it will advance and
+with the first light begin to thread the swamp, and therefore we must
+keep five thousand archers to gall it as it comes. Still it will win
+through, though with loss, and find us waiting for it here shoulder to
+shoulder, rank upon rank with locked shields, against which horse
+and foot shall break in vain, for who shall drive a wedge through the
+Ethiopian squares that Shabaka has trained and that Bes, the Karoon,
+commands? I say that they shall roll back like waves from a cliff; yes,
+again and again, growing ever fewer till the clamour of battle and
+the shouts of fear and agony reach their ears from beyond Amada where
+Shabaka and the archers do their work and the sight of the burning ships
+strikes terror in them and they fly."
+
+"Good again," said the holy Tanofir. "But still many on both fronts will
+be left, for this army of Easterns is very vast. And how will you deal
+with these, O Karema?"
+
+"On these I would have Pharaoh with all his remaining strength pour
+from the northern and the southern gates of Amada, for so shall they be
+caught like wounded lions between two wild bulls and torn and trampled
+and utterly destroyed. Only I know not how to tell Pharaoh what he must
+do, and when."
+
+"Good again," said the holy Tanofir, "very good. And as for the telling
+of Pharaoh, well, I shall see him presently. It is strange, my chipped
+Cup which I had almost thrown away as useless, that although broken, you
+still hold so much wisdom. For know, wonderful though it may seem, that
+just such plans as you have spoken have grown up in my own mind, only I
+wished to learn if you thought them wise."
+
+Then he laughed a little and Karema stretched her arms as one does who
+awakes from sleep, rubbed her eyes and asked if he would not eat more
+food.
+
+In an instant Tanofir was speaking again in a quick, clear voice.
+
+"Bes, or King," he said, "doubtless you will do your wife's will.
+Therefore let the host be aroused and stand to its arms. As it chances
+I have four men without who can be trusted. Two of these will guide the
+five thousand to the ford and across it; also down upon the ships. The
+other two will guide Shabaka and the archers along the road which Karema
+remembers so well; perhaps she trod it as a child. For my part I return
+to Amada to make sure that Pharaoh does his share and at the right time.
+For mark, unless all this is carried through to-night Amada will fall
+to-morrow, a certain priestess will die, and you, Bes, and your soldiers
+will never look on Ethiopia again. Is it agreed?"
+
+I nodded who did not wish to waste time in words, and Bes rolled his
+eyes and answered,
+
+"When one can think of nothing, it is best to follow the counsel of
+those who can think of something; also to hunt rather than to be hunted.
+Especially is this so if that something comes from the holy Tanofir or
+his broken Cup. Generals, you have heard. Rouse the host and bid them
+stand to their arms company by company!"
+
+The generals leapt away into the darkness like arrows from a bow, and
+presently we heard the noise of gathering men.
+
+"Where are these guides of yours, holy Tanofir?" asked Bes.
+
+Tanofir beckoned over his shoulder, and out of the gloom, one by one,
+four men stole into the tent. They were strange, quiet men, but I can
+say no more of them since their faces were veiled, nor as it chances,
+did I ever see any of them after the battle, in which I suppose that
+they were killed. Or perhaps they appeared after--well, never mind!
+
+"You have heard," said Tanofir, whereupon all four of them bowed their
+mysterious veiled heads.
+
+"Now, my Brother," whispered Bes into my ear, "tell me, I pray you, how
+did four men who were not in the tent, hear what was said in this tent,
+and how did they come through the guards who have orders to kill anyone
+who does not know the countersign, especially men whose faces are
+wrapped in napkins?"
+
+"I do not know," I answered, whereon Bes groaned, only Karema smiled a
+little as though to herself.
+
+"Then, having heard, obey," said the holy Tanofir, whereon the four
+veiled ones bowed again.
+
+"Will you not give them their orders, O most Venerable?" inquired Bes
+doubtfully.
+
+"I think it is needless," said Tanofir in a dry voice. "Why try to teach
+those who know?"
+
+"Will you not offer them something to eat, since they also must be
+hungry?" I asked of Karema.
+
+"Fool, be silent," she replied, looking on me with contempt. "Do
+the--friends--of Tanofir need to eat?"
+
+"I should have thought so after being beleaguered for a month in a
+starving town. If the master wants to eat, why should not his men?" I
+murmured.
+
+Then a thought struck me and I was silent.
+
+A general returned and reported that the orders had been executed and
+that all the army was afoot.
+
+"Good," said Bes. "Then start forthwith with five thousand men, and burn
+those ships, according to the plan laid down by the Queen Karema, which
+you heard her speak but now," and he named certain regiments that he
+should take with him, those of the general's own command, adding: "Save
+some of the ships if you can, and afterwards cross the Nile in them with
+your men, and join yourself either to my force or to that of the lord
+Shabaka, according to what you see. May the Grasshopper give you victory
+and wisdom."
+
+The general saluted and asked,
+
+"Who guides us to and across the ford of the great river?"
+
+Two of the veiled men stepped forward whereon the general muttered into
+my ear,
+
+"I like not the look of them. I pray the Grasshopper they do not guide
+us across the River of Death."
+
+"Have no fear, General," said the holy Tanofir from the other end of the
+tent. "If you and your men play their parts as well as the guides will
+play theirs, the ships are already burned together with their companies.
+Only take fire with you."
+
+So that general departed with the two guides, looking somewhat
+frightened, and soon was marching up Nile at the head of five thousand
+swordsmen.
+
+Now Bes looked at me and said,
+
+"It seems that you had better be gone also, my Brother, with the
+archers. Perchance the holy Tanofir will show you whither."
+
+"No, no," answered Tanofir, "my guides will show him. Look not so
+doubtful, Shabaka. Did I fail you when you were in the grip of the King
+of kings in the East, and only your own life and that of Bes were at
+stake?"
+
+"I do not know," I answered.
+
+"You do not know, but I know, as I think do Bes and Karema, since the
+one received the messages which the other sent. Well, if I did not fail
+you then, shall I fail you now when Egypt is at stake? Follow these
+guides I give you, and----" here he took hold of the quiver of arrows
+that lay beside me on the ground, and as certainly as though he could
+see it with his blind eyes, touched one of them, on the shaft of which
+were two black and a white feather, "remember my words after you have
+loosed this arrow from your great black bow and noted where it strikes."
+
+Then I turned to Bes and asked,
+
+"Where do we meet again?"
+
+"I cannot say, Brother," he answered. "In Amada if that may be. If not,
+at the Table of Osiris, or in the fields of the Grasshopper, or in the
+blackness which swallows all, gods and men together."
+
+"Does Karema come with me or bide with you?" I asked again.
+
+"She does neither," interrupted Tanofir, "she accompanies me to Amada,
+where I have need of her and she will be more safe. Oh! fear nothing,
+for every hermit however poor, still carries his staff and his cup, even
+if it be cracked."
+
+Then I shook Bes by the hand and went my way, wondering if I were awake
+or dreaming, and the last thing I saw in that tent was the beautiful
+face of Karema smiling at me. This I took to be a good omen, since I
+knew that it was the heart of the holy Tanofir which smiled, and that
+her eyes were but its mirror.
+
+Already my thirty thousand archers were marshalling, and having made
+sure that there was ample store of arrows and that all their gourds
+were filled with water, I set myself at their head while in front of me
+walked the two veiled guides. I looked upon them doubtfully, since it
+seemed dangerous to trust an army to unknown men who for aught I knew,
+might lead us into the midst of our foes. Then I remembered that they
+were vouched for by the holy Tanofir, my own great-uncle whom I trusted
+above any man on earth, and took heart again.
+
+How had he come into our tent, I wondered, and how, blind as he was,
+would he get back into Amada with Karema, if he took her? Well, who
+could account for the goings or the comings of the holy Tanofir, who was
+more of a spirit than a man? Perhaps it was not really he whom we had
+seen, but what we Egyptians called his _Ka_ or Double which can pass
+to and fro at will. Only do _Kas_ eat? Of this matter I knew only that
+offerings of food and drink are made to them in tombs. So leaving the
+holy Tanofir to guard himself, I turned my mind to our own business,
+which was to surprise the army of the Great King.
+
+Skirting the swamp we came to rough and higher ground and though I could
+see little in that darkness, I knew that we were walking up a hill.
+Presently we crossed its crest and descending for three bowshots or so,
+I felt that my feet were on a road. Now the guides turned to the left
+and after them in a long line came my army of thirty thousand archers.
+In utter silence we went since we had no beasts with us and our
+sandalled feet made little noise; moreover orders had been passed down
+the line that the man who made a sound should die.
+
+For two hours or more we marched thus, then bore to the left again and
+climbed a slope, by which time I judged we must be well past the town
+of Amada. Here suddenly the guides halted and we after them at whispered
+words of command. One of them took me by the cloak, led me forward a
+little way to the crest of the ridge, and pointed with his white-sleeved
+arm. I looked and there beneath me, well within bowshot, were thousands
+of the watchfires of the King's army, flaring, some of them, in the
+strong wind. For a full league those fires burned and we were opposite
+to the midmost of them.
+
+"See now, General Shabaka," said the guide, speaking for the first time
+in a curious hissing whisper such as might come from a man who had no
+lips, "beneath you sleeps the Eastern host, which being so great, has
+not thought it needful to guard this ridge. Now marshal your archers in
+a fourfold line in such fashion that at the first break of dawn they
+can take cover behind the rocks and shoot, every man of them without
+piercing his fellow. Do you bide here with the centre where your
+standard can be seen by all to north and south. I and my companion will
+lead your vanguard farther on to where the ridge draws nearer to the
+Nile, so that with their arrows they can hold back and slay any who
+strive to escape down stream. The rest is in your hands, for we are
+guides, not generals. Summon your captains and issue your commands."
+
+So we went back again and I called the officers together and told them
+what they were to do, then despatched them to their regiments.
+
+Presently the vanguard of ten thousand men drew away and vanished, and
+with them the white-robed guides on whom I never looked again. Then I
+marshalled my centre as well as I could in the gloom, and bade them lie
+down to rest and sleep if they were able; also, within thirty minutes of
+the sunrise, to eat and drink a little of the food they carried, to
+see that every bow was ready and that the arrows were loosened in every
+quiver. This done, with a few whom I trusted to serve me as messengers
+and guard, I crept up to the brow of the hill or slope, and there we
+laid us down and watched.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII. THE BATTLE--AND AFTER
+
+Two hours went by and I knew by the stars that the dawn could not be far
+away. My eyes were fixed upon the Nile and on the lights that hung to
+the prows of the Great King's ships. Where were those who had been sent
+to fire them, I wondered, for of them I saw nothing. Well, their journey
+would be long as they must wade the river. Perhaps they had not yet
+arrived, or perhaps they had miscarried. At least the fleet seemed very
+quiet. None were alarmed there and no sentry challenged.
+
+At length it grew near to dawn and behind me I heard the gentle stir of
+the Ethiopians arising and eating as they had been bidden, whereon I
+too ate and drank a little, though never had I less wished for food. The
+East brightened and far up the Nile of a sudden there appeared what at
+first I took to be a meteor or a lantern waving in the wind that now was
+blowing its strongest, as it does at this season of the year just at the
+time of dawn. Yet that lantern seemed to travel fast and lo! now I saw
+that it was fire running up the rigging of a ship.
+
+It leapt from rope to rope and from sail to sail till they blazed
+fiercely, and in other ships also nearer to us, flame appeared that grew
+to a great red sheet. Our men had not failed; the navy of the King of
+kings was burning! Oh! how it burned fanned by the breath of that strong
+wind. From vessel to vessel leapt the fire like a thing alive, for all
+of them were drawn up on the bank with prows fastened in such fashion
+that they could not readily be made loose. Some broke away indeed, but
+they were aflame and only served to spread the fire more quickly. Before
+the rim of the sun appeared for a league or more there was nothing but
+blazing ships from which rose a hideous crying, and still more and more
+took fire lower down the line.
+
+I had no time to watch for now I must be up and doing. The sky grew
+grey, there was light enough to see though faintly. I cast my eyes about
+me and perceived that no place in the world could have been better for
+archery. In front the hill was steep for a hundred paces or more and
+scattered over with thousands of large stones behind which bowmen might
+take shelter. Then came a gentle slope of loose sand up which attackers
+would find it hard to climb. Then the long flat plain whereon the
+Easterns were camped, and beyond it, scarce two furlongs away, the banks
+of Nile.
+
+Indeed the place was ill-chosen for so great an army, nor could it have
+held them all, had not the camping ground been a full league in length,
+and even so they were crowded. Out of the mist their tents appeared,
+thousands of them, farther than my eye could reach, and almost opposite
+to me, near to the banks of the river, was a great pavilion of silk
+and gold that I guessed must shelter the majesty of the King of kings.
+Indeed this was certain since now I saw that over it floated his royal
+banner which I knew so well, I who had stolen the little White Signet
+of signets from which it was taken. Truly the holy Tanofir, or his Cup,
+Karema, or his messengers, or the spirits with whom he dwelt, I know not
+which, had a general's eye and knew how to plan an ambuscade.
+
+So, thought I to myself as I ran back to my army to meet the gathered
+captains and set all things in order. It was soon done for they were
+ready, as were the fierce Ethiopians fresh from their rest and food,
+and stringing their bows, every one of them, or loosening the arrows in
+their quivers. As I came they lifted their hands in salute, for speak
+they dared not and I sent a whisper down their ranks, that this day
+they must fight and conquer, or fall for the glory of Ethiopia and their
+king. Then I gave my orders and before the sun rose and revealed them
+they crept forward in a fourfold line and took shelter behind the
+stones, lying there invisible on their bellies until the moment came.
+
+The red rim of Ra appeared glorious in the East, and I, from behind the
+rocks that I had chosen, sat down and watched. Oh! truly Tanofir or
+the gods of Egypt were ordering things aright for us. The huge camp was
+awake now and aware of what was happening on the Nile. They could not
+see well because of the tall reeds upon the river's rim and therefore,
+without order or discipline, by the thousand and the ten thousand, for
+their numbers were countless, some with arms and some without, they ran
+to the slope of sand beneath our station and began to climb it to have a
+better view of the burning ships.
+
+The sun leapt up swiftly as it does in Egypt. His glowing edge appeared
+over the crest of the hill though the hollows beneath were still filled
+with shadow. The moment was at hand. I waited till I had counted ten,
+glancing to the right and left of me to see that all were ready and to
+suffer the crowd to thicken on the slope, but not to reach the lowest
+rocks, whither they were climbing. Then I gave the double signal that
+had been agreed.
+
+Behind me the banner of the golden Grasshopper was raised upon a tall
+pole and broke upon the breeze. That was the first signal whereat every
+man rose to his knees and set shaft on string. Next I lifted my bow, the
+black bow, the ancient bow that few save I could bend, and drew it to my
+ear.
+
+Far away, out of arrow-reach as most would have said, floated the Great
+King's standard over his pavilion. At this I aimed, making allowance for
+the wind, and shot. The shaft leapt forward, seen in the sunlight, lost
+in the shadow, seen in the sunlight again and lastly seen once more,
+pinning that golden standard against its pole!
+
+At the sight of the omen a roar went up that rolled to right and left of
+us, a roar from thirty thousand throats. Now it was lost in a sound like
+to the hissing of thunder rain in Ethiopia, the sound of thirty thousand
+arrows rushing through the wind. Oh! they were well aimed, those arrows
+for I had not taught the Ethiopians archery in vain.
+
+How many went down before them? The gods of Egypt know alone. I do not.
+All I know is that the long slope of sand which had been crowded with
+standing men, was now thick with fallen men, many of whom lay as though
+they were asleep. For what mail could resist the iron-pointed shafts
+driven by the strong bows of the Ethiopians?
+
+And this was but a beginning, for, flight after flight, those arrows
+sped till the air grew dark with them. Soon there were no more to shoot
+at on the slope, for these were down, and the order went to lift the
+bows and draw upon the camp, and especially upon the parks of baggage
+beasts. Presently these were down also, or rushing maddened to and fro.
+
+At last the Eastern generals saw and understood. Orders were shouted
+and in a mad confusion the scores of thousands who were unharmed, rushed
+back towards the banks of Nile where our shafts could not reach them.
+Here they formed up in their companies and took counsel. It was soon
+ended, for all the vast mass of them, preceded by a cloud of archers,
+began to advance upon the hill.
+
+Now I passed a command to the Ethiopians, of whom so far not one
+had fallen, to lie low and wait. On came the glittering multitude of
+Easterns, gay with purple and gold, their mail and swords shining in the
+risen sun. On they came by squadron and by company, more than the eye
+could number. They reached the sand slope thick with their own dead and
+wounded and paused a little because they could see no man, since the
+black bodies of the Ethiopians were hid behind the black stones and the
+black bows did not catch the light.
+
+Then from a gorgeous group that I guessed hid the person of the Great
+King surrounded by his regiment of guards, ten thousand of them who were
+called Immortals, messengers sprang forth screaming the order to charge.
+The host began to climb the slippery sand slope but still I held my hand
+till their endless lines were within fifty paces of us and their arrows
+rattled harmlessly against our stones. Then I caused the banner of the
+Grasshopper that had been lowered, to be lifted thrice, and at the third
+lifting once more thirty thousand arrows rushed forth to kill.
+
+They went down, they went down in lines and heaps, riddled through and
+through. But still others came on for they fought under the eye of the
+Great King, and to fly meant death with shame and torture. We could not
+kill them all, they were too many. We could not kill the half of them.
+Now their foremost were within ten paces of us and since we must stand
+up to shoot, our men began to fall, also pierced with arrows. I caused
+the blast of retreat to be sounded on the ivory horn and step by step we
+drew back to the crest of the ridge, shooting as we went. On the crest
+we re-formed rapidly in a double line standing as close as we could
+together and my example was followed all down the ranks to right and
+left. Then I bethought me of a plan that I had taught these archers
+again and again in Ethiopia.
+
+With the flag I signalled a command to stop shooting and also passed the
+word down the line, so that presently no more arrows flew. The Easterns
+hesitated, wondering whether this were a trap, or if we lacked shafts,
+and meanwhile I sent messengers with certain orders to the vanguard, who
+sped away at speed behind the hill, running as they never ran before.
+Presently I heard a voice below cry out,
+
+"The Great King commands that the barbarians be destroyed. Let the
+barbarians be destroyed!"
+
+Now with a roar they came on like a flood. I waited till they were
+within twenty paces of us, and shouted, "Shoot and fall!"
+
+The first line shot and oh! fearful was its work, for not a shaft missed
+those crowded hosts and many pinned two together. My archers shot and
+fell down, setting new arrows to the string as they fell, whereon the
+second line also shot over them. Then up we sprang and loosed again, and
+again fell down, whereon the second line once more poured in its deadly
+hail.
+
+Now the Easterns stayed their advance, for their front ranks lay prone,
+and those behind must climb over them if they could. Yes, standing there
+in glittering groups they rocked and hesitated although their officers
+struck them with swords and lances to drive them forward. Once more our
+front rank rose and loosed, and once more we dropped and let the shafts
+of the second speed over us. It was too much, flesh and blood could not
+bear more of those arrows. Thousands upon thousands were down and the
+rest began to flee in confusion.
+
+Then at my command the ivory horns sounded the charge. Every man slung
+his bow upon his back and drew his short sword.
+
+"On to them!" I cried and leapt forward.
+
+Like a black torrent we rushed down the hill, leaping over the dead and
+wounded. The retreat became a rout since before these ebon, great-eyed
+warriors the soft Easterns did not care to stand. They fled screaming,
+
+"These are devils! These are devils!"
+
+We were among them now, hacking and stabbing with the short swords upon
+their heads and backs. There was no need to aim the blow, they were so
+many. Like a huddled mob of cattle they turned and fled down Nile. But
+my orders had reached the vanguard and these, hidden in the growing
+crops on the narrow neck of swampy land between the hills and the Nile,
+met them with arrows as they came, also raked them from the steep cliff
+side. Their chariot wheels sank into the mud till the horses were slain;
+their footmen were piled in heaps about them, till soon there was a
+mighty wall of dead and dying. And our centre and rearguard came up
+behind. Oh! we slew and slew, till before the sun was an hour high over
+half the army of the Great King was no more. Then we re-formed, having
+suffered but little loss, and drank of the water of the Nile.
+
+"All is not done," I cried.
+
+For the Immortals still remained behind us, gathered in massed ranks
+about their king. Also there were many thousands of others between these
+and the walls of Amada, and to the south of the city yet a second army,
+that with which Bes had been left to deal, with what success I knew not.
+
+"Ethiopians," I shouted, "cease crying Victory, since the battle is
+about to begin. Strike, and at once before the Easterns find their heart
+again."
+
+So we advanced upon the Immortals, all of us, for now the vanguard had
+joined our strength.
+
+In long lines we advanced over that blood-soaked plain, and as we came
+the Great King loosed his remaining chariots against us. It availed him
+nothing, since the horses could not face our arrows whereof, thanks
+be to the gods! I had prepared so ample a store, carried in bundles
+by lads. Scarce a chariot reached our lines, and those that did were
+destroyed, leaving us unbroken.
+
+The chariots were done with and their drivers dead, but there still
+frowned the squares of the Immortals. We shot at them till nearly all
+our shafts were spent, and, galled to madness, they charged. We did
+not wait for the points of those long spears, but ran in beneath them
+striking with our short swords, and oh! grim and desperate was that
+battle, since the Easterns were clad in mail and the Ethiopians had but
+short jerkins of bull's hide.
+
+Fight as we would we were driven back. The fray turned against us and
+we fell by hundreds. I bethought me of flight to the hills, since now
+we were outnumbered and very weary. But behold! when all seemed lost a
+great shouting rose from Amada and through her opened gates poured forth
+all that remained of the army of Pharaoh, perhaps eighteen or twenty
+thousand men. I saw, and my heart rose again.
+
+"Stand firm!" I cried. "Stand firm!" and lo! we stood.
+
+The Egyptians were on them now and in their midst I saw Pharaoh's
+banner. By degrees the battle swayed towards the banks of Nile, we to
+the north, the Egyptians to the south and the Easterns between us. They
+were trying to turn our flank; yes, and would have done it, had there
+not suddenly appeared upon the Nile a fleet of ships. At first I thought
+that we were lost, for these ships were from Greece and Cyprus, till I
+saw the banner of the Grasshopper wave from a prow, and knew that they
+were manned by our five thousand who had gone out to burn the fleet,
+and had saved these vessels. They beached and from their crowded holds
+poured the five thousand, or those that were left of them, and ranging
+themselves upon the bank, raised their war-shout and attacked the ends
+of the Easterns' lines.
+
+Now we charged for the last time and the Egyptians charged from the
+south. Ha-ha! the ranks of the Immortals were broken at length. We
+were among them. I saw Pharaoh, his _uraeus_ circlet on his helm. He was
+wounded and sore beset. A tall Immortal rushed at him with a spear and
+drove it home.
+
+Pharaoh fell.
+
+I leapt over him and killed that Eastern with a blow upon the neck, but
+my sword shattered on his armour. The tide of battle rolled up and swept
+us apart and I saw Pharaoh being carried away. Look! yonder was the
+Great King himself standing in a golden chariot, the Great King in all
+his glory whom last I had seen far away in the East. He knew me and shot
+at me with a bow, the bow he thought my own, shouting, "Die, dog of an
+Egyptian!"
+
+His arrow pierced my helm but missed my head. I strove to come at him
+but could not.
+
+The real rout began. The Immortals were broken like an earthen jar. They
+retreated in groups fighting desperately and of these the thickest was
+around the Great King. He whom I hated was about to escape me. He still
+had horses; he would fly down Nile, gain his reserves and so away back
+to the East, where he would gather new and yet larger armies, since men
+in millions were at his command. Then he would return and destroy Egypt
+when perchance there were no Ethiopians to help her, and perhaps after
+all drag Amada to his House of Women. See, they were breaking through
+and already I was far away with a wound in my breast, a hurt leg and a
+shattered sword.
+
+What could I do? My arrows were spent and the bearers had none left to
+give me. No, there was one still in the quiver. I drew it out. On its
+shaft were two black feathers and one white. Who had spoken of that
+arrow? I remembered, Tanofir. I was to think of certain things that he
+had said when I noted what it pierced. I unslung my bow, strung it and
+set that arrow on the string.
+
+By now the Great King was far away, out of reach for most archers. His
+chariot forging ahead amidst the remnant of his guards and the nobles
+who attended on his sacred person, travelled over a little rise where
+doubtless once there had been a village, long since rotted down to its
+parent clay. The sunlight glinted on his shining armour and silken robe,
+whereof the back was toward me.
+
+I aimed, I drew, I loosed! Swift and far the shaft sped forward. By
+Osiris! it struck him full between the shoulders, and lo! the King of
+kings, the Monarch of the World, lurched forward, fell on to the rail of
+his chariot, and rolled to the ground. Next instant there arose a roar
+of, "The King is dead! The Great King is dead! _Fly, fly, fly!_"
+
+So they fled and after them thundered the pursuers slaying and slaying
+till they could lift their arms no more. Oh! yes, some escaped though
+the men of Thebes and country folk murdered many of them and but a few
+ever won back to the East to tell the tale of the blotting out of the
+mighty army of the King of kings and of the doom dealt to him by the
+great black bow of Shabaka the Egyptian.
+
+I stood there gasping, when suddenly I heard a voice at my side. It
+said,
+
+"You seem to have done very well, Brother, even better than we did
+yonder on the other side of the town, though some might think that fray
+a thing whereof to make a song. Also that last shot of yours was worthy
+of a good archer, for I marked it, I marked it. A great lord was laid
+low thereby. Let us go and see who it was."
+
+I threw my arm round the bull neck of Bes and leaning on him, advanced
+to where the King lay alone save for the fallen about him.
+
+"This man is not yet sped," said Bes. "Let us look upon his face," and
+he turned him over, and stretched him there upon the sand with the arrow
+standing two spans beyond his corselet.
+
+"Why," said Bes, "this is a certain High one with whom we had dealings
+in the East!" and he laughed thickly.
+
+Then the Great King opened his eyes and knew us and on his dying
+features came a look of hate.
+
+"So you have conquered, Egyptian," he said. "Oh! if only I had you again
+in the East, whence in my folly I let you go----"
+
+"You would set me in your boat, would you not, whence by the wisdom of
+Bes I escaped."
+
+"More than that," he gasped.
+
+"I shall not serve you so," I went on. "I shall leave you to die as a
+warrior should upon a fair fought field. But learn, tyrant and murderer,
+that the shaft which overthrew you came from the black bow you coveted
+and thought you had received, and that this hand loosed it--not at
+hazard."
+
+"I guessed it," he whispered.
+
+"Know, too, King, that the lady Amada whom you also coveted, waits to be
+my wife; that your mighty army is destroyed, and that Egypt is free by
+the hands of Shabaka the Egyptian and Bes the dwarf."
+
+"Shabaka the Egyptian," he muttered, "whom I held and let go because of
+a dream and for policy. So, Shabaka, you will wed Amada whom I desired
+because I could not take her, and doubtless you will rule in Egypt, for
+Pharaoh, I think, is as I am to-day. O Shabaka, you are strong and
+a great warrior, but there is something stronger than you in the
+world--that which men call Fate. Such success as yours offends the gods.
+Look on me, Shabaka, look on the King of kings, the Ruler of the earth,
+lying shamed in the dust before you, and, accursed Shabaka! do not call
+yourself happy until you see death as near as I do now."
+
+Then he threw his arms wide and died.
+
+
+
+We called to soldiers to bear his body and having set the pursuit, with
+that royal clay entered into Amada in triumph. It was not a very great
+town and the temple was its finest building and thither we wended. In
+the outer court we found Pharaoh lying at the point of death, for from
+many wounds his life drained out with his flowing blood, nor could the
+leeches help him.
+
+"Greeting, Shabaka," he said, "you and the Ethiopians have saved Egypt.
+My son is slain in the battle and I too am slain, and who remains to
+rule her save you, you and Amada? Would that you had married her at
+once, and never left my side. But she was foolish and headstrong and
+I--was jealous of you, Shabaka. Forgive me, and farewell."
+
+He spoke no more although he lived a little while.
+
+Karema came from the inner court. She greeted her husband, then turned
+and said,
+
+"Lord Shabaka, one waits to welcome you."
+
+I rested myself upon her shoulder, for I could not walk alone.
+
+"What happened to the army of the Karoon?" I asked as we went slowly.
+
+"That happened, Lord, which the holy Tanofir foretold. The Easterns
+attacked across the swamp, thinking to bear us down by numbers. But the
+paths were too narrow and their columns were bogged in the mud.
+Still they struggled on against the arrows to its edge and there the
+Ethiopians fell on them and being lighter-footed and without armour, had
+the mastery of them, who were encumbered by their very multitude. Oh! I
+saw it all from the temple top. Bes did well and I am proud of him, as I
+am proud of you."
+
+"It is of the Ethiopians that you should be proud, Karema, since with
+one to five they have won a great battle."
+
+We came to the end of the second court where was a sanctuary.
+
+"Enter," said Karema and fell back.
+
+I did so and though the cedar door was left a little ajar, at first
+could see nothing because of the gloom of the place. By degrees my eyes
+grew accustomed to the darkness and I perceived an alabaster statue
+of the goddess Isis of the size of life, who held in her arms an ivory
+child, also lifesize. Then I heard a sigh and, looking down, saw a
+woman clad in white kneeling at the feet of the statue, lost in prayer.
+Suddenly she rose and turned and the ray of light from the door ajar
+fell upon her. It was Amada draped only in the transparent robe of a
+priestess, and oh! she was beautiful beyond imagining, so beautiful that
+my heart stood still.
+
+She saw me in my battered mail and the blood flowed up to her breast
+and brow and in her eyes there came a light such as I had never known
+in them before, the light that is lit only by the torch of woman's love.
+Yes, no longer were hers the eyes of a priestess; they were the eyes of
+a woman who burns with mortal passion.
+
+"Amada," I whispered, "Amada found at last."
+
+"Shabaka," she whispered back, "returned at last, to me, your home," and
+she stretched out her arms toward me.
+
+But before I could take her into mine, she uttered a little cry and
+shrank away.
+
+"Oh! not here," she said, "not here in the presence of this Holy One who
+watches all that passes in heaven and earth."
+
+"Then perchance, Amada, she has watched the freeing of Egypt on yonder
+field to-day, and knows for whose sake it was done."
+
+"Hearken, Shabaka. I am your guerdon. Moreover as a woman I am yours.
+There is naught I desire so much as to feel your kiss upon me. For it
+and it alone I am ready to risk my spirit's death and torment. But for
+you I fear. Twice have I sworn myself to this goddess and she is very
+jealous of those who rob her of her votaries. I fear that her curse will
+fall not only on me, but on you also, and not only for this life but for
+all lives that may be given to us. For your own sake, I pray you leave
+me. I hear that Pharaoh my uncle is dead or dying, and doubtless they
+will offer you the throne. Take it, Shabaka, for in it I ask no share.
+Take it and leave me to serve the goddess till my death."
+
+"I too serve a goddess," I answered hoarsely, "and she is named Love,
+and you are her priestess. Little I care for Isis who serve the goddess
+Love. Come, kiss me here and now, ere perchance I die. Kiss me who have
+waited long enough, and so let us be wed."
+
+One moment she paused, swaying in the wind of passion, like a tall reed
+on the banks of Nile, and then, ah! then she sank upon my breast and
+pressed her lips against my own.
+
+
+
+                              AND AFTER
+
+For a few moments I, Shabaka, seemed to be lost in a kind of delirium
+and surrounded by a rose-hued mist. Then I, Allan Quatermain, heard a
+sharp quick sound as of a clock striking, and looked up. It was a lock,
+a beautiful old clock on a mantelpiece opposite to me and the hands
+showed that it had just struck the hour of ten.
+
+Now I remembered that centuries ago, as I was dropping asleep, I did not
+know why, I had seen that clock and those hands in the same position and
+known that it was striking the second stroke of ten. Oh! what did it all
+mean? Had thousands of years gone by or--only eight seconds?
+
+There was a weight upon my shoulder. I glanced round to see what it
+was and discovered the beautiful head of Lady Ragnall who was sweetly
+sleeping there. Lady Ragnall! and in that very strange dream which I had
+dreamed she was the priestess called Amada. Look, there was the mark
+of the new moon above her breast. And not a second ago I had been in a
+shrine with Amada dressed as Lady Ragnall was to-night, in circumstances
+so intimate that it made me blush to think of them. Lady Ragnall!
+Amada!--Amada! Lady Ragnall! A shrine! A boudoir! Oh! I must be going
+mad!
+
+I could not disturb her, it would have been--well, unseemly. So
+I, Shabaka, or Allan Quatermain, just sat still feeling curiously
+comfortable, and tried to piece things together, when suddenly Amada--I
+mean Lady Ragnall woke.
+
+"I wonder," she said without lifting her head from my shoulder, "what
+happened to the holy Tanofir. I think that I heard him outside the shine
+giving directions for the digging of Pharaoh's grave at that spot, and
+saying that he must do so at once as his time was very short. Yes, and
+I wished that he would go away. Oh! my goodness!" she exclaimed, and
+suddenly sprang up.
+
+I too rose and we stood facing each other.
+
+Between us, in front of the fire stood the tripod and the bowl of black
+stone at the bottom of which lay a pinch of white ashes, the remains of
+the _Taduki_. We stared at it and at each other.
+
+"Oh! where have we been, Shaba--I mean, Mr. Quatermain?" she gasped,
+looking at me round-eyed.
+
+"I don't know," I answered confusedly. "To the East I suppose. That
+is--it was all a dream."
+
+"A dream!" she said. "What nonsense! Tell me, were you or were you not
+in a sanctuary just now with me before the statue of Isis, the same that
+fell on George two years ago and killed him, and did you or did you not
+give me a necklace of wonderful rosy pearls which we put upon the neck
+of the statue as a peace-offering because I had broken my vows to the
+goddess--those that you won from the Great King?"
+
+"No," I answered triumphantly, "I did nothing of the sort. Is it likely
+that I should have taken those priceless pearls into battle? I gave them
+to Karema to keep after my mother returned them to me on her death-bed;
+I remember it distinctly."
+
+"Yes, and Karema handed them to me again as your love-token when she
+appeared in the city with the holy Tanofir, and what was more welcome at
+the moment--something to eat. For we were near starving, you know. Well,
+I threw them over your neck and my own in the shrine to be the symbol
+of our eternal union. But afterwards we thought that it might be wise
+to offer them to the goddess--to appease her, you know. Oh! how dared we
+plight our mortal troth there in her very shrine and presence, and I her
+twice-sworn servant? It was insult heaped on sacrilege."
+
+"At a guess, because love is stronger than fear," I replied. "But it
+seems that you dreamed a little longer than I did. So perhaps you can
+tell me what happened afterwards. I only got as far as--well, I forget
+how far I got," I added, for at that moment full memory returned and I
+could not go on.
+
+She blushed to her eyes and grew disturbed.
+
+"It is all mixed up in my mind too," she exclaimed. "I can only remember
+something rather absurd--and affectionate. You know what strange things
+dreams are."
+
+"I thought you said it wasn't a dream."
+
+"Really I don't know what it was. But--your wound doesn't hurt you, does
+it? You were bleeding a good deal. It stained me here," and she touched
+her breast and looked down wonderingly at her sacred, ancient robe as
+though she expected to see that it was red.
+
+"As there is no stain now it _must_ have been a dream. But my word! that
+was a battle," I answered.
+
+"Yes, I watched it from the pylon top, and oh! it was glorious. Do you
+remember the charge of the Ethiopians against the Immortals? Why of
+course you must as you led it. And then the fall of Pharaoh Peroa--he
+was George, you know. And the death of the Great King, killed by your
+black bow; you were a wonderful shot even then, you see. And the burning
+of the ships, how they blazed! And--a hundred other things."
+
+"Yes," I said, "it came off. The holy Tanofir was a good strategist--or
+his Cup was, I don't know which."
+
+"And you were a good general, and so for the matter of that was Bes. Oh!
+what agonies I went through while the fight hung doubtful. My heart was
+on fire, yes, I seemed to burn for----" and she stopped.
+
+"For whom?" I asked.
+
+"For Egypt of course, and when, reflected in the alabaster, I saw
+you enter that shrine, where you remember I was praying for your
+success--and safety, I nearly died of joy. For you know I had been,
+well, attached to you--to Shabaka, I mean--all the time--that's my part
+of the story which I daresay you did not see. Although I seemed so cold
+and wayward I could love, yes, in that life I knew how to love. And
+Shabaka looked, oh! a hero with his rent mail and the glory of triumph
+in his eyes. He was very handsome, too, in his way. But what nonsense I
+am talking."
+
+"Yes, great nonsense. Still, I wish we were sure how it ended. It is a
+pity that you forget, for I am crazed with curiosity. I suppose there is
+no more _Taduki_, is there?"
+
+"Not a scrap," she answered firmly, "and if there were it would be fatal
+to take it twice on the same day. We have learned all there is to learn.
+Perhaps it is as well, though I should like to know what happened after
+our--our marriage."
+
+"So we _were_ married, were we?"
+
+"I mean," she went on ignoring my remark, "whether you ruled long in
+Egypt. For you, or rather Shabaka, did rule. Also whether the Easterns
+returned and drove us out, or what. You see the Ivory Child went away
+somehow, for we found it again in Kendah Land only a few years ago."
+
+"Perhaps we retired to Ethiopia," I suggested, "and the worship of the
+Child continued in some part of that country after the Ethiopian kingdom
+passed away."
+
+"Perhaps, only I don't think Karema would ever have gone back to
+Ethiopia unless she was obliged. You remember how she hated the place.
+No, not even to see those black children of hers. Well, as we can never
+tell, it is no use speculating."
+
+"I thought there _was_ more _Taduki_," I remarked sadly. "I am sure I
+saw some in the coffer."
+
+"Not one bit," she answered still more firmly than before, and,
+stretching out her hand, she shut down the lid of the coffer before I
+could look into it. "It may be best so, for as it stands the story had
+a happy ending and I don't want to learn, oh! I don't want to learn how
+the curse of Isis fell on you and me."
+
+"So you believe in that?"
+
+"Yes, I do," she answered with passion, "and what is more, I believe
+it is working still, which perhaps is why we have all come down in the
+world, you and I and George and Hans, yes, and even old Harut whom we
+knew in Kendah Land, who, I think, was the holy Tanofir. For as surely
+as I live I _know_ beyond possibility of doubt that whatever we may
+be called to-day, you were the General Shabaka and I was the priestess
+Amada, Royal Lady of Egypt, and between us and about us the curse of
+Isis wavers like a sword. That is why George was killed and that is
+why--but I feel very tired, I think I had better go to bed."
+
+
+As I recall that I have explained, I was obliged to leave Ragnall Castle
+early the next morning to keep a shooting engagement. O heavens! to keep
+a shooting engagement!
+
+
+But whatever Amada, I mean Lady Ragnall, said, there _was_ plenty more
+_Taduki_, as I have good reason to know.
+
+
+Allan Quatermain.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Ancient Allan, by H. Rider Haggard
+
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Ancient Allan, by H. Rider Haggard
+#40 in our series by H. Rider Haggard
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+Title: The Ancient Allan
+
+Author: H. Rider Haggard
+
+Release Date: May, 2004 [EBook #5746]
+[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule]
+[This file was first posted on August 22, 2002]
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+Edition: 10
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+Language: English
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+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ANCIENT ALLAN ***
+
+
+
+
+Etext prepared by Dagny, dagnypg@yahoo.com
+              and John Bickers, jbickers@ihug.co.nz
+
+
+
+
+THE ANCIENT ALLAN
+By H. Rider Haggard
+
+First Published 1920.
+
+
+
+                          THE ANCIENT ALLAN
+
+                                  BY
+
+                           H. RIDER HAGGARD
+
+
+
+
+
+                          THE ANCIENT ALLAN
+
+
+
+                              CHAPTER I
+
+                            AN OLD FRIEND
+
+Now I, Allan Quatermain, come to the weirdest (with one or two
+exceptions perhaps) of all the experiences which it has amused me to
+employ my idle hours in recording here in a strange land, for after
+all England is strange to me. I grow elderly. I have, as I suppose,
+passed the period of enterprise and adventure and I should be well
+satisfied with the lot that Fate has given to my unworthy self.
+
+To begin with, I am still alive and in health when by all the rules I
+should have been dead many times over. I suppose I ought to be
+thankful for that but, before expressing an opinion on the point, I
+should have to be quite sure whether it is better to be alive or dead.
+The religious plump for the latter, though I have never observed that
+the religious are more eager to die than the rest of us poor mortals.
+
+For instance, if they are told that their holy hearts are wrong, they
+spend time and much money in rushing to a place called Nauheim in
+Germany, to put them right by means of water-drinking, thereby
+shortening their hours of heavenly bliss and depriving their heirs of
+a certain amount of cash. The same thing applies to Buxton in my own
+neighbourhood and gout, especially when it threatens the stomach or
+the throat. Even archbishops will do these things, to say nothing of
+such small fry as deans, or stout and prominent lay figures of the
+Church.
+
+From common sinners like myself such conduct might be expected, but in
+the case of those who are obviously poised on the topmost rungs of the
+Jacobean--I mean, the heavenly--ladder, it is legitimate to inquire
+why they show such reluctance in jumping off. As a matter of fact the
+only persons that, individually, I have seen quite willing to die,
+except now and again to save somebody else whom they were so foolish
+as to care for more than they did for themselves, have been not those
+"upon whom the light has shined" to quote an earnest paper I chanced
+to read this morning, but, to quote again, "the sinful heathen
+wandering in their native blackness," by which I understand the writer
+to refer to their moral state and not to their sable skins wherein for
+the most part they are also condemned to wander, that is if they
+happen to have been born south of a certain degree of latitude.
+
+To come to facts, the staff of Faith which each must shape for
+himself, is often hewn from unsuitable kinds of wood, yes, even by the
+very best among us. Willow, for instance, is pretty and easy to cut,
+but try to support yourself with it on the edge of a precipice and see
+where you are. Then of a truth you will long for ironbark, or even
+homely oak. I might carry my parable further, some allusions to the
+proper material of which to fashion the helmet of Salvation suggest
+themselves to me for example, but I won't.
+
+The truth is that we fear to die because all the religions are full of
+uncomfortable hints as to what may happen to us afterwards as a reward
+for our deviations from their laws and we half believe in something,
+whereas often the savage, not being troubled with religion, fears
+less, because he half believes in nothing. For very few inhabitants of
+this earth can attain either to complete belief or to its absolute
+opposite. They can seldom lay their hands upon their hearts, and say
+they /know/ that they will live for ever, or sleep for ever; there
+remains in the case of most honest men an element of doubt in either
+hypothesis.
+
+That is what makes this story of mine so interesting, at any rate to
+me, since it does seem to suggest that whether or no I have a future,
+as personally I hold to be the case and not altogether without
+evidence, certainly I have had a past, though, so far as I know, in
+this world only; a fact, if it be a fact, from which can be deduced
+all kinds of arguments according to the taste of the reasoner.
+
+And now for my experience, which it is only fair to add, may after all
+have been no more than a long and connected dream. Yet how was I to
+dream of lands, events and people where of I have only the vaguest
+knowledge, or none at all, unless indeed, as some say, being a part of
+this world, we have hidden away somewhere in ourselves an acquaintance
+with everything that has ever happened in the world. However, it does
+not much matter and it is useless to discuss that which we cannot
+prove.
+
+Here at any rate is the story.
+
+
+
+In a book or a record which I have written down and put away with
+others under the title of "The Ivory Child," I have told the tale of a
+certain expedition I made in company with Lord Ragnall. Its object was
+to search for his wife who was stolen away while travelling in Egypt
+in a state of mental incapacity resulting from shock caused by the
+loss of her child under tragic and terrible circumstances. The thieves
+were the priests of a certain bastard Arab tribe who, on account of a
+birthmark shaped like the young moon which was visible above her
+breast, believed her to be the priestess or oracle of their worship.
+This worship evidently had its origin in Ancient Egypt since, although
+they did not seem to know it, the priestess was nothing less than a
+personification of the great goddess Isis, and the Ivory Child, their
+fetish, was a statue of the infant Horus, the fabled son of Isis and
+Osiris whom the Egyptians looked upon as the overcomer of Set or the
+Devil, the murderer of Osiris before his resurrection and ascent to
+Heaven to be the god of the dead.
+
+I need not set down afresh all that happened to us on this remarkable
+adventure. Suffice it to say that in the end we recovered the lady and
+that her mind was restored to her. Before she left the Kendah country,
+however, the priesthood presented her with two ancient rolls of
+papyrus, also with a quantity of a certain herb, not unlike tobacco in
+appearance, which by the Kendah was called /Taduki/. Once, before we
+took our great homeward journey across the desert, Lady Ragnall and I
+had a curious conversation about this herb whereof the property is to
+cause the person who inhales its fumes to become clairvoyant, or to
+dream dreams, whichever the truth may be. It was used for this purpose
+in the mystical ceremonies of the Kendah religion when under its
+influence the priestess or oracle of the Ivory Child was wont to
+announce divine revelations. During her tenure of this office Lady
+Ragnall was frequently subjected to the spell of the /Taduki/ vapour,
+and said strange things, some of which I heard with my own ears. Also
+myself once I experienced its effects and saw a curious vision,
+whereof many of the particulars were afterwards translated into facts.
+
+Now the conversation which I have mentioned was shortly to the effect,
+that she, Lady Ragnall, believed a time would come when she or I or
+both of us, were destined to imbibe these /Taduki/ fumes and see
+wonderful pictures of some past or future existence in which we were
+both concerned. This knowledge, she declared, had come to her while
+she was officiating in an apparently mindless condition as the
+priestess of the Kendah god called the Ivory Child.
+
+At the time I did not think it wise to pursue so exciting a subject
+with a woman whose mind had been recently unbalanced, and afterwards
+in the stress of new experiences, I forgot all about the matter, or at
+any rate only thought of it very rarely.
+
+Once, however, it did recur to me with some force. Shortly after I
+came to England to spend my remaining days far from the temptations of
+adventure, I was beguiled into becoming a steward of a Charity dinner
+and, what was worse, into attending the said dinner. Although its
+objects were admirable, it proved one of the most dreadful functions
+in which I was ever called upon to share. There was a vast number of
+people, some of them highly distinguished, who had come to support the
+Charity or to show off their Orders, I don't know which, and others
+like myself, not at all distinguished, just common subscribers, who
+had no Orders and stood about the crowded room like waiters looking
+for a job.
+
+At the dinner, which was very bad, I sat at a table so remote that I
+could hear but little of the interminable speeches, which was perhaps
+fortunate for me. In these circumstances I drifted into conversation
+with my neighbour, a queer, wizened, black-bearded man who somehow or
+other had found out that I was acquainted with the wilder parts of
+Africa. He proved to be a wealthy scientist whose passion it was to
+study the properties of herbs, especially of such as grow in the
+interior of South America where he had been travelling for some years.
+
+Presently he mentioned a root named Yag�, known to the Indians which,
+when pounded up into a paste and taken in the form of pills, had the
+effect of enabling the patient to see events that were passing at a
+distance. Indeed he alleged that a vision thus produced had caused him
+to return home, since in it he saw that some relative of his, I think
+a twin-sister, was dangerously ill. In fact, however, he might as well
+have stayed away, as he only arrived in London on the day after her
+funeral.
+
+As I saw that he was really interested in the subject and observed
+that he was a very temperate man who did not seem to be romancing, I
+told him something of my experiences with /Taduki/, to which he
+listened with a kind of rapt but suppressed excitement. When I
+affected disbelief in the whole business, he differed from me almost
+rudely, asking why I rejected phenomena simply because I was too dense
+to understand them. I answered perhaps because such phenomena were
+inconvenient and upset one's ideas. To this he replied that all
+progress involved the upsetting of existent ideas. Moreover he
+implored me, if the chance should ever come my way, to pursue
+experiments with /Taduki/ fumes and let him know the results.
+
+Here our conversation came to an end for suddenly a band that was
+braying near by, struck up "God save the Queen," and we hastily
+exchanged cards and parted. I only mention it because, had it not
+occurred, I think it probable that I should never have been in a
+position to write this history.
+
+The remarks of my acquaintance remained in my mind and influenced it
+so much that when the occasion came, I did as a kind of duty what,
+however much I was pressed, I am almost sure I should never have done
+for any other reason, just because I thought that I ought to take an
+opportunity of trying to discover what was the truth of the matter. As
+it chanced it was quick in coming.
+
+Here I should explain that I attended the dinner of which I have
+spoken not very long after a very lengthy absence from England,
+whither I had come to live when King Solomon's Mines had made me rich.
+Therefore it happened that between the conclusion of my Kendah
+adventure some years before and this time I saw nothing and heard
+little of Lord and Lady Ragnall. Once a rumour did reach me, however,
+I think through Sir Henry Curtis or Captain Good, that the former had
+died as a result of an accident. What the accident was my informant
+did not know and as I was just starting on a far journey at the time,
+I had no opportunity of making inquiries. My talk with the botanical
+scientist determined me to do so; indeed a few days later I discovered
+from a book of reference that Lord Ragnall was dead, leaving no heir;
+also that his wife survived him.
+
+I was working myself up to write to her when one morning the postman
+brought me here at the Grange a letter which had "Ragnall Castle"
+printed on the flap of the envelope. I did not know the writing which
+was very clear and firm, for as it chanced, to the best of my
+recollection, I had never seen that of Lady Ragnall. Here is a copy of
+the letter it contained:
+
+
+ "My dear Mr. Quatermain,--Very strangely I have just seen at a
+  meeting of the Horticultural Society, a gentleman who declares
+  that a few days ago he sat next to you at some public dinner.
+  Indeed I do not think there can be any doubt for he showed me your
+  card which he had in his purse with a Yorkshire address upon it.
+
+ "A dispute had arisen as to whether a certain variety of Crinum
+  lily was first found in Africa, or Southern America. This
+  gentleman, an authority upon South American flora, made a speech
+  saying that he had never met with it there, but that an
+  acquaintance of his, Mr. Quatermain, to whom he had spoken on the
+  subject, said that he had seen something of the sort in the
+  interior of Africa." (This was quite true for I remembered the
+  incident.) "At the tea which followed the meeting I spoke to this
+  gentleman whose name I never caught, and to my astonishment learnt
+  that he must have been referring to you whom I believed to be
+  dead, for so we were told a long time ago. This seemed certain,
+  for in addition to the evidence of the name, he described your
+  personal appearance and told me that you had come to live in
+  England.
+
+ "My dear friend, I can assure you it is long since I heard anything
+  which rejoiced me so much. Oh! as I write all the past comes back,
+  flowing in upon me like a pent-up flood of water, but I trust that
+  of this I shall soon have an opportunity of talking to you. So let
+  it be for a while.
+
+ "Alas! my friend, since we parted on the shores of the Red Sea,
+  tragedy has pursued me. As you will know, for both my husband and
+  I wrote to you, although you did not answer the letters" (I never
+  received them), "we reached England safely and took up our old
+  life again, though to tell you the truth, after my African
+  experiences things could never be quite the same to me, or for the
+  matter of that to George either. To a great extent he changed his
+  pursuits and certain political ambitions which he once cherished,
+  seemed no longer to appeal to him. He became a student of past
+  history and especially of Egyptology, which under all the
+  circumstances you may think strange, as I did. However it suited
+  me well enough, since I also have tastes that way. So we worked
+  together and I can now read hieroglyphics as well as most people.
+  One year he said that he would like to go to Egypt again, if I
+  were not afraid. I answered that it had not been a very lucky
+  place for us, but that personally I was not in the least afraid
+  and longed to return there. For as you know, I have, or think I
+  have, ties with Egypt and indeed with all Africa. Well, we went
+  and had a very happy time, although I was always expecting to see
+  old Har�t come round the corner.
+
+ "After this it became a custom with us who, since George
+  practically gave up shooting and attending the House of Lords, had
+  nothing to keep us in England, to winter in Egypt. We did this for
+  five years in succession, living in a bungalow which we built at a
+  place in the desert, not far from the banks of the Nile, about
+  half way between Luxor which was the ancient Thebes, and Assouan.
+  George took a great fancy to this spot when first he saw it, and
+  so in truth did I, for, like Memphis, it attracted me so much that
+  I used to laugh and say I believed that once I had something to do
+  with it.
+
+ "Now near to our villa that we called 'Ragnall' after this house,
+  are the remains of a temple which were almost buried in the sand.
+  This temple George obtained permission to excavate. It proved to
+  be a long and costly business, but as he did not mind spending the
+  money, that was no obstacle. For four winters we worked at it,
+  employing several hundred men. As we went on we discovered that
+  although not one of the largest, the temple, owing to its having
+  been buried by the sand during, or shortly after the Roman epoch,
+  remained much more perfect than we had expected, because the early
+  Christians had never got at it with their chisels and hammers.
+  Before long I hope to show you pictures and photographs of the
+  various courts, etc., so I will not attempt to describe them now.
+
+ "It is a temple to Isis--built, or rather rebuilt over the remains
+  of an older temple on a site that seems to have been called Amada,
+  at any rate in the later days, and so named after a city in Nubia,
+  apparently by one of the Amen-hetep Pharaohs who had conquered it.
+  Its style is beautiful, being of the best period of the Egyptian
+  Renaissance under the last native dynasties.
+
+ "At the beginning of the fifth winter, at length we approached the
+  sanctuary, a difficult business because of the retaining walls
+  that had to be built to keep the sand from flowing down as fast as
+  it was removed, and the great quantities of stuff that must be
+  carried off by the tramway. In so doing we came upon a shallow
+  grave which appeared to have been hastily filled in and roughly
+  covered over with paving stones like the rest of the court, as
+  though to conceal its existence. In this grave lay the skeleton of
+  a large man, together with the rusted blade of an iron sword and
+  some fragments of armour. Evidently he had never been mummified,
+  for there were no wrappings, canopic jars, /ushapti/ figures or
+  funeral offerings. The state of the bones showed us why, for the
+  right forearm was cut through and the skull smashed in; also an
+  iron arrow-head lay among the ribs. The man had been buried
+  hurriedly after a battle in which he had met his death. Searching
+  in the dust beneath the bones we found a gold ring still on one of
+  the fingers. On its bezel was engraved the cartouche of 'Peroa,
+  beloved of Ra.' Now Peroa probably means Pharaoh and perhaps he
+  was Khabasha who revolted against the Persians and ruled for a
+  year or two, after which he is supposed to have been defeated and
+  killed, though of his end and place of burial there is no record.
+  Whether these were the remnants of Khabasha himself, or of one of
+  his high ministers or generals who wore the King's cartouche upon
+  his ring in token of his office, of course I cannot say.
+
+ "When George had read the cartouche he handed me the ring which I
+  slipped upon the first finger of my left hand, where I still wear
+  it. Then leaving the grave open for further examination, we went
+  on with the work, for we were greatly excited. At length, this was
+  towards evening, we had cleared enough of the sanctuary, which was
+  small, to uncover the shrine that, if not a monolith, was made of
+  four pieces of granite so wonderfully put together that one could
+  not see the joints. On the curved architrave as I think it is
+  called, was carved the symbol of a winged disc, and beneath in
+  hieroglyphics as fresh as though they had only been cut yesterday,
+  an inscription to the effect that Peroa, Royal Son of the Sun,
+  gave this shrine as an 'excellent eternal work,' together with the
+  statues of the Holy Mother and the Holy Child to the 'emanations
+  of the great Goddess Isis and the god Horus,' Amada, Royal Lady,
+  being votaress or high-priestess.
+
+ "We only read the hieroglyphics very hurriedly, being anxious to
+  see what was within the shrine that, the cedar door having rotted
+  away, was filled with fine, drifted sand. Basketful by basketful
+  we got it out and then, my friend, there appeared the most
+  beautiful life-sized statue of Isis carved in alabaster that ever
+  I have seen. She was seated on a throne-like chair and wore the
+  vulture cap on which traces of colour remained. Her arms were held
+  forward as though to support a child, which perhaps she was
+  suckling as one of the breasts was bare. But if so, the child had
+  gone. The execution of the statue was exquisite and its tender and
+  mystic face extraordinarily beautiful, so life-like also that I
+  think it must have been copied from a living model. Oh! my friend,
+  when I looked upon it, which we did by the light of the candles,
+  for the sun was sinking and shadows gathered in that excavated
+  hole, I felt--never mind what I felt--perhaps /you/ can guess who
+  know my history.
+
+ "While we stared and stared, I longing to go upon my knees, I knew
+  not why, suddenly I felt a faint trembling of the ground. At the
+  same moment, the head overseer of the works, a man called Achmet,
+  rushed up to us, shouting out--'Back! Back! The wall has burst.
+  The sand runs!'
+
+ "He seized me by the arm and dragged me away beside of and behind
+  the grave, George turning to follow. Next instant I saw a kind of
+  wave of sand, on the crest of which appeared the stones of the
+  wall, curl over and break. It struck the shrine, overturned and
+  shattered it, which makes me think it was made of four pieces, and
+  shattered also the alabaster statue within, for I saw its head
+  strike George upon the back and throw him forward. He reeled and
+  fell into the open grave which in another moment was filled and
+  covered with the d�bris that seemed to grip me to my middle in its
+  flow. After this I remembered nothing more until hours later I
+  found myself lying in our house.
+
+ "Achmet and his Egyptians had done nothing; indeed none of them
+  could be persuaded to approach the place till the sun rose
+  because, as they said, the old gods of the land whom they looked
+  upon as devils, were angry at being disturbed and would kill them
+  as they had killed the Bey, meaning George. Then, distracted as I
+  was, I went myself for there was no other European there, to find
+  that the whole site of the sanctuary was buried beneath hundreds
+  of tons of sand, that, beginning at the gap in the broken wall,
+  had flowed from every side. Indeed it would have taken weeks to
+  dig it out, since to sink a shaft was impracticable and so
+  dangerous that the local officials refused to allow it to be
+  attempted. The end of it was that an English bishop came up from
+  Cairo and consecrated the ground by special arrangement with the
+  Government, which of course makes it impossible that this part of
+  the temple should be further disturbed. After this he read the
+  Burial Service over my dear husband.
+
+ "So there is the end of a very terrible story which I have written
+  down because I do not wish to have to talk about it more than is
+  necessary when we meet. For, dear Mr. Quatermain, we shall meet,
+  as I always knew that we should--yes, even after I heard that you
+  were dead. You will remember that I told you so years ago in
+  Kendah Land and that it would happen after a great change in my
+  life, though what that change might be I could not say. . . ."
+
+
+This is the end of the letter except for certain suggested dates for
+the visit which she took for granted I should make to Ragnall.
+
+
+
+                              CHAPTER II
+
+                            RAGNALL CASTLE
+
+When I had finished reading this amazing document I lit my pipe and
+set to work to think it over. The hypothetical inquirer might ask why
+I thought it amazing. There was nothing odd in a dilettante Englishman
+of highly cultivated mind taking to Egyptology and, being, as it
+chanced, one of the richest men in the kingdom, spending a fraction of
+his wealth in excavating temples. Nor was it strange that he should
+have happened to die by accident when engaged in that pursuit, which I
+can imagine to be very fascinating in the delightful winter climate of
+Egypt. He was not the first person to be buried by a fall of sand.
+Why, only a little while ago the same fate overtook a nursery-
+governess and the child in her charge who were trying to dig out a
+martin's nest in a pit in this very parish. Their operations brought
+down a huge mass of the overhanging bank beneath which the sand-vein
+had been hollowed by workmen who deserted the pit when they saw that
+it had become unsafe. Next day I and my gardeners helped to recover
+their bodies, for their whereabouts was not discovered until the
+following morning, and a sad business it was.
+
+Yet, taken in conjunction with the history of this couple, the whole
+Ragnall affair was very strange. When but a child Lady Ragnall, then
+the Hon. Miss Holmes, had been identified by the priests of a remote
+African tribe as the oracle of their peculiar faith, which we
+afterwards proved to be derived from old Egypt, in short the worship
+of Isis and Horus. Subsequently they tried to steal her away and
+through the accident of my intervention, failed. Later on, after her
+marriage when shock had deprived her of her mind, these priests
+renewed the attempt, this time in Egypt, and succeeded. In the end we
+rescued her in Central Africa, where she was playing the part of the
+Mother-goddess Isis and even wearing her ancient robes. Next she and
+her husband came home with their minds turned towards a branch of
+study that took them back to Egypt. Here they devote themselves to
+unearthing a temple and find out that among all the gods of Egypt, who
+seem to have been extremely numerous, it was dedicated to Isis and
+Horus, the very divinities with whom they recently they had been so
+intimately concerned if in traditional and degenerate forms.
+
+Moreover that was not the finish of it. They come to the sanctuary.
+They discover the statue of the goddess with the child gone, as their
+child was gone. A disaster occurs and both destroys and buries Ragnall
+so effectually that nothing of him is ever seen again: he just
+vanishes into another man's grave and remains there.
+
+A common sort of catastrophe enough, it is true, though people of
+superstitious mind might have thought that it looked as though the
+goddess, or whatever force was behind the goddess, was working
+vengeance on the man who desecrated her ancient shrine. And, by the
+way, though I cannot remember whether or no I mentioned it in "The
+Ivory Child," I recall that the old priest of the Kendah, Har�t, once
+told me he was sure Ragnall would meet with a violent death. This
+seemed likely enough in that country under our circumstances there,
+still I asked him why. He answered,
+
+"Because he has laid hands on that which is holy and not meant for
+man," and he looked at Lady Ragnall.
+
+I remarked that all women were holy, whereon he replied that he did
+not think so and changed the subject.
+
+Well, Ragnall, who had married the lady who once served as the last
+priestess of Isis upon earth, was killed, whereas she, the priestess,
+was almost miraculously preserved from harm. And--oh! the whole story
+was deuced odd and that is all. Poor Ragnall! He was a great English
+gentleman and one whom when first I knew him, I held to be the most
+fortunate person I ever met, endowed as he was with every advantage of
+mind, body and estate. Yet in the end this did not prove to be the
+case. Well, while he lived he was a good friend and a good fellow and
+none can hope for a better epitaph in a world where all things are
+soon forgotten.
+
+And now, what was I to do? To tell the truth I did not altogether
+desire to reopen this chapter in past history, or to have to listen to
+painful reminiscences from the lips of a bereaved woman. Moreover,
+beautiful as she had been, for doubtless she was /pass�e/ now, and
+charming as of course she remained--I do not think I ever knew anyone
+who was quite so charming--there was something about Lady Ragnall
+which alarmed me. She did not resemble any other woman. Of course no
+woman is ever quite like another, but in her case the separateness, if
+I may so call it, was very marked. It was as though she had walked out
+of a different age, or even world, and been but superficially clothed
+with the attributes of our own. I felt that from the first moment I
+set eyes upon her and while reading her letter the sensation returned
+with added force.
+
+Also for me she had a peculiar attraction and not one of the ordinary
+kind. It is curious to find oneself strangely intimate with a person
+of whom after all one does not know much, just as if one really knew a
+great deal that was shut off by a thin but quite impassable door. If
+so, I did not want to open that door for who could tell what might be
+on the other side of it? And intimate conversations with a lady in
+whose company one has shared very strange experiences, not
+infrequently lead to the opening of every kind of door.
+
+Further I had made up my mind some time ago to have no more
+friendships with women who are so full of surprises, but to live out
+the rest of my life in a kind of monastery of men who have few
+surprises, being creatures whose thoughts are nearly always open and
+whose actions can always be foretold.
+
+Lastly there was that /Taduki/ business. Well, there at any rate I was
+clear and decided. No earthly power would induce me to have anything
+more to do with /Taduki/ smoke. Of course I remembered that Lady
+Ragnall once told me kindly but firmly that I would if she wished. But
+that was just where she made a mistake. For the rest it seemed unkind
+to refuse her invitation now when she was in trouble, especially as I
+had once promised that if ever I could be of help, she had only to
+command me. No, I must go. But if that word--/Taduki/--were so much as
+mentioned I would leave again in a hurry. Moreover it would not be,
+for doubtless she had forgotten all about the stuff by now, even if it
+were not lost.
+
+The end of it was that as I did not wish to write a long letter
+entering into all that Lady Ragnall had told me, I sent her a
+telegram, saying that if convenient to her, I would arrive at the
+Castle on the following Saturday evening and adding that I must be
+back here on the Tuesday afternoon, as I had guests coming to stay
+with me on that day. This was perfectly true as the season was mid-
+November and I was to begin shooting my coverts on the Wednesday
+morning, a function that once fixed, cannot be postponed.
+
+In due course an answer arrived--"Delighted, but hoped that you would
+have been able to stay longer."
+
+
+
+Behold me then about six o'clock on the said Saturday evening being
+once more whirled by a splendid pair of horses through the gateway
+arch of Ragnall Castle. The carriage stopped beneath the portico, the
+great doors flew open revealing the glow of the hall fire and lights
+within, the footman sprang down from the box and two other footmen
+descended the steps to assist me and my belongings out of the
+carriage. These, I remember, consisted of a handbag with my dress
+clothes and a yellow-backed novel.
+
+So one of them took the handbag and the other had to content himself
+with the novel, which made me wish I had brought a portmanteau as
+well, if only for the look of the thing. The pair thus burdened,
+escorted me up the steps and delivered me over to the butler who
+scanned me with a critical eye. I scanned him also and perceived that
+he was a very fine specimen of his class. Indeed his stately presence
+so overcame me that I remarked nervously, as he helped me off with my
+coat, that when last I was here another had filled his office.
+
+"Indeed, Sir," he said, "and what was his name, Sir?"
+
+"Savage," I replied.
+
+"And where might he be now, Sir?"
+
+"Inside a snake!" I answered. "At least he was inside a snake but now
+I hope he is waiting upon his master in Heaven."
+
+The man recoiled a little, pulling off my coat with a jerk. Then he
+coughed, rubbed his bald head, stared and recovering himself with an
+effort, said,
+
+"Indeed, Sir! I only came to this place after the death of his late
+lordship, when her ladyship changed all the household. Alfred, show
+this gentleman up to her ladyship's boudoir, and William, take his--
+baggage--to the blue room. Her ladyship wishes to see you at once,
+Sir, before the others come."
+
+So I went up the big staircase to a part of the Castle that I did not
+remember, wondering who "the others" might be. Almost could I have
+sworn that the shade of Savage accompanied me up those stairs; I could
+feel him at my side.
+
+Presently a door was thrown open and I was ushered into a room
+somewhat dimly lit and full of the scent of flowers. By the fire near
+a tea-table, stood a lady clad in some dark dress with the light
+glinting on her rich-hued hair. She turned and I saw that she still
+wore the necklace of red stones, and beneath it on her breast a single
+red flower. For this was Lady Ragnall; about that there was no doubt
+at all, so little doubt indeed that I was amazed. I had expected to
+see a stout, elderly woman whom I should only know by the colour of
+her eyes and her voice, and perhaps certain tricks of manner. But,
+this was the mischief of it, I could not perceive any change, at any
+rate in that light. She was just the same! Perhaps a little fuller in
+figure, which was an advantage; perhaps a little more considered in
+her movements, perhaps a little taller or at any rate more stately,
+and that was all.
+
+These things I learned in a flash. Then with a murmured "Mr.
+Quatermain, my Lady," the footman closed the door and she saw me.
+
+Moving quickly towards me with both her hands outstretched, she
+exclaimed in that honey-soft voice of hers,
+
+"Oh! my dear friend----" stopped and added, "Why, you haven't changed
+a bit."
+
+"Fossils wear well," I replied, "but that is just what I was thinking
+of you."
+
+"Then it is very rude of you to call me a fossil when I am only
+approaching that stage. Oh! I am glad to see you. I /am/ glad!" and
+she gave me both the outstretched hands.
+
+Upon my word I felt inclined to kiss her and have wondered ever since
+if she would have been very angry. I am not certain that she did not
+divine the inclination. At any rate after a little pause she dropped
+my hands and laughed. Then she said,
+
+"I must tell you at once. A most terrible catastrophe has
+happened----"
+
+Instantly it occurred to me that she had forgotten having informed me
+by letter of all the details of her husband's death. Such things
+chance to people who have once lost their memory. So I tried to look
+as sympathetic as I felt, sighed and waited.
+
+"It's not so bad as all that," she said with a little shake of her
+head, reading my thought as she always had the power to do from the
+first moment we met. "We can talk about /that/ afterwards. It's only
+that I hoped we were going to have a quiet two days, and now the
+Atterby-Smiths are coming, yes, in half an hour. Five of them!"
+
+"The Atterby-Smiths!" I exclaimed, for somehow I too felt
+disappointed. "Who are the Atterby-Smiths?"
+
+"Cousins of George's, his nearest relatives. They think he ought to
+have left them everything. But he didn't, because he could never bear
+the sight of them. You see his property was unentailed and he left it
+all to me. Now the entire family is advancing to suggest that I should
+leave it to them, as perhaps I might have done if they had not chosen
+to come just now."
+
+"Why didn't you put them off?" I asked.
+
+"Because I couldn't," she answered with a little stamp of her foot,
+"otherwise do you suppose they would have been here? They were far too
+clever. They telegraphed after lunch giving the train by which they
+were to arrive, but no address save Charing Cross. I thought of moving
+up to the Berkeley Square house, but it was impossible in the time,
+also I didn't know how to catch you. Oh! it's /most/ vexatious."
+
+"Perhaps they are very nice," I suggested feebly.
+
+"Nice! Wait till you have seen them. Besides if they had been angels I
+did not want them just now. But how selfish I am! Come and have some
+tea. And you can stop longer, that is if you live through the Atterby-
+Smiths who are worse than both the Kendah tribes put together. Indeed
+I wish old Har�t were coming instead. I should like to see Har�t
+again, wouldn't you?" and suddenly the mystical look I knew so well,
+gathered on her face.
+
+"Yes, perhaps I should," I replied doubtfully. "But I must leave by
+the first train on Tuesday morning; it goes at eight o'clock. I looked
+it up."
+
+"Then the Atterby-Smiths leave on Monday if I have to turn them out of
+the house. So we shall get one evening clear at any rate. Stop a
+minute," and she rang the bell.
+
+The footman appeared as suddenly as though he had been listening at
+the door.
+
+"Alfred," she said, "tell Moxley" (he, I discovered, was the butler)
+"that when Mr. and Mrs. Atterby-Smith, the two Misses Atterby-Smith
+and the young Mr. Atterby-Smith arrive, they are to be shown to their
+rooms. Tell the cook also to put off dinner till half-past eight, and
+if Mr. and Mrs. Scroope arrive earlier, tell Moxley to tell them that
+I am sorry to be a little late, but that I was delayed by some parish
+business. Now do you understand?"
+
+"Yes, my Lady," said Alfred and vanished.
+
+"He doesn't understand in the least," remarked Lady Ragnall, "but so
+long as he doesn't show the Atterby-Smiths up here, in which case he
+can go away with them on Monday, I don't care. It will all work out
+somehow. Now sit down by the fire and let's talk. We've got nearly an
+hour and twenty minutes and you can smoke if you like. I learnt to in
+Egypt," and she took a cigarette from the mantelpiece and lit it.
+
+That hour and twenty minutes went like a flash, for we had so much to
+say to each other that we never even got to the things we wanted to
+say. For instance, I began to tell her about King Solomon's Mines,
+which was a long story; and she to tell me what happened after we
+parted on the shores of the Red Sea. At least the first hour and a
+quarter went, when suddenly the door opened and Alfred in a somewhat
+frightened voice announced--"Mr. and Mrs. Atterby-Smith, the Misses
+Atterby-Smith and Mr. Atterby-Smith junior."
+
+Then he caught sight of his mistress's eye and fled.
+
+I looked and felt inclined to do likewise if only there had been
+another door. But there wasn't and that which existed was quite full.
+In the forefront came A.-S. senior, like a bull leading the herd.
+Indeed his appearance was bull-like as my eye, travelling from the
+expanse of white shirt-front (they were all dressed for dinner) to his
+red and massive countenance surmounted by two horn-like tufts of
+carroty hair, informed me at a glance. Followed Mrs. A.-S., the
+British matron incarnate. Literally there seemed to be acres of her;
+black silk below and white skin above on which set in filigree floated
+big green stones, like islands in an ocean. Her countenance too,
+though stupid was very stern and frightened me. Followed the progeny
+of this formidable pair. They were tall and thin, also red haired. The
+girls, whose age I could not guess in the least, were exactly like
+each other, which was not strange as afterwards I discovered that they
+were twins. They had pale blue eyes and somehow reminded me of fish.
+Both of them were dressed in green and wore topaz necklaces. The young
+man who seemed to be about one or two and twenty, had also pale blue
+eyes, in one of which he wore an eye-glass, but his hair was sandy as
+though it had been bleached, parted in the middle and oiled down flat.
+
+For a moment there was a silence which I felt to be dreadful. Then in
+a big, pompous voice A.-S. /p�re/ said,
+
+"How do you do, my dear Luna? As I ascertained from the footman that
+you had not yet gone to dress, I insisted upon his leading us here for
+a little private conversation after we have been parted for so many
+years. We wished to offer you our condolences in person on your and
+our still recent loss."
+
+"Thank you," said Lady Ragnall, "but I think we have corresponded on
+the subject which is painful to me."
+
+"I fear that we are interrupting a smoking party, Thomas," said Mrs.
+A.-S. in a cold voice, sniffing at the air for all the world like a
+suspicious animal, whereon the five of them stared at Lady Ragnall's
+cigarette which she held between her fingers.
+
+"Yes," said Lady Ragnall. "Won't you have one? Mr. Quatermain, hand
+Mrs. Smith the box, please."
+
+I obeyed automatically, proffering it to the lady who nearly withered
+me with a glance, and then to each to each in turn. To my relief the
+young man took one.
+
+"Archibald," said his mother, "you are surely not going to make your
+sisters' dresses smell of tobacco just before dinner."
+
+Archibald sniggered and replied,
+
+"A little more smoke will not make any difference in this room, Ma."
+
+"That is true, darling," said Mrs. A.-S. and was straightway seized
+with a fit of asthma.
+
+After this I am sure I don't know what happened, for muttering
+something about its being time to dress, I rushed from the room and
+wandered about until I could find someone to conduct me to my own
+where I lingered until I heard the dinner-bell ring. But even this
+retreat was not without disaster, for in my hurry I trod upon one of
+the young lady's dresses; I don't know whether it was Dolly's or
+Polly's (they were named Dolly and Polly) and heard a dreadful crack
+about her middle as though she were breaking in two. Thereon Archibald
+giggled again and Dolly and Polly remarked with one voice--they always
+spoke together,
+
+"Oh! clumsy!"
+
+To complete my misfortunes I missed my way going downstairs and
+strayed to and fro like a lost lamb until I found myself confronted by
+a green baize door which reminded me of something. I stood staring at
+it till suddenly a vision arose before me of myself following a bell
+wire through that very door in the darkness of the night when in
+search for the late Mr. Savage upon a certain urgent occasion. Yes,
+there could be no doubt about it, for look! there was the wire, and
+strange it seemed to me that I should live to behold it again.
+Curiosity led me to push the door open just to ascertain if my memory
+served me aright about the exact locality of the room. Next moment I
+regretted it for I fell straight into the arms of either Polly or
+Dolly.
+
+"Oh!" said she, "I've just been sewn up."
+
+I reflected that this was my case also in another sense, but asked
+feebly if she knew the way downstairs.
+
+She didn't; neither of us did, till at length we met Mrs. Smith coming
+to look for her.
+
+If I had been a burglar she could not have regarded me with graver
+suspicions. But at any rate /she/ knew the way downstairs. And there
+to my joy I found my old friend Scroope and his wife, both of them
+grown stout and elderly, but as jolly as ever, after which the Smith
+family ceased to trouble me.
+
+Also there was the rector of the parish, Dr. Jeffreys and an absurdly
+young wife whom he had recently married, a fluffy-headed little thing
+with round eyes and a cheerful, perky manner. The two of them together
+looked exactly like a turkey-cock and a chicken. I remembered him well
+enough and to my astonishment he remembered me, perhaps because Lady
+Ragnall, when she had hastily invited him to meet the Smith family,
+mentioned that I was coming. Lastly there was the curate, a dark,
+young man who seemed to be always brooding over the secrets of time
+and eternity, though perhaps he was only thinking about his dinner or
+the next day's services.
+
+Well, there we stood in that well-remembered drawing-room in which
+first I had made the acquaintance of Har�t and Mar�t; also of the
+beautiful Miss Holmes as Lady Ragnall was then called. The Scroopes,
+the Jeffreys and I gathered in one group and the Atterby-Smiths in
+another like a force about to attack, while between the two, brooding
+and indeterminate, stood the curate, a neutral observer.
+
+Presently Lady Ragnall arrived, apologizing for being late. For some
+reason best known to herself she had chosen to dress as though for a
+great party. I believe it was out of mischief and in order to show
+Mrs. Atterby-Smith some of the diamonds she was firmly determined that
+family should never inherit. At any rate there she stood glittering
+and lovely, and smiled upon us.
+
+Then came dinner and once more I marched to the great hall in her
+company; Dr. Jeffreys got Mrs. Smith; Papa Smith got Mrs. Jeffreys who
+looked like a Grecian maiden walking into dinner with the Minotaur;
+Scroope got one of the Miss Smiths, she who wore a pink bow, the
+gloomy curate got the other with a blue bow, and Archibald got Mrs.
+Scroope who departed making faces at us over his shoulder.
+
+"You look very grand and nice," I said to Lady Ragnall as we followed
+the others at a discreet distance.
+
+"I am glad," she answered, "as to the nice, I mean. As for the grand,
+that dreadful woman is always writing to me about the Ragnall
+diamonds, so I thought that she should see some of them for the first
+and last time. Do you know I haven't worn these things since George
+and I went to Court together, and I daresay shall never wear them
+again, for there is only one ornament I care for and I have got /that/
+on under my dress."
+
+I stared and her and with a laugh said that she was very mischievous.
+
+"I suppose so," she replied, "but I detest those people who are
+pompous and rude and have spoiled my party. Do you know I had half a
+mind to come down in the dress that I wore as Isis in Kendah Land. I
+have got it upstairs and you shall see me in it before you go, for old
+time's sake. Only it occurred to me that they might think me mad, so I
+didn't. Dr. Jeffreys, will you say grace, please?"
+
+Well, it was a most agreeable dinner so far as I was concerned, for I
+sat between my hostess and Mrs. Scroope and the rest were too far off
+for conversation. Moreover as Archibald developed an unexpected
+quantity of small talk, and Scroope on the other side amused himself
+by filling pink-bow Miss Smith's innocent mind with preposterous
+stories about Africa, as had happened to me once before at this table,
+Lady Ragnall and I were practically left undisturbed.
+
+"Isn't it strange that we should find ourselves sitting here again
+after all these years, except that you are in my poor mother's place?
+Oh! when that scientific gentleman convinced me the other day that you
+whom I had heard were dead, were not only alive and well but actually
+in England, really I could have embraced him."
+
+I thought of an answer but did not make it, though as usual she read
+my mind for I saw her smile.
+
+"The truth is," she went on, "I am an only child and really have no
+friends, though of course being--well, you know," and she glanced at
+the jewels on her breast, "I have plenty of acquaintances."
+
+"And suitors," I suggested.
+
+"Yes," she replied blushing, "as many as Penelope, not one of whom
+cares twopence about me any more than I care for them. The truth is,
+Mr. Quatermain, that nobody and nothing interest me, except a spot in
+the churchyard yonder and another amid ruins in Egypt."
+
+"You have had sad bereavements," I said looking the other way.
+
+"Very sad and they have left life empty. Still I should not complain
+for I have had my share of good. Also it isn't true to say that
+nothing interests me. Egypt interests me, though after what has
+happened I do not feel as though I could return there. All Africa
+interests me and," she added dropping her voice, "I can say it because
+I know you will not misunderstand, you interest me, as you have always
+done since the first moment I saw you."
+
+"/I!/" I exclaimed, staring at my own reflection in a silver plate
+which made me look--well, more unattractive than usual. "It's very
+kind of you to say so, but I can't understand why I should. You have
+seen very little of me, Lady Ragnall, except in that long journey
+across the desert when we did not talk much, since you were otherwise
+engaged."
+
+"I know. That's the odd part of it, for I feel as though I had seen
+you for years and years and knew everything about you that one human
+being can know of another. Of course, too, I do know a good lot of
+your life through George and Har�t."
+
+"Har�t was a great liar," I said uneasily.
+
+"Was he? I always thought him painfully truthful, though how he got at
+the truth I do not know. Anyhow," she added with meaning, "don't
+suppose I think the worse of you because others have thought so well.
+Women who seem to be all different, generally, I notice, have this in
+common. If one or two of them like a man, the rest like him also
+because something in him appeals to the universal feminine instinct,
+and the same applies to their dislike. Now men, I think, are different
+in that respect."
+
+"Perhaps because they are more catholic and charitable," I suggested,
+"or perhaps because they like those who like them."
+
+She laughed in her charming way, and said,
+
+"However these remarks do not apply to you and me, for as I think I
+told you once before in that cedar wood in Kendah Land where you
+feared lest I should catch a chill, or become--odd again, it is
+another you with whom something in me seems to be so intimate."
+
+"That's fortunate for your sake," I muttered, still staring at and
+pointing to the silver plate.
+
+Again she laughed. "Do you remember the /Taduki/ herb?" she asked. "I
+have plenty of it safe upstairs, and not long ago I took a whiff of
+it, only a whiff because you know it had to be saved."
+
+"And what did you see?"
+
+"Never mind. The question is what shall we /both/ see?"
+
+"Nothing," I said firmly. "No earthly power will make me breathe that
+unholy drug again."
+
+"Except me," she murmured with sweet decision. "No, don't think about
+leaving the house. You can't, there are no Sunday trains. Besides you
+won't if I ask you not."
+
+"'In vain is the net spread in the sight of any bird,'" I replied,
+firm as a mountain.
+
+"Is it? Then why are so many caught?"
+
+At that moment the Bull of Bashan--I mean Smith, began to bellow
+something at his hostess from the other end of the table and our
+conversation came to an end.
+
+"I say, old chap," whispered Scroope in my ear when we stood up to see
+the ladies out. "I suppose you are thinking of marrying again. Well,
+you might do worse," and he glanced at the glittering form of Lady
+Ragnall vanishing through the doorway behind her guests.
+
+"Shut up, you idiot!" I replied indignantly.
+
+"Why?" he asked with innocence. "Marriage is an honourable estate,
+especially when there is lots of the latter. I remember saying
+something of the sort to you years ago and at this table, when as it
+happened you also took in her ladyship. Only there was George in the
+wind then; now it has carried him away."
+
+Without deigning any reply I seized my glass and went to sit down
+between the canon and the Bull of Bashan.
+
+
+
+                             CHAPTER III
+
+                         ALLAN GIVES HIS WORD
+
+Mr. Atterby-Smith proved on acquaintance to be even worse than unfond
+fancy painted him. He was a gentleman in a way and of good family
+whereof the real name was Atterby, the Smith having been added to
+secure a moderate fortune left to him on that condition. His
+connection with Lord Ragnall was not close and through the mother's
+side. For the rest he lived in some south-coast watering-place and
+fancied himself a sportsman because he had on various occasions hired
+a Scottish moor or deer forest. Evidently he had never done anything
+nor earned a shilling during all his life and was bringing his family
+up to follow in his useless footsteps. The chief note of his character
+was that intolerable vanity which so often marks men who have nothing
+whatsoever about which to be vain. Also he had a great idea of his
+rights and what was due to him, which he appeared to consider
+included, upon what ground I could not in the least understand, the
+reversal of all the Ragnall properties and wealth. I do not think I
+need say any more about him, except that he bored me to extinction,
+especially after his fourth glass of port.
+
+Perhaps, however, the son was worse, for he asked questions without
+number and when at last I was reduced to silence, lectured me about
+shooting. Yes, this callow youth who was at Sandhurst, instructed me,
+Allan Quatermain, how to kill elephants, he who had never seen an
+elephant except when he fed it with buns at the Zoo. At last Mr.
+Smith, who to Scroope's great amusement had taken the end of the table
+and assumed the position of host, gave the signal to move and we
+adjourned to the drawing-room.
+
+I don't know what had happened but there we found the atmosphere
+distinctly stormy. The ample Mrs. Smith sat in a chair fanning
+herself, which caused the barbaric ornaments she wore to clank upon
+her fat arm. Upon either side of her, pale and indeterminate, stood
+Polly and Dolly each pretending to read a book. Somehow the three of
+them reminded me of a coat-of-arms seen in a nightmare, British Matron
+/sejant/ with Modesty and Virtue as supporters. Opposite, on the other
+side of the fire and evidently very angry, stood Lady Ragnall,
+/regardant/.
+
+"Do I understand you to say, Luna," I heard Mrs. A.-S. ask in resonant
+tones as I entered the room, "that you actually played the part of a
+heathen goddess among these savages, clad in a transparent bed-robe?"
+
+"Yes, Mrs. Atterby-Smith," replied Lady Ragnall, "and a nightcap of
+feathers. I will put it on for you if you won't be shocked. Or perhaps
+one of your daughters----"
+
+"Oh!" said both the young ladies together, "please be quiet. Here come
+the gentlemen."
+
+After this there was a heavy silence broken only by the stifled
+giggles in the background of Mrs. Scroope and the canon's fluffy-
+headed wife, who to do her justice had some fun in her. Thank goodness
+the evening, or rather that part of it did not last long, since
+presently Mrs. Atterby-Smith, after studying me for a long while with
+a cold eye, rose majestically and swept off to bed followed by her
+offspring.
+
+Afterwards I ascertained from Mrs. Scroope that Lady Ragnall had been
+amusing herself by taking away my character in every possible manner
+for the benefit of her connections, who were left with a general
+impression that I was the chief of a native tribe somewhere in Central
+Africa where I dwelt in light attire surrounded by the usual
+accessories. No wonder, therefore, that Mrs. A.-S. thought it best to
+remove her "Twin Pets," as she called them, out of my ravening reach.
+
+Then the Scroopes went away, having arranged for me to lunch with them
+on the morrow, an invitation that I hastily accepted, though I heard
+Lady Ragnall mutter--"Mean!" beneath her breath. With them departed
+the canon and his wife and the curate, being, as they said, "early
+birds with duties to perform." After this Lady Ragnall paid me out by
+going to bed, having instructed Moxley to show us to the smoking room,
+"where," she whispered as she said good night, "I hope you will enjoy
+yourself."
+
+Over the rest of the night I draw a veil. For a solid hour and three-
+quarters did I sit in that room between this dreadful pair, being
+alternately questioned and lectured. At length I could stand it no
+longer and while pretending to help myself to whiskey and soda,
+slipped through the door and fled upstairs.
+
+I arrived late to breakfast purposely and found that I was wise, for
+Lady Ragnall was absent upstairs, recovering from "a headache." Mr.
+A.-Smith was also suffering from a headache downstairs, the result of
+champagne, port and whisky mixed, and all his family seemed to have
+pains in their tempers. Having ascertained that they were going to the
+church in the park, I departed to one two miles away and thence walked
+straight on to the Scroopes' where I had a very pleasant time,
+remaining till five in the afternoon. I returned to tea at the Castle
+where I found Lady Ragnall so cross that I went to church again, to
+the six o'clock service this time, only getting back in time to dress
+for dinner. Here I was paid out for I had to take in Mrs. Atterby-
+Smith. Oh! what a meal was that. We sat for the most part in solemn
+silence broken only by requests to pass the salt. I observed with
+satisfaction, however, that things were growing lively at the other
+end of the table where A.-Smith /p�re/ was drinking a good deal too
+much wine. At last I heard him say,
+
+"We had hoped to spend a few days with you, my dear Luna. But as you
+tell us that your engagements make this impossible"--and he paused to
+drink some port, whereon Lady Ragnall remarked inconsequently,
+
+"I assure you the ten o'clock train is far the best and I have ordered
+the carriage at half-past nine, which is not very early."
+
+"As your engagements make this impossible," he repeated, "we would ask
+for the opportunity of a little family conclave with you to-night."
+
+Here all of them turned and glowered at me.
+
+"Certainly," said Lady Ragnall, "'the sooner 'tis over the sooner to
+sleep.' Mr. Quatermain, I am sure, will excuse us, will you not? I
+have had the museum lit up for you, Mr. Quatermain. You may find some
+Egyptian things there that will interest you."
+
+"Oh, with pleasure!" I murmured, and fled away.
+
+I spent a very instructive two hours in the museum, studying various
+Egyptian antiquities including a couple of mummies which rather
+terrified me. They looked so very corpse-like standing there in their
+wrappings. One was that of a lady who was a "Singer of Amen," I
+remember. I wondered where she was singing now and what song.
+Presently I came to a glass case which riveted my attention, for above
+it was a label bearing the following words: "Two Papyri given to Lady
+Ragnall by the priests of the Kendah Tribe in Africa." Within were the
+papyri unrolled and beneath each of the documents, its translation, so
+far as they could be translated for they were somewhat broken. No. 1,
+which was dated, "In the first year of Peroa," appeared to be the
+official appointment of the Royal Lady Amada, to be the prophetess to
+the temple of Isis and Horus the Child, which was also called Amada,
+and situated on the east bank of the Nile above Thebes. Evidently this
+was the same temple of which Lady Ragnall had written to me in her
+letter, where her husband had met his death by accident, a coincidence
+which made me start when I remembered how and where the document had
+come into her hands and what kind of office she filled at the time.
+
+The second papyrus, or rather its translation, contained a most
+comprehensive curse upon any man who ventured to interfere with the
+personal sanctity of this same Royal Lady of Amada, who, apparently in
+virtue of her office, was doomed to perpetual celibacy like the vestal
+virgins. I do not remember all the terms of the curse, but I know that
+it invoked the vengeance of Isis the Mother, Lady of the Moon, and
+Horus the Child upon anyone who should dare such a desecration, and in
+so many words doomed him to death by violence "far from his own
+country where first he had looked on Ra," (i.e. the sun) and also to
+certain spiritual sufferings afterwards.
+
+The document gave me the idea that it was composed in troubled days to
+protect that particularly sacred person, the Prophetess of Isis whose
+cult, as I have since learned, was rising in Egypt at the time, from
+threatened danger, perhaps at the hands of some foreign man. It
+occurred to me even that this Princess, for evidently she was a
+descendant of kings, had been appointed to a most sacred office for
+that very purpose. Men who shrink from little will often fear to incur
+the direct curse of widely venerated gods in order to obtain their
+desires, even if they be not their own gods. Such were my conclusions
+about this curious and ancient writing which I regret I cannot give in
+full as I neglected to copy it at the time.
+
+I may add that it seemed extremely strange to me that it and the other
+which dealt with a particular temple in Egypt should have passed into
+Lady Ragnall's hands over two thousand years later in a distant part
+of Africa, and that subsequently her husband should have been killed
+in her presence whilst excavating the very temple to which they
+referred, whence too in all probability they were taken. Moreover,
+oddly enough Lady Ragnall had herself for a while filled the r�le of
+Isis in a shrine whereof these two papyri had been part of the sacred
+appurtenances for unknown ages, and one of her official titles there
+was Prophetess and Lady of the Moon, whose symbol she wore upon her
+breast.
+
+Although I have always recognized that there are a great many more
+things in the world than are dreamt of in our philosophy, I say with
+truth and confidence that I am not a superstitious man. Yet I confess
+that these papers and the circumstances connected with them, made me
+feel afraid.
+
+Also they made me wish that I had not come to Ragnall Castle.
+
+Well, the Atterby-Smiths had so far effectually put a stop to any talk
+of such matters and even if Lady Ragnall should succeed in getting rid
+of them by that morning train, as to which I was doubtful, there
+remained but a single day of my visit during which it ought not to be
+hard to stave off the subject. Thus I reflected, standing face to face
+with those mummies, till presently I observed that the Singer of Amen
+who wore a staring, gold mask, seemed to be watching me with her
+oblong painted eyes. To my fancy a sardonic smile gathered in them and
+spread to the mouth.
+
+"That's what /you/ think," this smile seemed to say, "as once before
+you thought that Fate could be escaped. Wait and see, my friend. Wait
+and see!"
+
+"Not in this room any way," I remarked aloud, and departed in a hurry
+down the passage which led to the main staircase.
+
+Before I reached its end a remarkable sight caused me to halt in the
+shadow. The Atterby-Smith family were going to bed /en bloc/. They
+marched in single file up the great stair, each of them carrying a
+hand candle. Papa led and young Hopeful brought up the rear. Their
+countenances were full of war, even the twins looked like angry lambs,
+but something written on them informed me that they had suffered
+defeat recent and grievous. So they vanished up the stairway and out
+of my ken for ever.
+
+When they had gone I started again and ran straight into Lady Ragnall.
+If her guests had been angry, it was clear that /she/ was furious,
+almost weeping with rage, indeed. Moreover, she turned and rent me.
+
+"You are a wretch," she said, "to run away and leave me all day long
+with those horrible people. Well, they will never come here again, for
+I have told them that if they do the servants have orders to shut the
+door in their faces."
+
+Not knowing what to say I remarked that I had spent a most instructive
+evening in the museum, which seemed to make her angrier than ever. At
+any rate she whisked off without even saying "good night" and left me
+standing there. Afterwards I learned that the A.-S.'s had calmly
+informed Lady Ragnall that she had stolen their property and demanded
+that "as an act of justice" she should make a will leaving everything
+she possessed to them, and meanwhile furnish them with an allowance of
+�4,000 a year. What I did not learn were the exact terms of her
+answer.
+
+Next morning Alfred, when he called me, brought me a note from his
+mistress which I fully expected would contain a request that I should
+depart by the same train as her other guests. Its real contents,
+however, were very different.
+
+
+ "My dear Friend," it ran, "I am so ashamed of myself and so sorry
+  for my rudeness last night, for which I deeply apologise. If you
+  knew all that I had gone through at the hands of those dreadful
+  mendicants, you would forgive me.--L.R."
+
+ "P.S.--I have ordered breakfast at 10. Don't go down much before,
+  for your own sake."
+
+
+Somewhat relieved in my mind, for I thought she was really angry with
+me, not altogether without cause, I rose, dressed and set to work to
+write some letters. While I was doing so I heard the wheels of a
+carriage beneath and opening my window, saw the Atterby-Smith family
+in the act of departing in the Castle bus. Smith himself seemed to be
+still enraged, but the others looked depressed. Indeed I heard the
+wife of his bosom say to him,
+
+"Calm yourself, my dear. Remember that Providence knows what is best
+for us and that beggars on horseback are always unjust and
+ungrateful."
+
+To which her spouse replied,
+
+"Hold your infernal tongue, will you," and then began to rate the
+servants about the luggage.
+
+Well, off they went. Glaring through the door of the bus, Mr. Smith
+caught sight of me leaning out of the window, seeing which I waved my
+hand to him in adieu. His only reply to this courtesy was to shake his
+fist, though whether at me or at the Castle and its inhabitants in
+general, I neither know nor care.
+
+When I was quite sure that they had gone and were not coming back
+again to find something they had forgotten, I went downstairs and
+surprised a conclave between the butler, Moxley, and his satellites,
+reinforced by Lady Ragnall's maid and two other female servants.
+
+"Gratuities!" Moxley was exclaiming, which I thought a fine word for
+tips, "not a smell of them! His gratuities were--'Damn your eyes, you
+fat bottle-washer,' being his name for butler. /My/ eyes, mind you,
+Ann, not Alfred's or William's, and that because he had tumbled over
+his own rugs. Gentleman! Why, I name him a hog with his litter."
+
+"Hogs don't have litters, Mr. Moxley," observed Ann smartly.
+
+"Well, young woman, if there weren't no hogs, there'd be no litters,
+so there! However, he won't root about in this castle no more, for I
+happened to catch a word or two of what passed between him and her
+Ladyship last night. He said straight out that she was making love to
+that little Mr. Quatermain who wanted her money, and probably not for
+the first time as they had forgathered in Africa. A gentleman, mind
+you, Ann, who although peculiar, I like, and who, the keeper Charles
+tells me, is the best shot in the whole world."
+
+"And what did she say to that?" asked Ann.
+
+"What did she say? What didn't she say, that's the question. It was
+just as though all the furniture in the room got up and went for them
+Smiths. Well, having heard enough, and more than I wanted, I stepped
+off with the tray and next minute out they all come and grab the
+bedroom candlesticks. That's all and there's her Ladyship's bell.
+Alfred, don't stand gaping there but go and light the hot-plates."
+
+So they melted away and I descended from the landing, indignant but
+laughing. No wonder that Lady Ragnall lost her temper!
+
+Ten minutes later she arrived in the dining-room, waving a lighted
+ribbon that disseminated perfume.
+
+"What on earth are you doing?" I asked.
+
+"Fumigating the house," she said. "It is unnecessary as I don't think
+they were infectious, but the ceremony has a moral significance--like
+incense. Anyway it relieves my feelings."
+
+Then she laughed and threw the remains of the ribbon into the fire,
+adding,
+
+"If you say a word about those people I'll leave the room."
+
+I think we had one of the jolliest breakfasts I ever remember. To
+begin with we were both hungry since our miseries of the night before
+had prevented us from eating any dinner. Indeed she swore that she had
+scarcely tasted food since Saturday. Then we had such a lot to talk
+about. With short intervals we talked all that day, either in the
+house or while walking through the gardens and grounds. Passing
+through the latter I came to the spot on the back drive where once I
+had saved her from being abducted by Har�t and Mar�t, and as I
+recognized it, uttered an exclamation. She asked me why and the end of
+it was that I told her all that story which to this moment she had
+never heard, for Ragnall had thought well to keep it from her.
+
+She listened intently, then said,
+
+"So I owe you more than I knew. Yet, I'm not sure, for you see I was
+abducted after all. Also if I had been taken there, probably George
+would never have married me or seen me again, and that might have been
+better for him."
+
+"Why?" I asked. "You were all the world to him."
+
+"Is any woman ever all the world to a man, Mr. Quatermain?"
+
+I hesitated, expecting some attack.
+
+"Don't answer," she went on, "it would be too long and you wouldn't
+convince me who have been in the East. However, he was all the world
+to me. Therefore his welfare was what I wished and wish, and I think
+he would have had more of it if he had never married me."
+
+"Why?" I asked again.
+
+"Because I brought him no good luck, did I? I needn't go through all
+the story as you know it. And in the end it was through me that he was
+killed in Egypt."
+
+"Or through the goddess Isis," I broke in rather nervously.
+
+"Yes, the goddess Isis, a part I have played in my time, or something
+like it. And he was killed in the temple of the goddess Isis. And
+those papyri of which you read the translations in the museum, which
+were given to me in Kendah Land, seem to have come from that same
+temple. And--how about the Ivory Child? Isis in the temple evidently
+held a child in her arms, but when we found her it had gone. Supposing
+this child was the same as that of which I was guardian! It might have
+been, since the papyri came from that temple. What do you think?"
+
+"I don't think anything," I answered, "except that it is all very odd.
+I don't even understand what Isis and the child Horus represent. They
+were not mere images either in Egypt or Kendah Land. There must be an
+idea behind them somewhere."
+
+"Oh! there was. Isis was the universal Mother, Nature herself with all
+the powers, seen and unseen, that are hidden in Nature; Love
+personified also, although not actually the queen of Love like Hathor,
+her sister goddess. The Horus child, whom the old Egyptians called
+Heru-Hennu, signified eternal regeneration, eternal youth, eternal
+strength and beauty. Also he was the Avenger who overthrew Set, the
+Prince of Darkness, and thus in a way opened the Door of Life to men."
+
+"It seems to me that all religions have much in common," I said.
+
+"Yes, a great deal. It was easy for the old Egyptians to become
+Christian, since for many of them it only meant worshipping Isis and
+Horus under new and holier names. But come in, it grows cold."
+
+We had tea in Lady Ragnall's boudoir and after it had been taken away
+our conversation died. She sat there on the other side of the fire
+with a cigarette between her lips, looking at me through the perfumed
+smoke till I began to grow uncomfortable and to feel that a crisis of
+some sort was at hand. This proved perfectly correct, for it was.
+Presently she said,
+
+"We took a long journey once together, Mr. Quatermain, did we not?"
+
+"Undoubtedly," I answered, and began to talk of it until she cut me
+short with a wave of her hand, and went on,
+
+"Well, we are going to take a longer one together after dinner
+to-night."
+
+"What! Where! How!" I exclaimed much alarmed.
+
+"I don't know where, but as for how--look in that box," and she
+pointed to a little carved Eastern chest made of rose or sandal wood,
+that stood upon a table between us.
+
+With a groan I rose and opened it. Inside was another box made of
+silver. This I opened also and perceived that within lay bundles of
+dried leaves that looked like tobacco, from which floated an
+enervating and well-remembered scent that clouded my brain for a
+moment. Then I shut down the lids and returned to my seat.
+
+"/Taduki/," I murmured.
+
+"Yes, /Taduki/, and I believe in perfect order with all its virtue
+intact."
+
+"Virtue!" I exclaimed. "I don't think there is any virtue about that
+hateful and magical herb which I believe grew in the devil's garden.
+Moreover, Lady Ragnall, although there are few things in the world
+that I would refuse you, I tell you at once that nothing will induce
+me to have anything more to do with it."
+
+She laughed softly and asked why not.
+
+"Because I find life so full of perplexities and memories that I have
+no wish to make acquaintance with any more, such as I am sure lie hid
+by the thousand in that box."
+
+"If so, don't you think that they might clear up some of those which
+surround you to-day?"
+
+"No, for in such things there is no finality, since whatever one saw
+would also require explanation."
+
+"Don't let us argue," she replied. "It is tiring and I daresay we
+shall need all our strength to-night."
+
+I looked at her speechless. Why could she not take No for an answer?
+As usual she read my thought and replied to it.
+
+"Why did not Adam refuse the apple that Eve offered him?" she inquired
+musingly. "Or rather why did he eat it after many refusals and learn
+the secret of good and evil, to the great gain of the world which
+thenceforward became acquainted with the dignity of labour?"
+
+"Because the woman tempted him," I snapped.
+
+"Quite so. It has always been her business in life and always will be.
+Well, I am tempting you now, and not in vain."
+
+"Do you remember who was tempting the woman?"
+
+"Certainly. Also that he was a good school-master since he caused the
+thirst for knowledge to overcome fear and thus laid the foundation-
+stone of all human progress. That allegory may be read two ways, as
+one of a rise from ignorance instead of a fall from innocence."
+
+"You are too clever for me with your perverted notions. Also, you said
+we were not to argue. I have therefore only to repeat that I will not
+eat your apple, or rather, breathe your /Taduki/."
+
+"Adam over again," she replied, shaking her head. "The same old
+beginning and the same old end, because you see at last you will do
+exactly what Adam did."
+
+Here she rose and standing over me, looked me straight in the eyes
+with the curious result that all my will power seemed to evaporate.
+Then she sat down again, laughing softly, and remarked as though to
+herself,
+
+"Who would have thought that Allan Quatermain was a moral coward!"
+
+"Coward," I repeated. "Coward!"
+
+"Yes, that's the right word. At least you were a minute ago. Now
+courage has come back to you. Why, it's almost time to dress for
+dinner, but before you go, listen. I have some power over you, my
+friend, as you have some power over me, for I tell you frankly if you
+wished me very much to do anything, I should have to do it; and the
+same applies conversely. Now, to-night we are, as I believe, going to
+open a great gate and to see wonderful things, glorious things that
+will thrill us for the rest of our lives, and perhaps suggest to us
+what is coming after death. You will not fail me, will you?" she
+continued in a pleading voice. "If you do I must try alone since no
+one else will serve, and then I /know/--how I cannot say--that I shall
+be exposed to great danger. Yes, I think that I shall lose my mind
+once more and never find it again this side the grave. You would not
+have that happen to me, would you, just because you shrink from
+digging up old memories?"
+
+"Of course not," I stammered. "I should never forgive myself."
+
+"Yes, of course not. There was really no need for me to ask you. Then
+you promise you will do all I wish?" and once more she looked at me,
+adding, "Don't be ashamed, for you remember that I have been in touch
+with hidden things and am not quite as other women are. You will
+recollect I told you that which I have never breathed to any other
+living soul, years ago on that night when first we met."
+
+"I promise," I answered and was about to add something, I forget what,
+when she cut me short, saying,
+
+"That's enough, for I know your word is rather better than your bond.
+Now dress as quickly as you can or the dinner will be spoiled."
+
+
+
+                              CHAPTER IV
+
+                          THROUGH THE GATES
+
+Short as was the time at my disposal before the dinner-gong sounded,
+it proved ample for reflection. With every article of attire that I
+discarded went some of that boudoir glamour till its last traces
+vanished with my walking-boots. I was fallen indeed. I who had come to
+this place so full of virtuous resolutions, could now only reflect
+upon the true and universal meaning of our daily prayer that we might
+be kept from temptation. And yet what had tempted me? For my life's
+sake I could not say. The desire to please a most charming woman and
+to keep her from making solitary experiments of a dangerous nature, I
+suppose, though whether they should be less dangerous carried out
+jointly remained to be seen. Certainly it was not any wish to eat of
+her proffered apple of Knowledge, for already I knew a great deal more
+than I cared for about things in general. Oh! the truth was that woman
+is the mightiest force in the world, at any rate where the majority of
+us poor men is concerned. She commanded and I must obey.
+
+I grew desperate and wondered if I could escape. Perhaps I might slip
+out of the back door and run for it, without my great coat or hat
+although the night was so cold and I should probably be taken up as a
+lunatic. No, it was impossible for I had forged a chain that might not
+be broken. I had passed my word of honour. Well, I was in for it and
+after all what was there of which I need be afraid that I should
+tremble and shrink back as though I were about to run away with
+somebody's wife, or rather to be run away with quite contrary to my
+own inclination? Nothing at all. A mere nonsensical ordeal much less
+serious than a visit to the dentist.
+
+Probably that stuff had lost its strength by now--that is, unless it
+had grown more powerful by keeping, as is the case with certain sorts
+of explosives. And if it had not, the worst to be expected was a silly
+dream, followed perhaps by headache. That is, unless I did not chance
+to wake up again at all in this world, which was a most unpleasant
+possibility. Another thing, suppose I woke and she didn't! What should
+I say then? Of a certainty I should find myself in the dock. Yes, and
+there were further dreadful eventualities, quite conceivable, every
+one of them, the very thought of which plunged me into a cold
+perspiration and made me feel so weak that I was obliged to sit down.
+
+Then I heard the gong; to me it sounded like the execution bell to a
+prisoner under sentence of death. I crept downstairs feebly and found
+Lady Ragnall waiting for me in the drawing-room, clothed with gaiety
+as with a garment. I remember that it made me most indignant that she
+could be so happy in such circumstances, but I said nothing. She
+looked me up and down and remarked,
+
+"Really from your appearance you might have seen the Ragnall ghost, or
+be going to be married against your will, or--I don't know what. Also
+you have forgotten to fasten your tie."
+
+I looked in the glass. It was true, for there hung the ends down my
+shirt front. Then I struggled with the wretched thing until at last
+she had to help me, which she did laughing softly. Somehow her touch
+gave me confidence again and enabled me to say quite boldly that I
+only wanted my dinner.
+
+"Yes," she replied, "but you are not to eat much and you must only
+drink water. The priestesses in Kendah Land told me that this was
+necessary before taking /Taduki/ in its strongest form, as we are
+going to do to-night. You know the prophet Har�t only gave us the
+merest whiff in this room years ago."
+
+I groaned and she laughed again.
+
+That dinner with nothing to drink, although to avoid suspicion I let
+Moxley fill my glass once or twice, and little to eat for my appetite
+had vanished, went by like a bad dream. I recall no more about it
+until I heard Lady Ragnall tell Moxley to see that there was a good
+fire in the museum where we were going to study that night and must
+not be disturbed.
+
+Another minute and I was automatically opening the door for her. As
+she passed she paused to do something to her dress and whispered,
+
+"Come in a quarter of an hour. Mind--no port which clouds the
+intellect."
+
+"I have none left to cloud," I remarked after her.
+
+Then I went back and sat by the fire feeling most miserable and
+staring at the decanters, for never in my life do I remember wanting a
+bottle of wine more. The big clock ticked and ticked and at last
+chimed the quarter, jarring on my nerves in that great lonely
+banqueting hall. Then I rose and crept upstairs like an evil-doer and
+it seemed to me that the servants in the hall looked on me with
+suspicion, as well they might.
+
+I reached the museum and found it brilliantly lit, but empty except
+for the cheerful company of the two mummies who also appeared to
+regard me with gleaming but doubtful eyes. So I sat down there in
+front of the fire, not even daring to smoke lest tobacco should
+complicate /Taduki/.
+
+Presently I heard a low sound of laughter, looked up and nearly fell
+backwards, that is, metaphorically, for the chair prevented such a
+physical collapse.
+
+It was not wonderful since before me, like a bride of ancient days
+adorned for her husband, stood the goddess Isis--white robes,
+feathered headdress, ancient bracelets, gold-studded sandals on bare
+feet, scented hair, ruby necklace and all the rest. I stared, then
+there burst from me words which were the last I meant to say,
+
+"Great Heavens! how beautiful you are."
+
+"Am I?" she asked. "I am glad," and she glided across the room and
+locked the door.
+
+"Now," she said, returning, "we had better get to business, that is
+unless you would like to worship the goddess Isis a little first, to
+bring yourself into a proper frame of mind, you know."
+
+"No," I replied, my dignity returning to me. "I do not wish to worship
+any goddess, especially when she isn't a goddess. It was not a part of
+the bargain."
+
+"Quite so," she said, nodding, "but who knows what you will be
+worshipping before an hour is over? Oh! forgive me for laughing at
+you, but I can't help it. You are so evidently frightened."
+
+"Who wouldn't be frightened?" I answered, looking with gloomy
+apprehension at the sandal-wood box which had appeared upon a case
+full of scarabs. "Look here, Lady Ragnall," I added, "why can't you
+leave all this unholy business alone and let us spend a pleasant
+evening talking, now that those Smith people have gone? I have lots of
+stories about my African adventures which would interest you."
+
+"Because I want to hear my own African adventures, and perhaps yours
+too, which I am sure will interest me a great deal more," she
+exclaimed earnestly. "You think it is all foolishness, but it is not.
+Those Kendah priestesses told me much when I seemed to be out of my
+mind. For a long time I did not remember what they said, but of late
+years, especially since George and I began to excavate that temple,
+plenty has come back to me bit by bit, fragments, you know, that make
+me desire to learn the rest as I never desired anything else on earth.
+And the worst of it has always been that from the beginning I have
+known--and know--that this can only happen with you and through you,
+why I cannot say, or have forgotten. That's what sent me nearly wild
+with joy when I heard that you were not only alive, but in this
+country. You won't disappoint me, will you? There is nothing I can
+offer you which would have any value for you, so I can only beg you
+not to disappoint me--well, because I am your friend."
+
+I turned away my head, hesitating, and when I looked up again I saw
+that her beautiful eyes were full of tears. Naturally that settled the
+matter, so I only said,
+
+"Let us get on with the affair. What am I to do? Stop a bit. I may as
+well provide against eventualities," and going to a table I took a
+sheet of notepaper and wrote:
+
+
+ "Lady Ragnall and I, Allan Quatermain, are about to make an
+  experiment with an herb which we discovered some years ago in
+  Africa. If by any chance this should result in accident to either
+  or both of us, the Coroner is requested to understand that it is
+  not a case of murder or of suicide, but merely of unfortunate
+  scientific research."
+
+
+This I dated, adding the hour, 9.47 P.M., and signed, requesting her
+to do the same.
+
+She obeyed with a smile, saying it was strange that one who had lived
+a life of such constant danger as myself, should be so afraid to die.
+
+"Look here, young lady," I replied with irritation, "doesn't it occur
+to you that /I/ may be afraid lest /you/ should die--and /I/ be hanged
+for it," I added by an afterthought.
+
+"Oh! I see," she answered, "that is really very nice of you. But, of
+course, you would think like that; it is your nature."
+
+"Yes," I replied. "Nature, not merit."
+
+She went to a cupboard which formed the bottom of one of the mahogany
+museum cases, and extracted from it first of all a bowl of ancient
+appearance made of some black stone with projecting knobs for handles
+that were carved with the heads of women wearing ceremonial wigs; and
+next a low tripod of ebony or some other black wood. I looked at these
+articles and recognized them. They had stood in front of the sanctuary
+in the temple in Kendah Land, and over them I had once seen this very
+woman dressed as she was to-night, bend her head in the magic smoke
+before she had uttered the prophecy of the passing of the Kendah god.
+
+"So you brought these away too," I said.
+
+"Yes," she replied with solemnity, "that they might be ready at the
+appointed hour when we needed them."
+
+Then she spoke no more for a while, but busied herself with certain
+rather eerie preparations. First she set the tripod and its bowl in an
+open space which I was glad to note was at some distance from the
+fire, since if either of us fell into that who would there be to take
+us off before cremation ensued? Then she drew up a curved settee with
+a back and arms, a comfortable-looking article having a seat that
+sloped backwards like those in clubs, and motioned to me to sit down.
+This I did with much the same sensations that are evoked by taking
+one's place upon an operation-table.
+
+Next she brought that accursed /Taduki/ box, I mean the inner silver
+one, the contents of which I heartily wished I had thrown upon the
+fire, and set it down, open, near the tripod. Lastly she lifted some
+glowing embers of wood from the grate with tongs, and dropped them
+into the stone bowl.
+
+"I think that's all. Now for the great adventure," she said in a voice
+that was at once rapt and dreamy.
+
+"What am I to do?" I asked feebly.
+
+"That is quite simple," she replied, as she sat herself down beside me
+well within reach of the /Taduki/ box, the brazier being between us
+with its tripod stand pressed against the edge of the couch, and in
+its curve, so that we were really upon each side of it. "When the
+smoke begins to rise thickly you have only to bend your head a little
+forward, with your shoulders still resting against the settee, and
+inhale until you find your senses leaving you, though I don't know
+that this is necessary for the stuff is subtle. Then throw your head
+back, go to sleep and dream."
+
+"What am I to dream about?" I inquired in a vacuous way, for my senses
+were leaving me already.
+
+"You will dream, I think, of past events in which both of us played a
+part, at least I hope so. I dreamt of them before in Kendah Land, but
+then I was not myself, and for the most part they are forgotten.
+Moreover, I learned that we can only see them all when we are
+together. Now speak no more."
+
+This command, by the way, at once produced in me an intense desire for
+prolonged conversation. It was not to be gratified, however, for at
+that moment she stood up again facing the tripod and me, and began to
+sing in a rich and thrilling voice. What she sang I do not know for I
+could not understand the language, but I presume it was some ancient
+chant that she learned in Kendah Land. At any rate, there she stood, a
+lovely and inspired priestess clad in her sacerdotal robes, and sang,
+waving her arms and fixing her eyes upon mine. Presently she bent
+down, took a little of the /Taduki/ weed and with words of
+incantation, dropped it upon the embers in the bowl. Twice she did
+this, then sat herself upon the couch and waited.
+
+A clear flame sprang up and burned for thirty seconds or so, I suppose
+while it consumed the volatile oils in the weed. Then it died down and
+smoke began to come, white, rich and billowy, with a very pleasant
+odour resembling that of hot-house flowers. It spread out between us
+like a fan, and though its veil I heard her say,
+
+"The gates are wide. Enter!"
+
+I knew what she meant well enough, and though for a moment I thought
+of cheating, there is no other word for it, knew also that she had
+detected the thought and was scorning me in her mind. At any rate I
+felt that I must obey and thrust my head forward into the smoke, as a
+green ham is thrust into a chimney. The warm vapour struck against my
+face like fog, or rather steam, but without causing me to choke or my
+eyes to smart. I drew it down my throat with a deep inhalation--once,
+twice, thrice, then as my brain began to swim, threw myself back as I
+had been instructed to do. A deep and happy drowsiness stole over me,
+and the last thing I remember was hearing the clock strike the first
+two strokes of the hour of ten. The third stroke I heard also, but it
+sounded like to that of the richest-throated bell that ever boomed in
+all the world. I remember becoming aware that it was the signal for
+the rolling up of some vast proscenium, revealing behind it a stage
+that was the world--nothing less.
+
+
+
+What did I see? What did I see? Let me try to recall and record.
+
+First of all something chaotic. Great rushes of vapour driven by
+mighty winds; great seas, for the most part calm. Then upheavals and
+volcanoes spouting fire. Then tropic scenes of infinite luxuriance.
+Terrific reptiles feeding on the brinks of marshes, and huge elephant-
+like animals moving between palms beyond. Then, in a glade, rough huts
+and about them a jabbering crowd of creatures that were only half
+human, for sometimes they stood upright and sometimes ran on their
+hands and feet. Also they were almost covered with hair which was all
+they had in the way of clothes, and at the moment that I met them,
+were terribly frightened by the appearance of a huge mammoth, if that
+is the right name for it, which walked into the glade and looked at
+us. At any rate it was a beast of the elephant tribe which I judged to
+be nearly twenty feet high, with enormous curving tusks.
+
+The point of the vision was that I recognized myself among those hairy
+jabberers, not by anything outward and visible, but by something
+inward and spiritual. Moreover, I was being urged by a female of the
+race, I can scarcely call her a woman, to justify my existence by
+tackling the mammoth in her particular interest, or to give her up to
+someone who would. In the end I tackled it, rushing forward with a
+weapon, I think it was a sharp stone tied to a stick, though how I
+could expect to hurt a beast twenty feet high with such a thing is
+more than I can understand, unless perhaps the stone was poisoned.
+
+At any rate the end was sudden. I threw the stone, whereat a great
+trunk shot out from between the tusks and caught me. Round and round I
+went in the air, reflecting as I did so, for I suppose at the time my
+normal consciousness had not quite left me, that this was my first
+encounter with the elephant Jana, also that it was very foolish to try
+to oblige a female regardless of personal risk. . . .
+
+All became dark, as no doubt it would have done, but presently, that
+is after a lapse of a great many thousands of years, or so it appeared
+to me, light grew again. This time I was a black man living in
+something not unlike a Kaffir kraal on the top of a hill.
+
+There was shouting below and enemies attacked us; a woman rushed out
+of a hut and gave me a spear and a shield, the latter made of wood
+with white spots on it, and pointed to the path of duty which ran down
+the hill. I followed in company with others, though without
+enthusiasm, and presently met a roaring giant of a man at the bottom.
+I stuck my spear into him and he stuck his into me, through the
+stomach, which hurt me most abominably. After this I retired up the
+hill where the woman pulled the spear out and gave it to another man.
+I remember no more.
+
+Then followed a whole maze of visions, but really I cannot disentangle
+them. Nor is it worth while doing so since after all they were only of
+the nature of an overture, jumbled incidents of former lives, real or
+imaginary, or so I suppose, having to do, all of them, with elementary
+things, such as hunger and wounds and women and death.
+
+At length these broken fragments of the past were swept away out of my
+consciousness and I found myself face to face with something connected
+and tangible, not too remote or unfamiliar for understanding. It was
+the beginning of the real story.
+
+
+
+I, please remember always that I knew it was I, Allan, and no one
+else, that is, the same personality or whatever it may be which makes
+each man different from any other man, saw myself in a chariot drawn
+by two horses with arched necks and driven by a charioteer who sat on
+a little seat in front. It was a highly ornamented, springless vehicle
+of wood and gilded, something like a packing-case with a pole, or as
+we should call it in South Africa, a disselboom, to which the horses
+were harnessed. In this cart I stood arrayed in flowing robes fastened
+round my middle by a studded belt, with strips of coloured cloth wound
+round my legs and sandals on my feet. To my mind the general effect of
+the attire was distinctly feminine and I did not like it at all.
+
+I was glad to observe, however, that the I of those days was anything
+but feminine. Indeed I could never have believed that once I was so
+good-looking, even over two thousand years ago. I was not very tall
+but extremely stalwart, burly almost, with an arm that as I could
+observe, since it projected from the sleeve of my lady's gown, would
+have done no discredit to a prize-fighter, and a chest like a bull.
+
+The face also I admired very much. The brow was broad; the black eyes
+were full and proud-looking, the features somewhat massive but well-
+cut and highly intelligent; the mouth firm and shapely, with lips that
+were perhaps a trifle too thick; the hair--well, there was rather a
+failure in the hair, at least according to modern ideas, for it curled
+so beautifully as to suggest that one of my ancestors might have
+fallen in love with a person of negroid origin. However there was lots
+of it, hanging down almost to the shoulders and bound about the brow
+by a very neat fillet of blue cloth with silver studs. The colour of
+my skin, I was glad to note, was by no means black, only a light and
+pleasing brown such as might have been produced by sunburn. My age, I
+might add, was anywhere between five and twenty and five and thirty,
+perhaps nearer the latter than the former, at any rate, the very prime
+of life.
+
+For the rest, I held in my left hand a very stout, long bow of black
+wood which seemed to have seen much service, with a string of what
+looked like catgut, on which was set a broad-feathered, barbed arrow.
+This I kept in place with the fingers of my right hand, on one of
+which I observed a handsome gold ring with strange characters carved
+upon the bezel.
+
+Now for the charioteer.
+
+He was black as night, black as a Sunday hat, with yellow rolling eyes
+set in a countenance of extraordinary ugliness and I may add,
+extraordinary humour. His big, wide mouth with thick lips ran up the
+left side of his face towards an ear that was also big and projecting.
+His hair, that had a feather stuck in it, was real nigger wool
+covering a skull like a cannon ball and I should imagine as hard. This
+head, by the way, was set plumb upon the shoulders, as though it had
+been driven down between them by a pile hammer. They were very broad
+shoulders suggesting enormous strength, but the gaily-clad body
+beneath, which was supported by two bowed legs and large, flat feet,
+was that of a dwarf who by the proportions of his limbs Nature first
+intended for a giant; yes, an Ethiopian dwarf.
+
+Looking through this remarkable exterior, as it were, I recognized
+that inside of it was the soul, or animating principle, of--whom do
+you think? None other than my beloved old servant and companion, the
+Hottentot Hans whose loss I had mourned for years! Hans himself who
+died for me, slaying the great elephant, Jana, in Kendah Land, the
+elephant I could not hit, and thereby saving my life. Oh! although I
+had been obliged to go back to the days of I knew not what ancient
+empire to do so in my trance, or whatever it was, I could have wept
+with joy at finding him again, especially as I knew by instinct that
+as he loved the Allan Quatermain of to-day, so he loved this Egyptian
+in a wheeled packing-case, for I may as well say at once that such was
+my nationality in the dream.
+
+Now I looked about me and perceived that my chariot was the second of
+a cavalcade. Immediately in front of it was one infinitely more
+gorgeous in which stood a person who even if I had not known it, I
+should have guessed to be a king, and who, as a matter of fact, was
+none other than the King of kings, at that time the absolute master of
+most of the known world, though what his name may have been, I have no
+notion. He wore a long flowing robe of purple silk embroidered with
+gold and bound in at the waist by a jewelled girdle from which hung
+the private, sacred seal; the little "White Seal" that, as I learned
+afterwards, was famous throughout the earth.
+
+On his head was a stiff cloth cap, also purple in colour, round which
+was fastened a fillet of light blue stuff spotted with white. The best
+idea that I can give of its general appearance is to liken it to a
+tall hat of fashionable shape, without a brim, slightly squashed in so
+that it bulged at the top, and surrounded by a rather sporting
+necktie. Really, however, it was the /kitaris/ or headdress of these
+monarchs worn by them alone. If anyone else had put on that hat, even
+by mistake in the dark, well, his head would have come off with it,
+that is all.
+
+This king held a bow in his hand with an arrow set upon its string,
+just as I did, for we were out hunting, and as I shall have to narrate
+presently, lions are no respecters of persons. By his side, leaning
+against the back of the chariot, was a tall, sharp-pointed wand of
+cedar wood with a knob of some green precious stone, probably an
+emerald, fashioned to the likeness of an apple. This was the royal
+sceptre. Immediately behind the chariot walked several great nobles.
+One of them carried a golden footstool, another a parasol, furled at
+the moment; another a spare bow and a quiver of arrows, and another a
+jewelled fly-whisk made of palm fibre.
+
+The king, I should add, was young, handsome with a curled beard and
+clear-cut, high-bred looking features; his face, however, was bad,
+cruel and stamped with an air of weariness, or rather, satiety, which
+was emphasized by the black circles beneath his fine dark eyes.
+Moreover pride seemed to emanate from him and yet there was something
+in his bearing and glances which suggested fear. He was a god who
+knows that he is mortal and is therefore afraid lest at any moment he
+may be called upon to lose his godship in his mortality.
+
+Not that he dreaded the perils of the chase; he was too much of a man
+for that. But how could he tell lest among all that crowd of crawling
+nobles, there was not one who had a dagger ready for his back, or a
+phial of poison to mix with his wine or water? He with all the world
+in the hollow of his hand, was filled with secret terrors which as I
+learned since first I seemed to see him thus, fulfilled themselves at
+the appointed time. For this man of blood was destined to die in
+blood, though not by murder.
+
+
+
+The cavalcade halted. Presently a fat eunuch glittering in his gold-
+wrought garments like some bronzed beetle in the sunlight, came
+waddling back towards me. He was odious and I knew that we hated each
+other.
+
+"Greeting, Egyptian," he said, mopping his brow with his sleeve for
+the sun was hot. "An honour for you! A great honour! The King of kings
+commands your presence. Yes, he would speak with you with his own
+lips, and with that abortion of a servant of yours also. Come! Come
+swiftly!"
+
+"Swift as an arrow, Houman," I answered laughing, "seeing that for
+three moons I, like an arrow, have rested upon the string and flown no
+nearer to his Majesty."
+
+"Three moons!" screeched the eunuch. "Why, many wait three years and
+many go to the grave still waiting; bigger men than you, Egyptian,
+though I hear you do claim to be of royal blood yonder on the Nile.
+But talk not of arrows flying towards the most High, for surely it is
+ill-omened and might earn you another honour, that of the string," and
+he made a motion suggestive of a cord encircling his throat. "Man,
+leave your bow behind! Would you appear before the King armed? Yes,
+and your dagger also."
+
+"Perchance a lion might appear before the King and he does not leave
+his claws and teeth behind," I answered drily as I divested myself of
+my weapons.
+
+Then we started, the three of us, leaving the chariot in charge of a
+soldier.
+
+"Draw your sleeves over your hands," said the eunuch. "None must
+appear before the King showing his hands, and, dwarf, since you have
+no sleeves, thrust yours into your robe."
+
+"What am I to do with my feet?" he answered in a thick, guttural
+voice. "Will it offend the King of kings to see my feet, most noble
+eunuch?"
+
+"Certainly, certainly," answered Houman, "since they are ugly enough
+to offend even me. Hide them as much as possible. Now we are near,
+down on your faces and crawl forward slowly on your knees and elbows,
+as I do. Down, I say!"
+
+So down I went, though with anger in my heart, for be it remembered
+that I, the modern Allan Quatermain, knew every thought and feeling
+that passed through the mind of my prototype.
+
+It was as though I were a spectator at a play, with this difference. I
+could read the motives and reflections of this former /ego/ as well as
+observe his actions. Also I could rejoice when he rejoiced, weep when
+he wept and generally feel all that he felt, though at the same time I
+retained the power of studying him from my own modern standpoint and
+with my own existing intelligence. Being two we still were one, or
+being one we still were two, whichever way you like to put it. Lastly
+I lacked these powers with reference to the other actors in the piece.
+Of these I knew just as much, or as little as my former self knew,
+that is if he ever really existed. There was nothing unnatural in my
+faculties where they were concerned. I had no insight into their souls
+any more than I have into those of the people about me to-day. Now I
+hope that I have made clear my somewhat uncommon position with
+reference to these pages from the Book of the Past.
+
+Well, preceded by the eunuch and followed by the dwarf, I crawled
+though the sand in which grew some thorny plants that pricked my knees
+and fingers, towards the person of the Monarch of the World. He had
+descended from his chariot by help of a footstool, and was engaged in
+drinking from a golden cup, while his attendants stood around in
+various attitudes of adoration, he who had handed him the cup being
+upon his knees. Presently he looked up and saw us.
+
+"Who are these?" he asked in a high voice that yet was not unmusical,
+"and why do you bring them into my presence?"
+
+"May it please the King," answered our guide, knocking his head upon
+the ground in a very agony of humiliation, "may it please the
+King----"
+
+"It would please me better, dog, if you answered my question. Who are
+they?"
+
+"May it please the King, this is the Egyptian hunter and noble,
+Shabaka."
+
+"I hear," said his Majesty with a gleam of interest in his tired eyes,
+"and what does this Egyptian here?"
+
+"May it please the King, the King bade me bring him to the presence,
+but now when the chariots halted."
+
+"I forgot; you are forgiven. But who is that with him? Is it a man or
+an ape?"
+
+Here I screwed my head round and saw that my slave in his efforts to
+obey the eunuch's instructions and hide his feet, had made himself
+into a kind of ball, much as a hedgehog does, except that his big head
+appeared in front of the ball.
+
+"O King, that I understand is the Egyptian's servant and charioteer."
+
+Again he looked interested, and exclaimed,
+
+"Is it so? Then Egypt must be a stranger country than I thought if
+such ape-men live there. Stand up, Egyptian, and bid your ape stand up
+also, for I cannot hear men who speak with their mouths in the dust."
+
+So I rose and saluted by lifting both my hands and bowing as I had
+observed others do, trying, however, to keep them covered by my
+sleeves. The King looked me up and down, then said briefly,
+
+"Set out your name and the business that brought you to my city."
+
+"May the King live for ever," I replied. "As this lord said," and I
+pointed to the eunuch----
+
+"He is not a lord but a dog," interrupted the Monarch, "who wears the
+robe of women. But continue."
+
+"As this dog who wears the robe of women said"--here the King laughed,
+but the eunuch, Houman, turned green with rage and glowered at me--"my
+name is Shabaka. I am a descendant of the Ethiopian king of Egypt of
+that same name."
+
+"It seems from all I hear that there are too many descendants of kings
+in Egypt. When I visit that land which perhaps soon I must do with an
+army at my back," here he stared at me coldly, "it may be well to
+lessen their number. There is a certain Peroa for instance."
+
+He paused, but I made no answer, since Peroa was my father's cousin
+and of the fallen Royal House; also the protector of my youth.
+
+"Well, Shabaka," he went on, "in Persia royal blood is common also,
+though some of us think it looks best when it is shed. What else are
+you?"
+
+"A slayer of royal beasts, O King of kings, a hunter of lions and of
+elephants," (this statement interested me, Allan Quatermain,
+intensely, showing me as it did that our tastes are very persistent);
+"also when I am at home, a breeder of cattle and a grower of grain."
+
+"Good trades, all of them, Shabaka. But why came you here?"
+
+"Idernes the satrap of Egypt, servant of the King of kings, sought for
+one who would travel to the East because the King of kings desired to
+hear of the hunting of lions in the lands that lie to the south of
+Egypt towards the beginnings of the great river. Then I, who desired
+to see new countries, said, 'Here am I. Send me.' So I came and for
+three moons have dwelt in the royal city, but till this hour have
+scarcely so much as seen the face of the great King, although by many
+messengers I have announced my presence, showing them the letters of
+Idernes giving me safe-conduct. Therefore I propose to-morrow or the
+next day to return to Egypt."
+
+The King said a word and a scribe appeared whom he commanded to take
+note of my words and let the matter be inquired of, since some should
+suffer for this neglect, a saying at which I saw Houman and certain of
+the nobles turn pale and whisper to each other.
+
+"Now I remember," he exclaimed, "that I did desire Idernes to send me
+an Egyptian hunter. Well, you are here and we are about to hunt the
+lion of which there are many in yonder reeds, hungry and fierce
+beasts, since for three days they have been herded in so that they can
+kill no food. How many lions have you slain, Shabaka?"
+
+"Fifty and three in all, O King, not counting the cubs."
+
+He stared at me, answering with a sneer,
+
+"You Egyptians have large mouths. I have always heard it of you. Well,
+to-day we will see whether you can kill a fifty-fourth. In an hour
+when the sun begins to sink, the hounds will be loosed in yonder reeds
+and since the water is behind them, the lions will come out, and then
+we shall see."
+
+Now I saw that the King thought me to be a liar and the blood rose to
+my head.
+
+"Why wait till the sun begins to sink, O King of kings?" I said. "Why
+not enter the reeds, as is our fashion in the Land of Kush, and rouse
+the lions from sleep in their own lair?"
+
+Now the King laughed outright and called in a loud voice to his
+courtiers,
+
+"Do ye hear this boasting Egyptian, who talks of entering the reeds
+and facing the lions in their lair, a thing that no man dare do where
+none can see to shoot? What say ye now? Shall we ask him to prove his
+words?"
+
+Some great lord stepped forward, one who was a hunter though he looked
+little like it, for the scent on his hair reached me from four paces
+away and there was paint upon his face.
+
+"Yes, O King," he said in a mincing voice, "let him enter and kill a
+lion. But if he fail, then let a lion kill him. There are some hungry
+in the palace den and it is not fit that the King's ears should be
+filled with empty words by foreigners from Egypt."
+
+"So be it," said the King. "Egyptian, you have brought it on your own
+head. Prove that you can do what you say and I will give you great
+honour. Fail, and to the lions with him who lies of lions. Still," he
+added, "it is not right that you should go alone. Choose therefore one
+of these lords to keep you company; he who would put you to the test,
+if you will."
+
+Now I looked at the scented noble who turned pale beneath his paint.
+Then I looked at the fat eunuch, Houman, who opened his mouth and
+gasped like a fish, and when I had looked, I shook my head and said as
+though to myself,
+
+"Not so, no woman and no eunuch shall be my companion on this quest,"
+whereat the King and all the rest laughed out loud. "The dwarf and I
+will go alone."
+
+"The dwarf!" said the King. "Can he hunt lions also?"
+
+"No, O King, but perchance he can smell them, for otherwise how shall
+I find them in that thicket within an hour?"
+
+"Perchance they can smell him. How is the ape-man named?" asked the
+King.
+
+"Bes, O King, after the god of the Egyptians whom he resembles."
+
+"Dare you accompany your master on this hunt, O Bes?" inquired the
+King.
+
+Then Bes looked up, rolling his yellow eyes, and answered in his thick
+and guttural voice,
+
+"I am my master's slave and dare I refuse to accompany him? If I did
+he might kill me, as the King of kings kills his slaves. It is better
+to die with honour by the teeth of a lion, than with dishonour beneath
+the whip of a master. So at least we think in Ethiopia."
+
+"Well spoken, dwarf Bes!" exclaimed the King. "So would I have all men
+think throughout the East. Let the words of this Ethiop be written
+down and copies of them sent to the satraps of all the provinces that
+they may be read to the peoples of the earth. I the King have decreed
+it."
+
+
+
+                              CHAPTER V
+
+                              THE WAGER
+
+While the scribes were at their work I bowed before the King and
+prayed his leave and I and the dwarf Bes might get to ours.
+
+"Go," he said, "and return here within an hour. If you do not return
+tidings of your death shall be sent to the satrap of Egypt to be told
+to your wives."
+
+"I thank the King, but it is needless, for I have no wives, which are
+ill company for a hunter."
+
+"Strange," he said, "since many women would be glad to name such a man
+their husband, at least here among us Easterns."
+
+Walking backwards and bowing as we went, Bes and I returned to our
+chariot. There we stripped off our outer garments till Bes was naked
+save for his waistcloth and I was clad only in a jerkin. Then I took
+my bow, my arrows and my knife, and Bes took two spears, one light for
+throwing and the other short, broad and heavy for stabbing. Thus armed
+we passed back before the Easterns who stared at us, and advanced to
+the edge of the thicket of tall reeds that was full of lions.
+
+Here Bes took dust and threw it into the air that we might learn from
+which quarter the light wind blew.
+
+"We will go against the breeze, Lord," he said, "that I may smell the
+lions before they smell us."
+
+I nodded, and answered,
+
+"Hearken, Bes. Well may it be that we kill no lions in this place
+where it is hard to shoot. Yet I would not return to be thrown to wild
+beasts by yonder evil king. Therefore if we fail in this or in any
+other way, do you kill me, if you still live."
+
+He rolled his eyes and grinned.
+
+"Not so, Master. Then we will win through the reeds and lie hid in
+their edge till darkness comes, for in them those half-men will never
+dare to seek for us. Afterwards we will swim the water and disguise
+ourselves as jugglers and try to reach the coast, and so back to
+Egypt, having learned much. Never stretch out your hand to Death till
+he stretches out his to you, which he will do soon enough, Master."
+
+Again I nodded and said,
+
+"And if a lion should kill me, Bes, what then?"
+
+"Then, Master, I will kill that lion if I can and go report the matter
+to the King."
+
+"And if he should wish to throw you to the beasts, Bes, what then?"
+
+"Then, first I will drag him down to the greatest of all beasts, he
+who waits to devour evil-doers in the Under-world, be they kings or
+slaves," and he stretched out his long arms and made a motion as of
+clutching a man by the throat. "Oh! have no fear, Master, I can break
+him like a stick, and afterwards we will talk the matter over among
+the dead, for I shall swallow my tongue and die also. It is a good
+trick, Master, which I wish you would learn."
+
+Then he took my hand and kissed it and we entered the reeds, I, who
+was a hunter, feeling more happy than I had done since we set foot in
+the East.
+
+Yet the quest was desperate for the reeds were tall and often I could
+not see more than a bow's length in front of me. Presently, however,
+we found a path made perchance by game coming down to drink, or by
+crocodiles coming up to sleep, and followed it, I with an arrow on my
+string and Bes with the throwing spear in his right hand and the
+stabbing spear in his left, half a pace ahead of me. On we crept, Bes
+drawing in the air through his great nostrils as a hound might do,
+till suddenly he stopped and sniffed towards the north.
+
+"I smell lion near," he whispered, searching among the reed stems with
+his eyes. "I see lion," he whispered again, and pointed, but I could
+see nothing save the stems of the reeds.
+
+"Rouse him," I whispered back, "and I will shoot as he bounds."
+
+Then Bes poised the spear, shook it till it quivered, and threw. There
+was a roar and a lioness appeared with the spear fast in her flank. I
+loosed the arrow but it cut into the thick reeds and stuck there.
+
+"Forward!" whispered Bes, "for where woman is, there look for man. The
+lion will be near."
+
+We crept on, Bes stopping to cut the arrow from a reed and set it back
+in the quiver, for it was a good arrow made by himself. But now he
+shifted the broad spear to his right hand and in his left held his
+knife. We heard the wounded lioness roar not far away.
+
+"She calls her man to help her," whispered Bes, and as the words left
+his lips the reeds down wind began to sway, for we were smelt.
+
+They swayed, they parted and, half seen, half hid between their stems,
+appeared the head of a great, black-maned lion. I drew the string and
+shot, this time not in vain, for I heard the arrow thud upon his hide.
+Then before I could set another he was on us, reared upon his hind
+legs and roaring. As I drew my dagger he struck at me, but I bent down
+and his paw went over my head. Then his weight came against me and I
+fell beneath him, stabbing him in the belly as I fell. I saw his
+mighty jaws open to crush my head. Then they shut again and through
+them burst a whine like that of a hurt dog.
+
+Bes had driven his spear into the lion's breast, so deep that the
+point of it came out through the back. Still he was not dead, only now
+it was Bes he sought. The dwarf ran at him as he reared up again, and
+casting his great arms about the brute's body, wrestled with him as
+man with man.
+
+Then it was, for the first time I think, that I learned all the
+Ethiopian's strength. For he, a dwarf, threw that lion on its back and
+thrusting his big head beneath the jaws, struggled with it madly. I
+was up, the knife still in my hand, and oh! I too was strong. Into the
+throat I drove it, dragging it this way and that, and lo! the lion
+moaned and died and his blood gushed out over both of us. Then Bes sat
+up and laughed, and I too laughed, since neither of us had more than
+scratches and we had done what men could scarcely do.
+
+"Do you remember, Master," said Bes when he had finished laughing, as
+he wiped his brow with some damp moss, "how, once far away up the Nile
+you charged a mad elephant with a spear and saved me who had fallen,
+from being trampled to death?"
+
+I, Shabaka, answered that I did. (And I, Allan Quatermain, observing
+all these things in my psychic trance in the museum of Ragnall Castle,
+reflected that I also remembered how a certain Hans had saved me from
+a certain mad elephant, to wit, Jana, not so long before, which just
+shows how things come round.)
+
+"Yes," went on Bes, "you saved me from that elephant, though it seemed
+death to you. And, Master, I will tell you something now. That very
+morning I had tried to poison you, only you would not wait to eat
+because the elephants were near."
+
+"Did you?" I asked idly. "Why?"
+
+"Because two years before you captured me in battle with some of my
+people, and as I was misshapen, or for pity's sake, spared my life and
+made me your slave. Well, I who had been a chief, a very great chief,
+Master, did not wish to remain a slave and did wish to avenge my
+people's blood. Therefore I tried to poison you, and that very day you
+saved my life, offering for it your own."
+
+"I think it was because I wanted the tusks of the elephant, Bes."
+
+"Perhaps, Master, only you will remember that this elephant was a
+young cow and had no tusks worth anything. Still had it carried tusks,
+it might have been so, since one white tusk is worth many black
+dwarfs. Well, to-day I have paid you back. I say it lest you should
+forget that had it not been for me, that lion would have eaten you."
+
+"Yes, Bes, you have paid me back and I thank you."
+
+"Master, hitherto I always thought you one who worshipped Maat,
+goddess of Truth. Now I see that you worship the god of Lies, whoever
+he may be, that god who dwells in the breasts of women and most men,
+but has no name. For, Master, it was /you/ who saved /me/ from the
+lion and not I you, since you cut its throat at the last. So that debt
+of mine is still to pay and by the great Grasshopper which we worship
+in my country, who is much better than all the gods of the Egyptians
+put together, I swear that I will pay it soon, or mayhap ten thousand
+years hence. At the last it shall be paid."
+
+"Why do you worship a grasshopper and why is he better than the gods
+of the Egyptians?" I asked carelessly, for I was tired and his talk
+amused me while we rested.
+
+"We worship the Grasshopper, Master, because he jumps with men's
+spirits from one life to another, or from this world to the next, yes,
+right through the blue sky. And he is better than your Egyptian gods
+because they leave you to find your own way there, and then eat you
+alive, that is if you have tried to poison people, as of course we
+have all done. But, Master, we are fresh again now, so let us be
+going, for the hour will soon be finished. Also when she has eaten the
+spear handle, that lioness may return."
+
+"Yes," I said; "let us go and report to the King of kings that we have
+killed a lion."
+
+"Master, it is not enough. Even common kings believe little that they
+do not see, wherefore it is certain that a King of kings will believe
+nothing and still more certain that he will not come here to look. So
+as we cannot carry the lion, we must take a bit of it," and
+straightway he cut off the end of the brute's tail.
+
+Following the crocodile path, presently we reached the edge of the
+reeds opposite to the camp where the King now sat in state beneath a
+purple pavilion that had been reared, eating a meal, with his
+courtiers standing at a distance and looking very hungry.
+
+Out of the reeds bounded Bes, naked and bloody, waving the lion's tail
+and singing some wild Ethiopian chant, while I, also bloody and half
+naked, for the lion's claws had torn my jerkin off me, followed with
+bow unstrung.
+
+The King looked up and saw us.
+
+"What! Do you live, Egyptian?" he asked. "Of a surety I thought that
+by now you would be dead."
+
+"It was the lion that died, O King," I answered, pointing to Bes who,
+having ceased from his song, was jumping about carrying the beast's
+tail in his mouth as a dog carries a bone.
+
+"It seems that this Egyptian has killed a lion," said the King to one
+of his lords, him of the painted face and scented hair.
+
+"May be please the King," he answered, bowing, "a tail is not the
+whole beast and may have been taken thither, or cut from a lion lying
+dead already. The King knows that the Egyptians are great liars."
+
+So he spoke because he was jealous of the deed.
+
+"These men look as though they had met a live one, not one that is
+dead," said the King, scanning our blood-stained shapes. "Still, as
+you doubt it, you will wish to put the matter to the proof. Therefore,
+Cousin, take six men with you, enter the reeds and search. In that
+soft ground it will be easy to follow their footmarks."
+
+"It is dangerous, O King," began the prince, for such he was, no less.
+
+"And therefore the task will be the more to your taste, Cousin. Go
+now, and be swift."
+
+So six hunters were called and the prince went, cursing me beneath his
+breath as he passed us. For he was terribly afraid, and with reason.
+Suddenly Bes ceased from his antics and prostrating himself, cried,
+
+"A boon, O King. This noble lord throws doubt upon my master's word.
+Suffer that I may lead him to where the lion lies dead, since
+otherwise wandering in those reeds the great King's cousin might come
+to harm and the great King be grieved."
+
+"I have many cousins," said the King. "Still go if you wish, Dwarf."
+
+So Bes ran after the prince and catching him up, tapped him on the
+shoulder with the lion's tail to point out the way. Then they vanished
+into the reeds and I went to the chariot to wash off the blood from my
+body and clothes. As I fastened my robe I heard a sound of roaring,
+then one scream, after which all grew still. Now I drew near to the
+reeds and stood between them and the King's camp.
+
+Presently on their edge appeared Bes dancing and singing as before,
+but this time he held a lion's tail in either hand. After him came the
+six hunters dragging between them the body of the lion we had killed.
+They staggered with it towards the King, and I followed.
+
+"I see the dwarf," he said. "I see the dead lion and I see the
+hunters. But where is my cousin? Make report, O Bes."
+
+"O King of kings," replied Bes, "the mighty prince your cousin lies
+flat yonder beneath the body of that lion's wife. She sprang upon him
+and killed him, and I sprang upon her and killed her with my spear.
+Here is her tail, O King of kings."
+
+"Is this true?" he asked of the hunters.
+
+"It is true, O King," answered their captain. "The lioness, which was
+wounded, leapt upon the prince, choosing him although he was behind us
+all. Then this dwarf leapt upon the lioness, being behind the prince
+and nearest to him, and drove his spear through her shoulders to her
+heart. So we brought the first lion as the King commanded us, since we
+could carry no more."
+
+The face of the King grew red with rage.
+
+"Seven of my people and one black dwarf!" he exclaimed. "Yet the
+lioness kills my cousin and the dwarf kills the lioness. Such is the
+tale that will go to Egypt concerning the hunters of the King of the
+world. Seize those men, Guards, and let them be fed to the wild beasts
+in the palace dens."
+
+At once the unfortunates were seized and led away. Then the King
+called Bes to him, and taking the gold chain he wore about his neck,
+threw it over his head, thereby, though I knew nothing of it at the
+time, conferring upon him some noble rank. Next he called to me and
+said,
+
+"It would seem that you are skilled in the use of the bow and in the
+hunting of lions, Egyptian. Therefore I will honour you, for this
+afternoon your chariot shall drive with my chariot, and we will hunt
+side by side. Moreover, I will lay you a wager as to which of us will
+kill the most lions, for know, Shabaka, that I also am skilled in the
+use of the bow, more skilled than any among the millions of my
+subjects."
+
+"Then, O King, it is of little use for me to match myself against you,
+seeing that I have met men who can shoot better than I do, or, since
+in the East all must speak nothing but the truth, not being liars as
+the dead prince said we Egyptians are, one man."
+
+"Who was that man, Shabaka?"
+
+"The Prince Peroa, O King."
+
+The King frowned as though the name displeased him, then answered,
+
+"Am I not greater than this Peroa and cannot I therefore shoot
+better?"
+
+"Doubtless, O King of kings, and therefore how can I who shoot worse
+than Peroa, match myself against you?"
+
+"For which reason I will give you odds, Shabaka. Behold this rope of
+rose-hued pearls I wear. They are unequalled in the whole world, for
+twenty years the merchants sought them in the days of my father; half
+of them would buy a satrapy. I wager them"--here the listening nobles
+gasped and the fat eunuch, Houman, held up his hands in horror.
+
+"Against what, O King?"
+
+"Your slave Bes, to whom I have taken a fancy."
+
+Now I trembled and Bes rolled his yellow eyes.
+
+"Your pardon, O King of kings," I said, "but it is not enough. I am a
+hunter and to such, priceless pearls are of little use. But to me that
+dwarf is of much use in my hunting."
+
+"So be it, Shabaka, then I will add to the wager. If you win, together
+with the pearls I will give you the dwarf's weight in solid gold."
+
+"The King is bountiful," I answered, "but it is not enough, for even
+if I win against one who can shoot better than Peroa, which is
+impossible, what should I do with so much gold? Surely for the sake of
+it I should be murdered or ever I saw the coasts of Egypt."
+
+"What shall I add then?" asked the King. "The most beauteous maiden in
+the House of Women?"
+
+I shook my head. "Not so, O King, for then I must marry who would
+remain single."
+
+"There is no need, you might sell her to your friend, Peroa. A
+satrapy?"
+
+"Not so, O King, for then I must govern it, which would keep me from
+my hunting, until it pleased the King to take my head."
+
+"By the name of the holy ones I worship what then do you ask added to
+the pearls and the pure gold?"
+
+Now I tried to bethink me of something that the King could not grant,
+since I had no wish for this match which my heart warned me would end
+in trouble. As no thought came to me I looked at Bes and saw that he
+was rolling his eyes towards the six doomed hunters who were being led
+away, also in pretence of driving off a fly, pointing to them with one
+of the lion tails. Then I remembered that a decree once uttered by the
+King of the East could not be altered, and saw a road of escape.
+
+"O King," I said, "together with the pearls and the gold I ask that
+the lives of those six hunters be added to the wager, to be spared if
+by chance I should win."
+
+"Why?" asked the King amazed.
+
+"Because they are brave men, O King, and I would not see the bones of
+such cracked by tame beasts in a cage."
+
+"Is my judgment registered?" asked the King.
+
+"Not yet, O King," answered the head scribe.
+
+"Then it has no weight and can be suspended without the breaking of
+the law. Shabaka, thus stands our wager. If I kill more lions than you
+do this day, or, should but two be slain, I kill the first, or should
+none be slain, I plant more arrows in their bodies, I take your slave,
+Bes the dwarf, to be my slave. But should you have the better of me in
+any of these ways, then I give to you this girdle of rose pearls and
+the weight of the dwarf Bes in gold and the six hunters free of harm,
+to do with what you will. Let it be recorded, and to the hunt."
+
+
+
+Soon Bes and I were in our chariot which by command took place in line
+with that of the King, but at a distance of some thirty steps. Bending
+over the dwarf who drove, I spoke with him, saying,
+
+"Our luck is ill to-day, Bes, seeing that before the end of it we may
+well be parted."
+
+"Not so, Master, our luck is good to-day seeing that before the end of
+it you will be the richer by the finest pearls in the whole world, by
+my weight in pure gold (and Master, I am twice as heavy as the king
+thought and will stuff myself with twenty pounds of meat before the
+weighing, if I have the chance, or at least with water, though in this
+hot place that will not last for long), and by six picked huntsmen,
+brave men as you thought, who will serve to escort us and our treasure
+to the coast."
+
+"First I must win the match, Bes."
+
+"Which you could do with one eye blinded, Master, and a sore finger.
+Kings think that they can shoot because all the worms that crawl about
+them and are named men, dare not show themselves their betters. Oh! I
+have heard tales in yonder city. There have been days when this Lord
+of the world has missed six lions with as many arrows, and they seated
+smiling in his face, being but tamed brutes brought from far in cages
+of wood, yes, smiling like cats in the sun. Look you, Master, he
+drinks too much wine and sits up too late in his Women's house--there
+are three hundred of them there, Master--to shoot as you and I can. If
+you doubt it, look at his eyes and hands. Oh! the pearls and the gold
+and the men are yours, and that painted prince who mocked us is where
+he ought to be--dead in the mud.
+
+"Did I tell you how I managed that, Master? As you know better than I
+do, lions hate those that have on them the smell of their own blood.
+Therefore, while I pointed out the way to him, I touched the painted
+prince with the bleeding tail of that which we killed, pretending that
+it was by chance, for which he cursed me, as well he might. So when we
+came to the dead lion and, as I had expected, met there the lioness
+you had wounded, she charged through the hunters at him who smelt of
+her husband, and bit his head off."
+
+"But, Bes, you smelt of him also, and worse."
+
+"Yes, Master, but that painted cousin of the King came first. I kept
+well behind him, pretending to be afraid," and he chuckled quietly,
+adding, "I expect that he is now telling an angry tale about me to
+Osiris, or to the Grasshopper that takes him there, as it may happen."
+
+"These Easterns worship neither Osiris, nor your Grasshopper, Bes, but
+a flame of fire."
+
+"Then he is telling the tale to the fire, and I hope that it will get
+tired and burn him."
+
+So we talked merrily enough because we had done great deeds and
+thought that we had outwitted the Easterns and the King, not knowing
+all their craft. For none had told us that that man who hunted with
+the King and yet dared to draw arrow upon the quarry before the King
+should be put to death as one who had done insult to his Majesty. This
+that royal fox remembered and therefore was sure that he would win the
+wager.
+
+Now the chariots turned and passing down a path came to an open space
+that was cleared of reeds. Here they halted, that of the King and my
+own side by side with ten paces between them, and those of the court
+behind. Meanwhile huntsmen with dogs entered the great brake far away
+to the right and left of us, also in front, so that the lions might be
+driven backwards and forwards across the open space.
+
+Soon we heard the hounds baying on all sides. Then Bes made a sucking
+noise with his great lips and pointed to the edge of the reeds in
+front of us some sixty paces away. Looking, I saw a yellow shape
+creeping along between their dark stems, and although the shot was
+far, forgetting all things save I was a hunter and there was my game,
+I drew the arrow to my ear, aimed and loosed, making allowance for its
+fall and for the wind.
+
+Oh! that shot was good. It struck the lion in the body and pierced him
+through. Out he came, roaring, rolling, and tearing at the ground. But
+by now I had another arrow on the string, and although the King lifted
+his bow, I loosed first. Again it struck, this time in the throat, and
+that lion groaned and died.
+
+The King looked at me angrily, and from the court behind rose a murmur
+of wonder mingled with wrath, wonder at my marksmanship, and wrath
+because I had dared to shoot before the King.
+
+"The wager looks well for us," muttered Bes, but I bade him be silent,
+for more lions were stirring.
+
+Now one leapt across the open space, passing in front of the King and
+within thirty paces of us. He shot and missed it, sending his shaft
+two spans above its back. Then I shot and drove the arrow through it
+just where the head joins the neck, cutting the spine, so that it died
+at once.
+
+Again that murmur went up and the King struck the charioteer on the
+head with his clenched fist, crying out that he had suffered the
+horses to move and should be scourged for causing his hand to shake.
+
+This charioteer, although he was a lord--since in the East men of high
+rank waited on the King like slaves and even clipped his nails and
+beard--craved pardon humbly, admitting his fault.
+
+"It is a lie," whispered Bes. "The horses never stirred. How could
+they with those grooms holding their heads? Nevertheless, Master, the
+pearls are as good as round your neck."
+
+"Silence," I answered. "As we have heard, in the East all men speak
+the truth; it is only Egyptians who lie. Also in the East men's necks
+are encircled with bowstrings as well as pearls, and ears are long."
+
+The hounds continued to bay, drawing nearer to us. A lioness bounded
+out of the reeds, ran towards the King's chariot and as though amazed,
+sat down like a dog, so near that a man might have hit it with a
+stone. The King shot short, striking it in the fore-paw only, whereon
+it shook out the arrow and rushed back into the reeds, while the court
+behind cried,
+
+"May the King live for ever! The beast is dead."
+
+"We shall see if it is dead presently," said Bes, and I nodded.
+
+Another lion appeared to the right of the King. Again he shot and
+missed it, whereon he began to curse and to swear in his own royal
+oaths, and the charioteer trembled. Then came the end.
+
+One of the hounds drew quite close and roused the lioness that had
+been pricked in the foot. She turned and killed it with a blow of her
+paw, then, being mad, charged straight at the King's chariot. The
+horses reared, lifting the grooms off their feet. The King shot wildly
+and fell backwards out of the chariot, as even Kings of the world must
+do when they have nothing left to stand on. The lioness saw that he
+was down and leapt at him, straight over the chariot. As she leapt I
+shot at her in the air and pierced her through the loins, paralysing
+her, so that although she fell down near the King, she could not come
+at him to kill him.
+
+I sprang from my chariot, but before I could reach the lioness hunters
+had run up with spears and stabbed her, which was easy as she could
+not move.
+
+The King rose from the ground, for he was unharmed, and said in a loud
+voice,
+
+"Had not that shaft of mine gone home, I think that the East would
+have bowed to another lord to-night."
+
+Now, forgetting that I was speaking to the King of the earth,
+forgetting the wager and all besides, I exclaimed,
+
+"Nay, your shaft missed; mine went home," whereon one of the courtiers
+cried,
+
+"This Egyptian is a liar, and calls the King one!"
+
+"A liar?" I said astonished. "Look at the arrow and see from whose
+quiver it came," and I drew one from my own of the Egyptian make and
+marked with my mark.
+
+Then a tumult broke out, all the courtiers and eunuchs talking at
+once, yet all bowing to the mud-stained person of the King, like ears
+of wheat to a tree in a storm. Not wishing to urge my claims further,
+for my part I returned to the chariot and the hunting being done, as I
+supposed, unstrung my bow which I prized above all things, and set it
+in its case.
+
+While I was thus employed the eunuch Houman approached me with a
+sickly smile, saying,
+
+"The King commands your presence, Egyptian, that you may receive your
+reward."
+
+I nodded, saying that I would come, and he returned.
+
+"Bes," I said when he was out of hearing, "my heart sinks. I do not
+trust that King who I think means mischief."
+
+"So do I, Master. Oh! we have been great fools. When a god and a man
+climb a tree together, the man should allow the god to come first to
+the top, and thence tell the world that he is a god."
+
+"Yes," I answered, "but who ever sees Wisdom until she is flying away?
+Now perhaps, the god being the stronger, will cast down the man."
+
+Then both together we advanced towards the King, leaving the chariot
+in charge of soldiers. He was seated on a gilded chair which served
+him as a throne, and behind him were his officers, eunuchs and
+attendants, though not all of them, since at a little distance some of
+them were engaged in beating the lord who had served as his charioteer
+upon the feet with rods. We prostrated ourselves before him and waited
+till he spoke. At length he said,
+
+"Shabaka the Egyptian, we made a wager with you, of which you will
+remember the terms. It seems that you have won the wager, since you
+slew two lions, whereas we, the King, slew but one, that which leapt
+upon us in the chariot."
+
+Here Bes groaned at my side and I looked up.
+
+"Fear nothing," he went on, "it shall be paid." Here he snatched off
+the girdle of priceless, rose-hued pearls and threw it in my face.
+
+"At the palace too," he went on, "the dwarf shall be set in the scales
+and his full weight in pure gold shall be given to you. Moreover, the
+lives of the six hunters are yours, and with them the men themselves."
+
+"May the King live for ever!" I exclaimed, feeling that I must say
+something.
+
+"I hope so," he answered cruelly, "but, Egyptian, you shall not, who
+have broken the laws of the land."
+
+"In what way, O King?" I asked.
+
+"By shooting at the lions before the King had time to draw his bow,
+and by telling the King that he lied to his face, for both of which
+things the punishment is death."
+
+Now my heart swelled till I thought it would burst with rage. Then of
+a sudden, a certain spirit entered into me and I rose to my feet and
+said,
+
+"O King, you have declared that I must die and as this is so, I will
+kneel to you no more who soon shall sup at the table of Osiris, and
+there be far greater than any king, going before him with clean hands.
+Is it not your law that he who is condemned to die has first the right
+to set out his case for the honour of his name?"
+
+"It is," said the King, I think because he was curious to hear what I
+had to say. "Speak on."
+
+"O King, although my blood is as high as your own, of that I say
+nothing, for at the wish of your satrap I came to the East from Egypt
+as a hunter, to show you how we of Egypt kill lions and other beasts.
+For three months I have waited in the royal city seeking admission to
+the presence of the King, and in vain. At length I was bidden to this
+hunt when I was about to depart to my own land, and being taunted by
+your servants, entered the reeds with my slave, and there slew a lion.
+Then it pleased you to thrust a wager upon me which I did not wish to
+take, as to which of us would shoot the most lions; a wager as I now
+understand you did not mean that I should win, whatever might be my
+skill, since you thought I knew that I must shoot at nothing till you
+had first shot and killed the beasts or scared them away.
+
+"So I matched myself against you, as hunter against hunter, for in the
+field, as before the gods, all are equal, not as a slave against a
+king who is determined to avenge defeat by death. We were posted and
+the lions came. I shot at those which appeared opposite to me, or upon
+my side, leaving those that appeared opposite to you, or on your side
+unshot at, as is the custom of hunters. My skill, or my fortune, was
+better than yours and I killed, whereas you missed or only wounded. In
+the end a lioness sprang at you and I shot it lest it should kill you;
+as could easily be proved by the arrow in its body. Now you say that I
+must die because I have broken some laws of yours which men should be
+ashamed to make, and to save your honour, pay me what I have won,
+knowing that pearls and gold and slaves are of no value to a dying man
+and can be taken back again. That is all the story.
+
+"Yet I would add one word. You Easterns have two sayings which you
+teach to your children; that they should learn to shoot with the bow,
+and to tell the truth. O King, they are my last lessons to you. Learn
+to shoot with the bow--which you cannot do, and to tell the truth
+which you have not done. Now I have spoken and am ready to die and I
+thank you for the patience with which you have heard my words, that,
+as the King does /not/ live for ever, I hope one day to repeat to you
+more fully beyond the grave."
+
+Now at this bold speech of mine all those nobles and attendants
+gasped, for never had they heard such words addressed to his Majesty.
+The King turned red as though with shame, but made no answer, only he
+asked of those about him.
+
+"What fate for this man?"
+
+"Death, O King!" they cried with one voice.
+
+"What death?" he asked again.
+
+Then his Councillors consulted together and one of them answered,
+
+"The slowest known to our law, /death by the boat/."
+
+Hearing this and not knowing what was meant, it came into my mind that
+I was to be turned adrift in a boat and there left to starve.
+
+"Behold the reward of good hunting!" I mocked in my rage. "O King,
+because of this deed of shame I call upon you the curse of all the
+gods of all the peoples. Henceforth may your sleep be ever haunted by
+evil dreams of what shall follow the last sleep, and in the end may
+you also die in blood."
+
+The King opened his mouth as though to answer, but from it came
+nothing but a low cry of fear. Then guards rushed up and seized me.
+
+
+
+                              CHAPTER VI
+
+                         THE DOOM OF THE BOAT
+
+The guards led me to my chariot and thrust me into it, and with me
+Bes. I asked them if they would murder him also, to which the eunuch,
+Houman, answered No, since he had committed no crime, but that he must
+go with me to be weighed. Then soldiers took the horses by the bridles
+and led them, while others, having first snatched away my bow and all
+our other weapons, surrounded the chariot lest we should escape. So
+Bes and I were able to talk together in a Libyan tongue that none of
+them understood, even if they heard our words.
+
+"Your life is spared," I said to him, "that the King may take you as a
+slave."
+
+"Then he will take an ill slave, Master, since I swear by the
+Grasshopper that within a moon I will find means to kill him, and
+afterwards come to join you in a land where men hunt fair."
+
+I smiled and Bes went on,
+
+"Now I wish I had time to teach you that trick of swallowing your own
+tongue, since perhaps you will need it in this boat of which they
+talk."
+
+"Did you not say to me an hour or two ago, Bes, that we are fools to
+stretch out our hands to Death until he stretches out his to us? I
+will not die until I must--now."
+
+"Why 'now,' Master, seeing that only this afternoon you bade me kill
+you rather than let you be thrown to the wild beasts?" he asked
+peering at me curiously.
+
+"Do you remember the old hermit, the holy Tanofir, who dwells in a
+cell over the sepulchre of the Apis bulls in the burial ground of the
+desert near to Memphis, Bes?"
+
+"The magician and prophet who is the brother of your grandfather,
+Master, and the son of a king; he who brought you up before he became
+a hermit? Yes, I know him well, though I have seldom been very near to
+him because his eyes frighten me, as they frightened Cambyses the
+Persian when Tanofir cursed him and foretold his doom after he had
+stabbed the holy Apis, saying that by a wound from that same sword in
+his own body he should die himself, which thing came to pass. As they
+have frightened many another man also."
+
+"Well, Bes, when yonder king told me that I must die, fear filled me
+who did not wish to die thus, and after the fear came a blackness in
+my mind. Then of a sudden in that blackness I saw a picture of
+Tanofir, my great uncle, seated in a sepulchre looking towards the
+East. Moreover I heard him speak, and to me, saying, 'Shabaka, my
+foster-son, fear nothing. You are in great danger but it will pass.
+Speak to the great King all that rises in your heart, for the gods of
+Vengeance make use of your tongue and whatever you prophesy to him
+shall be fulfilled.' So I spoke the words you heard and I feared
+nothing."
+
+"Is it so, Master? Then I think that the holy Tanofir must have
+entered my heart also. Know that I was minded to leap upon that king
+and break his neck, so that all three of us might end together. But of
+a sudden something seemed to tell me to leave him alone and let things
+go as they are fated. But how can the holy Tanofir who grows blind
+with age, see so far?"
+
+"I do not know, Bes, save that he is not as are other men, for in him
+is gathered all the ancient wisdom of Egypt. Moreover he lives with
+the gods while still upon earth, and like the gods can send his /Ka/,
+as we Egyptians call the spirit, or invisible self which companions
+all from the cradle to the grave and afterwards, whither he will. So
+doubtless to-day he sent it hither to me whom he loves more than
+anything on earth. Also I remember that before I entered on this
+journey he told me that I should return safe and sound. Therefore,
+Bes, I say I fear nothing."
+
+"Nor do I, Master. Yet if you see me do strange things, or hear me
+speak strange words, take no note of them, since I shall be but
+playing a part as I think wisest."
+
+After this we talked of that day's adventure with the lions, and of
+others that we had shared together, laughing merrily all the while,
+till the soldiers stared at us as though we were mad. Also the fat
+eunuch, Houman, who was mounted on an ass, rode up and said,
+
+"What, Egyptian who dared to twist the beard of the Great King, you
+laugh, do you? Well, you will sing a different song in the boat to
+that which you sing in the chariot. Think of my words on the eighth
+day from this."
+
+"I will think of them, Eunuch," I answered, looking at him fiercely in
+the eyes, "but who knows what kind of a song you will be singing
+before the eighth day from this?"
+
+"What I do is done under the authority of the ancient and holy Seal of
+Seals," he answered in a quavering voice, touching the little cylinder
+of white shell which I had noted upon the person of the King, but that
+now hung from a gold chain about the eunuch's neck.
+
+Then he made the sign which Easterns use to avert evil and rode off
+again, looking very frightened.
+
+So we came to the royal city and went up to a wonderful palace. Here
+we were taken from the chariot and led into a room where food and
+drink in plenty were given to me as though I were an honoured guest,
+which caused me to wonder. Bes also, seated on the ground at a
+distance, ate and drank, for his own reasons filling himself to the
+throat as though he were a wineskin, until the serving slaves mocked
+at him for a glutton.
+
+When we had finished eating, slaves appeared bearing a wooden
+framework from which hung a great pair of scales. Also there appeared
+officers of the King's Treasury, carrying leather bags which they
+opened, breaking the seals to show that the contents were pure gold
+coin. They set a number of these bags on one of the scales, and then
+ordered Bes to seat himself in the other. So much heavier did he prove
+than they expected him to be, that they were obliged to send back to
+the Treasury to fetch more bags of gold, for although Bes was so short
+in height, his weight was that of a large man. One of the treasurers
+grumbled, saying he should have been weighed before he had eaten and
+drunk. But the officer to whom he spoke grinned and answered that it
+mattered little, since the King was heir to criminals and that these
+bags would soon return to the Treasury, only they would need washing
+first, a remark that made me wonder.
+
+At length, when the scales were even, the six hunters whose lives I
+had won and who had been given to me as slaves, were brought in and
+ordered to shoulder the bags of gold. I too was seized and my hands
+were bound behind me. Then I was led out in charge of the eunuch
+Houman, who informed me with a leer that it would be his duty to
+attend to my comfort till the end. With him were four black men all
+dressed in the same way. These, he said, were the executioners. Lastly
+came Bes watched by three of the king's guards armed with spears, lest
+he should attempt to rescue me or to do anyone a mischief.
+
+Now my heart began to sink and I asked Houman what was to happen to
+me.
+
+"This, O Egyptian slayer of lions. You will be laid upon a bed in a
+little boat upon the river and another boat will be placed over you,
+for these boats are called the Twins, Egyptian, in such a fashion that
+your head and your hands will project at one end and your feet at the
+other. There you will be left, comfortable as a baby in its cradle,
+and twice every day the best of food and drink will be brought to you.
+Should your appetite fail, moreover, it will be my duty to revive it
+by pricking your eyes with the point of a knife until it returns. Also
+after each meal I shall wash your face, your hands and your feet with
+milk and honey, lest the flies that buzz about them should suffer
+hunger, and to preserve your skin from burning by the sun. Thus slowly
+you will grow weaker and at length fall asleep. The last one who went
+into the boat--he, unlucky man, had by accident wandered into the
+court of the House of Women and seen some of the ladies there unveiled
+--only lived for twelve days, but you, being so strong, may hope to
+last for eighteen. Is there anything more that I can tell you? If so,
+ask it quickly for we draw near to the river."
+
+Now when I heard this and understood all the horror of my fate, I
+forgot the vision of my great uncle, the holy Tanofir, and his
+comfortable prophecies, and my heart failed me altogether, so that I
+stood stock still.
+
+"What, Lion-hunter and Bearder of kings, do you think it is too early
+to go to bed?" mocked this devilish eunuch. "On with you!" and he
+began to beat me about the face with the handle of his fly-whisk.
+
+Then my manhood came back to me.
+
+"When did the King tell you to touch me, you fatted swine?" I roared,
+and turning, since I could not reach him with my bound hands, kicked
+him in the body with all my strength, so that he fell down, writhing
+and screaming with agony. Indeed, had not the executioners leapt upon
+me, I would have trampled the life out of him where he lay. But they
+held me fast and presently, after he had been sick, Houman recovered
+enough to come forward leaning on the shoulders of two guards. Only
+now he mocked me no more.
+
+We reached a quay just as the sun was setting. There in charge of a
+one-eyed black slave, a little square-ended boat floated at the
+river's edge, while on the quay itself lay a similar but somewhat
+shorter boat, bottom uppermost. Now the hunters whom I had won in the
+wager, with many glances of compassion, for they were brave men and
+knew that it was I who had saved their lives, placed the bags of gold
+in the bottom of the floating boat, and on the top of these a mattress
+stuffed with straw. Then the girdle of rose-hued pearls was made fast
+about my middle, my hands were untied, I was seized by the
+executioners and laid on my back on the mattress, and my wrists and
+ankles were fixed by cords to iron rings that were screwed to the
+thwarts of the boat. After this the other, shorter boat was laid over
+me in such a manner that it did not touch me, leaving my head, my
+hands and my feet exposed as the eunuch had said.
+
+While this wicked work was going forward Bes sat on the quay,
+watching, till presently, after I had been made fast and covered up,
+he burst into shouts of laughter, clapped his hands and began to dance
+about as though with joy, till the eunuch, who had now recovered
+somewhat from my kick, grew curious and asked him why he behaved thus.
+
+"O noble Eunuch," he answered, "once I was free and that man made me a
+slave, so that for many years I have been obliged to toil for him whom
+I hate. Moreover, often he has beaten me and starved me, which was why
+you saw me eat so much not long ago, and threatened to kill me, and
+now at last I have my revenge upon him who is about to die miserably.
+That is why I laugh and sing and dance and clap my hands, O most noble
+Eunuch, I who shall become the follower and servant of the glorious
+King of all the earth, and perhaps your friend, too, O Eunuch of
+eunuchs, whose sacred person my brutal master dared to kick."
+
+"I understand," said Houman smiling, though with a twisted face, "and
+will make report of all you say to the King, and ask him to grant that
+you shall sometimes prick this Egyptian in the eye. Now go spit in his
+face and tell him what you think of him."
+
+So Bes waded into the water which was quite shallow here, and spat
+into my face, or pretended to, while amid a torrent of vile language,
+he interpolated certain words in the Libyan tongue, which meant,
+
+"O my most beloved father, mother, and other relatives, have no fear.
+Though things look very black, remember the vision of the holy
+Tanofir, who doubtless allows these things to happen to you to try
+your faith by direct order of the gods. Be sure that I will not leave
+you to perish, or if there should be no escape, that I will find a way
+to put you out of your misery and to avenge you. Yes, yes, I will yet
+see that accursed swine, Houman, take your place in this boat. Now I
+go to the Court to which it seems that this gold chain gives me a
+right of entry, or so the eunuch says, but soon I will be back again."
+
+Then followed another stream or most horrible abuse and more spitting,
+after which he waded back to land and embraced Houman, calling him his
+best friend.
+
+They went, leaving me alone in the boat save for the guard upon the
+quay who, now that darkness had come, soon grew silent. It was lonely,
+very lonely, lying there staring at the empty sky with only the
+stinging gnats for company, and soon my limbs began to ache. I thought
+of the poor wretches who had suffered in this same boat and wondered
+if their lot would be my lot.
+
+Bes was faithful and clever, but what could a single dwarf do among
+all these black-hearted fiends? And if he could do nothing, oh! if he
+could do nothing!
+
+The seconds seemed minutes, the minutes seemed hours, and the hours
+seemed years. What then would the days be, passed in torture and agony
+while waiting for a filthy death? Where now were the gods I had
+worshipped and--was there any god? Or was man but a self-deceiver who
+created gods instead of the gods creating him, because he did not love
+to think of an eternal blackness in which he would soon be swallowed
+up and lost? Well, at least that would mean sleep, and sleep is better
+than torment of mind or body.
+
+It came to me, I think, who was so weary. At any rate I opened my eyes
+to see that the low moon had vanished and that some of the stars which
+I knew as a hunter who had often steered his way by them, had moved a
+little. While I was wondering idly why they moved, I heard the tramp
+of soldiers on the quay and the voice of an officer giving a command.
+Then I felt the boat being drawn in by the cord with which it was
+attached to the quay. Next the other boat that lay over me was lifted
+off, the ropes that bound we were undone and I was set upon my feet,
+for already I was so stiff that I could scarcely stand. A voice which
+I recognised as that of the eunuch Houman, addressed me in respectful
+tones, which made me think I must be dreaming.
+
+"Noble Shabaka," said the voice, "the Great King commands your
+presence at his feast."
+
+"Is it so?" I answered in my dream. "Then my absence from their feast
+will vex the gnats of the river," a saying at which Houman and others
+with him laughed obsequiously.
+
+Next I heard the bags of gold being removed from the boat, after which
+we walked away, guards supporting me by either elbow until I found my
+strength again, and Houman following just behind, perhaps because he
+feared my foot if he went in front.
+
+"What has chanced, Eunuch," I asked presently, "that I am disturbed
+from the bed where I was sleeping so well?"
+
+"I do not know, Lord," he answered. "I only know that the King of
+kings has suddenly commanded that you should be brought before him as
+a guest clothed in a robe of honour, even if to do so, you must be
+awakened from your rest, yes, to his own royal table, for he holds a
+feast this night. Lord," he went on in a whining voice, "if perchance
+fortune should have changed her face to you, I pray you bear no malice
+to those who, when she frowned, were forced, yes, under the private
+Seal of Seals, against their will to carry out the commands of the
+King. Be just, O Lord Shabaka."
+
+"Say no more. I will try to be just," I answered. "But what is justice
+in the East? I only know of it in Egypt."
+
+Now we reached one of the doors of the palace and I was taken to a
+chamber where slaves who were waiting, washed and anointed me with
+scents, after which they clad me in a beautiful robe of silk, setting
+the girdle of rose-hued pearls about me.
+
+When they had finished, preceded by Houman I was led to a great
+pillared hall closed in with silk hangings, where many feasted.
+Through them I went to a dais at the head of the hall where between
+half-drawn curtains surrounded by cup-bearers and other officers, the
+King sat in all his glory upon a cushioned golden throne. He had a
+glittering wine-cup in his hand and at a glance I saw that he was
+drunk, as it is the fashion for these Easterns to be at their great
+feasts, for he looked happy and human which he did not do when he was
+sober. Or perchance, as sometimes I thought afterwards, he only
+pretended to be drunk. Also I saw something else, namely, Bes,
+wondrously attired with the gold chain about his neck and wearing a
+red headdress. He was seated on the carpet before the throne, and
+saying things that made the King laugh and even caused the grave
+officers behind to smile.
+
+I came to the dais and at a little sign from Bes who yet did not seem
+to see me, such a sign as he often made when he caught sight of game
+before I did, I prostrated myself. The King looked at me, then asked,
+
+"Who is this?" adding, "Oh, I remember, the Egyptian whose arrows do
+not miss, the wonderful hunter whom Idernes sent to me from Memphis,
+which I hope to visit ere long. We quarrelled, did we not, Egyptian,
+something about a lion?"
+
+"Not so, King," I answered. "The King was angry and with justice,
+because I could not kill a lion before it frightened his horses."
+
+This I said because my hours in the boat had made me humble, also
+because the words came to my lips.
+
+"Yes, yes, something like that, or at least you lie well. Whatever it
+may have been, it is done with now, a mere hunters' difference," and
+taking from his side his long sceptre that was headed with the great
+emerald, he stretched it out for me to touch in token of pardon.
+
+Then I knew that I was safe for he to whom the King has extended his
+sceptre is forgiven all crimes, yes, even if he had attempted the
+royal life. The Court knew it also, for every man who saw bowed
+towards me, yes, even the officers behind the King. One of the cup-
+bearers too brought me a goblet of the King's own wine, which I drank
+thankfully, calling down health on the King.
+
+"That was a wonderful shot of yours, Egyptian," he said, "when you
+sent an arrow through the lioness that dared to attack my Majesty.
+Yes, the King owes his life to you and he is grateful as you shall
+learn. This slave of yours," and he pointed to Bes in his gaudy
+attire, "has brought the whole matter to my mind whence it had fallen,
+and, Shabaka," here he hiccupped, "you may have noted how differently
+things look to the naked eye and when seen through a wine goblet. He
+has told me a wonderful story--what was the story, Dwarf?"
+
+"May it please the great King," answered Bes, rolling his big eyes,
+"only a little tale of another king of my own country whom I used to
+think great until I came to the East and learned what kings could be.
+That king had a servant with whom he used to hunt, indeed he was my
+own father. One day they were out together seeking a certain elephant
+whose tusks were bigger than those of any other. Then the elephant
+charged the king and my father, at the risk of his life, killed it and
+claimed the tusks, as is the custom among the Ethiopians. But the king
+who greatly desired those tusks, caused my father to be poisoned that
+he might take them as his heir. Only before he died, my father, who
+could talk the elephant language, told all the other elephants of this
+wickedness, at which they were very angry, because they knew well that
+from the beginning of time their tusks have belonged to him who killed
+them, and the elephants are a people who do not like ancient laws to
+be altered. So the elephants made a league together and when the king
+next went out hunting, taking heed of nothing else they rushed at the
+king and tore him into pieces no bigger than a finger, and then killed
+the prince his son, who was behind him. That is the tale of the
+elephants who love Law, O King."
+
+"Yes, yes," said his Majesty, waking up from a little doze, "but what
+became of the great tusks? I should like to have them."
+
+"I inherited them as my father's son, O King, and gave them to my
+master, who doubtless will send them to you when he gets back to
+Egypt."
+
+"A strange tale," said the King. "A very strange tale which seems to
+remind me of something that happened not long ago. What was it? Well,
+it does not matter. Egyptian, do you seek any reward for that shot of
+yours at the lioness? If so, it shall be given to you. Have you a
+grudge against anyone, for instance?"
+
+"O King," I answered, "I do seek justice against a certain man. This
+evening I was led to the bank of the river in charge of the eunuch
+Houman, who desired to take me for a row in a boat. On the road, for
+no offence he struck me on the head with the handle of his fly-whip.
+See, here are the marks of it, O King. Unless the King commanded him
+to strike me which I do not remember, I seek justice against this
+eunuch."
+
+Now the King grew very angry and cried,
+
+"What! Did the dog dare to strike a freeborn noble Egyptian?"
+
+Here Houman threw himself upon his face in terror and began to babble
+out I know not what about the punishment of the boat, which was
+unlucky for him, for it put the matter into the King's mind.
+
+"The boat!" he cried. "Ah! yes, the boat; being so fat you will fit it
+well, Eunuch. To the boat with him, and before he enters it a hundred
+blows upon the feet with the rods," and he pointed at him with his
+sceptre.
+
+Then guards sprang upon Houman and dragged him away. As he went he
+clutched at Bes, but hissing something into his ear, the dwarf bit him
+through the hand till he let go. So Houman departed and the King's
+guests laughed at the sight, for he had worked mischief to many.
+
+When he had gone the King stared at me and asked,
+
+"But why did I disturb you from your sleep, Egyptian? Oh! I remember.
+This dwarf says that he has seen the fairest woman in the whole world,
+and the most learned, some lady of Egypt, but that he does not know
+her name, that you alone know her name. I disturbed you that you might
+tell it to me but if you have forgotten it, you can go back to your
+bed and rest there till it returns to you. There are plenty of boats
+in the river, Egyptian."
+
+"The fairest and most learned woman in the world?" I said astonished.
+"Who can that be, unless he means the lady Amada?" and I paused,
+wishing I had bitten out my tongue before I spoke, for I smelt a trap.
+
+"Yes, Master," said Bes in a clear voice. "That was the name, the lady
+Amada."
+
+"Who is this lady Amada?" asked the King, seeming to grow suddenly
+sober. "And what is she like?"
+
+"I can tell you that, O King," said Bes. "She is like a willow shaken
+in the wind for slenderness and grace. She has eyes like those of a
+buck at gaze; she has lips like rosebuds; she has hair black as the
+night and soft as silk, the odour of which floats round her like that
+of flowers. She has a voice that whispers like the evening wind, and
+yet is rich as honey. Oh! she is beautiful as a goddess and when men
+see her their hearts melt like wax in the sun and for a long while
+they can look upon no other woman, not till the next day indeed if
+they meet her in the evening," and Bes smacked his thick lips and
+gazed upwards.
+
+"By the holy Fire," laughed the King, "I feel my heart melting
+already. Say, Shabaka, what do you know of this Amada? Is she married
+or a maiden?"
+
+Now I answered because I must, for after all that boat was not far
+away, nor did I dare to lie.
+
+"She is married, O King of kings, to the goddess Isis whom she loves
+alone."
+
+"A woman married to a woman, or rather to the Queen of women," he
+answered laughing, "well, that matters little."
+
+"Nay, O King, it matters much since she is under the protection of
+Isis and inviolate."
+
+"That remains to be seen, Shabaka. I think that I would dare the wrath
+of every false goddess in heaven to win such a prize. Learned also,
+you say, Shabaka."
+
+"Aye, O King, full of learning to the finger tips, a prophetess also,
+one in whom the divine fire burns like a lamp in a vase of alabaster,
+one to whom visions come and who can read the future and the past."
+
+"Still better," said the King. "One, then, who would be a fitting
+consort for the King of kings, who wearies of fat, round-eyed,
+sweetmeat-sucking fools whereof there are hundreds yonder," and he
+pointed towards the House of Women. "Who is this maid's father?"
+
+"He is dead but she is the niece of the Prince Peroa, and by birth the
+Royal Lady of Egypt, O King."
+
+"Good, then she is well born also. Hearken, O Shabaka, to-morrow you
+start back to Egypt, bearing letters from me to my vassal Peroa, and
+to my Satrap Idernes, bidding Peroa to hand over this lady Amada to
+Idernes and bidding Idernes to send her to the East with all honour
+and without delay, that she may enter my household as one of my
+wives."
+
+Now I was filled with rage and horror, and about to refuse this
+mission when Bes broke in swiftly,
+
+"Will the King of kings be pleased to give command as to my master's
+safe and honourable escort to Egypt?"
+
+"It is commanded with all things necessary for Shabaka the Egyptian
+and the dwarf his servant, with the gold and gems and slaves he won
+from me in a wager, and everything else that is his. Let it be
+recorded."
+
+Scribes sprang forward and wrote the King's words down, while like one
+in a dream I thought to myself that they could not now be altered. The
+King watched them sleepily for a while, then seemed to wake up and
+grow clear-minded again. At least he said to me,
+
+"Fortune has shown you smiles and frowns to-day, Egyptian, and the
+smiles last. Yet remember that she has teeth behind her lips wherewith
+to tear out the throat of the faithless. Man, if you play me false or
+fail in your mission, be sure that you shall die and in such a fashion
+that will make you think of yonder boat as a pleasant bed, and with
+you this woman Amada and her uncle Peroa, and all your kin and hers;
+yes," he added with a burst of shrewdness, "and even that abortion of
+a dwarf to whom I have listened because he amused me, but who perhaps
+is more cunning than he seems."
+
+"O King of kings," I said, "I will not be false." But I did not add to
+whom I would be true.
+
+"Good. Ere long I shall visit Egypt, as I have told you, and there I
+shall pass judgment on you and others. Till then, farewell. Fear
+nothing, for you have my safe-conduct. Begone, both of you, for you
+weary me. But first drink and keep the cup, and in exchange, give me
+that bow of yours which shoots so far and straight."
+
+"It is the King's," I answered as I pledged him in the golden,
+jewelled cup which a butler had handed to me.
+
+Then the curtain fell in front of the throne and chamberlains came
+forward to lead me and Bes back to our lodging, one of whom took the
+cup and bore it in front of us. Down the hall we went between the
+feasting nobles who all bowed to one to whom the Great King had shown
+favour, and so out of the palace through the quiet night back to the
+house where I had dwelt while waiting audience of the King. Here the
+chamberlains bade me farewell, giving the cup to Bes to carry, and
+saying that on the morrow early my gold should be brought to me
+together with all that was needed for my journey, also one who would
+receive the bow I had promised to the King, which had already been
+returned to my lodgings with everything that was ours. Then they bowed
+and went.
+
+We entered the house, climbing a stair to an upper chamber. Here Bes
+barred the door and the shutters, making sure that none could see or
+hear us.
+
+Then he turned, threw his arms about me, kissed my hand and burst into
+tears.
+
+
+
+                             CHAPTER VII
+
+                        BES STEALS THE SIGNET
+
+"Oh! my Master," gulped Bes, "I weep because I am tired, so take no
+notice. The day was long and during it twice at least there has been
+but the twinkling of an eyelid, but the thickness of a finger nail,
+but the weight of a hair between you and death."
+
+"Yes," I said, "and you were the eyelid, the finger nail and the
+hair."
+
+"No, Master, not I, but something beyond me. The tool carves the
+statue and the hand holds the tool but the spirit guides the hand. Not
+once only since the sun rose has my mind been empty as a drum. Then
+something struck on it, perhaps the holy Tanofir, perhaps another, and
+it knew what note to sound. So it was when I cursed you in the boat.
+So it was when I walked back with the eunuch, meaning to kill him on
+the road, and then remembered that the death of one vile eunuch would
+not help you at all, whereas alive he could bring me to the presence
+of the King, if I paid him, as I did out of the gold in your purse
+which I carried. Moreover he earned his hire, for when the King grew
+dull, wine not yet having taken a hold on him, it was he who brought
+me to his mind as one who might amuse him, being so ugly and different
+from others, if only for a few minutes, after the women dancers had
+failed to do so."
+
+"And what happened then, Bes?"
+
+"Then I was fetched and did my juggling tricks with that snake I
+caught and tamed, which is in my pouch now. You should not hate it any
+more, Master, for it played your game well. After this the King began
+to talk to me and I saw that his mind was ill at ease about you whom
+he knew that he had wronged. So I told him that story of an elephant
+that my father killed to save a king--it grew up in my mind like a
+toadstool in the night, Master, did this story of an ungrateful king
+and what befell him. Then the King became still more unquiet in his
+heart about you and asked the eunuch, Houman, where you were, to which
+he answered that by his order you were sleeping in a boat and might
+not be disturbed. So that arrow of mine missed its mark because the
+King did not like to eat his own words and cause you to be brought
+from out the boat, whither he had sent you. Now when everything seemed
+lost, some god, or perhaps the holy Tanofir who is ever present with
+me to see that I have not forgotten him, put it into the King's mouth
+to begin to talk about women and to ask me if I had ever seen any
+fairer than those dancers whom I met going out as I came in. I
+answered that I had not noticed them much because they were so ugly,
+as indeed all women had seemed to me since once upon the banks of Nile
+I had looked upon one who was as Hathor herself for beauty. The King
+asked me who this might be and I answered that I did not know since I
+had never dared to ask the name of one whom even my master held to be
+as a goddess, although as boy and girl they had been brought up
+together.
+
+"Then the King saw his opportunity to ease his conscience and inquired
+of an old councillor if there were not a law which gave the king power
+to alter his decree if thereby he could satisfy his soul and acquire
+knowledge. The councillor answered that there was such a law and began
+to give examples of its working, till the King cut him short and said
+that by virtue of it he commanded that you should be brought out of
+your bed in the boat and led before him to answer a question.
+
+"So you were sent for, Master, but I did not go with the messengers,
+fearing lest if I did the King would forget all about the matter
+before you came. Therefore I stayed and amused him with tales of
+hunting, till I could not think of any more, for you were long in
+coming. Indeed I began to fear lest he should declare the feast at an
+end. But at the last, just as he was yawning and spoke to one of his
+councillors, bidding him send to the House of Women that they might
+make ready to receive him there, you came, and the rest you know."
+
+Now I looked at Bes and said,
+
+"May the blessing of all the gods of all the lands be on your head,
+since had it not been for you I should now lie in torment in that
+boat. Hearken, friend: If ever we reach Egypt again, you will set foot
+on it, not as a slave but as a free man. You will be rich also, Bes,
+that is, if we can take the gold I won with us, since half of it is
+yours."
+
+Bes squatted down upon the floor and looked up at me with a strange
+smile on his ugly face.
+
+"You have given me three things, Master," he said. "Gold, which I do
+not want at present; freedom, which I do not want at present and
+mayhap, never shall while you live and love me; and the title of
+friend. This I do want, though why I should care to hear it from your
+lips I am not sure, seeing that for a long while I have known that it
+was spoken in your heart. Since you have said it, however, I will tell
+you something which hitherto I have hid even from you. I have a right
+to that name, for if your blood is high, O Shabaka, so is mine. Know
+that this poor dwarf whom you took captive and saved long years ago
+was more than the petty chief which he declared himself to be. He was
+and is by right the King of the Ethiopians and that throne with all
+its wealth and power he could claim to-morrow if he would."
+
+"The King of the Ethiopians!" I said. "Oh! friend Bes, I pray you to
+remember that we no longer stand in yonder court lying for our lives."
+
+"I speak no lie, O Shabaka, I before you am King of the Ethiopians.
+Moreover, I laid that kingship down of my own will and should I so
+desire, can take it up again when I will, since the Ethiopians are
+faithful to their kings."
+
+"Why?" I asked, astonished.
+
+"Master, for so I will still call you who am not yet upon the land of
+Egypt where you have promised me freedom, do you remember anything
+strange about the people of that tribe from among whom you and the
+Egyptian soldiers captured me by surprise, because they wished to
+drive you and your following from their country?"
+
+Now I thought and answered,
+
+"Yes, one thing. I saw no women in their camp, nor any sign of
+children. This I know because I gave orders that such were to be
+spared and it was reported to me that there were none, so I supposed
+that they had fled away."
+
+"There were none to fly, Master. That tribe was a brotherhood which
+had abjured women. Look on me now. I am misshapen, hideous, am I not?
+Born thus, it is said, because before my birth my mother was
+frightened by a dwarf. Yet the law of the Ethiopians is that their
+kings must marry within a year of their crowning. Therefore I chose a
+woman to be the queen whom I had long desired in secret. She scorned
+me, vowing that not for all the thrones of all the world would she be
+mated to a monster, and that if it were done by force she would kill
+herself, a saying that went abroad throughout the land. I said that
+she had spoken well and sent her in safety from the country, after
+which I too laid down my crown and departed with some who loved me, to
+form a brotherhood of women-haters further down the Nile, beyond the
+borders of Ethiopia. There the Egyptian force of which you were in
+command, attacked us unprepared, and you made me your slave. That is
+all."
+
+"But why did you do this, Bes, seeing that maidens are many and all
+would not have thought thus?"
+
+"Because I wished for that one only, Master; also I feared lest I
+should become the father of a breed of twisted dwarfs. So I who was a
+king am now a slave, and yet, who knows which way the Grasshopper will
+jump? One day from a slave I may again grow into a king. And now let
+us seek that wherein kings are as slaves and slaves as kings--sleep."
+
+So we lay down and slept, I thanking the gods that my bed was not
+yonder in the boat upon the great river.
+
+When I woke refreshed, though after all I had gone through on the
+yesterday my brain still swam a little, the light was pouring through
+the carved work of the shuttered windows. By it I saw Bes seated on
+the floor engaged in doing something to his bow, which, as I have
+said, had been restored to us with our other weapons, and asked him
+sleepily what it was.
+
+"Master," he said, "yonder King demanded your bow and therefore a bow
+must be sent to him. But there is no need for it to be that with which
+you shot the lions, which, too, you value above anything you have,
+seeing that it came down to you from your forefather who was a Pharaoh
+of Egypt, and has been your companion from boyhood ever since you were
+strong enough to draw it. As you may remember I copied that bow out of
+a somewhat lighter wood, which I could bend with ease, and it is the
+copy that we will give to the King. Only first I must set your string
+upon it, for that may have been noted; also make one or two marks that
+are on your bow which I am finishing now, having begun the task with
+the dawn."
+
+"You are clever," I said laughing, "and I am glad. The holy Tanofir,
+looking on my bow, once had a vision. It was that an arrow loosed from
+it would drink the blood of a great king and save Egypt. But what king
+and when, he did not see."
+
+The dwarf nodded and answered,
+
+"I have heard that tale and so have others. Therefore I play this
+trick since it is better that yonder palace dweller should get the
+arrow than the bow. There, it is finished to the last scratch, and
+none, save you and I, would know them apart. Till we are clear of this
+cursed land your bow is mine, Master, and you must find you another of
+the Eastern make."
+
+"Master," I repeated after him. "Say, Bes, did I dream or did you in
+truth tell me last night that you are by birth and right the king of a
+great country?"
+
+"I told you that, Master and it is true, no dream, since joy and
+suffering mixed unseal the lips and from them comes that at times
+which the heart would hide. Now I ask a favour of you, that you will
+speak no more of this matter either to me or to any other, man or
+woman, unless I should speak of it first. Let it be as though it were
+indeed a dream."
+
+"It is granted," I said as I rose and clothed myself, not in my own
+garments which had been taken from me in the palace, but in the
+splendid silken robes that had been set upon me after I was loosed
+from the boat. When this was done and I had washed and combed my long,
+curling hair, we descended to a lower chamber and called for the woman
+of the house to bring us food, of which I ate heartily. As we finished
+our meal we heard shouts in the street outside of, "Make way for the
+servants of the King!" and looking through the window-place, saw a
+great cavalcade approaching, headed by two princes on horseback.
+
+"Now I pray that yonder Tyrant has not changed his mind and that these
+do not come to take me back to the boat," I said in a low voice.
+
+"Have no fear, Master," answered Bes, "seeing that you have touched
+his sceptre and drunk from his cup which he gave to you. After these
+things no harm can happen to you in any land he rules. Therefore be at
+ease and deal with these fellows proudly."
+
+A minute later two princes entered followed by slaves who bore many
+things, among them those hide bags filled with gold that had been set
+beneath me in the boat. The elder of them bowed, greeting me with the
+title of "Lord," and I bowed back to him. Then he handed me certain
+rolls tied up with silk and sealed, which he said I was to deliver as
+the King had commanded to the King's Satrap in Egypt, and to the
+Prince Peroa. Also he gave me other letters addressed to the King's
+servants on the road and written on tablets of clay in a writing I
+could not read, with all of which I touched my forehead in the Eastern
+fashion.
+
+After this he told me that by noon all would be ready for my journey
+which I should make with the rank of the King's Envoy, duly
+provisioned and escorted by his servants, with liberty to use the
+royal horses from post to post. Then he ordered the slaves to bring in
+the gifts which the King sent to me, and these were many, including
+even suits of flexible armour that would turn any sword-thrust or
+arrow.
+
+I thanked him, saying that I would be ready to start by noon, and
+asked whether the King wished to see me before I rode. He replied that
+he had so wished, but that as he was suffering in his head from the
+effects of the sun, he could not. He bade me, however, remember all
+that he had said to me and to be sure that the beauteous lady Amada,
+of whom I had spoken, was sent to him without delay. In that case my
+reward should be great; but if I failed to fulfil his commands, then
+his wrath would be greater and I should perish miserably as he had
+promised.
+
+I bowed and made no answer, after which he and his companions opened
+the bags of gold to show me that it was there, offering to weigh it
+again against my servant, the dwarf, so that I could see that nothing
+had been taken away.
+
+I replied that the King's word was truer than any scale, whereon the
+bags were tied up again and sealed. Then I produced the bow, or rather
+its counterfeit, and having shown it to the princes, wrapped it and
+six of my own arrows in a linen cloth, to be taken to the King, with a
+message that though hard to draw it was the deadliest weapon in the
+world. The elder of them took it, bowed and bade me farewell, saying
+that perhaps we should meet again ere long in Egypt, if my gods gave
+me a safe journey. So we parted and I was glad to see the last of
+them.
+
+Scarcely had they gone when the six hunters whom I had won in the
+wager and thereby saved from death, entered the chamber and fell upon
+their knees before me, asking for orders as to making ready my gear
+for the journey. I inquired of them if they were coming also, to which
+their spokesman replied that they were my slaves to do what I
+commanded.
+
+"Do you desire to come?" I inquired.
+
+"O Lord Shabaka," answered their spokesman, "we do, though some of us
+must leave wives and children behind us."
+
+"Why?" I asked.
+
+"For two reasons, Lord. Here we are men disgraced, though through no
+fault of our own and if you were to leave us in this land, soon the
+anger of the King would find us out and we should lose not only our
+wives and children, but with them our lives. Whereas in another land
+we may get other wives and more children, but never shall we get
+another life. Therefore we would leave those dear ones to our friends,
+knowing that soon the women will forget and find other husbands, and
+that the children will grow up to whatever fate is appointed them,
+thinking of us, their fathers, as dead. Secondly we are hunters by
+trade, and we have seen that you are a great hunter, one whom we shall
+always be proud to serve in the chase or in war, one, too, who went
+out of his path to save our lives, because he saw that we had been
+unjustly doomed to a cruel death. Therefore we desire nothing better
+than to be your slaves, hoping that perchance we may earn our liberty
+from you in days to come by our good service."
+
+"Is that the wish of all of you?" I asked.
+
+Speaking one by one, they said that it was, though tears rose in the
+eyes of some of them who were married at the thought of parting from
+their women and their little ones, who, it seemed might not be brought
+with them because they were the people of the King and had not been
+named in the bet. Moreover, horses could not be found for so many, nor
+could they travel fast.
+
+"Come then," I said, "and know that while you are faithful to me, I
+will be good to you, men of my own trade, and perhaps in the end set
+you free in a land where brave fellows are not given to be torn to
+pieces by wild beasts at the word of any kind. But if you fail me or
+betray me, then either I will kill you, or sell you to those who deal
+in slaves, to work at the oar, or in the mines till you die."
+
+"Henceforth we have no lord but you, O Shabaka," they said, and one
+after another took my hand and pressed it to their foreheads, vowing
+to be true to me in all things while we lived.
+
+So I bade them begone to bid farewell to those they loved and return
+again within half an hour of noon, never expecting, to tell the truth,
+that they would come. Indeed I did this to give them the opportunity
+of escaping if they saw fit, and hiding themselves where they would.
+But as I have often noted, the trade of hunting breeds honesty in the
+blood and at the hour appointed all of these men appeared, one of them
+with a woman who carried a child in her arms, clinging to him and
+weeping bitterly. When her veil slipped aside I saw that she was young
+and very fair to look on.
+
+
+
+So at noon we left the city of the Great King in the charge of two of
+his officers who brought me his thanks for the bow I had sent him,
+which he said he should treasure above everything he possessed, a
+saying at which Bes rolled his yellow eyes and grinned. We were
+mounted on splendid stallions from the royal stables and clad in the
+shirts of mail that had been presented to us, though when we were
+clear of the city we took these off because of the heat, also because
+that which Bes wore chafed him, being too long for his squat shape.
+Our goods together with the bags of gold were laden on sumpter horses
+which were led by my six hunter slaves. Four picked soldiers brought
+up the rear, mighty men from the King's own bodyguard, and two of the
+royal postmen who served us as guides. Also there were cooks and
+grooms with spare horses.
+
+Thus we started in state and a great crowd watched us go. Our road ran
+by the river which we must cross in barges lower down, so that in a
+few minutes we came to that quay whither I had been led on the
+previous night to die. Yes, there were the watching guards, and there
+floated the hateful double boat, at the prow of which appeared the
+tortured face of the eunuch Houman, who rolled his head from side to
+side to rid himself of the torment of the flies. He caught sight of us
+and began to scream for pity and forgiveness, whereat Bes smiled. The
+officers halted our cavalcade and one of them approaching me said,
+
+"It is the King's command, O Lord Shabaka, that you should look upon
+this villain who traduced you to the King and afterwards dared to
+strike you. If you will, enter the water and blind him, that your face
+may be the last thing he sees before he passes into darkness."
+
+I shook my head, but Bes into whose mind some thought had come,
+whispered to me,
+
+"I wish to speak with yonder eunuch, so give me leave and fear
+nothing. I will do him no hurt, only good, if I find the chance."
+
+Then I said to the officer,
+
+"It is not for great lords to avenge themselves upon the fallen. Yet
+my slave here was also wronged and would say a word to yonder Houman."
+
+"So be it," said the officer, "only let him be careful not to hurt him
+too sorely, lest he should die before the time and escape his
+punishment."
+
+Then Bes tucked up his robes and waded into the river, flourishing a
+great knife, while seeing him come, Houman began to scream with fear.
+He reached the boat and bent over the eunuch, talking to him in a low
+voice. What he did there I could not see because his cloak was spread
+out on either side of the man's head. Presently, however, I caught
+sight of the flash of a knife and heard yells of agony followed by
+groans, whereat I called to him to return and let the fellow be. For
+when I remembered that his fate was near to being my own, those sounds
+made me sick at heart and I grew angry with Bes, though the cruel
+Easterns only laughed.
+
+At length he came back grinning and washing the blade of his knife in
+the water. I spoke fiercely to him in my own language, and still he
+grinned on, making no answer. When we were mounted again and riding
+away from that horrible boat with its groaning prisoner, watching Bes
+whose behaviour and silence I could not understand, I saw him sweep
+his hand across his great mouth and thrust it swiftly into his bosom.
+After this he spoke readily enough, though in a low voice lest someone
+who understood Egyptian should overhear him.
+
+"You are a fool, Master," he said, "to think that I should wish to
+waste time in torturing that fat knave."
+
+"Then why did you torture him?" I asked.
+
+"Because my god, the Grasshopper, when he fashioned me a dwarf, gave
+me a big mouth and good teeth," he answered, whereon I stared at him,
+thinking that he had gone mad.
+
+"Listen, Master. I did not hurt Houman. All I did was to cut his cords
+nearly through from the under side, so that when night comes he can
+break them and escape, if he has the wit. Now, Master, you may not
+have noticed, but I did, that before the King doomed you to death by
+the boat yesterday, he took a certain round, white seal, a cylinder
+with gods and signs cut on it, which hung by a gold chain from his
+girdle, and gave it to Houman to be his warrant for all he did. This
+seal Houman showed to the Treasurer whereon they produced the gold
+that was weighed in the scales against me, and to others when he
+ordered the boat to be prepared for you to lie in. Moreover he forgot
+to return it, for when he himself was dragged off to the boat by
+direct command of the King, I caught sight of the chain beneath his
+robe. Can you guess the rest?"
+
+"Not quite," I answered, for I wished to hear the tale in his own
+words.
+
+"Well, Master, when I was walking with Houman after he had put you in
+the boat, I asked him about this seal. He showed it to me and said
+that he who bore it was for the time the king of all the Empire of the
+East. It seems that there is but one such seal which has descended
+from ancient days from king to king, and that of it every officer,
+great or small, has an impress in all lands. If the seal is produced
+to him, he compares it with the impress and should the two agree, he
+obeys the order that is brought as though the King had given it in
+person. When we reached the Court doubtless Houman would have returned
+the seal, but seeing that the King was, or feigned to be drunk, waited
+for fear lest it should be lost, and with it his life. Then he was
+seized as you saw, and in his terror forgot all about the seal, as did
+the King and his officers."
+
+"But, surely, Bes, those who took Houman to the boat would have
+removed it."
+
+"Master, even the most clear-sighted do not see well at night. At any
+rate my hope was that they had not done so, and that is why I waded
+out to prick the eyes of Houman. Moreover, as I had hoped, so it was;
+there beneath his robe I saw the chain. Then I spoke to him, saying,
+
+"'I am come to put out your eyes, as you deserve, seeing how you have
+treated my master. Still I will spare you at a price. Give me the
+King's ancient white seal that opens all doors, and I will only make a
+pretence of blinding you. Moreover I will cut your cords nearly
+through, so that when the night comes you can break them, roll into
+the river and escape.'
+
+"'Take it if you can,' he said, 'and use it to injure or destroy that
+accursed one.'"
+
+"So you took it, Bes."
+
+"Yes, Master, but not easily. Remember, it was on a chain about the
+man's neck, and I could not draw it over his head, for, like his
+hands, his throat was tied by a cord, as you remember yours was."
+
+"I remember very well," I said, "for my throat is still sore from the
+rope that ran to the same staples to which my hands were fastened."
+
+"Yes, Master, and therefore if I drew the chain off his neck, it would
+still have been on the ropes. I thought of trying to cut it with the
+knife, but this was not easy because it is thick, and if I had dragged
+it up on the blade of the knife it would have been seen, for many eyes
+were watching me, Master. Then I took another counsel. While I
+pretended to be putting out the eyes of Houman, I bent down and
+getting the chain between my teeth I bit it through. One tooth broke--
+see, but the next finished the business. I ate through the soft gold,
+Master, and then sucked up the chain and the round white seal into my
+mouth, and that is why I could not answer you just now, because my
+cheeks were full of chain. So we have the King's seal that all the
+subject countries know and obey. It may be useful, yonder in Egypt,
+and at least the gold is of value."
+
+"Clever!" I exclaimed, "very clever. But you have forgotten something,
+Bes. When that knave escapes, he will tell the whole story and the
+King will send after us and kill us who have stolen his royal seal."
+
+"I don't think so, Master. First, it is not likely that Houman will
+escape. He is very fat and soft and already suffers much. After a day
+in the sun also he will be weak. Moreover I do not think that he can
+swim, for eunuchs hate the water. So if he gets out of the boat it is
+probable that he will drown in the river, since he dare not wade to
+the quay where the guards will be waiting. But if he does escape by
+swimming across the river, he will hide for his life's sake and never
+be seen again, and if by chance he is caught, he will say that the
+seal fell into the water when he was taken to the boat, or that one of
+the guards had stolen it. What he will not say is that he had
+bargained it away with someone who in return, cut his cords, since for
+that crime he must die by worse tortures than those of the boat.
+Lastly we shall ride so fast that with six hours' start none will
+catch us. Or if they do I can throw away the chain and swallow the
+seal."
+
+As Bes said, so it happened. The fate of Houman I never learned, and
+of the theft of the seal I heard no more until a proclamation was
+issued to all the kingdoms that a new one was in use. But this was not
+until long afterwards when it had served my turn and that of Egypt.
+
+
+
+                             CHAPTER VIII
+
+                            THE LADY AMADA
+
+Now day by day, hour by hour and minute by minute every detail of that
+journey appeared before me, but to set it all down is needless. As I,
+Allan Quatermain, write the record of my vision, still I seem to hear
+the thunder of our horses' hoofs while we rushed forward at full
+gallop over the plains, over the mountain passes and by the banks of
+rivers. The speed at which we travelled was wonderful, for at
+intervals of about forty miles were post-houses and at these, whatever
+might be the hour of day or night, we found fresh horses from the
+King's stud awaiting us. Moreover, the postmasters knew that we were
+coming, which astonished me until we discovered that they had been
+warned of our arrival by two King's messengers who travelled ahead of
+us.
+
+These men, it would seem, although our officers and guides professed
+ignorance of the matter, must have left the King's palace at dawn on
+the day of our departure, whereas we did not mount in the city till a
+little after noon. Therefore they had six hours good start of us, and
+what is more, travelled lighter than we did, having no sumpter beasts
+with them, and no cooks or servants. Moreover, always they had the
+pick of the horses and chose the three swiftest beasts, leading the
+third in case one of their own should founder or meet with accident.
+Thus it came about that we never caught them up although we covered
+quite a hundred miles a day. Only once did I see them, far off upon
+the skyline of a mountain range which we had to climb, but by the time
+we had reached its crest they were gone.
+
+At length we came to the desert without accident and crossed it,
+though more slowly. But even here the King had his posts which were in
+charge of Arabs who lived in tents by wells of water, or sometimes
+where there was none save what was brought to them. So still we
+galloped on, parched by the burning sand beneath and the burning sand
+above, and reached the borders of Egypt.
+
+Here, upon the very boundary line, the two officers halted the
+cavalcade saying that their orders were to return thence and make
+report to the King. There then we parted, Bes and I with the six
+hunters who still chose to cling to me, going forward and the officers
+of the King with the guides and servants going back. The good horses
+that we rode from the last post they gave to us by the King's command,
+together with the sumpter beasts, since horses broken to the saddle
+were hard to come by in Egypt where they were trained to draw
+chariots. These we took, sending back my thanks to the King, and
+started on once more, Bes leading that beast which bore the gold and
+the hunters serving as a guard.
+
+Indeed I was glad to see the last of those Easterns although they had
+brought us safely and treated us well, for all the while I was never
+sure but that they had some orders to lead us into a trap, or perhaps
+to make away with us in our sleep and take back the gold and the
+priceless, rose-hued pearls, any two of which were worth it all. But
+such was not their command nor did they dare to steal them on their
+own account, since then, even if they escaped the vengeance of the
+King, their wives and all their families would have paid the price.
+
+
+
+Now we entered Egypt near the Salt Lakes that are not far from the
+head of the Gulf, crossing the canal that the old Pharaohs had dug,
+which proved easy for it was silted up. Before we reached it we found
+some peasant folk labouring in their gardens and I heard one of them
+call to another,
+
+"Here come more of the Easterns. What is toward, think you,
+neighbour?"
+
+"I do not know," answered the other, "but when I passed down the canal
+this morning, I saw a body of the Great King's guards gathering from
+the fort. Doubtless it is to meet these men of whose coming the other
+two who went by fifty hours ago, have warned the officers."
+
+"Now what does that mean?" I asked of Bes.
+
+"Neither more nor less than we have heard, Master. The two King's
+messengers who have gone ahead of us all the way from the city, have
+told the officer of the frontier fort that we are coming, so he has
+advanced to the ford to meet us, for what purpose I do not know."
+
+"Nor do I," I said, "but I wish we could take another road, if there
+were one."
+
+"There is none, Master, for above and below the canal is full of water
+and the banks are too steep for horses to climb. Also we must show no
+doubt or fear."
+
+He thought a while, then added,
+
+"Take the royal seal, Master. It may be useful."
+
+He gave it to me, and I examined it more closely than I had done
+before. It was a cylinder of plain white shell hung on a gold chain,
+that which Bes had bitten through, but now mended again by taking out
+the broken link. On this cylinder were cut figures; as I think of a
+priest presenting a noble to a god, over whom was the crescent of the
+moon, while behind the god stood a man or demon with a tall spear.
+Also between the figures were mystic signs, meaning I know not what.
+The workmanship of the carving was grown shallow with time and use for
+the cylinder seemed to be very ancient, a sacred thing that had
+descended from generation to generation and was threaded through with
+a bar of silver on which it turned.
+
+I put the seal which was like no other that I had seen, being the work
+of an early and simpler age, round my neck beneath my mail and we went
+on.
+
+Descending the steep bank of the canal we came to the ford where the
+sand that had silted in was covered by not more than a foot of water.
+As we entered it, on the top of the further bank appeared a body of
+about thirty armed and mounted men, one of whom carried the Great
+King's banner, on which I noted was blazoned the very figures that
+were cut upon the cylinder. Now it was too late to retreat, so we rode
+through the water and met the soldiers. Their officer advanced,
+crying,
+
+"In the name of the Great King, greeting, my lord Shabaka!
+
+"In the name of the Great King, greeting!" I answered. "What would you
+with Shabaka, Officer of the King?"
+
+"Only to do him honour. The word of the King has reached us and we
+come to escort you to the Court of Idernes, the Satrap of the King and
+Governor of Egypt who sits at Sais."
+
+"That is not my road, Officer. I travel to Memphis to deliver the
+commands of the King to my cousin, Peroa, the ruler of Egypt under the
+King. Afterwards, perchance, I shall visit the high Idernes."
+
+"To whom our commands are to take you now, my lord Shabaka, not
+afterwards," said the officer sternly, glancing round at his armed
+escort.
+
+"I come to give commands, not to receive them, Captain of the King."
+
+"Seize Shabaka and his servants," said the officer briefly, whereon
+the soldiers rode forward to surround us.
+
+I waited till they were near at hand. Then suddenly I plunged my hand
+beneath my robe and drew out the small, white seal which I held before
+the eyes of the officer, saying,
+
+"Who is it that dares to lay a finger upon the holder of the King's
+White Seal? Surely that man is ready for death."
+
+The officer stared at it, then leapt from his horse and flung himself
+face downwards on the ground, crying,
+
+"It is the ancient signet of the Kings of the East, given to their
+first forefather by Samas the Sungod, on which hangs the fortunes of
+the Great House! Pardon, my lord Shabaka."
+
+"It is granted," I answered, "because what you did you did in
+ignorance. Now go to the Satrap Idernes and say to him that if he
+would have speech with the bearer of the King's seal which all must
+obey, he will find him at Memphis. Farewell," and with Bes and the six
+hunters I rode through the guards, none striving to hinder me.
+
+"That was well done, Master," said Bes.
+
+"Yes," I said. "Those two messengers who went ahead of us brought
+orders to the frontier guard of Idernes that I should be taken to him
+as a prisoner. I do not know why, but I think because things are
+passing in Egypt of which we know nothing and the King did not desire
+that I should see the Prince Peroa and give him news that I might have
+gathered. Mayhap we have been outwitted, Bes, and the business of the
+lady Amada is but a pretext to pick a quarrel suddenly before Peroa
+can strike the first blow."
+
+"Perhaps, Master, for these Easterns are very crafty. But, Master,
+what happens to those who make a false use of the King's ancient,
+sacred signet? I think they have cut the ropes which tie them to
+earth," and he looked upwards to the sky rolling his yellow eyes.
+
+"They must find new ropes, Bes, and quickly, before they are caught.
+Hearken. You have sat upon a throne and I can speak out to you. Think
+you that my cousin, the Prince Peroa, loves to be the servant of this
+distant, Eastern king, he who by right is Pharaoh of Egypt? Peroa must
+strike or lose his niece and perchance his life. Forward, that we may
+warn him."
+
+"And if he will not strike, Master, knowing the King's might and being
+somewhat slow to move?"
+
+"Then, Bes, I think that you and I had best go hunting far away in
+those lands you know, where even the Great King cannot follow us."
+
+"And where, if only I can find a woman who does not make me ill to
+look on, and whom I do not make ill, I too can once more be a king,
+Master, and the lord of many thousand brave armed men. I must speak of
+that matter to the holy Tanofir."
+
+"Who doubtless will know what to advise you, Bes; or, if he dies not,
+I shall."
+
+For a while we rode on in silence, each thinking his own thoughts.
+Then Bes said,
+
+"Master, before so very long we shall reach the Nile, and having with
+us gold in plenty can buy boats and hire crews. It comes into my mind
+that we should do well for our own safety and comfort to start at once
+on a hunting journey far from Egypt; in the land of the Ethiopians,
+Master. There perchance I could gather together some of the wise men
+in whose hands I left the rule of my kingdom, and submit to them this
+question of a woman to marry me. The Ethiopians are a faithful people,
+Master, and will not reject me because I have spent some years seeing
+the world afar, that I might learn how to rule them better."
+
+"I have remembered that it cannot be, Bes," I said.
+
+"Why not, Master?"
+
+"For this reason. You left your country because of a woman? I cannot
+leave mine again because of a woman."
+
+Bes rolled his eyes around as though he thought to see that woman in
+the desert. Not discovering her, he stared upwards and there found
+light.
+
+"Is she perchance named the lady Amada, Master?"
+
+I nodded.
+
+"So. The lady Amada who you told the Great King is the most beautiful
+one in the whole world, causing the fire of Love to burn up in his
+royal heart, and with it many other things of which we do not know at
+present."
+
+"/You/ told him, Bes," I said angrily.
+
+"I told him of a beautiful one; I did not tell him her name, Master,
+and although I never thought of it at the time, perhaps she will be
+angry with him who told her name."
+
+Now fear took hold of me, and Bes saw it in my face.
+
+"Do not be afraid, Master. If there is trouble I will swear that I
+told the Great King that lady's name."
+
+"Yes, Bes, but how would that fit in with the story, seeing that I was
+brought out of the boat for this very purpose?"
+
+"Quite easily, Master, since I will say that you were led from the
+boat to confirm my tale. Oh! she will be angry with me, no doubt, but
+in Egypt even a dwarf cannot be killed because he has declared a
+certain lady to be the most beautiful in the world. But, Master, tell
+me, when did you learn to love her?"
+
+"When we were boy and girl, Bes. We used to play together, being
+cousins, and I used to hold her hand. Then suddenly she refused to let
+me hold her hand any more, and I being quite grown up then, though she
+was younger, understood that I had better go away."
+
+"I should have stopped where I was, Master."
+
+"No, Bes. She was studying to be a priestess and my great uncle, the
+holy Tanofir, told me that I had better go away. So I went down south
+hunting and fighting in command of the troops, and met you, Bes."
+
+"Which perhaps was better for you, Master, than to stop to watch the
+lady Amada acquire learning. Still, I wonder whether the holy Tanofir
+is /always/ right. You see, Master, he thinks a great deal of priests
+and priestesses, and is so very old that he has forgotten all about
+love and that without it there never would have been a holy Tanofir."
+
+"The holy Tanofir thinks of souls, not of bodies, Bes."
+
+"Yes, Master. Still, oil is of no use without a lamp, or a soul
+without a body, at least here underneath the sun, or so we were taught
+who worship the Grasshopper. But, Master, when you came back from all
+your hunting, what happened then?"
+
+"Then I found, Bes, that the lady Amada, having acquired all the
+learning possible, had taken her first vows to Isis, which she said
+she would not break for any man on earth although she might have done
+so without crime. Therefore, although I was dear to her, as a brother
+would have been had she had one, and she swore that she had never even
+thought of another man, she refused so much as to think of marrying
+who dreamed only of the heavenly perfections of the lady Isis."
+
+"Ump!" said Bes. "We Ethiopians have Priestesses of the Grasshopper,
+or the Grasshopper's wife, but they do not think of her like that. I
+hope that one day something stronger than herself will not cause the
+lady Amada to break her vows to the heavenly Isis. Only then, perhaps,
+it may be for the sake of another man who did not go off to the East
+on account of such fool's talk. But here is a village and the horses
+are spent. Let us stop and eat, as I suppose even the lady Amada does
+sometimes."
+
+
+
+On the following afternoon we crossed the Nile, and towards sunset
+entered the vast and ancient city of Memphis. On its white walls
+floated the banners of the Great King which Bes pointed out to me,
+saying that wherever we went in the whole world, it seemed that we
+could never be free from those accursed symbols.
+
+"May I live to spit upon them and cast them into the moat," I answered
+savagely, for as I drew near to Amada they grew ten times more hateful
+to me than they had been before.
+
+In truth I was nearer to Amada than I thought, for after we had passed
+the enclosure of the temple of Ptah, the most wonderful and the
+mightiest in the whole world, we came to the temple of Isis. There
+near to the pylon gate we met a procession of her priests and
+priestesses advancing to offer the evening sacrifice of song and
+flowers, clad, all of them, in robes of purest white. It was a day of
+festival, so singers went with them. After the singers came a band of
+priestesses bearing flowers, in front of whom walked another priestess
+shaking a /sistrum/ that made a little tinkling music.
+
+Even at a distance there was something about the tall and slender
+shape of this priestess that stirred me. When we came nearer I saw
+why, for it was Amada herself. Through the thin veil she wore I could
+see her dark and tender eyes set beneath the broad brow that was so
+full of thought, and the sweet, curved mouth that was like no other
+woman's. Moreover there could be no doubt since the veil parting above
+her breast showed the birth-mark for which she was famous, the mark of
+the young moon, the sign of Isis.
+
+I sprang from my horse and ran towards her. She looked up and saw me.
+At first she frowned, then her face grew wondering, then tender, and I
+thought that her red lips shaped my name. Moreover in her confusion
+she let the /sistrum/ fall.
+
+I muttered "Amada!" and stepped forward, but priests ran between us
+and thrust me away. Next moment she had recovered the /sistrum/ and
+passed on with her head bowed. Nor did she lift her eyes to look back.
+
+"Begone, man!" cried a priest, "Begone, whoever you may be. Because
+you wear Eastern armour do you think that you can dare the curse of
+Isis?"
+
+Then I fell back, the holy image of the goddess passed and the
+procession vanished through the pylon gate. I, Shabaka the Egyptian,
+stood by my horse and watched it depart. I was happy because the lady
+Amada was alive, well, and more beautiful than ever; also because she
+had shown signs of joy and confusion at seeing me again. Yet I was
+unhappy because I met her still filling a holy office which built a
+wall between us, also because it seemed to me an evil omen that I
+should have been repelled from her by a priest of Isis who talked of
+the curse of the goddess. Moreover the sacred statue, I suppose by
+accident, turned towards me as it passed and perhaps by the chance of
+light, seemed to frown upon me.
+
+Thus I thought as Shabaka hundreds of years before the Christian era,
+but as Allan Quatermain the modern man, to whom it was given so
+marvellously to behold all these things and who in beholding them, yet
+never quite lost the sense of his own identity of to-day, I was
+amazed. For I knew that this lady Amada was the same being though clad
+in different flesh, as that other lady with whom I had breathed the
+magical /Taduki/ fumes which had power to rend the curtain of the
+past, or, perhaps, only to breed dreams of what it might have been.
+
+To the outward eye, indeed she was different, as I was different,
+taller, more slender, larger-eyed, with longer and slimmer hands than
+those of any Western woman, and on the whole even more beautiful and
+alluring. Moreover that mysterious look which from time to time I had
+seen on Lady Ragnall's face, was more constant on that of the lady
+Amada. It brooded in the deep eyes and settled in a curious smile
+about the curves of the lips, a smile that was not altogether human,
+such a smile as one might wear who had looked on hidden things and
+heard voices that spoke beyond the limits of the world.
+
+Somehow neither then nor at any other time during all my dream, could
+I imagine this Amada, this daughter of a hundred kings, whose blood
+might be traced back through dynasty on dynasty, as nothing but a
+woman who nurses children upon her breast. It was as though something
+of our common nature had been bred out of her and something of another
+nature whereof we have no ken, had entered to fill its place. And yet
+these two women were the same, that I /knew/, or at any rate, much of
+them was the same, for who can say what part of us we leave behind as
+we flit from life to life, to find it again elsewhere in the abysms of
+Time and Change? One thing too was quite identical--the birthmark of
+the new moon above the breast which the priests of the Kendah had
+declared was always the seal that marked their prophetess, the
+guardian of the Holy Child.
+
+
+
+When the procession had quite departed and I could no longer hear the
+sound of singing, I remounted and rode on to my house, or rather to
+that of my mother, the great lady Tiu, which was situated beneath the
+wall of the old palace facing towards the Nile. Indeed my heart was
+full of this mother of mine whom I loved and who loved me, for I was
+her only child, and my father had been long dead; so long that I could
+not remember him. Eight months had gone by since I saw her face and in
+eight months who knew what might have happened? The thought made me
+cold for she, who was aged and not too strong, perhaps had been
+gathered to Osiris. Oh! if that were so!
+
+I shook my tired horse to a canter, Bes riding ahead of me to clear a
+road through the crowded street in which, at this hour of sundown, all
+the idlers of Memphis seemed to have gathered. They stared at me
+because it was not common to see men riding in Memphis, and with
+little love, since from my dress and escort they took me to be some
+envoy from their hated master, the Great King of the East. Some even
+threatened to bar the way; but we thrust through and presently turned
+into a thoroughfare of private houses standing in their own gardens.
+Ours was the third of these. At its gate I leapt from my horse, pushed
+open the closed door and hastened in to seek and learn.
+
+I had not far to go for, there in the courtyard, standing at the head
+of our modest household and dressed in her festal robes, was my
+mother, the stately and white-haired lady Tiu, as one stands who
+awaits the coming of an honoured guest. I ran to her and kneeling,
+kissed her hand, saying,
+
+"My mother! My mother, I have come safe home and greet you."
+
+"I greet you also, my son," she answered, bending down and kissing me
+on the brow, "who have been in far lands and passed so many dangers. I
+greet you and thank the guardian gods who have brought you safe home
+again. Rise, my son."
+
+I rose and kissed her on the face, then looked at the servants who
+were bowing their welcome to me, and said,
+
+"How comes it, Lady of the House, that all are gathered here? Did you
+await some guest?"
+
+"We awaited you, my son. For an hour have we stood here listening for
+the sound of your feet."
+
+"Me!" I exclaimed. "That is strange, seeing that I have ridden fast
+and hard from the East, tarrying only a few minutes, and those since I
+entered Memphis, when I met----" and I stopped.
+
+"Met whom, Shabaka?"
+
+"The lady Amada walking in the procession of Isis."
+
+"Ah! the lady Amada. The mother waits that the son may stop to greet
+the lady Amada!"
+
+"But /why/ did you wait, my mother? Who but a spirit or a bird of the
+air could have told you that I was coming, seeing that I sent no
+messenger before me?"
+
+"You must have done so, Shabaka, since yesterday one came from the
+holy Tanofir, our relative who dwells in the desert in the burial-
+ground of Sekera. He bore a message from Tanofir to me, telling me to
+make ready since before sundown to-night you, my son, would be with
+me, having escaped great dangers, accompanied by the dwarf Bes, your
+servant, and six strange Eastern men. So I made ready and waited; also
+I prepared lodging for the six strange men in the outbuildings behind
+the house and sent a thank offering to the temple. For know, my son, I
+have suffered much fear for you."
+
+"And not without cause, as you will say when I tell you all," I
+answered laughing. "But how Tanofir knew that I was coming is more
+than I can guess. Come, my mother, greet Bes here, for had it not been
+for him, never should I have lived to hold your hand again."
+
+So she greeted him and thanked him, whereon Bes rolled his eyes and
+muttered something about the holy Tanofir, after which we entered the
+house. Thence I despatched a messenger to the Prince Peroa saying that
+if it were his pleasure I would wait on him at once, seeing that I had
+much to tell him. This done I bathed and caused my hair and beard to
+be trimmed and, discarding the Eastern garments, clothed myself in
+those of Egypt, and so felt that I was my own man again. Then I came
+out refreshed and drank a cup of Syrian wine and the night having
+fallen, sat down by my mother in the chamber with a lamp between us,
+and, holding her hand, told her something of my story, showing her the
+sacks of gold that had come with me safely from the East, and the
+chain of priceless, rose-hued pearls that I had won in a wager from
+the Great King.
+
+Now when she learned how Bes by his wit had saved me from a death of
+torment in the boat, my mother clapped her hands to summon a servant
+and sent for Bes, and said to him,
+
+"Bes, hitherto I have looked on you as a slave taken by my son, the
+noble Shabaka, in one of his far journeys that it pleases him to make
+to fight and to hunt. But henceforth I look upon you as a friend and
+give you a seat at my table. Moreover it comes into my mind that
+although so strangely shaped by some evil god, perhaps you are more
+than you seem to be."
+
+Now Bes looked at me to see if I had told my mother anything, and when
+I shook my head answered,
+
+"I thank you, O Lady of the House, who have but done my duty to my
+master. Still it is true that as a goatskin often holds good wine, so
+a dwarf should not always be judged by what can be seen of him."
+
+Then he went away.
+
+"It seems that we are rich again, Son, who have been somewhat poor of
+late years," said my mother, looking at the bags of gold. "Also, there
+are the pearls which doubtless are worth more than the gold. What are
+you going to do with them, Shabaka?"
+
+"I thought of offering them as a gift to the lady Amada," I replied
+hesitatingly, "that is unless you----"
+
+"I? No, I am too old for such gems. Yet, Son, it might be well to keep
+them for a time, seeing that while they are your own they may give you
+more weight in the eyes of the Prince Peroa and others. Whereas if you
+gave them the lady Amada and she took them, perchance it might only be
+to see them return to the East, whither you tell me she is summoned by
+one whose orders may not be disobeyed."
+
+Now I turned white with rage and answered,
+
+"While I live, Mother, Amada shall never go to the East to be the
+woman of yonder King."
+
+"While you live, Son. But those who cross the will of a great king,
+are apt to die. Also this is a matter which her uncle, the Prince
+Peroa, must decide as policy dictates. Now as ever the woman is but a
+pawn in the game. Oh! my son," she went on, "do not pin all your heart
+to the robe of this Amada. She is very fair and very learned, but is
+she one who will love? Moreover, if so she is a priestess and it would
+be difficult for her to wed who is sworn to Isis. Lastly, remember
+this: If Egypt were free, she would be its heiress, not her uncle,
+Peroa. For hers is the true blood, not his. Would he, therefore, be
+willing to give her to any man who, according to the ancient custom,
+through her would acquire the right to rule?"
+
+"I do not seek to rule, Mother; I only seek to wed Amada whom I love."
+
+"Amada whom you love and whose name you, or rather your servant Bes,
+which is the same thing since it will be held that he did it by your
+order, gave to the King of the East, or so I understand. Here is a
+pretty tangle, Shabaka, and rather would I be without all that gold
+and those priceless pearls than have the task of its unravelling."
+
+Before I could answer and explain all the truth to her, the curtain
+was swung aside and through it came a messenger from the Prince Peroa,
+who bade me come to eat with him at once at the palace, since he must
+see me this night.
+
+So my mother having set the rope of rose-hued pearls in a double chain
+about my neck, I kissed her and went, with Bes who was also bidden.
+Outside a chariot was waiting into which we entered.
+
+"Now, Master," said Bes to me as we drove to the palace, "I almost
+wish that we were back in another chariot hunting lions in the East."
+
+"Why?" I asked.
+
+"Because then, although we had much to fear, there was no woman in the
+story. Now the woman has entered it and I think that our real troubles
+are about to begin. Oh! to-morrow I go to seek counsel of the holy
+Tanofir."
+
+"And I come with you," I answered, "for I think it will be needed."
+
+
+
+                              CHAPTER IX
+
+                            THE MESSENGERS
+
+We descended at the great gate of the palace and were led through
+empty halls that were no longer used now when there was no king in
+Egypt, to the wing of the building in which dwelt the Prince Peroa.
+Here we were received by a chamberlain, for the Prince of Egypt still
+kept some state although it was but small, and had about him men who
+bore the old, high-sounding titles of the "Officers of Pharaoh."
+
+The chamberlain led me and Bes to an ante-chamber of the banqueting
+hall and left us, saying that he would summon the Prince who wished to
+see me before he ate. This, however, was not necessary since while he
+spoke Peroa, who as I guessed had been waiting for me, entered by
+another door. He was a majestic-looking man of middle age, for grey
+showed in his hair and beard, clad in white garments with a purple hem
+and wearing on his brow a golden circlet, from the front of which rose
+the /ur�us/ in the shape of a hooded snake that might be worn by those
+of royal blood alone. His face was full of thought and his black and
+piercing eyes looked heavy as though with sleeplessness. Indeed I
+could see that he was troubled. His gaze fell upon us and his features
+changed to a pleasant smile.
+
+"Greeting, Cousin Shabaka," he said. "I am glad that you have returned
+safe from the East, and burn to hear your tidings. I pray that they
+may be good, for never was good news more needed in Egypt."
+
+"Greeting, Prince," I answered, bowing my knee. "I and my servant here
+are returned safe, but as for our tidings, well, judge of them for
+yourself," and drawing the letter of the Great King from my robe, I
+touched my forehead with the roll and handed it to him.
+
+"I see that you have acquired the Eastern customs, Shabaka," he said
+as he took it. "But here in my own house which once was the palace of
+our forefathers, the Pharaohs of Egypt, by your leave I will omit
+them. Amen be my witness," he added bitterly, "I cannot bear to lay
+the letter of a foreign king against my brow in token of my country's
+vassalage."
+
+Then he broke the silk of the seals and read, and as he read his face
+grew black with rage.
+
+"What!" he cried, casting down the roll and stamping on it. "What!
+Does this dog of an Eastern king bid me send my niece, by birth the
+Royal Princess of Egypt, to be his toy until he wearies of her? First
+I will choke her with my own hands. How comes it, Shabaka, that you
+care to bring me such a message? Were I Pharaoh now I think your life
+would pay the price."
+
+"As it would certainly have paid the price, had I not done so. Prince,
+I brought the letter because I must. Also a copy of it has gone, I
+believe, to Idernes the Satrap at Sais. It is better to face the
+truth, Prince, and I think that I may be of more service to you alive
+than dead. If you do not wish to send the lady Amada to the King,
+marry her to someone else, after which he will seek her no more."
+
+He looked at me shrewdly and said,
+
+"To whom then? I cannot marry her, being her uncle and already
+married. Do you mean to yourself, Shabaka?"
+
+"I have loved the lady Amada from a child, Prince," I answered boldly.
+"Also I have high blood in me and having brought much gold from the
+East, am rich again and one accustomed to war."
+
+"So you have brought gold from the East! How? Well, you can tell me
+afterwards. But you fly high. You, a Count of Egypt, wish to marry the
+Royal Lady of Egypt, for such she is by birth and rank, which, if ever
+Egypt were free again, would give you a title to the throne."
+
+"I ask no throne, Prince. If there were one to fill I should be
+content to leave that to you and your heirs."
+
+"So you say, no doubt honestly. But would the children of Amada say
+the same? Would you even say it if you were her husband, and would she
+say it? Moreover she is a priestess, sworn not to wed, though perhaps
+that trouble might be overcome, if she wishes to wed, which I doubt.
+Mayhap you might discover. Well, you are hungry and worn with long
+travelling. Come, let us eat, and afterwards you can tell your story.
+Amada and the others will be glad to hear it, as I shall. Follow me,
+Count Shabaka."
+
+So we went to the lesser banqueting-hall, I filled with joy because I
+should see Amada, and yet, much afraid because of that story which I
+must tell. Gathered there, waiting for the Prince, we found the
+Princess his wife, a large and kindly woman, also his two eldest
+daughters and his young son, a lad of about sixteen. Moreover, there
+were certain officers, while at the tables of the lower hall sat
+others of the household, men of smaller rank, and their wives, since
+Peroa still maintained some kind of a shadow of the Court of old
+Egypt.
+
+The Princess and the others greeted me, and Bes also who had always
+been a favourite with them, before he went to take his seat at the
+lowest table, and I greeted them, looking all the while for Amada whom
+I did not see. Presently, however, as we took our places on the
+couches, she entered dressed, not as a priestess, but in the beautiful
+robes of a great lady of Egypt and wearing on her head the /ur�us/
+circlet that signified her royal blood. As it chanced the only seat
+left vacant was that next to myself, which she took before she
+recognized me, for she was engaged in asking pardon for her lateness
+of the Prince and Princess, saying that she had been detained by the
+ceremonies at the temple. Seeing suddenly that I was her neighbour,
+she made as though she would change her place, then altered her mind
+and stayed where she was.
+
+"Greeting, Cousin Shabaka," she said, "though not for the first time
+to-day. Oh! my heart was glad when looking up, outside the temple, I
+caught sight of you clad in that strange Eastern armour, and knew that
+you had returned safe from your long wanderings. Yet afterwards I must
+do penance for it by saying two added prayers, since at such a time my
+thoughts should have been with the goddess only."
+
+"Greeting, Cousin Amada," I answered, "but she must be a jealous
+goddess who grudges a thought to a relative--and friend--at such a
+time."
+
+"She is jealous, Shabaka, as being the Queen of women she must be who
+demands to reign alone in the hearts of her votaries. But tell me of
+your travels in the East and how you came by that rope of wondrous
+pearls, if indeed there can be pearls so large and beautiful."
+
+This at the time I had little chance of doing, however, since the
+young Princess on the other side of her began to talk to Amada about
+some forthcoming festival, and the Prince's son next to me who was
+fond of hunting, to question me about sport in the East and when,
+unhappily, I said that I had shot lions there, gave me no peace for
+the rest of that feast. Also the Princess opposite was anxious to
+learn what food noble people ate in the East, and how it was cooked
+and how they sat at table, and what was the furniture of their rooms
+and did women attend feasts as in Egypt, and so forth. So it came
+about that what between these things and eating and drinking, which,
+being well-nigh starved, I was obliged to do, for, save a cup of wine,
+I had taken nothing in my mother's house, I found little chance of
+talking with the lovely Amada, although I knew that all the while she
+was studying me out of the corners of her large eyes. Or perhaps it
+was the rose-hued pearls she studied, I was not sure.
+
+Only one thing did she say to me when there was a little pause while
+the cup went round, and she pledged me according to custom and passed
+it on. It was,
+
+"You look well, Shabaka, though somewhat tired, but sadder than you
+used, I think."
+
+"Perhaps because I have seen things to sadden me, Amada. But you too
+look well but somewhat lovelier than you used, I think, if that be
+possible."
+
+She smiled and blushed as she replied,
+
+"The Eastern ladies have taught you how to say pretty things. But you
+should not waste them upon me who have done with women's vanities and
+have given myself to learning and--religion."
+
+"Have learning and religion no vanities of their own?" I began, when
+suddenly the Prince gave a signal to end the feast.
+
+Thereon all the lower part of the hall went away and the little tables
+at which we ate were removed by servants, leaving us only wine-cups in
+our hands which a butler filled from time to time, mixing the wine
+with water. This reminded me of something, and having asked leave, I
+beckoned to Bes, who still lingered near the door, and took from him
+that splendid, golden goblet which the Great King had given me, that
+by my command he had brought wrapped up in linen and hidden beneath
+his robe. Having undone the wrappings I bowed and offered it to the
+Prince Peroa.
+
+"What is this wondrous thing?" asked the Prince, when all had finished
+admiring its workmanship. "Is it a gift that you bring me from the
+King of the East, Shabaka?"
+
+"It is a gift from myself, O Prince, if you will be pleased to accept
+it," I answered, adding, "Yet it is true that it comes from the King
+of the East, since it was his own drinking-cup that he gave me in
+exchange for a certain bow, though not the one he sought, after he had
+pledged me."
+
+"You seem to have found much favour in the eyes of this king, Shabaka,
+which is more than most of us Egyptians do," he exclaimed, then went
+on hastily, "Still, I thank you for your splendid gift, and however
+you came by it, shall value it much."
+
+"Perhaps my cousin Shabaka will tell us his story," broke in Amada,
+her eyes still fixed upon the rose-hued pearls, "and of how he came to
+win all the beauteous things that dazzle our eyes to-night."
+
+Now I thought of offering her the pearls, but remembering my mother's
+words, also that the Princess might not like to see another woman bear
+off such a prize, did not do so. So I began to tell my story instead,
+Bes seated on the ground near to me by the Prince's wish, that he
+might tell his.
+
+The tale was long for in it was much that went before the day when I
+saw myself in the chariot hunting lions with the King of kings, which
+I, the modern man who set down all this vision, now learned for the
+first time. It told of the details of my journey to the East, of my
+coming to the royal city and the rest, all of which it is needless to
+repeat. Then I came to the lion hunt, to my winning of the wager, and
+all that happened to me; of my being condemned to death, of the
+weighing of Bes against the gold, and of how I was laid in the boat of
+torment, a story at which I noticed Amada turn pale and tremble.
+
+Here I ceased, saying that Bes knew better than I what had chanced at
+the Court while I was pinned in the boat, whereon all present cried
+out to Bes to take up the tale. This he did, and much better than I
+could have done, bringing out many little things which made the scene
+appear before them, as Ethiopians have the art of doing. At last he
+came to the place in his story where the king asked him if he had ever
+seen a woman fairer than the dancers, and went on thus:
+
+"O Prince, I told the Great King that I had; that there dwelt in Egypt
+a lady of royal blood with eyes like stars, with hair like silk and
+long as an unbridled horse's tail, with a shape like to that of a
+goddess, with breath like flowers, with skin like milk, with a voice
+like honey, with learning like to that of the god Thoth, with wit like
+a razor's edge, with teeth like pearls, with majesty of bearing like
+to that of the king himself, with fingers like rosebuds set in pink
+seashells, with motion like that of an antelope, with grace like that
+of a swan floating upon water, and--I don't remember the rest, O
+Prince."
+
+"Perhaps it is as well," exclaimed Peroa. "But what did the King say
+then?"
+
+"He asked her name, O Prince."
+
+"And what name did you give to this wondrous lady who surpasses all
+the goddesses in loveliness and charm, O dwarf Bes?" inquired Amada
+much amused.
+
+"What name, O High-born One? Is it needful to ask? Why, what name
+could I give but your own, for is there any other in the world of whom
+a man whose heart is filled with truth could speak such things?"
+
+Now hearing this I gasped, but before I could speak Amada leapt up,
+crying,
+
+"Wretch! You dared to speak my name to this king! Surely you should be
+scourged till your bones are bare."
+
+"And why not, Lady? Would you have had me sit still and hear those fat
+trollops of the East exalted above you? Would you have had me so
+disloyal to your royal loveliness?"
+
+"You should be scourged," repeated Amada stamping her foot. "My Uncle,
+I pray you cause this knave to be scourged."
+
+"Nay, nay," said Peroa moodily. "Poor simple man, he knew no better
+and thought only to sing your praises in a far land. Be not angry with
+the dwarf, Niece. Had it been Shabaka who gave your name, the thing
+would be different. What happened next, Bes?"
+
+"Only this, Prince," said Bes, looking upwards and rolling his eyes,
+as was his fashion when unloading some great lie from his heart. "The
+King sent his servants to bring my master from the boat, that he might
+inquire of him whether he had always found me truthful. For, Prince,
+those Easterns set much store by truth which here in Egypt is
+worshipped as a goddess. There they do not worship her because she
+lives in the heart of every man, and some women."
+
+Now all stared at Bes who continued to stare at the ceiling, and I
+rose to say something, I know not what, when suddenly the doors opened
+and through them appeared heralds, crying,
+
+"Hearken, Peroa, Prince of Egypt by grace of the Great King. A message
+from the Great King. Read and obey, O Peroa, Prince of Egypt by grace
+of the Great King!"
+
+As they cried thus from between them emerged a man whose long Eastern
+robes were stained with the dust of travel. Advancing without salute
+he drew out a roll, touched his forehead with it, bowing deeply, and
+handed it to the prince, saying,
+
+"Kiss the Word. Read the Word. Obey the Word, O servant of our Master,
+the King of kings, beneath whose feet we are all but dust."
+
+Peroa took the roll, made a semblance of lifting it to his forehead,
+opened and read it. As he did so I saw the veins swell upon his neck
+and his eyes flash, but he only said,
+
+"O Messenger, to-night I feast, to-morrow an answer shall be given to
+you to convey to the Satrap Idernes. My servants will find you food
+and lodging. You are dismissed."
+
+"Let the answer be given early lest you also should be dismissed, O
+Peroa," said the man with insolence.
+
+Then he turned his back upon the prince, as one does on an inferior,
+and walked away, accompanied by the herald.
+
+When they were gone and the doors had been shut, Peroa spoke in a
+voice that was thick with fury, saying,
+
+"Hearken, all of you, to the words of the writing."
+
+Then he read it.
+
+
+ "From the King of kings, the Ruler of all the earth, to Peroa, one
+  of his servants in the Satrapy of Egypt,
+
+ "Deliver over to my servant Idernes without delay, the person of
+  Amada, a lady of the blood of the old Pharaohs of Egypt, who is
+  your relative and in your guardianship, that she may be numbered
+  among the women of my house."
+
+
+Now all present looked at each other, while Amada stood as though she
+had been frozen into stone. Before she could speak, Peroa went on,
+
+"See how the King seeks a quarrel against me that he may destroy me
+and bray Egypt in his mortar, and tan it like a hide to wrap about his
+feet. Nay, hold your peace, Amada. Have no fear. You shall not be sent
+to the East; first will I kill you with my own hands. But what answer
+shall we give, for the matter is urgent and on it hang all our lives?
+Bethink you, Idernes has a great force yonder at Sais, and if I refuse
+outright, he will attack us, which indeed is what the King means him
+to do before we can make preparation. Say then, shall we fight, or
+shall we fly to Upper Egypt, abandoning Memphis, and there make our
+stand?"
+
+Now the Councillors present seemed to find no answer, for they did not
+know what to say. But Bes whispered in my ear,
+
+"Remember, Master, that you hold the King's seal. Let an answer be
+sent to Idernes under the White Seal, bidding him wait on you."
+
+Then I rose and spoke.
+
+"O Peroa," I said, "as it chances I am the bearer of the private
+signet of the Great King, which all men must obey in the north and in
+the south, in the east and in the west, wherever the sun shines over
+the dominions of the King. Look on it," and taking the ancient White
+Seal from about my neck, I handed it to him.
+
+He looked and the Councillors looked. Then they said almost with one
+voice,
+
+"It is the White Seal, the very signet of the Great Kings of the
+East," and they bowed before the dreadful thing.
+
+"How you came by this we do not know, Shabaka," said Peroa. "That can
+be inquired of afterwards. Yet in truth it seems to be the old Signet
+of signets, that which has come down from father to son for countless
+generations, that which the King of kings carries on his person and
+affixes to his private orders and to the greatest documents of State,
+which afterwards can never be recalled, that of which a copy is
+emblazoned on his banner."
+
+"It is," I answered, "and from the King's person it came to me for a
+while. If any doubt, let the impress be brought, that is furnished to
+all the officers throughout the Empire, and let the seal be set in the
+impress."
+
+Now one of the officers rose and went to bring the impress which was
+in his keeping, but Peroa continued,
+
+"If this be the true seal, how would you use it, Shabaka, to help us
+in our present trouble?"
+
+"Thus, Prince," I answered. "I would send a command under the seal to
+Idernes to wait upon the holder of the seal here in Memphis. He will
+suspect a trap and will not come until he has gathered a great army.
+Then he will come, but meanwhile, you, Prince, can also collect an
+army."
+
+"That needs gold, Shabaka, and I have little. The King of kings takes
+all in tribute."
+
+"I have some, Prince, to the weight of a heavy man, and it is at the
+service of Egypt."
+
+"I thank you, Shabaka. Believe me, such generosity shall not go
+unrewarded," and he glanced at Amada who dropped her eyes. "But if we
+can collect the army, what then?"
+
+"Then you can put Memphis into a state of defence. Then too when
+Idernes comes I will meet him and, as the bearer of the seal, command
+him under the seal to retreat and disperse his army."
+
+"But if he does, Shabaka, it will only be until he has received fresh
+orders from the Great King, whereon he will advance again."
+
+"No, Prince, /he/ will not advance, or that army either. For when they
+are in retreat we will fall on them and destroy them, and declare you,
+O Prince, Pharaoh of Egypt, though what will happen afterwards I do
+not know."
+
+When they heard this all gasped. Only Amada whispered,
+
+"Well said!" and Bes clapped his big hands softly in the Ethiopian
+fashion.
+
+"A bold counsel," said Peroa, "and one on which I must have the night
+to think. Return here, Shabaka, an hour after sunrise to-morrow, by
+which time I can gather all the wisest men in Memphis, and we will
+discuss this matter. Ah! here is the impress. Now let the seal be
+tried."
+
+A box was brought and opened. In it was a slab of wood on which was an
+impress of the King's seal in wax, surrounded by those of other seals
+certifying that it was genuine. Also there was a writing describing
+the appearance of the seal. I handed the signet to Peroa who, having
+compared it with the description in the writing, fitted it to the
+impress on the wax.
+
+"It is the same," he said. "See, all of you."
+
+They looked and nodded. Then he would have given it back to me but I
+refused to take it, saying,
+
+"It is not well that this mighty symbol should hang about the neck of
+a private man whence it might be stolen or lost."
+
+"Or who might be murdered for its sake," interrupted Peroa.
+
+"Yes, Prince. Therefore take it and hide it in the safest and most
+secret place in the palace, and with it these pearls that are too
+priceless to be flaunted about the streets of Memphis at night, unless
+indeed----" and I turned to look for Amada, but she was gone.
+
+So the seal and the pearls were taken and locked in the box with the
+impress and borne away. Nor was I sorry to see the last of them,
+wisely as it happened. Then I bade the Prince and his company good
+night, and presently was driving homeward with Bes in the chariot.
+
+Our way led us past some large houses once occupied by officers of the
+Court of Pharaoh, but now that there was no Court, fallen into ruins.
+Suddenly from out of these houses sprang a band of men disguised as
+common robbers, whose faces were hidden by cloths with eye-holes cut
+in them. They seized the horses by the bridles, and before we could do
+anything, leapt upon us and held us fast. Then a tall man speaking
+with a foreign accent, said,
+
+"Search that officer and the dwarf. Take from them the seal upon a
+gold chain and a rope of rose-hued pearls which they have stolen. But
+do them no harm."
+
+So they searched us, the tall man himself helping and, aided by
+others, holding Bes who struggled with them, and searched the chariot
+also, by the light of the moon, but found nothing. The tall man
+muttered that I must be the wrong officer, and at a sign they left us
+and ran away.
+
+"That was a wise thought of mine, Bes, which caused me to leave
+certain ornaments in the palace," I said. "As it is they have taken
+nothing."
+
+"Yes, Master," he answered, "though I have taken something from them,"
+a saying that I did not understand at the time. "Those Easterns whom
+we met by the canal told Idernes about the seal, and he ordered this
+to be done. That tall man was one of the messengers who came to-night
+to the palace."
+
+"Then why did they not kill us, Bes?"
+
+"Because murder, especially of one who holds the seal, is an ugly
+business, that is easily tracked down, whereas thieves are many in
+Memphis and who troubles about them when they have failed? Oh! the
+Grasshopper, or Amen, or both, have been with us to-night."
+
+So I thought although I said nothing, for since we had come off
+scatheless, what did it matter? Well, this. It showed me that the
+signet of the Great King was indeed to be dreaded and coveted, even
+here in Egypt. If Idernes could get it into his possession, what might
+he not do with it? Cause himself to be proclaimed Pharaoh perhaps and
+become the forefather of an independent dynasty. Why not, when the
+Empire of the East was taxed with a great war elsewhere? And if this
+was so why should not Peroa do the same, he who had behind him all Old
+Egypt, maddened with its wrongs and foreign rule?
+
+That same night before I slept, but after Bes and I had hidden away
+the bags of gold by burying them beneath the clay floor, I laid the
+whole matter before my mother who was a very wise woman. She heard me
+out, answering little, then said,
+
+"The business is very dangerous, and of its end I will not speak until
+I have heard the counsel of your great-uncle, the holy Tanofir. Still,
+things having gone so far, it seems to me that boldness may be the
+best course, since the great King has his Grecian wars to deal with,
+and whatever he may say, cannot attack Egypt yet awhile. Therefore if
+Peroa is able to overcome Idernes and his army he may cause himself to
+be proclaimed Pharaoh and make Egypt free if only for a time."
+
+"Such is my mind, Mother."
+
+"Not all your mind, Son, I think," she answered smiling, "for you
+think more of the lovely Amada than of these high policies, at any
+rate to-night. Well, marry your Amada if you can, though I misdoubt me
+somewhat of a woman who is so lost in learning and thinks so much
+about her soul. At least if you marry her and Egypt should become
+free, as it was for thousands of years, you will be the next heir to
+the throne as husband of the Great Royal Lady."
+
+"How can that be, Mother, seeing that Peroa has a son?"
+
+"A vain youth with no more in him than a child's rattle. If once Amada
+ceases to think about her soul she will begin to think about her
+throne, especially if she has children. But all this is far away and
+for the present I am glad that neither she nor the thieves have got
+those pearls, though perhaps they might be safer here than where they
+are. And now, my son, go rest for you need it, and dream of nothing,
+not even Amada, who for her part will dream of Isis, if at all. I will
+wake you before the dawn."
+
+So I went, being too tired to talk more, and slept like a crocodile in
+the sun, till, as it seemed to me, but a few minutes later I saw my
+mother standing over me with a lamp, saying that it was time to rise.
+I rose, unwillingly enough, but refreshed, washed and dressed myself,
+by which time the sun had begun to appear. Then I ate some food and,
+calling Bes, made ready to start for the palace.
+
+"My son," said my mother, the lady Tiu, before we parted, "while you
+have been sleeping I have been thinking, as is the way of the old.
+Peroa, your cousin, will be glad enough to make use of you, but he
+does not love you over much because he is jealous of you and fears
+lest you should become his rival in the future. Still he is an honest
+man and will keep a bargain which he once has made. Now it seems that
+above everything on earth you desire Amada on whom you have set your
+heart since boyhood, but who has always played with you and spoken to
+you with her arm stretched out. Also life is short and may come to an
+end any day, as you should know better than most men who have lived
+among dangers, and therefore it is well that a man should take what he
+desires, even if he finds afterwards that the rose he crushes to his
+breast has thorns. For then at least he will have smelt the rose, not
+only have looked on and longed to smell it. Therefore, before you hand
+over your gold, and place your wit and strength at the service of
+Peroa, make your bargain with him; namely, that if thereby you save
+Amada from the King's House of Women and help to set Peroa on the
+throne, he shall promise her to you free of any priestly curse, you
+giving her as dowry the priceless rose-hued pearls that are worth a
+kingdom. So you will get your rose till it withers, and if the thorns
+prick, do not blame me, and one day you may become a king--or a slave,
+Amen knows which."
+
+Now I laughed and said that I would take her counsel who desired Amada
+and nothing else. As for all her talk about thorns, I paid no heed to
+it, knowing that she loved me very much and was jealous of Amada who
+she thought would take her place with me.
+
+
+
+                              CHAPTER X
+
+                      SHABAKA PLIGHTS HIS TROTH
+
+Bes and I went armed to the palace, walking in the middle of the road,
+but now that the sun was up we met no more robbers. At the gate a
+messenger summoned me alone to the presence of Peroa, who, he said,
+wished to talk with me before the sitting of the Council. I went and
+found him by himself.
+
+"I hear that you were attacked last night," he said after greeting me.
+
+I answered that I was and told him the story, adding that it was
+fortunate I had left the White Seal and the pearls in safe keeping,
+since without doubt the would-be thieves were Easterns who desired to
+recover them.
+
+"Ah! the pearls," he said. "One of those who handled them, who was
+once a dealer in gems, says that they are without price, unmatched in
+the whole world, and that never in all his life has he seen any to
+equal the smallest of them."
+
+I replied that I believed this was so. Then he asked me of the value
+of the gold of which I had spoken. I told him and it was a great sum,
+for gold was scarce in Egypt. His eyes gleamed for he needed wealth to
+pay soldiers.
+
+"And all this you are ready to hand over to me, Shabaka?"
+
+Now I bethought me of my mother's words, and answered,
+
+"Yes, Prince, at a price."
+
+"What price, Shabaka?"
+
+"The price of the hand of the Royal Lady, Amada, freed from her vows.
+Moreover, I will give her the pearls as a marriage dowry and place at
+your service my sword and all the knowledge I have gained in the East,
+swearing to stand or fall with you."
+
+"I thought it, Shabaka. Well, in this world nothing is given for
+nothing and the offer is a fair one. You are well born, too, as well
+as myself, and a brave and clever man. Further, Amada has not taken
+her final vows and therefore the high priests can absolve her from her
+marriage to the goddess, or to her son Horus, whichever it may be, for
+I do not understand these mysteries. But, Shabaka, if Fortune should
+chance to go with us and I should became the first Pharaoh of a new
+dynasty in Egypt, he who was married to the Royal Princess of the true
+blood might become a danger to my throne and family."
+
+"I shall not be that man, Prince, who am content with my own station,
+and to be your servant."
+
+"And my son's, Shabaka? You know that I have but one lawful son."
+
+"And your son's, Prince."
+
+"You are honest, Shabaka, and I believe you. But how about your sons,
+if you have any, and how about Amada herself? Well, in great
+businesses something must be risked, and I need the gold and the rest
+which I cannot take for nothing, for you won them by your skill and
+courage and they are yours. But how you won the seal you have not told
+us, nor is there time for you to do so now."
+
+He thought a little, walking up and down the chamber, then went on,
+
+"I accept your offer, Shabaka, so far as I can."
+
+"So far as you can, Prince?"
+
+"Yes; I can give you Amada in marriage and make that marriage easy,
+but only if Amada herself consents. The will of a Royal Princess of
+Egypt of full age cannot be forced, save by her father if he reigns as
+Pharaoh, and I am not her father, but only her guardian. Therefore it
+stands thus. Are you willing to fulfil your part of the bargain, save
+only as regards the pearls, if she does not marry you, and to take
+your chance of winning Amada as a man wins a woman, I on my part
+promising to do all in my power to help your suit?"
+
+Now it was my turn to think for a moment. What did I risk? The gold
+and perhaps the pearls, no more, for in any case I should fight for
+Peroa against the Eastern king whom I hated, and through him for
+Egypt. Well, these came to me by chance, and if they went by chance
+what of it? Also I was not one who desired to wed a woman, however
+much I worshipped her, if she desired to turn her back on me. If I
+could win her in fair love--well. If not, it was my misfortune, and I
+wanted her in no other way. Lastly, I had reason to think that she
+looked on me more favourably than she had ever done on any other man,
+and that if it had not been for what my mother called her soul and its
+longings, she would have given herself to me before I journeyed to the
+East. Indeed, once she had said as much, and there was something in
+her eyes last night which told me that in her heart she loved me,
+though with what passion at the time I did not know. So very swiftly I
+made up my mind and answered,
+
+"I understand and I accept. The gold shall be delivered to you to-day,
+Prince. The pearls are already in your keeping to await the end."
+
+"Good!" he exclaimed. "Then let the matter be reduced to writing and
+at once, that afterwards neither of us may have cause to complain of
+the other."
+
+So he sent for his secret scribe and dictated to him, briefly but
+clearly, the substance of our bargain, nothing being added, and
+nothing taken away. This roll written on papyrus was afterwards copied
+twice, Peroa taking one copy, I another, and a third being deposited
+according to custom, in the library of the temple of Ptah.
+
+When all was done and Peroa and I had touched each other's breasts and
+given our word in the name of Amen, we went to the hall in which we
+had dined, where those whom the Prince had summoned were assembled.
+Altogether there were about thirty of them, great citizens of Memphis,
+or landowners from without who had been called together in the night.
+Some of these men were very old and could remember when Egypt had a
+Pharaoh of its own before the East set its heel upon her neck, of
+noble blood also.
+
+Others were merchants who dealt with all the cities of Egypt; others
+hereditary generals, or captains of fleets of ships; others Grecians,
+officers of mercenaries who were supposed to be in the pay of the King
+of kings, but hated him, as did all the Greeks. Then there were the
+high priests of Ptah, of Amen, of Osiris and others who were still the
+most powerful men in the land, since there was no village between
+Thebes and the mouths of the Nile in which they had not those who were
+sworn to the service of their gods.
+
+Such was the company representing all that remained or could be
+gathered there of the greatness of Egypt the ancient and the fallen.
+
+To these when the doors had been closed and barred and trusty watchmen
+set to guard them, Peroa expounded the case in a low and earnest
+voice. He showed them that the King of the East sought a new quarrel
+against Egypt that he might grind her to powder beneath his heel, and
+that he did this by demanding the person of Amada, his own niece and
+the Royal Lady of Egypt, to be included in his household like any
+common woman. If she were refused then he would send a great army
+under pretext of taking her, and lay the land waste as far as Thebes.
+And if she were granted some new quarrel would be picked and in the
+person of the royal Amada all of them be for ever shamed.
+
+Next he showed the seal, telling them that I--who was known to many of
+them, at least by repute--had brought it from the East, and repeating
+to them the plan that I had proposed upon the previous night. After
+this he asked their counsel, saying that before noon he must send an
+answer to Idernes, the King's Satrap at Sais.
+
+Then I was called upon to speak and, in answer to questions, answered
+frankly that I had stolen the ancient White Seal from the King's
+servant who carried it as a warrant for the King's private vengeance
+on one who had bested him. How I did not mention. I told them also of
+the state of the Great King's empire and that I had heard that he was
+about to enter upon a war with the Greeks which would need all its
+strength, and that therefore if they wished to strike for liberty the
+time was at hand.
+
+Then the talk began and lasted for two hours, each man giving his
+judgment according to precedence, some one way and some another. When
+all had done and it became clear that there were differences of
+opinion, some being content to live on in slavery with what remained
+to them and others desiring to strike for freedom, among whom were the
+high priests who feared lest the Eastern heretics should utterly
+destroy their worship, Peroa spoke once more.
+
+"Elders of Egypt," he said briefly, "certain of you think one way, and
+certain another, but of this be sure, such talk as we have held
+together cannot be hid. It will come to the ears of spies and through
+them to those of the Great King, and then all of us alike are doomed.
+If you refuse to stir, this very day I with my family and household
+and the Royal Lady Amada, and all who cling to me, fly to Upper Egypt
+and perhaps beyond it to Ethiopia, leaving you to deal with the Great
+King, as you will, or to follow me into exile. That he will attack us
+there is no doubt, either over the pretext of Amada or some other,
+since Shabaka has heard as much from his own lips. Now choose."
+
+Then, after a little whispering together, every man of them voted for
+rebellion, though some of them I could see with heavy hearts, and
+bound themselves by a great oath to cling together to the last.
+
+The matter being thus settled such a letter was written to Idernes as
+I had suggested on the night before, and sealed with the Signet of
+signets. Of the yielding up of Amada it said nothing, but commanded
+Idernes, under the private White Seal that none dared disobey, to wait
+upon the Prince Peroa at Memphis forthwith, and there learn from him,
+the Holder of the Seal, what was the will of the Great King. Then the
+Council was adjourned till one hour after noon, and most of them
+departed to send messengers bearing secret word to the various cities
+and nomes of Egypt.
+
+Before they went, however, I was directed to wait upon my relative,
+the holy Tanofir, whom all acknowledged to be the greatest magician in
+Egypt, and to ask of him to seek wisdom and an oracle from his Spirit
+as to the future and whether in it we should fare well or ill. This I
+promised to do.
+
+When most of the Council were gone the messengers of Idernes were
+summoned, and came proudly, and with them, or rather before them, Bes
+for whom I had sent as he was not present at the Council.
+
+"Master," he whispered to me, "the tallest of those messengers is the
+man who captained the robbers last night. Wait and I will prove it."
+
+Peroa gave the roll to the head messenger, bidding him bear it to the
+Satrap in answer to the letter which he had delivered to him. The man
+took it insolently and thrust it into his robe, as he did so revealing
+a silver chain that had been broken and knotted together, and asked
+whether there were words to bear besides those written in the roll.
+Before Peroa could answer Bes sprang up saying,
+
+"O Prince, a boon, the boon of justice on this man. Last night he and
+others with him attacked my master and myself, seeking to rob us, but
+finding nothing let us go."
+
+"You lie, Abortion!" said the Eastern.
+
+"Oh! I lie, do I?" mocked Bes. "Well, let us see," and shooting out
+his long arm, he grasped the chain about the messenger's neck and
+broke it with a jerk. "Look, O Prince," he said, "you may have noted
+last night, when that man entered the hall, that there hung about his
+neck this chain to which was tied a silver key."
+
+"I noted it," said Peroa.
+
+"Then ask him, O Prince, where is the key now."
+
+"What is that to you, Dwarf?" broke in the man. "The key is my mark of
+office as chief butler to the High Satrap. Must I always bear it for
+your pleasure?"
+
+"Not when it has been taken from you, Butler," answered Bes. "See,
+here it is," and from his sleeve he produced the key hanging to a
+piece of the chain. "Listen, O Prince," he said. "I struggled with
+this man and the key was in my left hand though he did not know it at
+the time, and with it some of the chain. Compare them and judge. Also
+his mask slipped and I saw his face and knew him again."
+
+Peroa laid the pieces of the chain together and observed the
+workmanship which was Eastern and rare. Then he clapped his hands, at
+which sign armed men of his household entered from behind him.
+
+"It is the same," he said. "Butler of Idernes, you are a common
+thief."
+
+The man strove to answer, but could not for the deed was proved
+against him.
+
+"Then, O Prince," asked Bes, "what is the punishment of those thieves
+who attack passers-by with violence in the streets of Memphis, for
+such I demand on him?"
+
+"The cutting off of the right hand and scourging," answered Peroa, at
+which words the butler turned to fly. But Bes leapt on him like an ape
+upon a bird, and held him fast.
+
+"Seize that thief," said Peroa to his servants, "and let him receive
+fifty blows with the rods. His hand I spare because he must travel."
+
+They laid the man down and the rods having been fetched, gave him the
+blows until at the thirtieth he howled for mercy, crying out that it
+was true and that it was he who had captained the robbers, words which
+Peroa caused to be written down. Then he asked him why he, a messenger
+from the Satrap, had robbed in the streets of Memphis, and as he
+refused to answer, commanded the officer of justice to lay on. After
+three more blows the man said,
+
+"O Prince, this was no common robbery for gain. I did what I was
+commanded to do, because yonder noble had about him the ancient White
+Seal of the Great King which he showed to certain of the Satrap's
+servants by the banks of the canal. That seal is a holy token, O
+Prince, which, it is said, has descended for twice a thousand years in
+the family of the Great King, and as the Satrap did not know how it
+had come into the hands of the noble Shabaka, he ordered me to obtain
+it if I could."
+
+"And the pearls too, Butler?"
+
+"Yes, O Prince, since those gems are a great possession with which any
+Satrap could buy a larger satrapy."
+
+"Let him go," said Peroa, and the man rose, rubbing himself and
+weeping in his pain.
+
+"Now, Butler," he went on, "return to your master with a grateful
+heart, since you have been spared much that you deserve. Say to him
+that he cannot steal the Signet, but that if he is wise he will obey
+it, since otherwise his fate may be worse than yours, and to all his
+servants say the same. Foolish man, how can you, or your master, guess
+what is in the mind of the Great King, or for what purpose the Signet
+of signets is here in Egypt? Beware lest you fall into a pit, all of
+you together, and let Idernes beware lest he find himself at the very
+bottom of that pit."
+
+"O Prince, I will beware," said the humbled butler, "and whatever is
+written over the seal, that I will obey, like many others."
+
+"You are wise," answered Peroa; "I pray for his own sake that the
+Satrap Idernes may be as wise. Now begone, thanking whatever god you
+worship that your life is whole in you and that your right hand
+remains upon your wrist."
+
+So the butler and those with him prostrated themselves before Peroa
+and bowed humbly to me and even to Bes because in their hearts now
+they believed that we were clothed by the Great King with terrible
+powers that might destroy them all, if so we chose. Then they went,
+the butler limping a little and with no pride left in him.
+
+"That was good work," said Peroa to me afterwards when we were alone,
+"for now yonder knave is frightened and will frighten his master."
+
+"Yes," I answered, "you played that pipe well, Prince. Still, there is
+no time to lose, since before another moon this will all be reported
+in the East, whence a new light may arise and perchance a new signet."
+
+"You say you stole the White Seal?" he asked.
+
+"Nay, Prince, the truth is that Bes bought it--in a certain fashion--
+and I used it. Perhaps it is well that you should know no more at
+present."
+
+"Perhaps," he answered, and we parted, for he had much to do.
+
+That afternoon the Council met again. At it I gave over the gold and
+by help of it all was arranged. Within a week ten thousand armed men
+would be in Memphis and a hundred ships with their crews upon the
+Nile; also a great army would be gathering in Upper Egypt, officered
+for the most part by Greeks skilled in war. The Greek cities too at
+the mouths of the Nile would be ready to revolt, or so some of their
+citizens declared, for they hated the Great King bitterly and longed
+to cast off his yoke.
+
+For my part, I received the command of the bodyguard of Peroa in which
+were many Greeks, and a generalship in the army; while to Bes, at my
+prayer, was given the freedom of the land which he accepted with a
+smile, he who was a king in his own country.
+
+At length all was finished and I went out into the palace garden to
+rest myself before I rode into the desert to see my great uncle, the
+holy Tanofir. I was alone, for Bes had gone to bring our horses on
+which we were to ride, and sat myself down beneath a palm-tree,
+thinking of the great adventure on which we had entered with a merry
+heart, for I loved adventures.
+
+Next I thought of Amada and was less merry. Then I looked up and lo!
+she stood before me, unaccompanied and wearing the dress, not of a
+priestess, but of an Egyptian lady with the little circlet of her rank
+upon her hair. I rose and bowed to her and we began to walk together
+beneath the palms, my heart beating hard within me, for I knew that my
+hour had come to speak.
+
+Yet it was she who spoke the first, saying,
+
+"I hear that you have been playing a high part, Shabaka, and doing
+great things for Egypt."
+
+"For Egypt and for you who are Egypt," I answered.
+
+"So I should have been called in the old days, Cousin, because of my
+blood and the rank it gives, though now I am but as any other lady of
+the land."
+
+"And so you shall be called in days to come, Amada, if my sword and
+wit can win their way."
+
+"How so, Cousin, seeing that you have promised certain things to my
+uncle Peroa and his son?"
+
+"I have promised those things, Amada, and I will abide by my promise;
+but the gods are above all, and who knows what they may decree?"
+
+"Yes, Cousin, the gods are above all, and in their hands we will let
+these matters rest, provoking them in no manner and least of all by
+treachery to our oaths."
+
+We walked for a little way in silence. Then I spoke.
+
+"Amada, there are more things than thrones in the world."
+
+"Yes, Cousin, there is that in which all thrones end--death, which it
+seems we court."
+
+"And, Amada, there is that in which all thrones begin--love, which I
+court from you."
+
+"I have known it long," she said, considering me gravely, "and been
+grateful to you who are more to me than any man has been or ever will
+be. But, Shabaka, I am a priestess bound to set the holy One I serve
+above a mortal."
+
+"That holy One was wed and bore a child, Amada, who avenged his
+father, as I trust that we shall avenge Egypt. Therefore she looks
+with a kind eye upon wives and mothers. Also you have not taken your
+final vows and can be absolved."
+
+"Yes," she said softly.
+
+"Then, Amada, will you give yourself into my keeping?"
+
+"I think so, Shabaka, though it has been in my mind for long, as you
+know well, to give myself only to learning and the service of the
+heavenly Lady. My heart calls me to you, it is true, day and night it
+calls, how loudly I will not tell; yet I would not yield myself to
+that alone. But Egypt calls me also, since I have been shown in a
+dream while I watched in the sanctuary, that you are the only man who
+can free her, and I think that this dream came from on high. Therefore
+I will give myself, but not yet."
+
+"Not yet," I said dismayed. "When?"
+
+"When I have been absolved from my vows, which must be done on the
+night of the next new moon, which is twenty-seven days from this.
+Then, if nothing comes between us during those twenty-seven days, it
+shall be announced that the Royal Lady of Egypt is to wed the noble
+Shabaka."
+
+"Twenty-seven days! In such times much may happen in them, Amada.
+Still, except death, what can come between us?"
+
+"I know of nothing, Shabaka, whose past is shadowless as the noon."
+
+"Or I either," I replied.
+
+Now we were standing in the clear sunlight, but as I said the words a
+wind stirred the palm-trees and the shadow from one of them fell full
+upon me, and she who was very quick, noted it.
+
+"Some might take that for an omen," she said with a little laugh,
+pointing to the line of the shadow. "Oh! Shabaka, if you have aught to
+confess, say it now and I will forgive it. But do not leave me to
+discover it afterwards when I may not forgive. Perchance during your
+journeyings in the East----"
+
+"Nothing, nothing," I exclaimed joyfully, who during all that time had
+scarcely spoken to a youthful woman.
+
+"I am glad that nothing happened in the East that could separate us,
+Shabaka, though in truth my thought was not your own, for there are
+more things than women in the world. Only it seems strange to me that
+you should return to Egypt laden with such priceless gifts from him
+who is Egypt's greatest enemy."
+
+"Have I not told you that I put my country before myself? Those gifts
+were won fairly in a wager, Amada, whereof you heard the story but
+last night. Moreover you know the purpose to which they are to be
+put," I replied indignantly.
+
+"Yes, I know and now I am sure. Be not angry, Shabaka, with her who
+loves you truly and hopes ere long to call you husband. But till that
+day take it not amiss if I keep somewhat aloof from you, who must
+break with the past and learn to face a future of which I did not
+dream."
+
+For the rest she stretched out her hand and I kissed it, for while she
+was still a priestess her lips she would not suffer me to touch.
+Another moment and smiling happily, she had glided away, leaving me
+alone in the garden.
+
+Then it was for the first time that I bethought me of the warnings of
+Bes and remembered that it was I, not he, who had told the Great King
+the name of the most beautiful woman in Egypt, although in all
+innocence. Yes, I remembered, and felt as if all the shadows on the
+earth had wrapped me round. I thought of finding her, but she had gone
+whither I knew not in that great palace. So I determined that the next
+time we were alone I would tell her of the matter, explaining all, and
+with this thought I comforted myself who did not know that until many
+days were past we should be alone no more.
+
+After this I went home and told my mother all my joy, for in truth
+there was no happier man in Egypt. She listened, then answered,
+smiling a little.
+
+"When your father wished to take me to wife, Shabaka, it was not my
+hand that I gave him to kiss, and as you know, I too have the blood of
+kings in me. But then I was not a priestess of Isis, so doubtless all
+is well. Only in twenty-seven days much may happen, as you said to
+Amada. Now I wonder why did she----? Well, no matter, since
+priestesses are not like other women who only think of the man they
+have won and of naught before or after. The blessing of the gods and
+mine be on you both, my son," and she went away to attend to her
+household matters.
+
+As we rode to Sekera to find the holy Tanofir I told Bes also, adding
+that I had forgotten to reveal that it was I who had spoken Amada's
+name to the king, but that I intended to do so ere long.
+
+Bes rolled his eyes and answered,
+
+"If I were you, Master, as I had forgotten, I should continue to
+forget, for what is welcome in one hour is not always welcome in
+another. Why speak of the matter at all, which is one hard to explain
+to a woman, however wise and royal? I have already said that /I/ spoke
+the name to the King and that you were brought from the boat to say
+whether I was noted for my truthfulness. Is not that enough?"
+
+While I considered, Bes went on,
+
+"You may remember, Master, that when I told, well--the truth about
+this story, the lady Amada asked earnestly that I should be scourged,
+even to the bones. Now if you should tell another truth which will
+make mine dull as tarnished silver, she will not leave me even my
+bones, for I shall be proved a liar, and what will happen to you I am
+sure I do not know. And, Master, as I am no longer a slave here in
+Egypt, to say nothing of what I may be elsewhere, I have no fancy for
+scourgings, who may not kiss the hand that smites me as you can."
+
+"But, Bes," I said, "what is, is and may always be learned in this way
+or in that."
+
+"Master, if what is were always learned, I think the world would fall
+to pieces, or at least there would be no men left on it. Why should
+this matter be learned? It is known to you and me alone, leaving out
+the Great King who probably has forgotten as he was drunk at the time.
+Oh! Master, when you have neither bow nor spear at hand, it is not
+wise to kick a sleeping lion in the stomach, for then he will remember
+its emptiness and sup off you. Beside, when first I told you that tale
+I made a mistake. I did tell the Great King, as I now remember quite
+clearly, that the beautiful lady was named Amada, and he only sent for
+you to ask if I spoke the truth."
+
+"Bes," I exclaimed, "you worshippers of the Grasshopper wear virtue
+easily."
+
+"Easily as an old sandal, Master, or rather not at all, since the
+Grasshopper has need of none. For ages they have studied the ways of
+those who worship the gods of Egypt, and from them have learned----"
+
+"What?"
+
+"Amongst other things, Master, that woman, being modest, is shocked at
+the sight of the naked Truth."
+
+
+
+                              CHAPTER XI
+
+                           THE HOLY TANOFIR
+
+We entered the City of Graves that is called Sekera. In the centre
+towered pyramids that hid the bones of ancient and forgotten kings,
+and everywhere around upon the desert sands was street upon street of
+monuments, but save for a priest or two hurrying to patter his paid
+office in the funeral chapels of the departed, never a living man. Bes
+looked about him and sniffed with his wide nostrils.
+
+"Is there not death enough in the world, Master," he asked, "that the
+living should wish to proclaim it in this fashion, rolling it on their
+tongues like a morsel they are loth to swallow, because it tastes so
+good? Oh! what a waste is here. All these have had their day and yet
+they need houses and pyramids and painted chambers in which to sleep,
+whereas if they believed the faith they practised, they would have
+been content to give their bones to feed the earth they fed on, and
+fill heaven with their souls."
+
+"Do your people thus, Bes?"
+
+"For the most part, Master. Our dead kings and great ones we enclose
+in pillars of crystal, but we do this that they may serve a double
+purpose. One is that the pillars may support the roof of their
+successors, and the other, that those who inherit their goods may
+please themselves by reflecting how much handsomer they are than those
+who went before them. For no mummy looks really nice, Master, at least
+with its wrappings off, and our kings are put naked into the crystal."
+
+"And what becomes of the rest, Bes?"
+
+"Their bodies go to the earth or the water and the Grasshopper carries
+off their souls to--where, Master?"
+
+"I do not know, Bes."
+
+"No, Master, no one knows, except the lady Amada and perhaps the holy
+Tanofir. Here I think is the entrance to his hole," and he pulled up
+his beast with a jerk at what looked like the doorway of a tomb.
+
+Apparently we were expected, for a tall and proud-looking girl clad in
+white and with extraordinarily dark eyes, appeared in the doorway and
+asked in a soft voice if we were the noble Shabaka and Bes, his slave.
+
+"I am Shabaka," I answered, "and this is Bes, who is not my slave but
+a free citizen of Egypt."
+
+The girl contemplated the dwarf with her big eyes, then said,
+
+"And other things, I think."
+
+"What things?" inquired Bes with interest, as he stared at this
+beautiful lady.
+
+"A very brave and clever man and one perhaps who is more than he seems
+to be?"
+
+"Who has been telling you about me?" exclaimed Bes anxiously.
+
+"No one, O Bes, at least not that I can remember."
+
+"Not that you can remember! Then who and what are you who learn things
+you know not how?"
+
+"I am named Karema and desert-bred, and my office is that of Cup to
+the holy Tanofir."
+
+"If hermits drink from such a cup I shall turn hermit," said Bes,
+laughing. "But how can a woman be a man's cup and what kind of a wine
+does he drink from her?"
+
+"The wine of wisdom, O Bes," she replied colouring a little, for like
+many Arabs of high blood she was very fair in hue.
+
+"Wine of wisdom," said Bes. "From such cups most drink the wine of
+folly, or sometimes of madness."
+
+"The holy Tanofir awaits you," she interrupted, and turning, entered
+the doorway.
+
+A little way down the passage was a niche in which stood three lamps
+ready lighted. One of these she took and gave the others to us. Then
+we followed her down a steep incline of many steps, till at length we
+found ourselves in a hot and enormous hall hewn from the living rock
+and filled with blackness.
+
+"What is this place?" said Bes, who looked frightened, and although he
+spoke in a low whisper, our guide overheard him and turning, answered,
+
+"This is the burial place of the Apis bulls. See, here lies the last,
+not yet closed in," and holding up her lamp she revealed a mighty
+sarcophagus of black granite set in a niche of the mausoleum.
+
+"So they make mummies of bulls as well as of men," groaned Bes. "Oh!
+what a land. But when I have seen the holy Tanofir it was in a brick
+cell beneath the sky."
+
+"Doubtless that was at night, O Bes," answered Karema, "for in such a
+house he sleeps, spending his days in the Apis tomb, because of all
+the evil that is worked beneath the sun."
+
+"Hump," said Bes, "I should have thought that more was worked beneath
+the moon, but doubtless the holy Tanofir knows better, or being asleep
+does not mind."
+
+Now in front of each of the walled-up niches was a little chapel, and
+at the fourth of these whence a light came, the maiden stopped,
+saying,
+
+"Enter. Here dwells the holy Tanofir. He tended this god during its
+life-days in his youth, and now that the god is dead he prays above
+its bones."
+
+"Prays to the bones of a dead bull in the dark! Well, give me a live
+grasshopper in the light; he is more cheerful," muttered Bes.
+
+"O Dwarf," cried a deep and resounding voice from within the chapel,
+"talk no more of things you do not understand. I do not pray to the
+bones of a dead bull, as you in your ignorance suppose. I pray to the
+spirit whereof this sacred beast was but one of the fleshly symbols,
+which in this haunted place you will do well not to offend."
+
+Then for once I saw Bes grow afraid, for his great jaw dropped and he
+trembled.
+
+"Master," he said to me, "when next you visit tombs where maidens look
+into your heart and hermits hear your very thoughts, I pray you leave
+me behind. The holy Tanofir I love, if from afar, but I like not his
+house, or his----" Here he looked at Karema who was regarding him with
+a sweet smile over the lamp flame, and added, "There is something the
+matter with me, Master; I cannot even lie."
+
+"Cease from talking follies, O Shabaka and Bes, and enter," said the
+tremendous voice from within.
+
+So we entered and saw a strange sight. Against the back wall of the
+chapel which was lit with lamps, stood a life-sized statue of Maat,
+goddess of Law and Truth, fashioned of alabaster. On her head was a
+tall feather, her hair was covered with a wig, on her neck lay a
+collar of blue stones; on her arms and wrists were bracelets of gold.
+A tight robe draped her body. In her right hand that hung down by her
+side, she held the looped Cross of Life, and in her left which was
+advanced, a long, lotus-headed sceptre, while her painted eyes stared
+fixedly at the darkness. Crouched upon the ground, at the feet of the
+statue, scribe fashion, sat my great-uncle Tanofir, a very aged man
+with sightless eyes and long hands, so thin that one might see through
+them against the lamp-flame. His head was shaven, his beard was long
+and white; white too was his robe. In front of him was a low altar, on
+which stood a shallow silver vessel filled with pure water, and on
+either side of it a burning lamp.
+
+We knelt down before him, or rather I knelt, for Bes threw himself
+flat upon his face.
+
+"Am I the King of kings whom you have so lately visited, that you
+should prostrate yourselves before me?" said Tanofir in his great
+voice, which, coming from so frail and aged a man seemed most
+unnatural. "Or is it to the goddess of Truth beyond that you bow
+yourselves? If so, that is well, since one, if not both of you,
+greatly needs her pardon and her help. Or is it to the sleeping god
+beyond who holds the whole world on his horns? Or is it to the
+darkness of this hallowed place which causes you to remember the
+nearness of the awaiting tomb?"
+
+"Nay, my Uncle," I said, "we would greet you, no more, who are so
+worthy of our veneration, seeing we believe, both of us, that you
+saved us yonder in the East, from that tomb of which you speak, or
+rather from the jaws of lions or a cruel death by torments."
+
+"Perchance I did, I or the gods of which I am the instrument. At least
+I remember that I sent you certain messages in answer to a prayer for
+help that reached me, here in my darkness. For know that since we
+parted I have gone quite blind so that I must use this maiden's eyes
+to read what is written in yonder divining-cup. Well, it makes the
+darkness of this sepulchre easier to bear and prepares me for my own.
+'Tis full a hundred and twenty years since first I looked upon the
+light, and now the time of sleep draws near. Come hither, my nephew,
+and kiss me on the brow, remembering in your strength that a day will
+dawn when as I am, so shall you be, if the gods spare you so long."
+
+So I kissed him, not without fear, for the old man was unearthly. Then
+he sent Karema from the place and bade me tell him my story, which I
+did. Why he did this I cannot say, since he seemed to know it already
+and once or twice corrected me in certain matters that I had
+forgotten, for instance as to the exact words that I had used to the
+Great King in my rage and as to the fashion in which I was tied in the
+boat. When I had done, he said,
+
+"So you gave the name of Amada to the Great King, did you? Well, you
+could have done nothing else if you wished to go on living, and
+therefore cannot be blamed. Yet before all is finished I think it will
+bring you into trouble, Shabaka, since among many gifts, the gods did
+not give that of reason to women. If so, bear it, since it is better
+to have trouble and be alive than to have none and be dead, that is,
+for those whose work is still to do in the world. And you, or rather
+Bes, stole the White Signet of signets of which, although it is so
+simple and ancient, there is not the like for power in the whole
+world. That was well done since it will be useful for a while. And now
+Peroa has determined to rebel against the King, which also is well
+done. Oh! trouble not to tell me of that business for I know all. But
+what would you learn of me, Shabaka?"
+
+"I am instructed to learn from you the end of these great matters, my
+Uncle."
+
+"Are you mad, Shabaka, that you should think me a god who can read the
+future?"
+
+"Not at all, my Uncle, who know that you can if you will."
+
+"Call the maiden," he said.
+
+So Bes went out and brought her in.
+
+"Be seated, Karema, there in front of the altar, and look into my
+eyes."
+
+She obeyed and presently seemed to go to sleep for her head nodded.
+Then he said,
+
+"Wake, woman, look into the water in the bowl upon the altar and tell
+me what you see."
+
+She appeared to wake, though I perceived that this was not really so,
+for she seemed a different woman with a fixed face that frightened me,
+and wide and frozen eyes. She stared into the silver bowl, then spoke
+in a new voice, as though some spirit used her tongue.
+
+"I see myself crowned a queen in a land I hate," she said coldly, a
+saying at which I gasped. "I am seated on a throne beside yonder
+dwarf," a saying at which Bes gasped. "Although so hideous, this dwarf
+is a great man with a good heart, a cunning mind and the courage of a
+lion. Also his blood is royal."
+
+Here Bes rolled his eyes and smiled, but Tanofir did not seem in the
+least astonished, and said,
+
+"Much of this is known to me and the rest can be guessed. Pass on to
+what will happen in Egypt, before the spirit leaves you."
+
+"There will be war in Egypt," she answered. "I see fightings; Shabaka
+and others lead the Egyptians. The Easterns are driven away or slain.
+Peroa rules as Pharaoh, I see him on his throne. Shabaka is driven
+away in his turn, I see him travelling south with the dwarf and with
+myself, looking very sad. Time passes. I see the moons float by; I see
+messengers reach Shabaka, sent by Peroa and you O holy Tanofir; they
+tell of trouble in Egypt. I see Shabaka and the dwarf coming north at
+the head of a great army of black men armed with bows. With them I
+come rejoicing, for my heart seems to shine. He reaches a temple on
+the Nile about which is camped another great army, a countless army of
+Easterns under the command of the King of kings. Shabaka and the dwarf
+give battle to that army and the fray is desperate. They destroy it,
+they drive it into the Nile; the Nile runs red with blood. The Great
+King falls, an arrow from the bow of Shabaka is in his heart. He
+enters the temple, a conqueror, and there lies Peroa, dying or dead. A
+veiled priestess is there before an image, I cannot see her face.
+Shabaka looks on her. She stretches out her arms to him, her eyes burn
+with woman's love, her breast heaves, and above the image frowns and
+threatens. All is done, for Tanofir, Master of spirits, you die,
+yonder in the temple on the Nile, and therefore I can see no more. The
+power that comes through you, has left me."
+
+Then once more she became as a woman asleep.
+
+"You have heard, Shabaka and Bes," said Tanofir quietly and stroking
+his long white beard, "and what that maiden seemed to read in the
+water you may believe or disbelieve as you will."
+
+"What do you believe, O holy Tanofir?" I asked.
+
+"The only part of the story whereof I am sure," he replied, evading a
+direct answer, "is that which said that I shall die, and that when I
+am dead I shall no longer be able to cause the maiden Karema to see
+visions. For the rest I do not know. These things may happen or they
+may not. But," he added with a note of warning in his voice, "whether
+they happen or not, my counsel to you both is that you say nothing of
+them beforehand."
+
+"What then shall we report to those who bid me seek the oracle of your
+wisdom, O Tanofir?"
+
+"You can tell them that my wisdom declared that the omens were mixed
+with good and evil, but that time would show the truth. Hush now, the
+maiden is about to awake and must not be frightened. Also it is time
+for me to be led from this sepulchre to where I sleep, for I think
+that Ra has set and I am weary. Oh! Shabaka, why do you seek to peer
+into the future, which from day to day will unroll itself as does a
+scroll? Be content with the present, man, and take what Fate gives you
+of good or ill, not seeking to learn what offerings he hides beneath
+his robe in the days and the years and the centuries to come."
+
+"Yet you have sought to learn those things, O Tanofir, and not in
+vain."
+
+"Aye and what have they made of me? A blind old hermit weighed down
+with the weight of years and holding in my fingers but some few
+threads that with pain and grief I have plucked from the fringe of
+Wisdom's robe. Be warned by me, Nephew. While you are a man, live the
+life of a man, and when you become a spirit, live the life of a
+spirit. But do not seek to mix the two together like oil and wine, and
+thus spoil both. I am glad to learn, O Bes, that you are going to make
+a king's, or a slave's wife, whichever it may be, of this maiden,
+seeing that I love her well and hold this trade unwholesome for her.
+She will be better bearing babes than reading visions in a diviner's
+cup, and I will pray the gods that they may not be dwarfs as you are,
+but take on the likeness of their mother, who tells me that she is
+fair. Hush! she stirs.
+
+"Karema, are you awake? Good. Then lead me from the sepulchre, that I
+may make my evening prayer beneath the stars. Go, Shabaka and Bes, you
+are brave men, both of you, and I am glad to have the one for nephew
+and the other for pupil. My greetings to your mother, Tiu. She is a
+good woman and a true, one to whom you will do well to hearken. To the
+lady Amada also, and bid her study her beauteous face in a mirror and
+not be holy overmuch, since too great holiness often thwarts itself
+and ends in trouble for the unholy flesh. Still she loves pearls like
+other women, does she not, and even the statue of Isis likes to be
+adorned. As for you, Bes, though I think that is not your name, do not
+lie except when you are obliged, for jugglers who play with too many
+knives are apt to cut their fingers. Also give no more evil counsel to
+your Master on matters that have to do with woman. Now farewell. Let
+me hear how fortune favours you from time to time, Shabaka, for you
+take part in a great game, such as I loved in my youth before I became
+a holy hermit. Oh! if they had listened to me, things would have been
+different in Egypt to-day. But it was written otherwise, and as ever,
+women were the scribes. Good night, good night, good night! I am glad
+that my thought reached you yonder in the East, and taught you what to
+say and do. It is well to be wise sometimes, for others' sake, but not
+for our own, oh! not for our own."
+
+
+
+"Master," said Bes as we ambled homewards beneath the stars, "the holy
+Tanofir is a man for thought to feed on, since having climbed to the
+topmost peak of holiness, he does not seem to like its cold air and
+warns off those who would follow in his footsteps."
+
+"Then he might have spared himself the pains in your case, Bes, or in
+my own for that matter, since we shall never come so high."
+
+"No, Master, and I am glad to have his leave to stay lower down, since
+that hot place of dead bulls is not one which I wish to inhabit in my
+age, making use of a maiden to stare into a pot of water, and there
+read marvels, which I could invent better for myself after a jug or
+two of wine. Oh! the holy Tanofir is quite right. If these things are
+going to happen let them happen, for we cannot change them by knowing
+of them beforehand. Who wishes to know, Master, if his throat will be
+cut?"
+
+"Or that he will be married," I suggested.
+
+"Just so, Master, seeing that such prophecies end in becoming truths
+because we make them true, feeling that we must. Thus, now I must
+marry yonder Karema if she will marry me for fear lest I should prove
+the holy Tanofir to be what he called me--a liar."
+
+I laughed and then asked Bes if he had taken note of what the seeress
+said of our flight south and our return thence with a great army of
+black men armed with bows.
+
+"Yes, Master," he answered gravely, "and I think this army can be none
+other than that of the Ethiopians of whom by right I am the King. This
+very night I send messengers to tell those who rule in my place that I
+still live and am changing my mind on the matter of marriage. Also
+that if I do change it I may return to them, the wisest man who ever
+wore the crown of Ethiopia, having journeyed all about the world and
+collected much knowledge."
+
+"Perhaps, Bes, those who rule in your place may not wish to give it up
+to you. Perhaps they will kill you."
+
+"Have no fear, Master; as I have told you, the Ethiopians are a
+faithful people. Moreover they know that such a deed would bring the
+curse of the Grasshopper on them, since then the locusts would appear
+and eat up all their land, and when they were starving their enemies
+would attack them. Lastly they are a very tall folk and simple-minded
+and would not wish to miss the chance of being ruled over by the
+wisest dwarf in all the world, if only because it would be something
+new to them, Master."
+
+Again I laughed thinking that Bes was jesting according to his
+fashion. But when that night, chancing to go round the corner of the
+house, I came upon him with a circlet of feathers round his head and
+his big bow in his hand, addressing three great black men who knelt
+before him as though he were a god, I changed my mind. As I withdrew
+he caught sight of me and said,
+
+"I pray you, my lord Shabaka, stay one moment." Then he spoke to the
+three men in his own language, translating sentence by sentence to me
+what he said to them. Briefly it was this:--
+
+"Say to the Lords and Councillors of the Ancient Kingdom that I, the
+Karoon" (for such it seemed was his title) "have a friend named the
+lord Shabaka, he whom you see before you, who again and again has
+saved my life, nursing me in his arms as a mother nurses her babe, and
+who is, after me, the bravest and the wisest man in all the world. Say
+to them that if indeed I double myself by marriage and return having
+fulfilled the law, I will beg this mighty prince to accompany me, and
+that if he consents that will be the most joyful day which the
+Ethiopians have seen for a thousand years, since he will teach them
+wisdom and lead their armies in great and glorious battles. Let the
+priests of the Grasshopper pray therefore that he may consent to do
+so. Now salute the mighty lord Shabaka who can send one arrow through
+all three of you and two more behind, and depart, tarrying not day or
+night till you reach the land of Ethiopia. Then when you have
+delivered the message of Karoon to the Captains and the Councillors,
+return, or let others return and seek me out wherever I may be,
+bringing of the gold of Ethiopia and other gifts, together with their
+answer, seeing that I and the lord Shabaka who have the world beneath
+our feet, will not come to a land where we are not welcome."
+
+So these great men saluted me as though I were the King of kings
+himself, after which they rubbed their foreheads in the dust before
+Bes, said something which I did not understand, leapt to their feet,
+crying "Karoon" and sprang away into the night.
+
+"It is good to have been a slave, Master," said Bes when they had
+gone, "since it teaches one that it is even better to be a king, at
+least sometimes."
+
+Here I may add that during the days which followed Bes was often
+absent. When I asked him where he had gone, he would answer, to drink
+in the wisdom of the holy Tanofir by help of a certain silver vessel
+that the maiden Karema held to his lips. From all of which I gathered
+that he was wooing the lady who had called herself the Cup of Tanofir,
+and wondered how the business went, though as he said no more I did
+not ask him.
+
+Indeed I had little time to talk with Bes about such light matters,
+since things moved apace in Memphis. Within six days all the great
+lords left in Upper Egypt were sworn to the revolt under the
+leadership of Peroa, and hour by hour their vassals or hired
+mercenaries flowed into the city. These it was my duty to weld into an
+army, and at this task I toiled without cease, separating them into
+regiments and drilling them, also arranging for the arming and
+victualling of the boats of war. Then news came that Idernes was
+advancing from Sais with a great force of Easterns, all the garrison
+of Lower Egypt indeed, as his messengers said, to answer the summons
+conveyed to him under the private Seal of seals.
+
+Of Amada during this time I saw little, only meeting her now and again
+at the table of Peroa, or elsewhere in public. For the rest it pleased
+her to keep away from me. Once or twice I tried to find her alone,
+only to discover that she was engaged in the service of the goddess.
+Once, too, as she left Peroa's table, I whispered into her ear that I
+wished to speak with her. But she shook her head, saying,
+
+"After the new moon, Shabaka. Then you shall speak with me as much as
+you wish."
+
+Thus it came about that never could I find opportunity to tell her of
+that matter of what had happened at the court of the Great King. Still
+every morning she sent me some token, flowers or trifling gifts, and
+once a ring that must have belonged to her forefathers, since on its
+bezel was engraved the royal /ur�us/, together with the signs of long
+life and health, which ring I wore hung about my neck but not upon my
+finger, fearing lest that emblem of royalty might offend Peroa or some
+of his House, if they chanced to see it. So in answer I also sent her
+flowers and other gifts, and for the rest was content to wait.
+
+All of which things my mother noted with a smile, saying that the lady
+Amada showed a wonderful discretion, such as any man would value in a
+wife of so much beauty, which also must be most pleasing to her
+mistress, the goddess Isis. To this I answered that I valued it less
+as a lover than I might do as a husband. My mother smiled again and
+spoke of something else.
+
+Thus things went on while the storm-clouds gathered over Egypt.
+
+One night I could not sleep. It was that of the new moon and I knew
+that during those hours of darkness, before the solemn conclave of the
+high priests, with pomp and ceremony in the sanctuary of the temple,
+Amada had undergone absolution of her vows to Isis and been given
+liberty to wed as other women do. Indeed my mother, in virtue of her
+rank as a Singer of Amen, had been present at the rite, and returning,
+told me all that happened.
+
+She described how Amada had appeared, clad as a priestess, how she had
+put up her prayer to the four high priests seated in state, demanding
+to be loosed from her vow "for the sake of her heart and of Egypt."
+
+Then one of the high priests, he of Amen, I think, as the chief of
+them all, had advanced to the statue of the goddess Isis and whispered
+the prayer to it, whereon after a pause the goddess nodded thrice in
+the sight of all present, thereby signifying her assent. This done the
+high priest returned and proclaimed the absolution in the ancient
+words "for the sake of the suppliant's heart and of Egypt" and with it
+the blessing of the goddess on her union, adding, however, the
+formula, "at thy prayer, daughter and spouse, I, the goddess Isis, cut
+the rope that binds thee to me on earth. Yet if thou should'st tie it
+again, know that it may never more be severed, for if thou strivest so
+to do, it shall strangle thee in whatever shape thou livest on the
+earth throughout the generations, and with thee the man thou choosest
+and those who give thee to him. Thus saith Isis the Queen of Heaven."
+
+"What does that mean?" I asked my mother.
+
+"It means, my son, that if, having broken her vows to Isis, a woman
+should repeat them and once more enter the service of the goddess, and
+then for the second time seek to break them, she and the man for whom
+she did this thing would be like flies in a spider's web, and that not
+only in this life, but in any other that may be given to them in the
+world."
+
+"It seems that Isis has a long arm," I said.
+
+"Without doubt a very long arm, my son, since Isis, by whatever name
+she is called, is a power that does not die or forget."
+
+"Well, Mother, in this case she can have no reason to remember, since
+never again will Amada be her priestess."
+
+"I think not, Shabaka. Yet who can be sure of what a woman will or
+will not do, now or hereafter? For my part I am glad that I have
+served Amen and not Isis, and that after I was wed."
+
+
+
+                             CHAPTER XII
+
+                        THE SLAYING OF IDERNES
+
+Whilst I was still talking to my mother I received an urgent summons
+to the palace. I went and in a little ante-chamber met Amada alone,
+who, I could see, was waiting there for me. She was arrayed in her
+secular dress and wore the insignia of royalty, looking exceedingly
+beautiful. Moreover, her whole aspect had changed, for now she was no
+longer a priestess sworn to mysteries, but just a lovely and a loving
+woman.
+
+"It is done, Shabaka," she whispered, "and thou art mine and I am
+thine."
+
+Then I opened my arms and she sank upon my breast and for the first
+time I kissed her on the lips, kissed her many times and oh! my heart
+almost burst with joy. But all too fleeting was that sweet moment of
+love's first fruits, whereon I had sown the seed so many years ago,
+for while we yet clung together, whispering sweet things into each
+other's ears, I heard a voice calling me and was forced to go away
+before I had even time to ask when we might be wed.
+
+Within the Council was gathered. The news before it was that the
+Satrap Idernes lay camped upon the Nile with some ten thousand men,
+not far from the great pyramids, that is, within striking distance of
+Memphis. Moreover his messengers announced that he purposed to visit
+the Prince Peroa that day with a small guard only, to inquire into
+this matter of the Signet, for which visit he demanded a safe-conduct
+sworn in the name of the Great King and in those of the gods of Egypt
+and the East. Failing this he would at once attack Memphis
+notwithstanding any commands that might be given him under the Signet,
+which, until he beheld it with his own eyes, he believed to be a
+forgery.
+
+The question was--what answer should be sent to him? The debate that
+followed proved long and earnest. Some were in favour of attacking
+Idernes at once although his camp was reported to be strongly
+entrenched and flanked on one side by the Nile and on the other by the
+rising ground whereon stood the great sphinx and the pyramids. Others,
+among whom I was numbered, thought otherwise, for I hold that some
+evil god led me to give counsel that day which, if it were good for
+Egypt was most ill for my own fortunes. Perchance this god was Isis,
+angry at the loss of her votary.
+
+I pointed out that by receiving Idernes Peroa would gain time which
+would enable a body of three thousand men, if not more, who were
+advancing down the Nile, to join us before they were perhaps cut off
+from the city, and thus give us a force as large as his, or larger.
+Also I showed that having summoned Idernes under the Signet, we should
+put ourselves in the wrong if we refused to receive him and instead
+attacked him at once.
+
+A third party was in favour of allowing him to enter Memphis with his
+guard and then making him prisoner or killing him. As to this I
+pointed out again that not only would it involve the breaking of a
+solemn oath, which might bring the curse of the gods upon our cause
+and proclaim us traitors to the world, but it would also be foolish
+since Idernes was not the only general of the Easterns and if we cut
+off him and his escort, it would avail us little for then the rest of
+the Easterns would fight in a just cause.
+
+So in the end it was agreed that the safe-conduct should be sent and
+that Peroa should receive Idernes that very day at a great feast given
+in his honour. Accordingly it was sent in the ancient form, the oaths
+being taken before the messengers that neither he nor those with him
+who must not number more than twenty men, would be harmed in Memphis
+and that he would be guarded on the road back until he reached the
+outposts of his own camp.
+
+This done, I was despatched up the Nile bank in a chariot accompanied
+only by Bes, to hurry on the march of those troops of which I have
+spoken, so that they might reach Memphis by sundown. Before I went,
+however, I had some words alone with Peroa. He told me that my
+immediate marriage with the lady Amada would be announced at the feast
+that night. Thereon I prayed him to deliver to Amada the rope of
+priceless rose-hued pearls which was in his keeping, as my betrothal
+gift, with the prayer that she would wear them at the feast for my
+sake. There was no time for more.
+
+The journey up Nile proved long for the road was bad being covered
+with drifted sand in some places and deep in mud from the inundation
+waters in others. At length I found the troops just starting forward
+after their rest, and rejoiced to see that there were more of them
+than I had thought. I told the case to their captains, who promised to
+make a forced march and to be in Memphis two hours before midnight.
+
+As we drove back Bes said to me suddenly,
+
+"Do you know why you could not find me this morning?"
+
+I answered that I did not.
+
+"Because a good slave should always run a pace ahead of his master, to
+clear the road and tell him of its pitfalls. I was being married. The
+Cup of the holy Tanofir is now by law and right Queen of the
+Ethiopians. So when you meet her again you must treat her with great
+respect, as I do already."
+
+"Indeed, Bes," I said laughing, "and how did you manage that business?
+You must have wooed her well during these days which have been so full
+for both of us."
+
+"I did not woo her over much, Master; indeed, the time was lacking. I
+wooed the holy Tanofir, which was more important."
+
+"The holy Tanofir, Bes?" I exclaimed.
+
+"Yes, Master. You see this beautiful Cup of his is after all--his
+beautiful Cup. Her mind is the shadow of his mind and from her he
+pours out his wisdom. So I told him all the case. At first he was
+angry, for, notwithstanding the words he spoke to you and me, when it
+came to a point the holy Tanofir, being after all much like other men,
+did not wish to lose his Cup. Indeed had he been a few score of years
+younger I am not sure but that he would have forgotten some of his
+holiness because of her. Still he came to see matters in the true
+light at last--for your sake, Master, not for mine, since his wisdom
+told him it was needful that I should become King of the Ethiopians
+again, to do which I must be married. At any rate he worked upon the
+mind of that Cup of his--having first settled that she should procure
+a younger sister of her own to fill her place--in such fashion that
+when at length I spoke to her on the matter, she did not say no."
+
+"No doubt because she was fond of you for yourself, Bes. A woman would
+not marry even to please the holy Tanofir."
+
+"Oh! Master," he replied in a new voice, a very sad voice, "I would
+that I could think so. But look at me, a misshapen dwarf, accursed
+from birth. Could a fair lady like this Karema wed such a one for his
+own sake?"
+
+"Well, Bes, there might be other reasons besides the holy Tanofir," I
+said hurriedly.
+
+"Master, there were no other reasons, unless the Cup, when it is
+awake, remembers what it has held in trance, which I do not believe. I
+wooed her as I was, not telling her that I am also King of the
+Ethiopians, or any more than I seem to be. Moreover the holy Tanofir
+told her nothing, for he swore as much to me and he does not lie."
+
+"And what did she say to you, Bes?" I asked, for I was curious.
+
+"She lied fast enough, Master. She said--well, what she said when
+first we met her, that there was more in me than the eye saw and that
+she who had lived so much with spirits looked to the spirit rather
+than to the flesh, and that dwarf or no she loved me and desired
+nothing better than to marry me and be my true and faithful wife and
+helpmeet. She lied so well that once or twice almost I believed her.
+At any rate I took her at her word, not altogether for myself, believe
+me, Master, but because without doubt what the holy Tanofir has shown
+us will come to pass, and it is necessary to you that I should be
+married."
+
+"You married her to help me, Bes?"
+
+"That is so, Master--after all, but a little thing, seeing that she is
+beautiful, well born and very pleasant, and I am fond of her. Also I
+do her no wrong for she has bought more than she bargained for, and if
+she has any that are not dwarfs, her children may be kings. I do not
+think," he added reflectively, "that even the faithful Ethiopians
+could accept a second dwarf as their king. One is very well for a
+change, but not two or three. The stomach of a tall people would turn
+against them."
+
+I took Bes's hand and pressed it, understanding the depth of his love
+and sacrifice. Also some spirit--doubtless it came from the holy
+Tanofir--moved me to say,
+
+"Be comforted, Bes, for I am sure of this. Your children will be
+strong and straight and tall, more so than any of their forefathers
+that went before them."
+
+This indeed proved to be the case, for their father's deformity was
+but an accident, not born in his blood.
+
+"Those are good-omened words, Master, for which I thank you, though
+the holy Tanofir said the like when he wed us with the sacred words
+this morning and gave us his blessing, endowing my wife with certain
+gifts of secret wisdom which he said would be of use to her and me."
+
+"Where is she now, Bes?"
+
+"With the holy Tanofir, Master, until I fetch her, training her
+younger sister to be a diviner's worthy Cup. Only perhaps I shall
+never send, seeing that I think there will be fighting soon."
+
+"Yes, Bes, but being newly married you will do well to leave it to
+others."
+
+"No, no, Master. Battle is better than wives. Moreover, could you
+think that I would leave you to stand alone in the fray? Why if I did
+and harm came to you I should die of shame or hang myself and then
+Karema would never be a queen. So both her trades would be gone, since
+after marriage she cannot be a Cup, and her heart would break. But
+here are the gates of Memphis, so we will forget love and think of
+war."
+
+
+
+An hour later I and my mother, the lady Tiu, stood in the banqueting
+hall of the palace with many others, and learned that the Satrap
+Idernes and his escort had reached Memphis and would be present at the
+feast. A while later trumpets blew and a glittering procession entered
+the hall. At the head of it was Peroa who led Idernes by the hand.
+This Eastern was a big, strong man with tired and anxious eyes, such
+as I had noted were common among the servants of the Great King who
+from day to day never knew whether they would fill a Satrapy or a
+grave. He was clad in gorgeous silks and wore a cap upon his head in
+which shone a jewel, but beneath his robes I caught the glint of mail.
+
+As he came into the hall and noted the number and quality of the
+guests and the stir and the expectant look upon their faces, he
+started as though he were afraid, but recovering himself, murmured
+some courteous words to his host and advanced towards the seat of
+honour which was pointed out to him upon the Prince's right. After
+these two followed the wife of Peroa with her son and daughters. Then,
+walking alone in token of her high rank, appeared Amada, the Royal
+Lady of Egypt, wonderfully arrayed. Now, however, she wore no emblems
+of royalty, either because it was not thought wise that these should
+be shown in the presence of the Satrap, or because she was about to be
+given in marriage to one who was not royal. Indeed, as I noted with
+joy, her only ornament was the rope of rose-hued pearls which were
+arranged in a double row upon her breast.
+
+She searched me out with her eyes, smiled, touching the pearls with
+her finger, and passed on to her place next to the daughters of Peroa,
+at one end of the head table which was shaped like a horse's hoof.
+
+After her came the nobles who had accompanied Idernes, grave Eastern
+men. One of these, a tall captain with eyes like a hawk, seemed
+familiar to me. Nor was I mistaken, for Bes, who stood behind me and
+whose business it would be to wait on me at the feast, whispered in my
+ear,
+
+"Note that man. He was present when you were brought before the Great
+King from the boat and saw and heard all that passed."
+
+"Then I wish he were absent now," I whispered back, for at the words a
+sudden fear shot through me, of what I could not say.
+
+By degrees all were seated in their appointed places. Mine was by that
+of my mother at a long table that stood as it were across the ends of
+the high table but at a little distance from them, so that I was
+almost opposite to Peroa and Idernes and could see Amada, although she
+was too far away for me to be able to speak to her.
+
+The feast began and at first was somewhat heavy and silent, since,
+save for the talk of courtesy, none spoke much. At length wine,
+whereof I noted that Idernes drank a good deal, as did his escort, but
+Peroa and the Egyptians little, loosened men's tongues and they grew
+merrier. For it was the custom of the people of the Great King to
+discuss both private and public business when full of strong drink,
+but of the Egyptians when they were quite sober. This was well known
+to Peroa and many of us, especially to myself who had been among them,
+which was one of the reasons why Idernes had been asked to meet us at
+a feast, where we might have the advantage of him in debate.
+
+Presently the Satrap noted the splendid cup from which he drank and
+asked some question concerning it of the hawk-eyed noble of whom I
+have spoken. When it had been answered he said in a voice loud enough
+for me to overhear,
+
+"Tell me, O Prince Peroa, was this cup ever that of the Great King
+which it so much resembles?"
+
+"So I understand, O Idernes," answered Peroa. "That is, until it
+became mine by gift from the lord Shabaka, who received it from the
+Great King."
+
+An expression of horror appeared upon the face of the Satrap and upon
+those of his nobles.
+
+"Surely," he answered, "this Shabaka must hold the King's favours
+lightly if he passes them on thus to the first-comer. At the least,
+let not the vessel which has been hallowed by the lips of the King of
+kings be dishonoured by the humblest of his servants. I pray you, O
+Prince, that I may be given another cup."
+
+So a new goblet was brought to him, Peroa trying to pass the matter
+off as a jest by appealing to me to tell the story of the cup. Then I
+said while all listened,
+
+"O Prince, the most high Satrap is mistaken. The King of kings did not
+give me the cup, I bought it from him in exchange for a certain famous
+bow, and therefore held it not wrong to pass it on to you, my lord."
+
+Idernes made no answer and seemed to forget the matter.
+
+A while later, however, his eye fell upon Amada and the rose-hued
+pearls she wore, and again he asked a question of the hawk-eyed
+captain, then said,
+
+"Think me not discourteous, O Prince, if I seem to look upon yonder
+lovely lady which in our country, where women do not appear in public,
+we should think it an insult to do. But on her fair breast I see
+certain pearls like to some that are known throughout the world, which
+for many years have been worn by those who sit upon the throne of the
+East. I would ask if they are the same, or others?"
+
+"I do not know, O Idernes," answered Peroa; "I only know that the lord
+Shabaka brought them from the East. Inquire of him, if it be your
+pleasure."
+
+"Shabaka again----" began Idernes, but I cut him short, saying,
+
+"Yes, O Satrap, Shabaka again. I won those pearls in a bet from the
+Great King, and with them a certain weight of gold. This I think you
+knew before, since your messenger of a while ago was whipped for
+trying to steal them, which under the rods he said he did by command,
+O Satrap."
+
+To this bold speech Idernes made no answer. Only his captains frowned
+and many of the Egyptians murmured approval.
+
+After this the feast went on without further incident for a while, the
+Easterns always drinking more wine, till at length the tables were
+cleared and all of the meaner sort departed from the hall, save the
+butlers and the personal servants such as Bes, who stood behind the
+seats of their masters. There came a silence such as precedes the
+bursting of a storm, and in the midst of it Idernes spoke, somewhat
+thickly.
+
+"I did not come here, O Peroa," he said, "from the seat of government
+at Sais to eat your meats and drink your wine. I came to speak of high
+matters with you."
+
+"It is so, O Satrap," answered Peroa. "And now what may be your will?
+Would you retire to discuss them with me and my Councillors?"
+
+"Where is the need, O Peroa, seeing that I have naught to say which
+may not be heard by all?"
+
+"As it pleases you. Speak on, O Satrap."
+
+"I have been summoned here, Prince Peroa, by a writing under what
+seems to be the Signet of signets--the ancient White Seal that for
+generations unknown has been worn by the forefathers of the King of
+kings. Where is this Signet?"
+
+"Here," said the Prince, opening his robe. "Look on it, Satrap, and
+let your lords look, but let none of you dare to touch it."
+
+Idernes looked long and earnestly, and so did some of his people,
+especially the lord with the hawk eyes. Then they stared at each other
+bewildered and whispered together.
+
+"It seems to be the very Seal--the White Seal itself!" exclaimed
+Idernes at length. "Tell me now, Peroa. How came this sacred thing
+that dwells in the East hither into Egypt?"
+
+"The lord Shabaka brought it to me with certain letters from the Great
+King, O Satrap."
+
+"Shabaka for the third time, by the holy Fire!" cried Idernes. "He
+brought the cup; he brought the famous pearls; he brought the gold,
+and he brought the Signet of signets. What is there then that he did
+not bring? Perchance he has the person of the King of kings himself in
+his keeping!"
+
+"Not that, O Satrap, only the commands of the King of kings which are
+prepared ready to deliver to you under the White Seal that you
+acknowledge."
+
+"And what may they be, Egyptian?"
+
+"This, O Satrap: That you and all the army which you have brought with
+you retire to Sais and thence out of Egypt as quickly as you may, or
+pay for disobedience with your lives."
+
+Now Idernes and his captains gasped.
+
+"Why this is rebellion!" he said.
+
+"No, O Satrap, only the command of the Great King given under the
+White Seal," and drawing a roll from his breast, Peroa laid it on his
+brow and cast it down before Idernes, adding,
+
+"Obey the writing and the Signet, or by virtue of my commission, as
+soon as you are returned to your army and your safe-conduct is
+expired, I fall upon you and destroy you."
+
+Idernes looked about him like a wolf in a trap, then asked,
+
+"Do you mean to murder me here?"
+
+"Not so," answered Peroa, "for you have our safe-conduct and Egyptians
+are honourable men. But you are dismissed your office and ordered to
+leave Egypt."
+
+Idernes thought a little while, then said,
+
+"If I leave Egypt, there is at least one whom I am commanded to take
+with me under orders and writings that you will not dispute, a maiden
+named Amada whom the Great King would number among his women. I am
+told it is she who sits yonder--a jewel indeed, fair as the pearls
+upon her breast which thus will return into the King's keeping. Let
+her be handed over, for she rides with me at once."
+
+Now in the midst of an intense silence Peroa answered,
+
+"Amada, the Royal Lady of Egypt, cannot be sent to dwell in the House
+of Women of the Great King without the consent of the lord Shabaka,
+whose she is."
+
+"Shabaka for the fourth time!" said Idernes, glaring at me. "Then let
+Shabaka come too. Or his head in a basket will suffice, since that
+will save trouble afterwards, also some pain to Shabaka. Why, now I
+remember. It was this very Shabaka whom the Great King condemned to
+death by the boat for a crime against his Majesty, and who bought his
+life by promising to deliver to him the fairest and most learned woman
+in the world--the lady Amada of Egypt. And thus does the knave keep
+his oath!"
+
+Now I leapt to my feet, as did most of those present. Only Amada kept
+her seat and looked at me.
+
+"You lie!" I cried, "and were it not for your safe-conduct I would
+kill you for the lie."
+
+"I lie, do I?" sneered Idernes. "Speak then, you who were present, and
+tell this noble company whether I lie," and he pointed to the hawk-
+eyed lord.
+
+"He does not lie," said the Captain. "I was in the Court of the Great
+King and heard yonder Shabaka purchase pardon by promising to hand
+over his cousin, the lady Amada, to the King. The pearls were
+entrusted to him as a gift to her and I see she wears them. The gold
+also of which mention has been made was to provide for her journey in
+state to the East, or so I heard. The cup was his guerdon, also a sum
+for his own purse."
+
+"It is false," I shouted. "The name of Amada slipped my lips by chance
+--no more."
+
+"So it slipped your lips by chance, did it?" sneered Idernes. "Now, if
+you are wise, you will suffer the lady Amada to slip your hand, and
+not by chance. But let us have done with this cunning knave. Prince,
+will you hand over yonder fair woman, or will you not?"
+
+"Satrap, I will not," answered Peroa. "The demand is an insult put
+forward to force us to rebellion, since there is no man in Egypt who
+will not be ready to die in defence of the Royal Lady of Egypt."
+
+This statement was received with a shout of applause by every Egyptian
+in the hall. Idernes waited until it had died away, then said,
+
+"Prince Peroa and Egyptians, you have conveyed to me certain commands
+sealed with the Signet of signets, which I think was stolen by yonder
+Shabaka. Now hearken; until this matter is made clear I will obey
+those commands thus far. I will return with my army to Sais and there
+wait until I have received the orders of the Great King, after report
+made to him. If so much as an arrow is shot at us on our march, it
+will be open rebellion, as the price of which Egypt shall be crushed
+as she was never crushed before, and every one of you here present
+shall lose his head, save only the lady Amada who is the property of
+the Great King. Now I thank you for your hospitality and demand that
+you escort me and those with me back to my camp, since it seems that
+here we are in the midst of enemies."
+
+"Before you go, Idernes," I shouted, "know that you and your lying
+captain shall pay with your lives for your slander on me."
+
+"Many will pay with their lives for this night's work, O thief of
+pearls and seals," answered the Satrap, and turning, left the hall
+with his company.
+
+Now I searched for Amada, but she also had gone with the ladies of
+Peroa's household who feared lest the feast should end in blows and
+bloodshed, also lest she should be snatched away. Indeed of all the
+women in the hall, only my mother remained.
+
+"Search out the lady Amada," I said to her, "and tell her the truth."
+
+"Yes, my son," she answered thoughtfully; "but what is the truth? I
+understood it was Bes who first gave the name of the lady Amada to the
+Great King. Now we learn from your own lips that it was you. Wise
+would you have been, my son, if you had bitten out your tongue before
+you said it, since this is a matter that any woman may well
+misunderstand."
+
+"Her name was surprised out of me, Mother. It was Bes who spoke to the
+King of the beauty of a certain lady of Egypt."
+
+"And I think, my son, it was Bes who told Peroa and his guests that he
+and not you had given the King her name, which you do not seem to have
+denied. Well, doubtless both of you are to blame for foolishness, no
+more, since well I know that you would have died ten times over rather
+than buy your life at the price of the honour of the Lady of Egypt.
+This I will say to her as soon as I may, praying that it may not be
+too late, and afterwards you shall tell me everything, which you would
+have done well to do at first, if Bes, as I think, had not been over
+cunning after the fashion of black people, and counselled you
+otherwise. See, Peroa calls you and I must go, for there are greater
+matters afoot than that of who let slip the name of the lady Amada to
+the King of kings."
+
+So she went and there followed a swift council of war, the question
+being whether we were to strike at the Satrap's army or to allow it to
+retreat to Sais. In my turn I was asked for my judgment of the issue,
+and answered,
+
+"Strike and at once, since we cannot hope to storm Sais, which is far
+away. Moreover such strength as we have is now gathered and if it is
+idle and perhaps unpaid, will disperse again. But if we can destroy
+Idernes and his army, it will be long before the King of kings, who is
+sending all his multitudes against the Greeks, can gather another, and
+during this time Egypt may again become a nation and able to protect
+herself under Peroa her own Pharaoh."
+
+In the end I, and those who thought like me, prevailed, so that before
+the dawn I was sailing down the Nile with the fleet, having two
+thousand men under my command. Also I took with me the six hunters
+whom I had won from the Great King, since I knew them to be faithful,
+and thought that their knowledge of the Easterns and their ways might
+be of service. Our orders were to hold a certain neck of land between
+the river and the hills where the army of Idernes must pass, until
+Peroa and all his strength could attack him from behind.
+
+Four hours later, the wind being very favourable to us, we reached
+that place and there took up our station and having made all as ready
+as we could, rested.
+
+In the early afternoon Bes awakened me from the heavy sleep into which
+I had fallen, and pointed to the south. I looked and through the
+desert haze saw the chariots of Idernes advancing in ordered ranks,
+and after them the masses of his footmen.
+
+Now we had no chariots, only archers, and two regiments armed with
+long spears and swords. Also the sailors on the boats had their slings
+and throwing javelins. Lastly the ground was in our favour since it
+sloped upwards and the space between the river and the hills was
+narrow, somewhat boggy too after the inundation of the Nile, which
+meant that the chariots must advance in a column and could not gather
+sufficient speed to sweep over us.
+
+Idernes and his captains noted all this also, and halted. Then they
+sent a herald forward to ask who we were and to command us in the name
+of the Great King to make way for the army of the Great King.
+
+I answered that we were Egyptians, ordered by Peroa to hold the road
+against the Satrap who had done affront to Egypt by demanding that its
+Royal Lady should be given over to him to be sent to the East as a
+woman-slave, and that if the Satrap wished to clear a road, he could
+come and do so. Or if it pleased him he could go back towards Memphis,
+or stay where he was, since we did not wish to strike the first blow.
+I added this,
+
+"I who speak on behalf of the Prince Peroa, am the lord Shabaka, that
+same man whom but last night the Satrap and a certain captain of his
+named a liar. Now the Easterns are brave men and we of Egypt have
+always heard that among them none is braver than Idernes who gained
+his advancement through courage and skill in war. Let him therefore
+come out together with the lord who named me a liar, armed with swords
+only, and I, who being a liar must also be a coward, together with my
+servant, a black dwarf, will meet them man to man in the sight of both
+the armies, and fight them to the death. Or if it pleases Idernes
+better, let him not come and I will seek him and kill him in the
+battle, or by him be killed."
+
+The herald, having taken stock of me and of Bes at whom he laughed,
+returned with the message.
+
+"Will he come, think you, Master?" asked Bes.
+
+"Mayhap," I answered, "since it is a shame for an Eastern to refuse a
+challenge from any man whom he calls barbarian, and if he did so it
+might cost him his life afterwards at the hands of the Great King.
+Also if he should fall there are others to take his command, but none
+who can wipe away the stain upon his honour."
+
+"Yes," said Bes; "also they will think me a dwarf of no account, which
+makes the task of killing you easy. Well, they shall see."
+
+Now when I sent this challenge I had more in my mind than a desire to
+avenge myself upon Idernes and his captain for the public shame they
+had put upon me. I wished to delay the attack of their host upon our
+little band and give time for the army of Peroa to come up behind.
+Moreover, if I fell it did not greatly matter, except as an omen,
+seeing that I had good officers under me who knew all my plans.
+
+We saw the herald reach the Satrap's army and after a while return
+towards us again, which made us think my challenge had been refused,
+especially as with him was an officer who, I took it, was sent to spy
+out our strength. But this was not so, for the man said,
+
+"The Satrap Idernes has sworn by the Great King to kill the thief of
+the Signet and send his head to the Great King, and fears that if he
+waits to meet him in battle, he may slip away. Therefore he is minded
+to accept your challenge, O Shabaka, and put an end to you, and indeed
+under the laws of the East he may not refuse. But a noble of the Great
+King may not fight against a black slave save with a whip, so how can
+that noble accept the challenge of the dwarf Bes?"
+
+"Quite well," answered Bes, "seeing that I am no slave but a free
+citizen of Egypt. Moreover, in my own country of Ethiopia I am of
+royal blood. Lastly, tell the man this, that if he does not come and
+afterwards falls into my hands or into those of the lord Shabaka, he
+who talks of whips shall be scourged with them till his life creeps
+out from between his bare bones."
+
+Thus spoke Bes, rolling his great eyes and looking so terrible that
+the herald and the officer fell back a step or two. Then I told them
+that if my offer did not please them, I myself would fight, first
+Idernes and then the noble. So they returned.
+
+The end of it was that we saw Idernes and his captain advancing,
+followed by a guard of ten men. Then after I had explained all things
+to my officers, I also advanced with Bes, followed by a guard of ten
+picked men. We met between the armies on a little sandy plain at the
+foot of the rise and there followed talk between the captains of our
+guards as to arms and so forth, but we four said nothing to each
+other, since the time for words was past. Only Bes and I sat down upon
+the sand and spoke a little together of Amada and Karema and of how
+they would receive the news of our victory or deaths.
+
+"It does not much matter, Master," said Bes at last, "seeing that if
+we die we shall never know, and if we live we shall learn for
+ourselves."
+
+At length all was arranged and we stood up to face each other, the
+four of us being armed in the same way. For as did Idernes and the
+hawk-eyed lord, Bes and I wore shirts of mail and helms, those that we
+had brought with us from the East. For weapons we had short and heavy
+swords, small shields and knives at our girdles.
+
+"Look your last upon the sun, Thieves," mocked Idernes, "for when you
+see it again, it shall be with blind eyes from the points of spears
+fastened to the gateway pillars of the Great King's palace."
+
+"Liars you have lived and liars you shall die," shouted Bes, but I
+said nothing.
+
+Now the agreement was that when the word had been given Idernes and I,
+and the noble and Bes, should fight together, but if they killed one
+of us, or we killed one of them, the two who survived might fall
+together on the remaining man. Remembering this, as he told me
+afterwards, at the signal Bes leapt forward like a flash with working
+face and foam upon his lips, and before ever I could come to Idernes,
+how I know not, had received the blow of the Eastern lord upon his
+shield and without striking back, had gripped him in his long arms and
+wrapped him round with his bowed legs. In an instant they were on the
+ground, Bes uppermost, and I heard the sound of blow upon blow struck
+with knife or sword, I knew not which, upon the Eastern's mail,
+followed by a shout of victory from the Egyptians which told me that
+Bes had slain him.
+
+Now Idernes and I were smiting at each other. He was a taller and a
+bigger man than myself, but older and one who had lived too well.
+Therefore I thought it wise to keep him at a distance and tire him,
+which I did by retreating and catching his sword-cuts on my shield,
+only smiting back now and again.
+
+"He runs! He runs!" shouted the Easterns. "O Idernes, beware the
+dwarf!"
+
+"Stand away, Bes," I called; "this is my game," and he obeyed, as
+often he had done when we were hunting together.
+
+Now a shrewd blow from Idernes cut through my helm and staggered me,
+and another before I could recover myself, shore the shield from my
+hand, whereat the Easterns shouted more loudly than before. Then fear
+of defeat entered into me and made me mad, for this Satrap was a great
+fighter. With a shout of "Egypt!" I went at him like a wounded lion
+and soon it was his turn to stagger back. But alas! I struck too hard,
+for my sword snapped upon his mail.
+
+"The knife!" screamed Bes; "the knife!"
+
+I hurled the sword hilt in the Satrap's face and drew the dagger from
+my belt. Then I ran in beneath his guard and stabbed and stabbed and
+stabbed. He gripped me and we went down side by side, rolling over
+each other. The gods know how it ended, for things were growing dim to
+me when some thrust of mine found a rent in his mail made when the
+sword broke and he became weak. His spirit weakened also, for he
+gasped,
+
+"Spare my life, Egyptian, and my treasure is yours. I swear it by the
+Fire."
+
+"Not for all the treasure in the world, Slanderer," I panted back and
+drove the dagger home to the hilt thrice, until he died. Then I
+staggered to my feet, and when the armies saw that it was I who rose
+while Idernes lay still a roar of triumph went up from the Egyptians,
+answered by a roar of rage from the Easterns.
+
+With a cry of "Well done, Master!" Bes leapt upon the dead man and
+hewed his head from him, as already he had served the hawk-eyed noble.
+Then gripping one head in each hand he held them up for the Easterns
+to see.
+
+"Men of the Great King," I said, "bear us witness that we have fought
+fairly, man to man, when we need not have done so."
+
+The ten of the Satrap's guard stood silent, but my own shouted,
+
+"Back, Shabaka! The Easterns charge!"
+
+I looked and saw them coming like waves of steel, then supported by my
+men and preceded by Bes who danced in front shaking the severed heads,
+I ran back to my own ranks where one gave me wine to drink and threw
+water over my hurts which were but slight. Scarcely was it done when
+the battle closed in and soon in it I forgot the deaths of Idernes and
+the Eastern liar.
+
+
+
+                             CHAPTER XIII
+
+                        AMADA RETURNS TO ISIS
+
+We fought a very terrible fight that evening there by the banks of
+Nile. Our position was good, but we were outnumbered by four or five
+to one, and the Easterns and their mercenaries were mad at the death
+of the Satrap by my hand. Time upon time they came on furiously,
+charging up the slope like wild bulls. For the most part we relied
+upon our archers to drive them back, since our half-trained troops
+could scarcely hope to stand against the onset of veterans disciplined
+in war. So taking cover behind the rocks we rained arrows on them,
+shooting the horses in the chariots, and when these were down, pouring
+our shafts upon the footmen behind. Myself I took my great black bow
+and drew it thrice, and each time I saw a noble fall, for no mail
+could withstand the arrows which it sent, and of that art I was a
+master. None in Egypt could shoot so far or so straight as I did, save
+perhaps Peroa himself. I had no time to do more since always I must be
+moving up and down the line encouraging my men.
+
+Three times we drove them back, after which they grew cunning. Ceasing
+from a direct onslaught and keeping what remained of their chariots in
+reserve, they sent one body of men to climb along the slope of the
+hill where the rocks gave them cover from our arrows, and another to
+creep through the reeds and growing crops upon the bank of the river
+where we could not see to shoot them well, although the slingers in
+the ships did them some damage.
+
+Thus they attacked us on either flank, and while we were thus engaged
+their centre made a charge. Then came the bitterest of the fighting
+for now the bows were useless, and it was sword against sword and
+spear against spear. Once we broke and I thought that they were
+through. But I led a charge against them and drove them back a little
+way. Still the issue was doubtful till I saw Bes rush past me grinning
+and leaping, and with him a small body of Greeks whom we held in
+reserve, and I think that the sight of the terrible dwarf whom they
+thought a devil, frightened the Easterns more than did the Greeks.
+
+At any rate, shouting out something about an evil spirit whom the
+Egyptians worshipped, by which I suppose they meant that god after
+whom Bes was named, they retreated, leaving many dead but taking their
+wounded with them, for they were unbroken.
+
+At the foot of the slope they reformed and took counsel, then sat down
+out of bowshot as though to rest. Now I guessed their plan. It was to
+wait till night closed in, which would be soon for the sun was
+sinking, and then, when we could not see to shoot, either rush through
+us by the weight of numbers, or march back to where the cliffs were
+lower and climb them, thus passing us on the higher open land.
+
+Now we also took counsel, though little came of it, since we did not
+know what to do. We were too few to attack so great an army, nor if we
+climbed the cliffs could we hope to withstand them in the desert
+sands, or to hold our own against them if they charged in the dark. If
+this happened it seemed that all we could do would be to fight as long
+as we could, after which the survivors of us must take refuge on our
+boats. So it came to this, that we should lose the battle and the
+greater part of the Easterns would win back to Sais, unless indeed the
+main army under Peroa came to our aid.
+
+Whilst we talked I caused the wounded to be carried to the ships
+before it grew too dark to move them. Bes went with them. Presently he
+returned, running swiftly.
+
+"Master," he said, "the evening wind is blowing strong and stirs the
+sand, but from a mast-head through it I caught sight of Peroa's
+banners. The army comes round the bend of the river not four furlongs
+away. Now charge and those Easterns will be caught between the hammer
+and the stone, for while they are meeting us they will not look
+behind."
+
+So I went down the lines of our little force telling them the good
+news and showing them my plan. They listened and understood. We formed
+up, those who were left of us, not more than a thousand men perhaps,
+and advanced. The Easterns laughed when they saw us coming down the
+slope, for they thought that we were mad and that they would kill us
+every one, believing as they did that Peroa had no other army. When we
+were within bowshot we began to shoot, though sparingly, for but few
+arrows were left. Galled by our archery they marshalled their ranks to
+charge us again. With a shout we leapt forward to meet them, for now
+from the higher ground I saw the chariots of Peroa rushing to our
+rescue.
+
+We met, we fought. Surely there had been no such fighting since the
+days of Thotmes and Rameses the Great. Still they drove us back till
+unseen and unsuspected the chariots and the footmen of Peroa broke on
+them from behind, broke on them like a desert storm. They gave, they
+fled this way and that, some to the banks of the Nile, some to the
+hills. By the light of the setting sun we finished it and ere the
+darkness closed in the Great King's army was destroyed, save for the
+fugitives whom we hunted down next day.
+
+Yes, in that battle perished ten thousand of the Easterns and their
+mercenaries, and upon its field at dawn we crowned Peroa Pharaoh of
+Egypt, and he named me the chief general of his army. There, too, fell
+over a thousand of my men and among them those six hunters whom I had
+won in the wager with the Great King and brought with me from the
+East. Throughout the fray they served me as a bodyguard, fighting
+furiously, who knew that they could hope for no mercy from their own
+people. One by one they were slain, the last two of them in the charge
+at sunset. Well, they were brave and faithful to me, so peace be on
+their spirits. Better to die thus than in the den of lions.
+
+
+
+In triumph we returned to Memphis, I bringing in the rear-guard and
+the spoils. Before Pharaoh and I parted a messenger brought me more
+good news. Sure tidings had come that the King of kings had been
+driven by revolt in his dominions to embark upon a mighty war with
+Syria, Greece and Cyprus and other half-conquered countries, in which,
+doubtless by agreement, the fires of insurrection had suddenly burned
+up. Also already Peroa's messengers had departed to tell them of what
+was passing on the Nile.
+
+"If this be true," said Peroa when he had heard all, "the Great King
+will have no new army to spare for Egypt."
+
+"It is so, Pharaoh," I answered. "Yet I think he will conquer in this
+great war and that within two years you must be prepared to meet him
+face to face."
+
+"Two years are long, Shabaka, and in them, by your help, much may be
+done."
+
+But as it chanced he was destined to be robbed of that help, and this
+by the work of Woman the destroyer.
+
+It happened thus. Amidst great rejoicings Pharaoh reached Memphis and
+in the vast temple of Amen laid down our spoils in the presence of the
+god, thousands of right hands hewn from the fallen, thousands of
+swords and other weapons and tens of chariots, together with much
+treasure of which a portion was given to the god. The high priests
+blessed us in the name of Amen and of the other gods; the people
+blessed us and threw flowers in our path; all the land rejoiced
+because once more it was free.
+
+There too that day in the temple with ancient form and ceremonial
+Peroa was crowned Pharaoh of Egypt. Sceptres and jewels that had been
+hid for generations were brought out by those who knew the secret of
+their hiding-places; the crowns that had been worn by old Pharaohs,
+were set upon his head; yes, the double crown of the Upper and the
+Lower Land. Thus in a Memphis mad with joy at the casting off of the
+foreign yoke, he was anointed the first of a new dynasty, and with him
+his queen.
+
+I too received honours, for the story of the slaying of Idernes at my
+hands and of how I held the pass had gone abroad, so that next to
+Pharaoh, I was looked upon as the greatest man in Egypt. Nor was Bes
+forgotten, since many of the common people thought that he was a
+spirit in the form of a dwarf whom the gods had sent to aid us with
+his strength and cunning. Indeed at the close of the ceremony voices
+cried out in the multitude of watchers, demanding that I who was to
+marry the Royal Lady of Egypt should be named next in succession to
+the throne.
+
+The Pharaoh heard and glanced first at his son and then at me,
+doubtfully, whereon, covered with confusion, I slipped away.
+
+The portico of the temple was deserted, since all, even the guards,
+had crowded into the vast court to watch the coronation. Only in the
+shadow, seated against the pedestal of one of the two colossal statues
+in front of the outer pylon gate and looking very small beneath its
+greatness, was a man wrapped in a dark cloak whom noting vaguely I
+took to be a beggar. As I passed him, he plucked at my robe, and I
+stopped to search for something to give to him but could find naught.
+
+"I have nothing, Father," I said laughing, "except the gold hilt of my
+sword."
+
+"Do not part with that, Son," answered a deep voice, "for I think you
+will need it before all is over."
+
+Then while I stared at him he threw back his hood and I saw that
+beneath was the ancient withered face and the long white beard of my
+great-uncle, the holy Tanofir, the hermit and magician.
+
+"Great things happen yonder, Shabaka. So great that I have come from
+my sepulchre to see, or rather, being blind, to listen, who thrice in
+my life days have known the like before," and he pointed to the
+glittering throng in the court within. "Yes," he went on, "I have seen
+Pharaohs crowned and Pharaohs die--one of them at the hand of a
+conqueror. What will happen to this Pharaoh, think you, Shabaka?"
+
+"You should be better able to answer that question than I, who am no
+prophet, my Uncle."
+
+"How, my Nephew, seeing that your dwarf has borne away my magic Cup? I
+do not grudge her to him for he is a brave dwarf and clever, who may
+yet prove a good prop to you, as he has done before, and to Egypt
+also. But she has gone and the new vessel is not yet shaped to my
+liking. So how can I answer?"
+
+"Out of the store of wisdom gathered in your breast."
+
+"So! my Nephew. Well, my store of wisdom tells me that feasts are
+sometimes followed by want and rejoicings by sorrow and victories by
+defeat, and splendid sins by repentance and slow climbing back to good
+again. Also that you will soon take a long journey. Where is the Royal
+Lady Amada? I did not hear her step among those who passed in to the
+Crowning. But even my hearing has grown somewhat weak of late, except
+in the silence of the night, Shabaka."
+
+"I do not know, my Uncle, who have only been in Memphis one hour. But
+what do you mean? Doubtless she prepares herself for the feast where I
+shall meet her."
+
+"Doubtless. Tell me, what passes at the temple of Isis? As I crept
+past the pylon feeling my way with my beggar's staff, I thought--but
+how can you know who have only been in Memphis an hour? Yet surely I
+heard voices just now calling out that you, Shabaka, should be named
+as the next successor to the throne of Egypt. Was it so?"
+
+"Yes, holy Tanofir. That is why I have left who was vexed and am sworn
+to seek no such honour, which indeed I do not desire."
+
+"Just so, Nephew. Yet gifts have a way of coming to those who do not
+desire them and the last vision that I saw before my Cup left me, or
+rather that she saw, was of you wearing the Double Crown. She said
+that you looked very well in it, Shabaka. But now begone, for hark,
+here comes the procession with the new-anointed Pharaoh whose royal
+robe you won for him yonder in the pass, when you smote down Idernes
+and held his legions. Oh! it was well done and my new Cup, though
+faulty, was good enough to show me all. I felt proud of you, Shabaka,
+but begone, begone! 'A gift for the poor old beggar! A gift, my lords,
+for the poor blind beggar who has had none since the last Pharaoh was
+crowned in Egypt and finds it hard to live on memories!'"
+
+
+
+At our house I found my mother just returned from the Coronation, but
+Bes I did not find and guessed that he had slipped away to meet his
+new-made wife, Karema. My mother embraced me and blessed me, making
+much of me and my deeds in the battle; also she doctored such small
+hurts as I had. I put the matter by as shortly as I could and asked
+her if she had seen aught of Amada. She answered that she had neither
+seen nor heard of her which I was sure she thought strange, as she
+began to talk quickly of other things. I said to her what I had said
+to the holy Tanofir, that doubtless she was making ready for the feast
+since I could not find her at the Crowning.
+
+"Or saying good-bye to the goddess," answered my mother nodding,
+"since there are some who find it even harder to fall from heaven to
+earth than to climb from earth to heaven, and after all you are but a
+man, my son."
+
+Then she slipped away to attire herself, leaving me wondering, because
+my mother was shrewd and never spoke at random.
+
+There was the holy Tanofir, too, with his talk about the temple of
+Isis, and he also did not speak at random. Oh! now I felt as I had
+done when the shadow of the palm-tree fell on me yonder in the palace
+garden.
+
+The mood passed for my blood still tingled with the glory of that
+great fight, and my heart shut its doors to sadness, knowing as I did,
+that I was the most praised man in Memphis that day. Indeed had I not,
+I should have learned it when with my mother I entered the great
+banqueting-hall of the palace somewhat late, for she was long in
+making ready.
+
+The first thing I saw there was Bes gorgeously arrayed in Eastern
+silks that he had plundered from the Satrap's tent, standing on a
+table so that all might see and hear him, and holding aloft in one
+hand the grisly head of Idernes and in the other that of the hawk-eyed
+noble whom he had slain, while in his thick, guttural voice he told
+the tale of that great fray. Catching sight of me, he called aloud,
+
+"See! Here comes the man! Here comes the hero to whom Egypt owes its
+liberty and Pharaoh his crown."
+
+Thereon all the company and the soldiers and servants who were
+gathered about the door began to shout and acclaim me, till I wished
+that I could vanish away as the holy Tanofir was said to be able to
+do. Since this was impossible I rushed at Bes who leapt from the table
+like a monkey and, still waving the heads and talking, slipped from
+the hall, I know not how, followed by the loud laughter of the guests.
+
+Then heralds announced the coming of Pharaoh and all grew silent. He
+and his company entered with pomp and we, his subjects, prostrated
+ourselves in the ancient fashion.
+
+"Rise, my guests," he cried. "Rise, my people. Above all do you rise,
+Shabaka, my beloved cousin, to whom Egypt and I owe so much."
+
+So we rose and I took my seat in a place of honour having my mother at
+my side, and looked about me for Amada, but in vain. There was the
+carven chair upon which she should have been among those of the
+princesses, but it was empty. At first I thought that she was late,
+but when time went by and she did not appear, I asked if she were ill,
+a question that none seemed able to answer.
+
+The feast went on with all the ancient ceremonies that attended the
+crowning of a Pharaoh of Egypt, since there were old men who
+remembered these, also the scribes and priests had them written in
+their books.
+
+I took no heed of them and will not set them down. At length Pharaoh
+pledged his subjects, and his subjects pledged Pharaoh. Then the doors
+were opened and through them came a company of white-robed, shaven
+priests bearing on a bier the body of a dead man wrapped in his mummy-
+cloths. At first some laughed for this rite had not been performed in
+Egypt since she passed into the hands of the Great Kings of the East
+and therefore was strange to them. Then they grew silent since after
+all it was solemn to see those death-bearing priests flitting in and
+out between the great columns, now seen and now lost in the shadows,
+and to listen to their funeral chants.
+
+In the hush my mother whispered to me that this body was that of the
+last Pharaoh of Egypt brought from his tomb, but whether this were so
+I cannot say for certain. At length they brought the mummy which was
+crowned with a snake-headed circlet of the royal /ur�us/ and still
+draped with withered funeral wreaths, and stood it on its feet
+opposite to Peroa just behind and between my mother and me in such a
+fashion that it cut off the light from us.
+
+The faint and heavy smell of the embalmer's spices struck upon my
+nostrils, a dead flower from the chaplets fell upon my head and,
+glancing over my shoulder, I saw the painted or enamelled eyes in the
+gilded mask staring at me. The thing filled me with fear, I knew not
+of what. Not of death, surely, for that I had faced a score of times
+of late and thought nothing of it. Indeed I am not sure that it was
+fear I felt, but rather a deep sense of the vanity of all things. It
+seemed to come home to me--Shabaka or Allan Quatermain, for in my
+dream the inspiration or whatever it might be, struck through the
+spirit that animated both of us--as it had never done before, that
+everything is /nothing/, that victory and love and even life itself
+have no meaning; that naught really exists save the soul of man and
+God, of whom perchance that soul is a part sent forth for a while to
+do His work through good and ill. The thought lifted me up and yet
+crushed me, since for a moment all that makes a man passed away, and I
+felt myself standing in utter loneliness, naked before the glory of
+God, watched only by the flaming stars that light his throne. Yes, and
+at that moment suddenly I learned that all the gods are but one God,
+having many shapes and called by many names.
+
+Then I heard the priests saying,
+
+"Pharaoh the Osiris greets Pharaoh the living on the Earth and sends
+to him this message--'As I am, so shalt thou be, and where I am, there
+thou shalt dwell through all the ages of Eternity.'"
+
+Then Pharaoh the living rose and bowed to Pharaoh the dead and Pharaoh
+the dead was taken away back to his Eternal House and I wondered
+whether his Ka or his spirit, or whatever is the part of him that
+lives on, were watching us and remembering the feasts whereof he had
+partaken in his pomp in this pillared hall, as his forefathers had
+done before him for hundreds or thousands of years.
+
+Not until the mummy had gone and the last sound of the chanting of the
+priests had died, did the hearts of the feasters grow light again. But
+soon they forgot, as men alive always forget death and those whom Time
+has devoured, for the wine was good and strong and the eyes of the
+women were bright and victory had crowned our spears, and for a while
+Egypt was once more free.
+
+So it went on till Pharaoh rose and departed, the great gold earrings
+in his ears jingling as he walked, and the trumpets sounding before
+and after him. I too rose to go with my mother when a messenger came
+and bade me wait upon Pharaoh, and with me the dwarf Bes. So we went,
+leaving an officer to conduct my mother to our home. As I passed her
+she caught me by the sleeve and whispered in my ear,
+
+"My son, whatever chances to you, be brave and remember that the world
+holds more than women."
+
+"Yes," I answered, "it holds death and God, or they hold it," though
+what put the words into my mind I do not know, since I did not
+understand and had no time to ask her meaning.
+
+The messenger led us to the door of Peroa's private chamber, the same
+in which I had seen him on my return from the East. Here he bade me
+enter, and Bes to wait without. I went in and found two men and a
+woman in the chamber, all standing very silent. The men were Pharaoh
+who still wore his glorious robe and Double Crown, and the high priest
+of Isis clothed in white; the other was the lady Amada also clothed in
+the snowy robes of Isis.
+
+At the sight of her thus arrayed my heart stopped and I stood silent
+because I could not speak. She too stood silent and I saw that beneath
+her thin veil her beautiful face was set and pale as that of an
+alabaster statue. Indeed she might have been not a lovely living
+woman, but the goddess Isis herself whose symbols she bore about her.
+
+"Shabaka," said Pharaoh at length, "the Royal Lady of Egypt, Amada,
+priestess of Isis, has somewhat to say to you."
+
+"Let the Royal Lady of Egypt speak on to her servant and affianced
+husband," I answered.
+
+"Count Shabaka, General of the armies," she began in a cold clear
+voice like to that of one who repeats a lesson, "learn that you are no
+more my affianced husband and that I who am gathered again to Isis the
+divine, am no more your affianced wife."
+
+"I do not understand. Will it please you to be more plain?" I said
+faintly.
+
+"I will be more plain, Count Shabaka, more plain than you have been
+with me. Since we speak together for the last time it is well that I
+should be plain. Hear me. When first you returned from the East, in
+yonder hall you told us of certain things that happened to you there.
+Then the dwarf your servant took up the tale. He said that he gave my
+name to the Great King. I was wroth as well I might be, but even when
+I prayed that he should be scourged, you did not deny that it was he
+who gave my name to the King, although Pharaoh yonder said that if you
+had spoken the name it would have been another matter."
+
+"I had no time," I answered, "for just then the messengers came from
+Idernes and afterwards when I sought you you were gone."
+
+"Had you then no time," she asked coldly, "beneath the palms in the
+garden of the palace when we were affianced? Oh! there was time in
+plenty but it did not please you to tell me that you had bought safety
+and great gifts at the price of the honour of the Lady of Egypt whose
+love you stole."
+
+"You do not understand!" I exclaimed wildly.
+
+"Forgive me, Shabaka, but I understand very well indeed, since from
+your own words I learned at the feast given to Idernes that 'the name
+of Amada' slipped your lips by chance and thus came to the ears of the
+Great King."
+
+"The tale that Idernes and his captain told was false, Lady, and for
+it Bes and I took their lives with our own hands."
+
+"It had perhaps been better, Shabaka, if you had kept them living that
+they might confess that it was false. But doubtless you thought them
+safer dead, since dead men cannot speak, and for this reason
+challenged them to single combat."
+
+I gasped and could not answer for my mind seemed to leave me, and she
+went on in a gentler voice,
+
+"I do not wish to speak angrily to you, my cousin Shabaka, especially
+when you have just wrought such great deeds for Egypt. Moreover by the
+law I serve I may speak angrily to no man. Know then that on learning
+the truth, since I could love none but you according to the flesh and
+therefore can never give myself in marriage to another, I sought
+refuge in the arms of the goddess whom for your sake I had deserted.
+She was pleased to receive me, forgetting my treason. On this very day
+for the second time I took the oaths which may no more be broken, and
+that I may dwell where I shall never see you more, Pharaoh here has
+been pleased, at my request to name me high priestess and prophetess
+of Isis and to appoint me as a dwelling-place her temple at Amada
+where I was born far away in Upper Egypt. Now all is said and done, so
+farewell."
+
+"All is not said and done," I broke out in fury. "Pharaoh, I ask your
+leave to tell the full story of this business of the naming of the
+lady Amada to the King of kings, and that in the presence of the dwarf
+Bes. Even a slave is allowed to set out his tale before judgment is
+passed upon him."
+
+Peroa glanced at Amada who made no sign, then said,
+
+"It is granted, General Shabaka."
+
+So Bes was called into the chamber and having looked about him
+curiously, seated himself upon the ground.
+
+"Bes," I said, "you have heard nothing of what has passed." (Here I
+was mistaken, for as he told me afterwards he had heard everything
+through the door which was not quite closed.) "It is needful, Bes,
+that you should repeat truly all that happened at the court of the
+King of kings before and after I was brought from the boat."
+
+Bes obeyed, telling the tale very well, so well that all listened
+earnestly, without error moreover. When he had finished I also told my
+story and how, shaken by all I had gone through and already weak from
+the torment of the boat, the name of Amada was surprised from me who
+never dreamed that the King would at once make demand of her, and who
+would have perished a thousand times rather than such a thing should
+happen. I added what I had learned afterwards from our escort, that
+this name was already well known to the Great King who meant to make
+use of it as a cause of quarrel with Egypt. Further, that he had let
+me escape from a death by horrible torments because of some dream that
+he had dreamed while he rested before the banquet, in which a god
+appeared and told him that it was an evil thing to slay a man because
+that man had bested him at a hunting match and one of which heaven
+would keep an account. Still because of the law of his land he must
+find a public pretext for loosing one whom he had once condemned, and
+therefore chose this matter of the lady Amada whom he pretended to
+send me to bring to him.
+
+When I had finished, as Amada still remained silent, Pharaoh asked of
+Bes how it came about that he told one story on the night of our
+return and another on this night.
+
+"Because, O Pharaoh," answered Bes rolling his eyes, "for the first
+time in my life I have been just a little too clever and shot my arrow
+just a little too far. Hearken, Pharaoh, and Royal Lady, and High
+Priest. I knew that my master loves the lady Amada and knew also that
+she is quick of tongue and temper, one who readily takes offence even
+if thereby she breaks her own heart and so brings her life to ruin,
+and with it perchance her country. Therefore, knowing women whom I
+have studied in my own land, I saw in this matter just such a cause of
+offence as she would lay hold of, and counselled my master to keep
+silent as to the story of the naming of her before the King. Some evil
+spirit made him listen to this bad counsel, so far at least, that when
+I lied as to what had chanced, for which lie the lady Amada prayed
+that I might be scourged till my bones broke through the skin, he did
+not at once tell all the truth. Nor did he do so afterwards because he
+feared that if he did I should in fact be scourged, for my master and
+I love each other. Neither of us wishes to see the other scourged,
+though such is my lot to-night," and he glanced at Amada. "I have
+said."
+
+Then at last Amada spoke.
+
+"Had I known all this story from the first, perhaps I should not have
+done what I have done to-day and perhaps I should have forgiven and
+forgotten, for in truth even if the dwarf still lies, I believe your
+word, O Shabaka, and understand how all came about. But now it is too
+late to change. Say, O Priest of the Mother, is it not too late?"
+
+"It is too late," said the priest solemnly, "seeing that if such vows
+as yours are broken for the second time, O Prophetess, the curse of
+the goddess will pursue you and him for whom they were broken, yes,
+through this life and all other lives that perchance may be given to
+you upon the earth or elsewhere."
+
+"Pharaoh," I cried in despair, "I made a bond with you. It is recorded
+in writing and sealed. I have kept my part of the bond; my treasure
+you have spent; your enemies I have slain; your army I have commanded
+not so ill. Will you not keep yours and bid the priests release this
+lady from her vow and give her to me to whom she was promised? Or must
+I believe that you refuse, not because of goddesses and vows, but
+because yonder is the Royal Lady of Egypt, the true heiress to the
+throne who might perchance bear children, which as prophetess of Isis
+she can never do. Yes, because of this and because of certain cries
+that came to your ears in the hour of your crowning before Amen-ra and
+all the gods?"
+
+Peroa flushed as he heard me and answered,
+
+"You speak roughly, Cousin, and were you any other man I might be
+tempted to answer roughly. But I know that you suffer and therefore I
+forgive. Nay, you must believe no such things. Rather must you
+remember that in this bond of which you speak, it was set down that I
+only promised you the lady Amada with her own consent, and this she
+has withdrawn."
+
+"Then, Pharaoh, hearken! To-morrow I leave Egypt for another land,
+giving you back your generalship and sheathing the sword that I had
+hoped to wield in its defence and yours when the last great day of
+trial by battle comes, as come it will. I tell you that I go to return
+no more, unless the lady Amada yonder shall summon me back to fight
+for her and you, promising herself to me in guerdon."
+
+"That can never be," said Amada.
+
+Then I became aware of another presence in the room, though how and
+when it appeared I do not know, but I suppose that it had crept in
+while we were lost in talk. At least between me and Pharaoh, crouched
+upon the ground, was the figure of a man wrapped in a beggar's cloak.
+It threw back the hood and there appeared the ashen face and snowy
+beard of the holy Tanofir.
+
+"You know me, Pharaoh," he said in his deep, solemn voice. "I am
+Tanofir, the King's son; Tanofir the hermit, Tanofir the seer. I have
+heard all that passes, it matters not how and I come to you with a
+message, I who read men's hearts. Of vows and goddesses and women I
+say nothing. But this I say to you, that if you break the spirit of
+your bond and suffer yonder Shabaka to go hence with a bitter heart,
+trouble shall come on you. All the Great King's armies did not die
+yonder by the banks of Nile, and mayhap one day he will journey to
+bury the bones of those who fell, and with them /yours/, O Pharaoh. I
+do not think that you will listen to me to-night, and I am sure that
+yonder lady, full of the new-fanned flame of the jealous goddess, will
+not listen. Still let her take counsel and remember my words: In the
+hour of desperate danger let her send to Shabaka and demand his help,
+promising in return what he has asked and remembering that if Isis
+loves her, that goddess was born upon the Nile and loves Egypt more."
+
+"Too late, too late, /too late!/" wailed Amada
+
+Then she burst into tears and turning fled away with the high priest.
+Pharaoh went also leaving me and Bes alone. I looked for the holy
+Tanofir to speak with him, but he too was gone.
+
+"It is time to sleep, Master," said Bes, "for all this talk is more
+wearisome than any battle. Why! what is this that has your name upon
+it?" and he picked a silk-wrapped package from the floor and opened
+it.
+
+Within were the priceless rose-hued pearls!
+
+
+
+                             CHAPTER XIV
+
+                     SHABAKA FIGHTS THE CROCODILE
+
+"Where to?" I said to Bes when we were outside the palace, for I was
+so broken with grief that I scarcely knew what I did.
+
+"To the house of the lady Tiu, I think, Master, since there you must
+make preparations for your start on the morrow, also bid her farewell.
+Oh!" he went on in a kind of rapture which afterwards I knew was
+feigned though at the time I did not think about it, "Oh! how happy
+should you be who now are free from all this woman-coil, with life new
+and fresh before you. Reflect, Master, on the hunting we will have
+yonder in Ethiopia. No more cares, no more plannings for the welfare
+of Egypt, no more persuading of the doubtful to take up arms, no more
+desperate battle-ventures with your country's honour on your sword-
+point. And if you must see women--well, there are plenty in Ethiopia
+who come and go lightly as an evening breeze laden with the odour of
+flowers, and never trouble in the morning."
+
+"At any rate /you/ are not free from such coils, Bes," I said and in
+the moonlight I saw his great face fall in.
+
+"No, Master, I am tying them about my throat. See, such is the way of
+the world, or of the gods that rule the world, I know not which. For
+years I have been happy and free, I have enjoyed adventures and
+visited strange countries and have gathered learning, till I think I
+am the wisest man upon the Nile, at the side of one whom I loved and
+holding nothing at risk, except my own life which mattered no more
+than that of a gnat dancing in the sun. Now all is changed. I have a
+wife whom I love also, more than I can tell you," and he sighed, "but
+who still must be looked after and obeyed--yes, obeyed. Further, soon
+I shall have a people and a crown to wear, and councillors and affairs
+of state, and an ancient religion to support and the Grasshopper
+itself knows what besides. The burden has rolled from your back to
+mine, Master, making my heart which was so light, heavy, and oh! I
+wish it had stopped where it was."
+
+Even then I laughed, sad as I was, for truth lived in the philosophy
+of Bes.
+
+"Master," he went on in a changed voice, "I have been a fool and my
+folly has worked you ill. Forgive me since I acted for the best, only
+until the end no one ever knows what is the best. Now here is the
+house and I go to meet my wife and to make certain arrangements. By
+dawn perhaps you will be ready to start to Ethiopia."
+
+"Do you really desire that I should accompany you there, Bes?"
+
+"Certainly, Master. That is unless you should desire that I accompany
+you somewhere else instead, by sea southward for instance. If so, I do
+not know that I would refuse, since Ethiopia will not run away and
+there is much of the world that I should still like to visit. Only
+then there is Karema to be thought about, who expects, or, when she
+learns all, soon will expect, to be a queen," he added doubtfully.
+
+"No, Bes, I am too tired to make new plans, so let us go to Ethiopia
+and not disappoint Karema, who after holding a cup so long naturally
+would like to try a sceptre."
+
+"I think that is wisest, Master; at any rate the holy Tanofir thinks
+it wisest, and he is the voice of Fate. Oh! why do we trouble who
+after all, every one of us, are nothing but pieces upon the board of
+Fate."
+
+Then he turned and left me and I entered the house where I found my
+mother sitting, still in her festal robes, like one who waits. She
+looked at my face, then asked what troubled me. I sat down on a stool
+at her feet and told her everything.
+
+"Much as I thought," she said when I had finished. "These over-learned
+women are strange fish to catch and hold, and too much soul is like
+too much sail upon a boat when the desert wind begins to blow across
+the Nile. Well, do not let us blame her or Bes, or Peroa who is
+already anxious for his dynasty and would rather that Amada were a
+priestess than your wife, or even the goddess Isis, who no doubt is
+anxious for her votaries. Let us rather blame the Power that is behind
+the veil, or to it bow our heads, seeing that we know nothing of the
+end for which it works. So Egypt shuts her doors on you, my Son, and
+whither away? Not to the East again, I trust, for there you would soon
+grow shorter by a head."
+
+"I go to Ethiopia, my Mother, where it seems that Bes is a great man
+and can shelter me."
+
+"So we go to Ethiopia, do we? Well, it is a long journey for an old
+woman, but I weary of Memphis where I have lived for so many years and
+doubtless the sands of the south make good burial grounds."
+
+"We!" I exclaimed. "/We?/"
+
+"Surely, my Son, since in losing a wife you have again found a mother
+and until I die we part no more."
+
+When I heard this my eyes filled with tears. My conscience smote me
+also because of late, and indeed for years past, I had thought so much
+of Amada and so little of my mother. And now it was Amada who had cast
+me out, unjustly, without waiting to learn the truth, because at the
+worst I, who worshipped her, had saved myself from death in slow
+torment by speaking her name, while my mother, forgetting all, took me
+to her bosom again as she had done when I was a babe. I knew not what
+to say, but remembering the pearls, I drew them out and placed them
+round my mother's neck.
+
+She looked at the wonderful things and smiled, then said,
+
+"Such gems as these become white locks and withered breasts but ill.
+Yet, my Son, I will keep them for you till you find a wife, if not
+Amada, then another."
+
+"If not Amada, I shall never find a wife," I said bitterly, whereat
+she smiled.
+
+Then she left me to make ready before she slept a while.
+
+
+
+Work as we would noon had passed two hours, on the following day,
+before we were prepared to start, for there was much to do. Thus the
+house must be placed in charge of friends and the means of travel
+collected. Also a messenger came from Pharaoh praying me for his and
+Egypt's sake to think again before I left them, and an answer sent
+that go I must, whither the holy Tanofir would know if at any time
+Pharaoh desired to learn. In reply to this came another messenger who
+brought me parting gifts from Pharaoh, a chain of honour, a title of
+higher nobility, a commission as his envoy to whatever land I
+wandered, and so forth, which I must acknowledge. Lastly as we were
+leaving the house to seek the boat which Bes had made ready on the
+Nile, there came yet another messenger at the sight of whom my heart
+leapt, for he was priest of Isis.
+
+He bowed and handed me a roll. I opened it with a trembling hand and
+read:
+
+
+ "From the Prophetess of Isis whose house is at Amada, aforetime
+  Royal Lady of Egypt, to the Count Shabaka,
+
+ "I learn, O my Cousin, that you depart from Egypt and knowing the
+  reason my heart is sore. Believe me, my Cousin, I love you well,
+  better than any who lives upon the earth, nor will that love ever
+  change, since the goddess who holds my future in her hands, knows
+  of what we are made and is not jealous of the past. Therefore she
+  will not be wroth at the earthly love of one who is gathered to
+  her heavenly arms. Her blessing and mine be on you and if we see
+  each other no more face to face in the world, may we meet again in
+  the halls of Osiris. Farewell, beloved Shabaka. Oh! why did you
+  suffer that black master of lies, the dwarf Bes, to persuade you
+  to hide the truth from me?"
+
+
+So the writing ended and below it were two stains still wet, which I
+knew were caused by tears. Moreover, wrapped in a piece of silk and
+fastened to the scroll was a little gold ring graven with the royal
+/ur�us/ that Amada had always worn from childhood. Only on the
+previous night I had noted it on the first finger of her right hand.
+
+I took my stylus and my waxen tablets and wrote on one of them:
+
+
+ "Had you been a man, Amada, and not a woman, I think you would have
+  judged me differently but, learned priestess and prophetess as you
+  are, a woman you remain. Perchance a time may come when once more
+  you will turn to me in the hour of your need; if so and I am
+  living, I will come. Yea, if I am dead I think that I still shall
+  come, since nothing can really part us. Meanwhile by day and by
+  night I wear your ring and whenever I look on it I think of Amada
+  the woman whose lips have pressed my own, and forget Amada the
+  priestess who for her soul's sake has been pleased to break the
+  heart of the man who loved her and whom she misjudged so sorely in
+  her pride and anger."
+
+
+This tablet I wrapped up and sealed, using clay and her own ring to
+make the seal, and gave it for delivery to the priest.
+
+At length we drew near to the river and here, gathered on the open
+land, I found the most of those who had fought with me in the battle
+against the Easterns, and with them a great concourse of others from
+the city. These collected round me, some of them wounded and hobbling
+upon crutches, praying me not to go, as did the others who foresaw
+sorrow to Egypt from my loss. But I broke away from them almost in
+tears and with my mother hid myself beneath the canopy of the boat.
+Here Bes was waiting, also his beautiful wife who, although she seemed
+sad at leaving Egypt, smiled a greeting to us while the steersmen and
+rowers of the boat, tall Ethiopians every one of them, rose and gave
+me a General's salute. Then, as the wind served, we hoisted the sail
+and glided away up Nile, till presently the temples and palm-groves of
+Memphis were lost to sight.
+
+
+
+Of that long, long journey there is no need to tell. Up the Nile we
+travelled slowly, dragging the boat past the cataracts till Egypt was
+far behind us. In the end, many days after we had passed the mouth of
+another river that was blue in colour which flowed from the northern
+mountain lands down into the Nile, we came to a place where the rapids
+were so long and steep that we must leave the boat and travel
+overland. Drawing near to it at sunset I saw a multitude of people
+gathered on the sand and beyond them a camp in which were set many
+beautiful pavilions that seemed to be broidered with silk and gold, as
+were the banners that floated above them whereon appeared the effigy
+of a grasshopper, also done in gold with silver legs.
+
+"It seems that my messengers travelled in safety," said Bes to me,
+"for know, that yonder are some of my subjects who have come here to
+meet us. Now, Master, I must no longer call you master since I fear I
+am once more a king. And you must no longer call me Bes, but Karoon.
+Moreover, forgive me, but when you come into my presence you must bow,
+which I shall like less than you do, but it is the custom of the
+Ethiopians. Oh! I would that you were the king and that I were your
+friend, for henceforth good-bye to ease and jollity."
+
+I laughed, but Bes did not laugh at all, only turned to his wife who
+already ruled him as though he were indeed a slave, and said, "Lady
+Karema, make yourself as beautiful as you can and forget that you have
+ever been a Cup or anything useful, since henceforth you must be a
+queen, that is if you please my people."
+
+"And what happens if I do not please them, Husband?" asked Karema
+opening her fine eyes.
+
+"I do not quite know, Wife. Perhaps they may refuse to accept me, at
+which I shall not weep. Or perhaps they may refuse to accept you, at
+which of course I should weep very much, for you see you are so very
+white and, heretofore, all the queens of the Ethiopians have been
+black."
+
+"And if they refuse to accept me because I am white, or rather brown,
+instead of black like oiled marble, what then, O Husband?"
+
+"Then--oh! then I cannot say, O Wife. Perhaps they will send you back
+to your own country. Or perhaps they will separate us and place you in
+a temple where you will live alone in all honour. I remember that once
+they did that to a white woman, making a goddess of her until she died
+of weariness. Or perhaps--well, I do not know."
+
+Then Karema grew angry.
+
+"Now I wish I had remained a Cup," she said, "and the servant of the
+holy Tanofir who at least taught me many secret things, instead of
+coming to dwell among black barbarians in the company of a dwarf who,
+even if he be a king, it seems has no power to protect the wife whom
+he has chosen."
+
+"Why will women always grow wroth before there is need?" asked Bes
+humbly. "Surely it would be time to rate me when any of these things
+had happened."
+
+"If any of them do happen, Husband, I shall say much worse things than
+that," she replied, but the talk went no further, for at this moment
+our boat grounded and singing a wild song, many of those who waited
+rushed into the water to drag it to the bank.
+
+Then Bes stood up on the prow, waving his bow and there arose a mighty
+shout of, "/Karoon! Karoon!/ It is he, it is he returned after many
+years!"
+
+Twice they shouted thus and then, every one of them, threw themselves
+face downwards in the sand.
+
+"Yes, my people," cried Bes, "it is I, Karoon, who having been
+miraculously preserved from many dangers in far lands by the help of
+the Grasshopper in heaven, and, as my messengers will have told you,
+of my beloved friend, lord Shabaka the Egyptian, who has deigned to
+come to dwell with us for a while, have at length returned to Ethiopia
+that I may shed my wisdom on you like the sun and pour it on your
+heads like melted honey. Moreover, mindful of our laws which aforetime
+I defied and therefore left you, I have searched the whole world
+through till I found the most beautiful woman that it contained, and
+made her my wife. She too has deigned to come to this far country to
+be your queen. Advance, fair Karema, and show yourself to these my
+Ethiopians."
+
+So Karema stepped forward and stood on the prow of the boat by the
+side of Bes, and a strange couple they looked. The Ethiopians who had
+risen, considered her gravely, then one of them said,
+
+"Karoon called her beautiful, but in truth she is almost white and
+very ugly."
+
+"At least she is a woman," said another, "for her shape is female."
+
+"Yes, and he has married her," remarked a third, "and even a king may
+choose his own wife sometimes. For in such matters who can judge
+another's taste?"
+
+"Cease," said Bes in a lordly way. "If you do not think her beautiful
+to-night, you will to-morrow. And now let us land and rest."
+
+So we landed and while I did so I took note of these Ethiopians. They
+were great men, black as charcoal with thick lips, white teeth and
+flat noses. Their eyes were large and the whites of them somewhat
+yellow, their hair curled like wool, their beards were short and on
+their faces they wore a continual smile. Of dress most of them had
+little, but their elders or leaders wore lion and leopard skins and
+some were clad in a kind of silken tunic belted about the middle. All
+were armed for war with long bows, short swords and small shields
+round in shape and made from the hide of the hippopotamus or of the
+unicorn. Gold was plentiful amongst them since even the humblest wore
+bracelets of that metal, while about the necks of the chieftains it
+was wound in great torques, also sometimes on their ankles. They wore
+sandals on their feet and some of them had ostrich feathers stuck in
+their hair, a few also had grasshoppers fashioned of gold bound on the
+top of their heads, and these I took to be the priests. There were no
+women in their number.
+
+As the sun was sinking we were led at once to a very beautiful tent
+made of woven flax and ornamented as I have described, where we found
+food made ready for us in plenty, milk in bowls and the flesh of sheep
+and oxen boiled and roasted. Bes, however, was taken to a place apart,
+which made Karema even more angry than she was before.
+
+Scarcely had we finished eating when a herald rushed into the tent
+crying, "Prostrate yourselves! Yea, be prostrated, the Grasshopper
+comes! Karoon comes."
+
+Here I must say that I found that the title of Karoon meant "Great
+Grasshopper," but Karema who did not know this, asked indignantly why
+she should prostrate herself to a grasshopper. Indeed she refused to
+do so even when Bes entered the pavilion wonderfully attired in a
+gorgeous-coloured robe of which the train was held by two huge men. So
+absurd did he look that my mother and I must bow very deeply to hide
+our laughter while Karema said,
+
+"It would be better, Husband, if you found children to carry your robe
+instead of two giants. Moreover, if it is meant to copy the colours of
+a grasshopper, 'tis badly done, since grasshoppers are green and you
+are gold and scarlet. Also they do not wear feathers set awry upon
+their heads."
+
+Bes rolled his eyes as though in agony, then turning, bade his
+attendants be gone. They obeyed, though doubtfully as though they did
+not like to leave him alone with us, whereon he let down the flap of
+the pavilion, threw off his gorgeous coverings and said,
+
+"You must learn to understand, Wife, that our customs are different
+from those of Egypt. There I was happy as a slave and you were held to
+be beautiful as the Cup of the holy Tanofir, also learned. Here I am
+wretched as a king and you are held to be ugly, also ignorant as a
+stranger. Oh! do not answer, I pray you, but learn that all goes well.
+For the time you are accepted as my wife, subject to the decision of a
+council of matrons, aged relatives of my family, who will decide when
+we reach the City of the Grasshopper whether or not you shall be
+acknowledged as the Queen of the Ethiopians. No, no, I pray you say
+nothing since I must go away at once, as according to the law of the
+Ethiopians the time has come for the Grasshopper to sleep, alone,
+Karema, as you are not yet acknowledged as my wife. You also can sleep
+with the lady Tiu and for Shabaka a tent is provided. Rest sweetly,
+Wife. Hark! They fetch me."
+
+"Now, if I had my way," said Karema, "I would rest in that boat going
+back to Egypt. What say you, lord Shabaka?"
+
+But I made no answer who followed Bes out of the tent, leaving her to
+talk the matter over with my mother. Here I found a crowd of his
+people waiting to convey him to sleep and watching, saw them place him
+in another tent round which they ranged themselves, playing upon
+musical instruments. After this someone came and led me to my own
+place where was a good bed in which I lay down to sleep. This however
+I could not do for a long while because of my own laughter and the
+noise of the drums and horns that were soothing Bes to his rest. For
+now I understood why he had preferred to be a slave in Egypt rather
+than a king in Ethiopia.
+
+In the morning I rose before the dawn and went out to the river-bank
+to bathe. While I was making ready to wash myself, who should appear
+but Bes, followed, but at a distance, by a number of his people.
+
+"Never have I spent such a night, Master," he said, "at least not
+since you took me prisoner years ago, since by law I may not stop
+those horns and musical instruments. Now, however, also according to
+the law of the Ethiopians, I am my own lord until the sun rises. So I
+have come here to gather some of those blue lilies which she loves as
+a present for Karema, because I fear that she is angry and must be
+appeased."
+
+"Certainly she is very angry," I said, "or at least was so when I left
+her last night. Oh! Bes, why did you let your people tell her that she
+was ugly?"
+
+"How can I help it, Master? Have you not always heard that the
+Ethiopians are chiefly famous for one thing, namely that they speak
+nothing but the truth. To them she, being different, seems to be ugly.
+Therefore when they say that she is ugly, they speak the truth."
+
+"If so, it is a truth that she does not like, Bes, as I have no doubt
+she will tell you by and by. Do they think me ugly also?"
+
+"Yes, they do, Master; but they think also that you look like a man
+who can draw a bow and use a sword, and that goes far with the
+Ethiopians. Of your mother they say nothing because she is old and
+they venerate the aged whom the Grasshopper is waiting to carry away."
+
+Now I began to laugh again and went with Bes to gather the lilies.
+These grew at the end of a mass of reeds woven together by the
+pressure of the current and floating on the water. Bes lay down upon
+his stomach while his people watched from a distance on the bank
+amazed into silence, and stretched out his long arms to reach the blue
+lotus flowers. Suddenly the reeds gave way beneath him just as he had
+grasped two of the flowers and was dragging at them, so that he fell
+into the river.
+
+Next instant I saw a swirl in the brown water and perceived a huge
+crocodile. It rushed at Bes open-mouthed. Being a good swimmer he
+twisted his body in order to avoid it, but I heard the great teeth
+close with a snap on the short leathern garment which he wore about
+his middle.
+
+"The devil has me! Farewell!" he cried and vanished beneath the water.
+
+Now, as I have said, I was almost stripped for bathing, but had not
+yet taken off my short sword which was girded round me by a belt. In
+an instant I drew it and amidst the yells of horror of the Ethiopians
+who had seen all from the bank, I plunged into the river. There are
+few able to swim as I could and I had the art of diving with my eyes
+open and remaining long beneath the surface without drawing breath,
+for this I had practised from a child.
+
+Immediately I saw the great reptile sinking to the mud and dragging
+Bes with him to drown him there. But here the river was very deep and
+with a few swift strokes I was able to get under the crocodile. Then
+with all my strength I stabbed upwards, driving the sword far into the
+soft part of the throat. Feeling the pain of the sharp iron the beast
+let go of Bes and turned on me. How it happened I do not know but
+presently I found myself upon its back and was striking at its eyes.
+One thrust at least went home, for the blinded brute rose to the
+surface, bearing me with him, and oh! the sweetness of the air as I
+breathed again.
+
+Thus we appeared, I riding the crocodile like a horse and stabbing
+furiously, while close by was Bes rolling his yellow eyes but
+helpless, for he had no weapon. Still the devil was not dead although
+blood streamed from him, only mad with pain and rage. Nor could the
+shouting Ethiopians help me since they had only bows and dared not
+shoot lest their shafts should pierce me. The crocodile began to sink
+again, snapping furiously at my legs. Then I bethought me of a trick I
+had seen practised by natives on the Nile.
+
+Waiting till its huge jaws were open I thrust my arm between them,
+grasping the short sword in such fashion that the hilt rested on its
+tongue and the point against the roof of its mouth. It tried to close
+its jaws and lo! the good iron was fixed between them, holding them
+wide open. Then I withdrew my hand and floated upwards with nothing
+worse than a cut upon the wrist from one of its sharp fangs. I
+appeared upon the surface and after me the crocodile spouting blood
+and wallowing in its death agonies. I remembered no more till I found
+myself lying on the bank surrounded by a multitude with Bes standing
+over me. Also in the shallow water was the crocodile dead, my sword
+still fixed between its jaws.
+
+"Are you harmed, Master" cried Bes in a voice of agony.
+
+"Very little I think," I answered, sitting up with the blood pouring
+from my arm.
+
+Bes thrust aside Karema who had come lightly clothed from her tent,
+saying,
+
+"All is well, Wife. I will bring you the lilies presently."
+
+Then he flung his arms about me, kissed my hands and my brow and
+turning to the crowd, shouted,
+
+"Last night you were disputing as to whether this Egyptian lord should
+be allowed to dwell with me in the land of Ethiopia. Which of you
+disputes it now?"
+
+"No one!" they answered with a roar. "He is not a man but a god. No
+man could have done such a deed."
+
+"So it seems," answered Bes quietly. "At least none of you even tried
+to do it. Yet he is not a god but only that kind of man who is called
+a hero. Also he is my brother, and while I reign in Ethiopia either he
+shall reign at my side, or I go away with him."
+
+"It shall be so, Karoon!" they shouted with one voice. And after this
+I was carried back to the tent.
+
+In front of it my mother waited and kissed me proudly before them all,
+whereat they shouted again.
+
+
+
+So ended this adventure of the crocodile, except that presently Bes
+went back and recovered the two lilies for Karema, this time from a
+boat, which caused the Ethiopians to call out that he must love her
+very much, though not as much as he did me.
+
+That afternoon, borne in litters, we set out for the City of the
+Grasshopper, which we reached on the fourth day. As we drew near the
+place regiments of men to the number of twelve thousand or more, came
+out to meet us, so that at last we arrived escorted by an army who
+sang their songs of triumph and played upon their musical instruments
+until my head ached with the noise.
+
+This city was a great place whereof the houses were built of mud and
+thatched with reeds. It stood upon a wide plain and in its centre rose
+a natural, rocky hill upon the crest of which, fashioned of blocks of
+gleaming marble and roofed with a metal that shone as gold, was the
+temple of the Grasshopper, a columned building very like to those of
+Egypt. Round it also were other public buildings, among them the
+palace of the Karoon, the whole being surrounded by triple marble
+walls as a protection from attack by foes. Never had I seen anything
+so beautiful as that hill with its edifices of shining white roofed
+with gold or copper and gleaming in the sun.
+
+Descending from my litter I walked to those of my mother and Karema,
+for Bes in his majesty might not be approached, and said as much to
+them.
+
+"Yes, Son," answered my mother, "it is worth while to have travelled
+so far to see such a sight. I shall have a fine sepulchre, Son."
+
+"I have seen it all before," broke in Karema.
+
+"When?" I asked.
+
+"I do not know. I suppose it must have been when I was the Cup of the
+holy Tanofir. At least it is familiar to me. Already I weary of it,
+for who can care for a land or a city where they think white people
+hideous and scarcely allow a wife to go near her husband, save between
+midnight and dawn when they cease from their horrible music?"
+
+"It will be your part to change these customs, Karema."
+
+"Yes," she exclaimed, "certainly that will be my part," after which I
+went back to my litter.
+
+
+
+                              CHAPTER XV
+
+                             THE SUMMONS
+
+Now at the gates of the City of the Grasshopper we were royally
+received. The priests came out to meet us, pushing a colossal image of
+their god before them on a kind of flat chariot, and I remember
+wondering what would be the value of that huge golden locust, if it
+were melted down. Also the Council came, very ancient men all of them,
+since the Ethiopians for the most part lived more than a hundred
+years. Perhaps that is why they were so glad to welcome Bes since they
+were too old to care about retaining power in their own hands as they
+had done during his long absence. For save Bes there was no other man
+living of the true royal blood who could take the throne.
+
+Then there were thousands of women, broad-faced and smiling whose
+black skins shone with scented oils, for they wore little except a
+girdle about their waists and many ornaments of gold. Thus their
+earrings were sometimes a palm in breadth and many of them had great
+gold rings through their noses, such as in Egypt are put in those of
+bulls. My mother laughed at them, but Karema said that she thought
+them hideous and hateful.
+
+They were a strange people, these Ethiopians, like children, most of
+them, being merry and kind and never thinking of one thing for more
+than a minute. Thus one would see them weep and laugh almost in the
+same breath. But among them was an upper class who had great learning
+and much ancient knowledge. These men made their laws wherein there
+was always sense under what seemed to be folly, designed the temples,
+managed the mines of gold and other metals and followed the arts. They
+were the real masters of the land, the rest were but slaves content to
+live in plenty, for in that fertile soil want never came near them,
+and to do as they were bid.
+
+Thus they passed from the cradle to the grave amidst song and flowers,
+carrying out their light, allotted tasks, and for the rest, living as
+they would and loving those they would, especially their children, of
+whom they had many. By nature and tradition the men were warriors and
+hunters, being skilled in the use of the bow and always at war when
+they could find anyone to fight. Indeed when we came among them their
+trouble was that they had no enemies left, and at once they implored
+Bes to lead them out to battle since they were weary of herding kine
+and tilling fields.
+
+All of these things I found out by degrees, also that they were a
+great people who could send out an army of seventy thousand men and
+yet leave enough behind them to defend their land. Of the world beyond
+their borders the most of them knew little, but the learned men of
+whom I have spoken, a great deal, since they travelled to Egypt and
+elsewhere to study the customs of other countries. For the rest their
+only god was the Grasshopper and like that insect they skipped and
+chirruped through life and when the winter of death came sprang away
+to another of which they knew nothing, leaving their young behind them
+to bask in the sun of unborn summers. Such were the Ethiopians.
+
+Now of all the ceremonies of the reception of Bes and his re-crowning
+as Karoon, I knew little, for the reason that the tooth of the
+crocodile poisoned my blood and made me very ill, so that I remained
+for a moon or more lying in a fine room in the palace where gold
+seemed to be as plentiful as earthen pots are in Egypt, and all the
+vessels were of crystal. Had it not been for the skill of the
+Ethiopian leeches and above all for the nursing of my mother, I think
+that I must have died. She it was who withstood them when they wished
+to cut off my arm, and wisely, for it recovered and was as strong as
+it had ever been. In the end I grew well again and from the platform
+in front of the temple was presented to the people by Bes as his
+saviour and the next greatest to him in the kingdom, nor shall I ever
+forget the shoutings with which I was received.
+
+Karema also was presented as his wife, having passed the Ordeal of the
+Matrons, but only, I think, because it was found that she was in the
+way to give an heir to the throne. For to them her beauty was
+ugliness, nor could they understand how it came about that their king,
+who contrary to the general customs of the land, was only allowed one
+wife lest the children should quarrel, could have chosen a lady who
+was not black. So they received her in silence with many whisperings
+which made Karema very angry.
+
+When in due course, however, the child came and proved to be a son
+black as the best of them and of perfect shape, they relented towards
+her and after the birth of a second, grew to love her. But she never
+forgave and loved them not at all. Nor was she over-fond of these
+children of hers because they were so black which, she said, showed
+how poisonous was the blood of the Ethiopians. And indeed this is so,
+for often I have noticed that if an Ethiopian weds with one of another
+colour, their offspring is black down to the third or fourth
+generation. Therefore Karema longed for Egypt notwithstanding the
+splendour in which she dwelt.
+
+So greatly did she long that she had recourse to the magic lore which
+she had learned from the holy Tanofir, and would sit for hours gazing
+into water in a crystal bowl, or sometimes into a ball of crystal
+without the water, trying to see visions therein that had to do with
+what passed in Egypt. Moreover in time much of her gift returned to
+her and she did see many things which she repeated to me, for she
+would tell no one else of them, not even her husband.
+
+Thus she saw Amada kneeling in a shrine before the statue of Isis and
+weeping: a picture that made me sad. Also she saw the holy Tanofir
+brooding in the darkness of the Cave of the Bulls, and read in his
+mind that he was thinking of us, though what he thought she could not
+read. Again she saw Eastern messengers delivering letters to Pharaoh
+and knew from his face that he was disturbed and that Egypt was
+threatened with calamities. And so forth.
+
+Soon the news of her powers of divination spread abroad, so that all
+the Ethiopians grew to fear her as a seeress and thenceforth, whatever
+they may have thought, none of them dared to say that she was ugly.
+Further, her gift was real, since if she told me of a certain thing
+such as that messengers were approaching, in due course they would
+arrive and make clear much that she had not been able to understand in
+her visions.
+
+Now from the time that I grew strong again and as soon as Bes was
+firmly seated on his throne, he and I set to work to train and drill
+the army of the Ethiopians, which hitherto had been little more than a
+mob of men carrying bows and swords. We divided it into phalanxes
+after the Greek fashion, and armed these bodies with long lances,
+swords, and large shields in the place of the small ones they had
+carried before. Also we trained the archers, teaching them to advance
+in open order and shoot from cover, and lastly chose the best soldiers
+to be captains and generals. So it came about that at the end of the
+two years that I spent in Ethiopia there was a force of sixty thousand
+men or more whom I should not have been afraid to match against any
+troops in the world, since they were of great strength and courage,
+and, as I have said, by nature lovers of war. Also their bows being
+longer and more powerful, they could shoot arrows farther than the
+Easterns or the Egyptians.
+
+The Ethiopian lords wondered why their King and I did these things,
+since they saw no enemy against which so great an army could be led to
+battle. On that matter Bes and I kept our own counsel, telling them
+only that it was good for the men to be trained to war, since, hearing
+of their wealth, one day the King of kings might attempt to invade
+their country. So month by month I laboured at this task, leading
+armies into distant regions to accustom them to travelling far afield,
+carrying with them what was necessary for their sustenance.
+
+So it went on until a sad thing happened, since on returning from one
+of these forays in which I had punished a tribe that had murdered some
+Ethiopian hunters and we had taken many thousands of their cattle, I
+found my mother dying. She had been smitten by a fever which was
+common at that season of the year, and being old and weak had no
+strength to throw it off.
+
+As medicine did not help her, the priests of the Grasshopper prayed
+day and night in their temple for her recovery. Yes, there they prayed
+to a golden locust standing on an altar in a sanctuary that was
+surrounded by crystal coffins wherein rested the flesh of former kings
+of the land. To me the sight was pitiful, but Bes asked me what was
+the difference between praying to a locust and praying to images with
+the heads of beasts, or to a dwarf shaped as he was like we did in
+Egypt, and I could not answer him.
+
+"The truth is, Brother," he said, for so he called me now, "that all
+peoples in the world do not offer petitions to what they see and have
+been taught to revere, but to something beyond of which to them it is
+a sign. But why the Ethiopians should have chosen a grasshopper as a
+symbol of God who is everywhere, is more than I can tell. Still they
+have done so for thousands of years."
+
+When I came to my mother's bedside she was wandering and I saw that
+she could not live long. In a little while, however, her mind cleared
+so that she knew me and tears of joy ran down her pale cheeks because
+I had returned before she died. She reminded me that she had always
+said that she would find a grave in Ethiopia, and asked to be buried
+and not kept above ground in crystal, as was the custom there. Then
+she said that she had been dreaming of my father and of me; also that
+she did not think that I need fret myself overmuch about Amada, since
+she was sure that before long I should kiss her on the lips.
+
+I asked if she meant that I should marry her and that we should be
+happy and fortunate. She replied that she supposed that I should marry
+her, but of the rest would say nothing. Indeed her face grew troubled,
+as though some thought hurt her, and leaving the matter of Amada she
+bade Karema bring me the rose-hued pearls, blessed me, prayed for our
+reunion in the halls of Osiris, and straightway died.
+
+So I caused her to be embalmed after the Egyptian fashion and enclosed
+in a coffin of crystal with a scarab on her heart that Karema had
+discovered somewhere in the city, for always she was searching for
+things that reminded her of Egypt, whereof many were to be found
+brought from time to time by travellers or strangers. Then with such
+ceremony as we could without the services of the priests of Osiris,
+Karema and I buried her in a tomb that Bes had caused to be made near
+to the steps of the temple of the Grasshopper, while Bes and his
+nobles watched from a distance.
+
+And so farewell to my beloved mother, the lady Tiu.
+
+
+
+After she was gone I grew very sad and lonely. While she lived I had a
+home, but now I was an exile, a stranger in a strange land with no one
+of my own people to talk to except Karema, with whom, as there were
+gossips even in Ethiopia, I thought it well not to talk too much.
+There was Bes it was true, but now he was a great king and the time of
+kings is not their own. Moreover Bes was Bes and an Ethiopian and I
+was I and an Egyptian, and therefore notwithstanding our love and
+brotherhood, we could never be like men of the same blood and country.
+
+I grew weary of Ethiopia with its useless gold and damp eternal green
+and heat, and longed for the sand and the keen desert air. Bes noted
+it and offered me wives, but I shrank from these black women however
+buxom and kindly, and wished for no offspring of their race whom
+afterwards I could never leave. To Egypt I had sworn not to return
+unless one voice called me and it remained silent. What then was I to
+do, being no longer content to discipline and command an army that I
+might not lead into battle?
+
+At length I made up my mind. By nature I was a hunter as much as a
+soldier; I would beg from Bes a band of brave men whom I knew, lovers
+of adventure who sought new things, and with them strike down south,
+following the path of the elephants to wherever the gods might lead
+us. Doubtless in the end it would be to death, but what matter when
+there is nothing for which one cares to live?
+
+While I was brooding over these plans Karema read my mind, perhaps
+because it was her own, perhaps by help of her strange arts, which I
+do not know. At least one day when I was sitting alone looking at the
+city beneath from one of the palace window-places, she came to me
+looking very beautiful and very mystic in the white robes she always
+loved to wear, and said,
+
+"My lord Shabaka, you tire of this land of honey and sweetness and
+soft airs and flowers and gold and crystal and black people who grin
+and chatter and are not pleasant to be near, is it not so?"
+
+"Yes, Queen," I answered.
+
+"Do not call me queen, my lord Shabaka, for I weary of that name, as
+we both do of the rest. Call me Karema the Arab, or Karema the Cup,
+which you will, but by the name of Thoth, god of learning, do /not/
+call me queen."
+
+"Karema then," I said. "Well, how do you know that I tire of all this,
+Karema?"
+
+"How could you do otherwise who are not a barbarian and who have Egypt
+in your heart, and Egypt's fate and----" here she looked me straight
+in the eye's, "Egypt's Lady. Besides, I measure you by myself."
+
+"You at least should be happy, Karema, who are great and rich and
+beloved, and the wife of a King who is one of the best of men, and the
+mother of children."
+
+"Yes, Shabaka, I should be but I am not, for who can live on
+sweetmeats only, especially when they like what is sour? See now how
+strangely we are made. When I was a girl, the daughter of an Arab
+chief, well bred and well taught as it chanced, I tired of the hard
+life of the desert and the narrow minds about me, I who longed for
+wisdom and to know great men. Then I became the Cup of the holy
+Tanofir and wisdom was all about me, strange wisdom from another
+world, rough, sharp wisdom from Tanofir, and the quiet wisdom of the
+dead among whom I dwelt. I wearied of that also, Shabaka. I was
+beautiful and knew it and I longed to shine in a Court, to be admired
+among men, to be envied of women, to rule. My husband came my way. He
+was clever with a great heart. He was your friend and therefore I was
+sure that he must be loyal and true. He was, or might be, a king, as I
+knew, though he thought that I did not. I married him and the holy
+Tanofir laughed but he did not say me nay, and I became a queen. And
+now I wish sometimes that I were dead, or back holding the cup of the
+holy Tanofir with the wisdom of the heavens flowing round me and the
+soft darkness of the tombs about me. It seems that in this world we
+never can be content, Shabaka."
+
+"No, Karema, we only think that we should be if things were otherwise
+than they are. But how can I help you, Karema?"
+
+"Least of all by going away and leaving me alone," she answered with
+the tears starting to her eyes.
+
+Looking at her, I began to think that the best thing I could do would
+be to go away and at once, but as ever she read my thought, shook her
+head and laughed.
+
+"No, no, I have put on my yoke and will carry it to the end. Have I
+not two black children and a husband who is a hero, a wit and a
+mountebank in one, and a throne and more gold and crystal than I ever
+wish to see again even in a dream, and shall I not cling to these good
+things? If you went I should only be a little more unhappy than
+before, that is all. Not for my sake do I ask you to stay, but for
+your own."
+
+"How for my own, Karema? I have done all that I can do here. I have
+built the army afresh from cook-boys to generals. Bes needs me no
+longer who has you, his children and his country, and I die of
+weariness."
+
+"You can stop to make use of that army you have built afresh,
+Shabaka."
+
+"Against whom? There are none to fight."
+
+"Against the Great King of the East. Listen. My gift of vision has
+grown strong and clear of late. Only to-day I have seen a meeting
+between Pharaoh, the holy Tanofir and the lady Amada. They were all
+disturbed, I know not at what, and the end of it was that Amada wrote
+in a roll and gave the writing to messengers, who I think even now are
+speeding southward--to you, Shabaka. Nay, do not look doubtfully on
+me, it is true."
+
+"Then you did well to tell me, Karema, for within a moon of this day I
+should have been where perhaps no messengers would have found me. Now
+I will wait and let it be your part to prepare the mind of Bes. Do you
+think that he would give me an army to lead to Egypt, if there were
+need?"
+
+She nodded and answered,
+
+"He would do so for three reasons. The first is because he loves you,
+the second because he too wearies of Ethiopia and this rich, fat life
+of peace, and the third, because I shall tell him that he must."
+
+"Then why trouble to speak of the other two?" I said laughing.
+
+So I stayed on in the City of the Grasshopper, and busied myself with
+the questions of how to transport and feed a great army that must hold
+the field for six months or a year; also with the setting of hundreds
+of skilled men to the making of bows, arrows, swords and shields. Nor
+did Bes say me no in these matters. Indeed he helped them forward by
+issuing the orders as his own, wherein I saw the hand of Karema.
+
+Three months went by and I began to think that Karema's power had been
+at fault, or that her vision was one that came from her lips and not
+from her heart, to keep me in Ethiopia. But again she read my mind and
+smiled.
+
+"Not so, Shabaka," she said. "Those messengers have come to trouble
+and are detained by a petty tribe beyond our borders over some matter
+of a woman. Ten days ago the frontier guards marched to set them
+free."
+
+So again I waited and at length the messengers came, three of them
+Egyptians and three men of Ethiopia who dwelt in Egypt to learn its
+wisdom, reporting that as Karema had said, through the foolishness of
+a servant they had been held prisoner by an Arab chief and thus
+delayed. Then they delivered the writings which they had kept safe.
+One was from Pharaoh to the Karoon of Ethiopia; one from the holy
+Tanofir to Karema; and one from the lady Amada to myself.
+
+With a trembling hand I broke the silk and seals and read. It ran
+thus:
+
+
+ "Shabaka, my Cousin,
+
+ "You departed from Egypt saying that never would you return unless
+  I, Amada the priestess, called you, and I told you that I should
+  never call. You said, moreover, that if you came at my call you
+  would demand me in guerdon, and I told you that never would I give
+  myself to you who was doubly sworn to Isis. Yet now I call and now
+  I say that if you come and conquer and I yet live, then, if you
+  still will it, I am yours. Thus stands the case: The Great King
+  advances upon Egypt with an army countless as the sands, nor can
+  Egypt hope to battle against him unaided and alone. He comes to
+  make of her a slave, to kill her children, to burn her temples, to
+  sack her cities and to defile her gods with blasphemies. Moreover
+  he comes to seize me and to drag me away to shame in his House of
+  Women.
+
+ "Therefore for the sake of the gods, for Egypt's sake and for my
+  own, I pray you come and save us. Moreover I still love you,
+  Shabaka, yes, more a thousand times, then ever I did, though
+  whether you still love me I know not. For that love's sake,
+  therefore, I am ready to break my vows to Isis and to dare her
+  vengeance, if she should desire to be avenged upon me who would
+  save her and her worship, praying that it may fall on my head and
+  not on yours. This will I do by the counsel of the holy Tanofir,
+  by command of Pharaoh, and with the consent of the high priests of
+  Egypt.
+
+ "Now I, Amada, have written. Choose, Shabaka, beloved of my heart."
+
+
+Such was the letter that caused my head to swim and set my soul on
+fire. Still I said nothing, but thrust it into my robe and waited.
+Presently Bes, who had been reading in his roll, looked up and spoke,
+saying,
+
+"Are you minded to see arrows fly and swords shine in war, Brother? If
+so, here is opportunity. Pharaoh writes to me above his own seal,
+seeking an alliance between Egypt and Ethiopia. He says that the King
+of kings invades him and that if he conquers Egypt he has sworn to
+travel on and conquer Ethiopia also, since he learns that it is now
+ruled by a certain dwarf who once stole his White Signet, and by a
+certain Egyptian who once killed his Satrap, Idernes."
+
+"What says the Karoon?" I asked.
+
+Bes rolled his eyes and turning to Karema, asked,
+
+"What says the Karoon's wife?"
+
+Karema laid down the roll she had been studying and answered,
+
+"She says that she has received a command from her master the holy
+Tanofir to wait upon him forthwith, for reasons that he will explain
+when she arrives, or to brave his curse upon her, her children, her
+country and her husband, and not only his but that of the spirits who
+serve him."
+
+"The curse of the holy Tanofir is not a thing to mock at," said Bes,
+"as I who revere him, know as well as any man."
+
+"No, Husband, and therefore I leave for Egypt as soon as may be. It
+seems that my sister is dead, this year past, and the holy Tanofir has
+no one to hold his cup."
+
+"And what shall I do?" asked Bes.
+
+"That is for you to say, Husband. But if you will, you can stay here
+and guard our children, giving the command of your army to the lord
+Shabaka."
+
+Now, for we were alone, Bes twisted himself about, rolling his eyes
+and laughing as he used to do before he became Karoon of Ethiopia.
+
+"O-ho-ho! Wife," he said, "so you are to go to Egypt, leaving me to
+play the nurse to babes, and my brother here is to command my armies,
+leaving me to look after the old men and the women. Nay, I think
+otherwise. I think that I shall come also, that is if my brother
+wishes it. Did he not save my life and is it not his and with it all I
+have? Oh! have done. Once more we will stand side by side in the
+battle, Brother, and afterwards let Fate do as it will with us. Tell
+me now, what is the tale of archers and of swordsmen with which we can
+march against the Great King with whom, like you, I have a score to
+settle?"
+
+"Seventy and five thousand," I answered.
+
+"Good! On the fifth day from now the army marches for Egypt."
+
+
+
+                             CHAPTER XVI
+
+                     TANOFIR FINDS HIS BROKEN CUP
+
+March we did, but on the fifteenth day, not the fifth, since there was
+much to make ready. First the Council of the Ethiopians must be
+consulted and through them the people. In the beginning there was
+trouble over the matter, since many were against a distant war, and
+this even after Bes had urged that it was better to attack than wait
+to be attacked. For they answered, and justly, that here in Ethiopia
+distance and the desert were their shields, since the King of kings,
+however great his strength, would be weary and famished before he set
+foot within their borders.
+
+In the end the knot was cut with a sword, for when the army came to
+learn of the dispute, from the generals down to the common soldiers,
+every man clamoured to be led to war, since, as I have said, these
+Ethiopians were fighters all of them, and near at hand there were none
+left with whom they could fight. So when the Council came to see that
+they must choose between war abroad and revolt at home, they gave way,
+bargaining only that the children of the Karoon should not leave the
+land so that if aught befell him, there would be some of the true
+blood left to succeed.
+
+Also the Grasshopper was consulted by the priests who found the omens
+favourable. Indeed I was told that this great golden locust sat up
+upon its hind legs upon the altar and waved its feelers in the air,
+which only happened when wonderful fortune was about to bless the
+land. The tale reminded me of the nodding of the statues of our own
+gods in Egypt when a new Pharaoh was presented to them, and of that of
+Isis when Amada put up her prayer to the divine Mother. To tell the
+truth, I suspected Karema of having some hand in the business.
+However, so it happened.
+
+At length we set forth, a mighty host, Bes commanding the swordsmen
+and I, under him, the archers, of whom there were more than thirty
+thousand men, and glad was I when all the farewells were said and we
+were free of the weeping crowds of women. At first Bes and Karema were
+somewhat sad at parting from their children, but in a little while
+they grew gay again since the one longed for battle and the other for
+the sands of Egypt.
+
+Now of our advance I need say little, except that it was slow, though
+none dared to bar the road of so mighty an array. Since we must go on
+foot, we were not able to cover more than five leagues a day, for even
+after we reached the river boats could not be found for so many,
+though Karema travelled in one with her ladies. Also cattle and corn
+must always be sent forward for food. Still we crept on to Egypt
+without sickness, accident, or revolt.
+
+When we drew near to its frontiers messengers met us from Pharaoh
+bearing letters in answer to those which we had sent with the tidings
+of our coming. These contained little but ill news. It seemed that the
+Great King with a countless host had taken all the cities of the Delta
+and, after a long siege, had captured Memphis and put it to the sack,
+and that the army of Egypt, fighting desperately by land and upon the
+Nile was being driven southwards towards Thebes. Pharaoh added that he
+proposed to make his last stand at the strong city of Amada, since he
+doubted whether the troops from Lower Egypt would not rather surrender
+to the Easterns than retreat further up the Nile. He thanked and
+blessed us for our promised aid and prayed that it might come in time
+to save Egypt from slavery and himself from death.
+
+Also there was a letter for me from Amada in which she said,
+
+
+ "Oh! come quickly. Come quickly, beloved Shabaka, lest of me you
+  should find but bones for never will I fall living into the hands
+  of the Great King. We are sore pressed and although Amada has been
+  made very strong, it can stand but a little while against such a
+  countless multitude armed with all the engines of war."
+
+
+For Karema, too, there were messages from the holy Tanofir of the same
+meaning, saying that unless we appeared within a moon of their
+receipt, all was lost.
+
+We read and took counsel. Then we pressed forward by double marches,
+sending swift runners forward to bid Pharaoh and his army hold on to
+the last spear and arrow.
+
+On the twenty-fifth day from the receipt of this news we came to the
+great frontier city which we found in tumult for its citizens were mad
+with fear. Here we rested one night and ate of the food that was
+gathered there in plenty. Then leaving a small rear-guard of five
+thousand men who were tired out, to hold the place, we pressed
+onwards, for Amada was still four days' march away. On the morning of
+the fourth day we were told that it was falling, or had fallen, and
+when at length we came in sight of the place we saw that it was
+beleaguered by an innumerable host of Easterns, while on the Nile was
+a great fleet of Grecian and Cyprian mercenaries. Moreover, heralds
+from the King of kings reached us, saying:
+
+"Surrender, Barbarians, or before the second day dawns you shall sleep
+sound, every one of you."
+
+To these we answered that we would take counsel on the matter and that
+perhaps on the morrow we would surrender, since when we had marched
+from Ethiopia, we did not know how great was the King's strength,
+having been deceived as to it by the letters of the Pharaoh. Meanwhile
+that the King of kings would do well to let us alone, since we were
+brave men and meant to die hard, and it would be better for him to
+leave us to march back to Ethiopia, rather than lose an army in trying
+to kill us.
+
+With these words which were spoken by Bes himself, the messengers
+departed. One of them however, who seemed to be a great lord, called
+in a loud voice to his companions, saying it was hard that nobles
+should have to do the errands, not of a man but of an ape who would
+look better hanging to a pole. Bes made no answer, only rolled his
+yellow eyes and said when the lord was out of hearing,
+
+"Now by the Grasshopper and all the gods of Egypt I swear that in
+payment for this insult I will choke the Nile with the army of the
+Great King, and hang that knave to a pole from the prow of the royal
+ship." Which last thing I hope he did.
+
+
+
+When the embassy had gone Bes gave orders that the whole army should
+eat and lie down to sleep.
+
+"I am sure," said he, "that the Great King will not attack us at once,
+since he will hope that we shall flee away during the night, having
+seen his strength."
+
+So the Ethiopians filled themselves and then lay down to sleep, which
+these people can do at any time, even if not tired as they were. But
+while they rested Bes and I and Karema, with some of the generals
+consulted together long and earnestly. For in truth we knew not what
+to do. But a league away lay the town of Amada beset by hundreds of
+thousands of the Easterns so that none could come in or out, and
+within its walls were the remains of Pharaoh's army, not more than
+twenty thousand men, all told, if what we heard were true. On the Nile
+also was the great Grecian and Cyprian fleet, two hundred vessels and
+more, though as we could see by the light of the setting sun the most
+of these were made fast to the western bank where the Egyptians could
+not come at them.
+
+For the rest our position was good, being on high desert beyond the
+cultivated land which bordered the eastern bank. But in front of us,
+separating us from the southern army of the King, stretched a swamp
+hard to cross, so that we could not hope to make an attack by night as
+there was no moon. Lastly, the main Eastern strength, to the number of
+two hundred thousand or more, lay to the north beyond Amada.
+
+All these things we considered, talking low and earnestly there in the
+tent, till it grew so dark that we could not see each other's faces
+while behind us slumbered our army that now numbered some seventy
+thousand men.
+
+"We are in a trap," said Bes at length. "If we await attack they will
+weigh us down with numbers. If we flee they have camels and horses and
+will overtake us; also ships of which we have none. If we attack it
+must be without cover through swamp where we shall be bogged.
+
+"Meanwhile Pharaoh is perishing within yonder walls of Amada which the
+engines batter down. By the Grasshopper! I know not what to do. It
+seems that our journey is vain and that few of us will see Ethiopia
+more; also that Egypt is sped."
+
+I made no answer, for here my generalship failed me and I had nothing
+to say. The captains, too, were silent, only woman-like, Karema wept a
+little, and I too went near to weeping who thought of Amada penned in
+yonder temple like a lamb that awaits the butcher's knife.
+
+Suddenly, coming from the door of the tent which I thought was closed,
+I heard a deep voice say,
+
+"I have ever noted that those of Ethiopian blood are melancholy after
+sundown, though of Egyptians I had thought better things."
+
+Now about this voice there was something familiar to me, still I said
+nothing, nor did the others, for to speak the truth, all of us were
+frightened and thought that we must dream. For how could any thing
+that breathed approach this tent through a triple line of sentries? So
+we sat still, staring at the darkness, till presently in that darkness
+appeared a glow of light, such as comes from the fire-flies of
+Ethiopia. It grew and grew while we gasped with fear, till presently
+it took shape, and the shape it took was that of the ancient withered
+face, the sightless eyes, and the white beard of the holy Tanofir.
+Yes, there not two feet from the ground seemed to float the head of
+the holy Tanofir, limned in faint flame, which I suppose must have
+been reflected on to it from the light of some camp-fire without.
+
+"O my beloved master!" cried Karema, and threw herself towards him.
+
+"O my beloved Cup!" answered Tanofir. "Glad am I to know you well and
+unshattered."
+
+Then a torch was lit and lo! there before us, wrapped in his dark
+cloak sat the holy Tanofir.
+
+"Whence come you, my Great-uncle?" I asked amazed.
+
+"From less far than you do, Nephew," he answered. "Namely out of Amada
+yonder. Oh! ask me not how. It is easy if you are a blind old beggar
+who knows the path. And by the way, if you have aught to eat I should
+be glad of a bite and a sup, since in Amada food has been scarce for
+this last month, and to-night there is little left."
+
+Karema sped from the tent and presently returned with bread and wine
+of which Tanofir partook almost greedily.
+
+"This is the first strong drink that I have tasted for many a year,"
+he said as he drained the goblet; "but better a broken vow than broken
+wits when one has much to plan and do. At least I hope the gods will
+think so when I meet them presently. There--I am strong again. Now,
+say, what is your force?"
+
+We told him.
+
+"Good. And what is your plan?"
+
+We shook our heads, having none.
+
+"Bes," he said sternly, "I think you grow dull since you became a king
+--or perhaps it is marriage that makes you so. Why, in bygone years
+schemes would have come so fast that they would have choked each other
+between those thick lips of yours. And Shabaka, tell me, have you lost
+all your generalship whereof once you had plenty, in the soft air of
+Ethiopia? Or is it that even the shadow of marriage makes /you/ dull?
+Well, I must turn to the woman, for that is always the lot of man.
+Your plan, Karema, and quickly for there is no time to lose."
+
+Now the face of Karema grew fixed and her eyes dreamy as she spoke in
+a slow, measured voice like one who knows not what she says.
+
+"My plan is to destroy the armies of the Great King and to relieve the
+city of Amada."
+
+"A very good plan," said holy Tanofir, "but the question is, how?"
+
+"I think," went on Karema, "that about a league above this place there
+is a spot where at this season the Nile can be forded by tall men
+without the wetting of their shoulders. First then, I would send five
+thousand swordsmen across that ford and let them creep down on the
+navy of the Great King where the sailors revel in safety, or sleep
+sound, and fire the ships. The wind blows strongly from the south and
+the flames will leap fast from one of them to the other. Most of their
+crews will be burned and the rest can be slain by our five thousand."
+
+"Good, very good," said the holy Tanofir, "but not enough, seeing that
+on the eastern bank is gathered the host of over two hundred thousand
+men. Now how will you deal with /them/, Karema?"
+
+"I seem to see a road yonder beyond the swamp. It runs on the edge of
+the desert but behind the sand-hills. I would send the archers of whom
+there are more than thirty thousand, under the command of Shabaka
+along that road which leads them past Amada. On its farther side are
+low hills strewn with rocks. Here I would let the archers take cover
+and wait for the breaking of the dawn. Then beneath them they will see
+the most of the Eastern host and with such bows as ours they can sweep
+the plain from the hills almost to the Nile, and having a hundred
+arrows to a man, should slaughter the Easterns by the ten thousand,
+for when these turn to charge a shaft should pierce through two
+together."
+
+"Good again," said Tanofir. "But what of the army of the Great King
+which lies upon this side of Amada?"
+
+"I think that before the dawn, believing us so few, it will advance
+and with the first light begin to thread the swamp, and therefore we
+must keep five thousand archers to gall it as it comes. Still it will
+win through, though with loss, and find us waiting for it here
+shoulder to shoulder, rank upon rank with locked shields, against
+which horse and foot shall break in vain, for who shall drive a wedge
+through the Ethiopian squares that Shabaka has trained and that Bes,
+the Karoon, commands? I say that they shall roll back like waves from
+a cliff; yes, again and again, growing ever fewer till the clamour of
+battle and the shouts of fear and agony reach their ears from beyond
+Amada where Shabaka and the archers do their work and the sight of the
+burning ships strikes terror in them and they fly."
+
+"Good again," said the holy Tanofir. "But still many on both fronts
+will be left, for this army of Easterns is very vast. And how will you
+deal with these, O Karema?"
+
+"On these I would have Pharaoh with all his remaining strength pour
+from the northern and the southern gates of Amada, for so shall they
+be caught like wounded lions between two wild bulls and torn and
+trampled and utterly destroyed. Only I know not how to tell Pharaoh
+what he must do, and when."
+
+"Good again," said the holy Tanofir, "very good. And as for the
+telling of Pharaoh, well, I shall see him presently. It is strange, my
+chipped Cup which I had almost thrown away as useless, that although
+broken, you still hold so much wisdom. For know, wonderful though it
+may seem, that just such plans as you have spoken have grown up in my
+own mind, only I wished to learn if you thought them wise."
+
+Then he laughed a little and Karema stretched her arms as one does who
+awakes from sleep, rubbed her eyes and asked if he would not eat more
+food.
+
+In an instant Tanofir was speaking again in a quick, clear voice.
+
+"Bes, or King," he said, "doubtless you will do your wife's will.
+Therefore let the host be aroused and stand to its arms. As it chances
+I have four men without who can be trusted. Two of these will guide
+the five thousand to the ford and across it; also down upon the ships.
+The other two will guide Shabaka and the archers along the road which
+Karema remembers so well; perhaps she trod it as a child. For my part
+I return to Amada to make sure that Pharaoh does his share and at the
+right time. For mark, unless all this is carried through to-night
+Amada will fall to-morrow, a certain priestess will die, and you, Bes,
+and your soldiers will never look on Ethiopia again. Is it agreed?"
+
+I nodded who did not wish to waste time in words, and Bes rolled his
+eyes and answered,
+
+"When one can think of nothing, it is best to follow the counsel of
+those who can think of something; also to hunt rather than to be
+hunted. Especially is this so if that something comes from the holy
+Tanofir or his broken Cup. Generals, you have heard. Rouse the host
+and bid them stand to their arms company by company!"
+
+The generals leapt away into the darkness like arrows from a bow, and
+presently we heard the noise of gathering men.
+
+"Where are these guides of yours, holy Tanofir?" asked Bes.
+
+Tanofir beckoned over his shoulder, and out of the gloom, one by one,
+four men stole into the tent. They were strange, quiet men, but I can
+say no more of them since their faces were veiled, nor as it chances,
+did I ever see any of them after the battle, in which I suppose that
+they were killed. Or perhaps they appeared after--well, never mind!
+
+"You have heard," said Tanofir, whereupon all four of them bowed their
+mysterious veiled heads.
+
+"Now, my Brother," whispered Bes into my ear, "tell me, I pray you,
+how did four men who were not in the tent, hear what was said in this
+tent, and how did they come through the guards who have orders to kill
+anyone who does not know the countersign, especially men whose faces
+are wrapped in napkins?"
+
+"I do not know," I answered, whereon Bes groaned, only Karema smiled a
+little as though to herself.
+
+"Then, having heard, obey," said the holy Tanofir, whereon the four
+veiled ones bowed again.
+
+"Will you not give them their orders, O most Venerable?" inquired Bes
+doubtfully.
+
+"I think it is needless," said Tanofir in a dry voice. "Why try to
+teach those who know?"
+
+"Will you not offer them something to eat, since they also must be
+hungry?" I asked of Karema.
+
+"Fool, be silent," she replied, looking on me with contempt. "Do the--
+friends--of Tanofir need to eat?"
+
+"I should have thought so after being beleaguered for a month in a
+starving town. If the master wants to eat, why should not his men?" I
+murmured.
+
+Then a thought struck me and I was silent.
+
+A general returned and reported that the orders had been executed and
+that all the army was afoot.
+
+"Good," said Bes. "Then start forthwith with five thousand men, and
+burn those ships, according to the plan laid down by the Queen Karema,
+which you heard her speak but now," and he named certain regiments
+that he should take with him, those of the general's own command,
+adding: "Save some of the ships if you can, and afterwards cross the
+Nile in them with your men, and join yourself either to my force or to
+that of the lord Shabaka, according to what you see. May the
+Grasshopper give you victory and wisdom."
+
+The general saluted and asked,
+
+"Who guides us to and across the ford of the great river?"
+
+Two of the veiled men stepped forward whereon the general muttered
+into my ear,
+
+"I like not the look of them. I pray the Grasshopper they do not guide
+us across the River of Death."
+
+"Have no fear, General," said the holy Tanofir from the other end of
+the tent. "If you and your men play their parts as well as the guides
+will play theirs, the ships are already burned together with their
+companies. Only take fire with you."
+
+So that general departed with the two guides, looking somewhat
+frightened, and soon was marching up Nile at the head of five thousand
+swordsmen.
+
+Now Bes looked at me and said,
+
+"It seems that you had better be gone also, my Brother, with the
+archers. Perchance the holy Tanofir will show you whither."
+
+"No, no," answered Tanofir, "my guides will show him. Look not so
+doubtful, Shabaka. Did I fail you when you were in the grip of the
+King of kings in the East, and only your own life and that of Bes were
+at stake?"
+
+"I do not know," I answered.
+
+"You do not know, but I know, as I think do Bes and Karema, since the
+one received the messages which the other sent. Well, if I did not
+fail you then, shall I fail you now when Egypt is at stake? Follow
+these guides I give you, and----" here he took hold of the quiver of
+arrows that lay beside me on the ground, and as certainly as though he
+could see it with his blind eyes, touched one of them, on the shaft of
+which were two black and a white feather, "remember my words after you
+have loosed this arrow from your great black bow and noted where it
+strikes."
+
+Then I turned to Bes and asked,
+
+"Where do we meet again?"
+
+"I cannot say, Brother," he answered. "In Amada if that may be. If
+not, at the Table of Osiris, or in the fields of the Grasshopper, or
+in the blackness which swallows all, gods and men together."
+
+"Does Karema come with me or bide with you?" I asked again.
+
+"She does neither," interrupted Tanofir, "she accompanies me to Amada,
+where I have need of her and she will be more safe. Oh! fear nothing,
+for every hermit however poor, still carries his staff and his cup,
+even if it be cracked."
+
+Then I shook Bes by the hand and went my way, wondering if I were
+awake or dreaming, and the last thing I saw in that tent was the
+beautiful face of Karema smiling at me. This I took to be a good omen,
+since I knew that it was the heart of the holy Tanofir which smiled,
+and that her eyes were but its mirror.
+
+Already my thirty thousand archers were marshalling, and having made
+sure that there was ample store of arrows and that all their gourds
+were filled with water, I set myself at their head while in front of
+me walked the two veiled guides. I looked upon them doubtfully, since
+it seemed dangerous to trust an army to unknown men who for aught I
+knew, might lead us into the midst of our foes. Then I remembered that
+they were vouched for by the holy Tanofir, my own great-uncle whom I
+trusted above any man on earth, and took heart again.
+
+How had he come into our tent, I wondered, and how, blind as he was,
+would he get back into Amada with Karema, if he took her? Well, who
+could account for the goings or the comings of the holy Tanofir, who
+was more of a spirit than a man? Perhaps it was not really he whom we
+had seen, but what we Egyptians called his /Ka/ or Double which can
+pass to and fro at will. Only do /Kas/ eat? Of this matter I knew only
+that offerings of food and drink are made to them in tombs. So leaving
+the holy Tanofir to guard himself, I turned my mind to our own
+business, which was to surprise the army of the Great King.
+
+Skirting the swamp we came to rough and higher ground and though I
+could see little in that darkness, I knew that we were walking up a
+hill. Presently we crossed its crest and descending for three bowshots
+or so, I felt that my feet were on a road. Now the guides turned to
+the left and after them in a long line came my army of thirty thousand
+archers. In utter silence we went since we had no beasts with us and
+our sandalled feet made little noise; moreover orders had been passed
+down the line that the man who made a sound should die.
+
+For two hours or more we marched thus, then bore to the left again and
+climbed a slope, by which time I judged we must be well past the town
+of Amada. Here suddenly the guides halted and we after them at
+whispered words of command. One of them took me by the cloak, led me
+forward a little way to the crest of the ridge, and pointed with his
+white-sleeved arm. I looked and there beneath me, well within bowshot,
+were thousands of the watchfires of the King's army, flaring, some of
+them, in the strong wind. For a full league those fires burned and we
+were opposite to the midmost of them.
+
+"See now, General Shabaka," said the guide, speaking for the first
+time in a curious hissing whisper such as might come from a man who
+had no lips, "beneath you sleeps the Eastern host, which being so
+great, has not thought it needful to guard this ridge. Now marshal
+your archers in a fourfold line in such fashion that at the first
+break of dawn they can take cover behind the rocks and shoot, every
+man of them without piercing his fellow. Do you bide here with the
+centre where your standard can be seen by all to north and south. I
+and my companion will lead your vanguard farther on to where the ridge
+draws nearer to the Nile, so that with their arrows they can hold back
+and slay any who strive to escape down stream. The rest is in your
+hands, for we are guides, not generals. Summon your captains and issue
+your commands."
+
+So we went back again and I called the officers together and told them
+what they were to do, then despatched them to their regiments.
+
+Presently the vanguard of ten thousand men drew away and vanished, and
+with them the white-robed guides on whom I never looked again. Then I
+marshalled my centre as well as I could in the gloom, and bade them
+lie down to rest and sleep if they were able; also, within thirty
+minutes of the sunrise, to eat and drink a little of the food they
+carried, to see that every bow was ready and that the arrows were
+loosened in every quiver. This done, with a few whom I trusted to
+serve me as messengers and guard, I crept up to the brow of the hill
+or slope, and there we laid us down and watched.
+
+
+
+                             CHAPTER XVII
+
+                        THE BATTLE--AND AFTER
+
+Two hours went by and I knew by the stars that the dawn could not be
+far away. My eyes were fixed upon the Nile and on the lights that hung
+to the prows of the Great King's ships. Where were those who had been
+sent to fire them, I wondered, for of them I saw nothing. Well, their
+journey would be long as they must wade the river. Perhaps they had
+not yet arrived, or perhaps they had miscarried. At least the fleet
+seemed very quiet. None were alarmed there and no sentry challenged.
+
+At length it grew near to dawn and behind me I heard the gentle stir
+of the Ethiopians arising and eating as they had been bidden, whereon
+I too ate and drank a little, though never had I less wished for food.
+The East brightened and far up the Nile of a sudden there appeared
+what at first I took to be a meteor or a lantern waving in the wind
+that now was blowing its strongest, as it does at this season of the
+year just at the time of dawn. Yet that lantern seemed to travel fast
+and lo! now I saw that it was fire running up the rigging of a ship.
+
+It leapt from rope to rope and from sail to sail till they blazed
+fiercely, and in other ships also nearer to us, flame appeared that
+grew to a great red sheet. Our men had not failed; the navy of the
+King of kings was burning! Oh! how it burned fanned by the breath of
+that strong wind. From vessel to vessel leapt the fire like a thing
+alive, for all of them were drawn up on the bank with prows fastened
+in such fashion that they could not readily be made loose. Some broke
+away indeed, but they were aflame and only served to spread the fire
+more quickly. Before the rim of the sun appeared for a league or more
+there was nothing but blazing ships from which rose a hideous crying,
+and still more and more took fire lower down the line.
+
+I had no time to watch for now I must be up and doing. The sky grew
+grey, there was light enough to see though faintly. I cast my eyes
+about me and perceived that no place in the world could have been
+better for archery. In front the hill was steep for a hundred paces or
+more and scattered over with thousands of large stones behind which
+bowmen might take shelter. Then came a gentle slope of loose sand up
+which attackers would find it hard to climb. Then the long flat plain
+whereon the Easterns were camped, and beyond it, scarce two furlongs
+away, the banks of Nile.
+
+Indeed the place was ill-chosen for so great an army, nor could it
+have held them all, had not the camping ground been a full league in
+length, and even so they were crowded. Out of the mist their tents
+appeared, thousands of them, farther than my eye could reach, and
+almost opposite to me, near to the banks of the river, was a great
+pavilion of silk and gold that I guessed must shelter the majesty of
+the King of kings. Indeed this was certain since now I saw that over
+it floated his royal banner which I knew so well, I who had stolen the
+little White Signet of signets from which it was taken. Truly the holy
+Tanofir, or his Cup, Karema, or his messengers, or the spirits with
+whom he dwelt, I know not which, had a general's eye and knew how to
+plan an ambuscade.
+
+So, thought I to myself as I ran back to my army to meet the gathered
+captains and set all things in order. It was soon done for they were
+ready, as were the fierce Ethiopians fresh from their rest and food,
+and stringing their bows, every one of them, or loosening the arrows
+in their quivers. As I came they lifted their hands in salute, for
+speak they dared not and I sent a whisper down their ranks, that this
+day they must fight and conquer, or fall for the glory of Ethiopia and
+their king. Then I gave my orders and before the sun rose and revealed
+them they crept forward in a fourfold line and took shelter behind the
+stones, lying there invisible on their bellies until the moment came.
+
+The red rim of Ra appeared glorious in the East, and I, from behind
+the rocks that I had chosen, sat down and watched. Oh! truly Tanofir
+or the gods of Egypt were ordering things aright for us. The huge camp
+was awake now and aware of what was happening on the Nile. They could
+not see well because of the tall reeds upon the river's rim and
+therefore, without order or discipline, by the thousand and the ten
+thousand, for their numbers were countless, some with arms and some
+without, they ran to the slope of sand beneath our station and began
+to climb it to have a better view of the burning ships.
+
+The sun leapt up swiftly as it does in Egypt. His glowing edge
+appeared over the crest of the hill though the hollows beneath were
+still filled with shadow. The moment was at hand. I waited till I had
+counted ten, glancing to the right and left of me to see that all were
+ready and to suffer the crowd to thicken on the slope, but not to
+reach the lowest rocks, whither they were climbing. Then I gave the
+double signal that had been agreed.
+
+Behind me the banner of the golden Grasshopper was raised upon a tall
+pole and broke upon the breeze. That was the first signal whereat
+every man rose to his knees and set shaft on string. Next I lifted my
+bow, the black bow, the ancient bow that few save I could bend, and
+drew it to my ear.
+
+Far away, out of arrow-reach as most would have said, floated the
+Great King's standard over his pavilion. At this I aimed, making
+allowance for the wind, and shot. The shaft leapt forward, seen in the
+sunlight, lost in the shadow, seen in the sunlight again and lastly
+seen once more, pinning that golden standard against its pole!
+
+At the sight of the omen a roar went up that rolled to right and left
+of us, a roar from thirty thousand throats. Now it was lost in a sound
+like to the hissing of thunder rain in Ethiopia, the sound of thirty
+thousand arrows rushing through the wind. Oh! they were well aimed,
+those arrows for I had not taught the Ethiopians archery in vain.
+
+How many went down before them? The gods of Egypt know alone. I do
+not. All I know is that the long slope of sand which had been crowded
+with standing men, was now thick with fallen men, many of whom lay as
+though they were asleep. For what mail could resist the iron-pointed
+shafts driven by the strong bows of the Ethiopians?
+
+And this was but a beginning, for, flight after flight, those arrows
+sped till the air grew dark with them. Soon there were no more to
+shoot at on the slope, for these were down, and the order went to lift
+the bows and draw upon the camp, and especially upon the parks of
+baggage beasts. Presently these were down also, or rushing maddened to
+and fro.
+
+At last the Eastern generals saw and understood. Orders were shouted
+and in a mad confusion the scores of thousands who were unharmed,
+rushed back towards the banks of Nile where our shafts could not reach
+them. Here they formed up in their companies and took counsel. It was
+soon ended, for all the vast mass of them, preceded by a cloud of
+archers, began to advance upon the hill.
+
+Now I passed a command to the Ethiopians, of whom so far not one had
+fallen, to lie low and wait. On came the glittering multitude of
+Easterns, gay with purple and gold, their mail and swords shining in
+the risen sun. On they came by squadron and by company, more than the
+eye could number. They reached the sand slope thick with their own
+dead and wounded and paused a little because they could see no man,
+since the black bodies of the Ethiopians were hid behind the black
+stones and the black bows did not catch the light.
+
+Then from a gorgeous group that I guessed hid the person of the Great
+King surrounded by his regiment of guards, ten thousand of them who
+were called Immortals, messengers sprang forth screaming the order to
+charge. The host began to climb the slippery sand slope but still I
+held my hand till their endless lines were within fifty paces of us
+and their arrows rattled harmlessly against our stones. Then I caused
+the banner of the Grasshopper that had been lowered, to be lifted
+thrice, and at the third lifting once more thirty thousand arrows
+rushed forth to kill.
+
+They went down, they went down in lines and heaps, riddled through and
+through. But still others came on for they fought under the eye of the
+Great King, and to fly meant death with shame and torture. We could
+not kill them all, they were too many. We could not kill the half of
+them. Now their foremost were within ten paces of us and since we must
+stand up to shoot, our men began to fall, also pierced with arrows. I
+caused the blast of retreat to be sounded on the ivory horn and step
+by step we drew back to the crest of the ridge, shooting as we went.
+On the crest we re-formed rapidly in a double line standing as close
+as we could together and my example was followed all down the ranks to
+right and left. Then I bethought me of a plan that I had taught these
+archers again and again in Ethiopia.
+
+With the flag I signalled a command to stop shooting and also passed
+the word down the line, so that presently no more arrows flew. The
+Easterns hesitated, wondering whether this were a trap, or if we
+lacked shafts, and meanwhile I sent messengers with certain orders to
+the vanguard, who sped away at speed behind the hill, running as they
+never ran before. Presently I heard a voice below cry out,
+
+"The Great King commands that the barbarians be destroyed. Let the
+barbarians be destroyed!"
+
+Now with a roar they came on like a flood. I waited till they were
+within twenty paces of us, and shouted, "Shoot and fall!"
+
+The first line shot and oh! fearful was its work, for not a shaft
+missed those crowded hosts and many pinned two together. My archers
+shot and fell down, setting new arrows to the string as they fell,
+whereon the second line also shot over them. Then up we sprang and
+loosed again, and again fell down, whereon the second line once more
+poured in its deadly hail.
+
+Now the Easterns stayed their advance, for their front ranks lay
+prone, and those behind must climb over them if they could. Yes,
+standing there in glittering groups they rocked and hesitated although
+their officers struck them with swords and lances to drive them
+forward. Once more our front rank rose and loosed, and once more we
+dropped and let the shafts of the second speed over us. It was too
+much, flesh and blood could not bear more of those arrows. Thousands
+upon thousands were down and the rest began to flee in confusion.
+
+Then at my command the ivory horns sounded the charge. Every man slung
+his bow upon his back and drew his short sword.
+
+"On to them!" I cried and leapt forward.
+
+Like a black torrent we rushed down the hill, leaping over the dead
+and wounded. The retreat became a rout since before these ebon, great-
+eyed warriors the soft Easterns did not care to stand. They fled
+screaming,
+
+"These are devils! These are devils!"
+
+We were among them now, hacking and stabbing with the short swords
+upon their heads and backs. There was no need to aim the blow, they
+were so many. Like a huddled mob of cattle they turned and fled down
+Nile. But my orders had reached the vanguard and these, hidden in the
+growing crops on the narrow neck of swampy land between the hills and
+the Nile, met them with arrows as they came, also raked them from the
+steep cliff side. Their chariot wheels sank into the mud till the
+horses were slain; their footmen were piled in heaps about them, till
+soon there was a mighty wall of dead and dying. And our centre and
+rearguard came up behind. Oh! we slew and slew, till before the sun
+was an hour high over half the army of the Great King was no more.
+Then we re-formed, having suffered but little loss, and drank of the
+water of the Nile.
+
+"All is not done," I cried.
+
+For the Immortals still remained behind us, gathered in massed ranks
+about their king. Also there were many thousands of others between
+these and the walls of Amada, and to the south of the city yet a
+second army, that with which Bes had been left to deal, with what
+success I knew not.
+
+"Ethiopians," I shouted, "cease crying Victory, since the battle is
+about to begin. Strike, and at once before the Easterns find their
+heart again."
+
+So we advanced upon the Immortals, all of us, for now the vanguard had
+joined our strength.
+
+In long lines we advanced over that blood-soaked plain, and as we came
+the Great King loosed his remaining chariots against us. It availed
+him nothing, since the horses could not face our arrows whereof,
+thanks be to the gods! I had prepared so ample a store, carried in
+bundles by lads. Scarce a chariot reached our lines, and those that
+did were destroyed, leaving us unbroken.
+
+The chariots were done with and their drivers dead, but there still
+frowned the squares of the Immortals. We shot at them till nearly all
+our shafts were spent, and, galled to madness, they charged. We did
+not wait for the points of those long spears, but ran in beneath them
+striking with our short swords, and oh! grim and desperate was that
+battle, since the Easterns were clad in mail and the Ethiopians had
+but short jerkins of bull's hide.
+
+Fight as we would we were driven back. The fray turned against us and
+we fell by hundreds. I bethought me of flight to the hills, since now
+we were outnumbered and very weary. But behold! when all seemed lost a
+great shouting rose from Amada and through her opened gates poured
+forth all that remained of the army of Pharaoh, perhaps eighteen or
+twenty thousand men. I saw, and my heart rose again.
+
+"Stand firm!" I cried. "Stand firm!" and lo! we stood.
+
+The Egyptians were on them now and in their midst I saw Pharaoh's
+banner. By degrees the battle swayed towards the banks of Nile, we to
+the north, the Egyptians to the south and the Easterns between us.
+They were trying to turn our flank; yes, and would have done it, had
+there not suddenly appeared upon the Nile a fleet of ships. At first I
+thought that we were lost, for these ships were from Greece and
+Cyprus, till I saw the banner of the Grasshopper wave from a prow, and
+knew that they were manned by our five thousand who had gone out to
+burn the fleet, and had saved these vessels. They beached and from
+their crowded holds poured the five thousand, or those that were left
+of them, and ranging themselves upon the bank, raised their war-shout
+and attacked the ends of the Easterns' lines.
+
+Now we charged for the last time and the Egyptians charged from the
+south. Ha-ha! the ranks of the Immortals were broken at length. We
+were among them. I saw Pharaoh, his /ur�us/ circlet on his helm. He
+was wounded and sore beset. A tall Immortal rushed at him with a spear
+and drove it home.
+
+Pharaoh fell.
+
+I leapt over him and killed that Eastern with a blow upon the neck,
+but my sword shattered on his armour. The tide of battle rolled up and
+swept us apart and I saw Pharaoh being carried away. Look! yonder was
+the Great King himself standing in a golden chariot, the Great King in
+all his glory whom last I had seen far away in the East. He knew me
+and shot at me with a bow, the bow he thought my own, shouting, "Die,
+dog of an Egyptian!"
+
+His arrow pierced my helm but missed my head. I strove to come at him
+but could not.
+
+The real rout began. The Immortals were broken like an earthen jar.
+They retreated in groups fighting desperately and of these the
+thickest was around the Great King. He whom I hated was about to
+escape me. He still had horses; he would fly down Nile, gain his
+reserves and so away back to the East, where he would gather new and
+yet larger armies, since men in millions were at his command. Then he
+would return and destroy Egypt when perchance there were no Ethiopians
+to help her, and perhaps after all drag Amada to his House of Women.
+See, they were breaking through and already I was far away with a
+wound in my breast, a hurt leg and a shattered sword.
+
+What could I do? My arrows were spent and the bearers had none left to
+give me. No, there was one still in the quiver. I drew it out. On its
+shaft were two black feathers and one white. Who had spoken of that
+arrow? I remembered, Tanofir. I was to think of certain things that he
+had said when I noted what it pierced. I unslung my bow, strung it and
+set that arrow on the string.
+
+By now the Great King was far away, out of reach for most archers. His
+chariot forging ahead amidst the remnant of his guards and the nobles
+who attended on his sacred person, travelled over a little rise where
+doubtless once there had been a village, long since rotted down to its
+parent clay. The sunlight glinted on his shining armour and silken
+robe, whereof the back was toward me.
+
+I aimed, I drew, I loosed! Swift and far the shaft sped forward. By
+Osiris! it struck him full between the shoulders, and lo! the King of
+kings, the Monarch of the World, lurched forward, fell on to the rail
+of his chariot, and rolled to the ground. Next instant there arose a
+roar of, "The King is dead! The Great King is dead! /Fly, fly, fly!/"
+
+So they fled and after them thundered the pursuers slaying and slaying
+till they could lift their arms no more. Oh! yes, some escaped though
+the men of Thebes and country folk murdered many of them and but a few
+ever won back to the East to tell the tale of the blotting out of the
+mighty army of the King of kings and of the doom dealt to him by the
+great black bow of Shabaka the Egyptian.
+
+I stood there gasping, when suddenly I heard a voice at my side. It
+said,
+
+"You seem to have done very well, Brother, even better than we did
+yonder on the other side of the town, though some might think that
+fray a thing whereof to make a song. Also that last shot of yours was
+worthy of a good archer, for I marked it, I marked it. A great lord
+was laid low thereby. Let us go and see who it was."
+
+I threw my arm round the bull neck of Bes and leaning on him, advanced
+to where the King lay alone save for the fallen about him.
+
+"This man is not yet sped," said Bes. "Let us look upon his face," and
+he turned him over, and stretched him there upon the sand with the
+arrow standing two spans beyond his corselet.
+
+"Why," said Bes, "this is a certain High one with whom we had dealings
+in the East!" and he laughed thickly.
+
+Then the Great King opened his eyes and knew us and on his dying
+features came a look of hate.
+
+"So you have conquered, Egyptian," he said. "Oh! if only I had you
+again in the East, whence in my folly I let you go----"
+
+"You would set me in your boat, would you not, whence by the wisdom of
+Bes I escaped."
+
+"More than that," he gasped.
+
+"I shall not serve you so," I went on. "I shall leave you to die as a
+warrior should upon a fair fought field. But learn, tyrant and
+murderer, that the shaft which overthrew you came from the black bow
+you coveted and thought you had received, and that this hand loosed it
+--not at hazard."
+
+"I guessed it," he whispered.
+
+"Know, too, King, that the lady Amada whom you also coveted, waits to
+be my wife; that your mighty army is destroyed, and that Egypt is free
+by the hands of Shabaka the Egyptian and Bes the dwarf."
+
+"Shabaka the Egyptian," he muttered, "whom I held and let go because
+of a dream and for policy. So, Shabaka, you will wed Amada whom I
+desired because I could not take her, and doubtless you will rule in
+Egypt, for Pharaoh, I think, is as I am to-day. O Shabaka, you are
+strong and a great warrior, but there is something stronger than you
+in the world--that which men call Fate. Such success as yours offends
+the gods. Look on me, Shabaka, look on the King of kings, the Ruler of
+the earth, lying shamed in the dust before you, and, accursed Shabaka!
+do not call yourself happy until you see death as near as I do now."
+
+Then he threw his arms wide and died.
+
+
+
+We called to soldiers to bear his body and having set the pursuit,
+with that royal clay entered into Amada in triumph. It was not a very
+great town and the temple was its finest building and thither we
+wended. In the outer court we found Pharaoh lying at the point of
+death, for from many wounds his life drained out with his flowing
+blood, nor could the leeches help him.
+
+"Greeting, Shabaka," he said, "you and the Ethiopians have saved
+Egypt. My son is slain in the battle and I too am slain, and who
+remains to rule her save you, you and Amada? Would that you had
+married her at once, and never left my side. But she was foolish and
+headstrong and I--was jealous of you, Shabaka. Forgive me, and
+farewell."
+
+He spoke no more although he lived a little while.
+
+Karema came from the inner court. She greeted her husband, then turned
+and said,
+
+"Lord Shabaka, one waits to welcome you."
+
+I rested myself upon her shoulder, for I could not walk alone.
+
+"What happened to the army of the Karoon?" I asked as we went slowly.
+
+"That happened, Lord, which the holy Tanofir foretold. The Easterns
+attacked across the swamp, thinking to bear us down by numbers. But
+the paths were too narrow and their columns were bogged in the mud.
+Still they struggled on against the arrows to its edge and there the
+Ethiopians fell on them and being lighter-footed and without armour,
+had the mastery of them, who were encumbered by their very multitude.
+Oh! I saw it all from the temple top. Bes did well and I am proud of
+him, as I am proud of you."
+
+"It is of the Ethiopians that you should be proud, Karema, since with
+one to five they have won a great battle."
+
+We came to the end of the second court where was a sanctuary.
+
+"Enter," said Karema and fell back.
+
+I did so and though the cedar door was left a little ajar, at first
+could see nothing because of the gloom of the place. By degrees my
+eyes grew accustomed to the darkness and I perceived an alabaster
+statue of the goddess Isis of the size of life, who held in her arms
+an ivory child, also lifesize. Then I heard a sigh and, looking down,
+saw a woman clad in white kneeling at the feet of the statue, lost in
+prayer. Suddenly she rose and turned and the ray of light from the
+door ajar fell upon her. It was Amada draped only in the transparent
+robe of a priestess, and oh! she was beautiful beyond imagining, so
+beautiful that my heart stood still.
+
+She saw me in my battered mail and the blood flowed up to her breast
+and brow and in her eyes there came a light such as I had never known
+in them before, the light that is lit only by the torch of woman's
+love. Yes, no longer were hers the eyes of a priestess; they were the
+eyes of a woman who burns with mortal passion.
+
+"Amada," I whispered, "Amada found at last."
+
+"Shabaka," she whispered back, "returned at last, to me, your home,"
+and she stretched out her arms toward me.
+
+But before I could take her into mine, she uttered a little cry and
+shrank away.
+
+"Oh! not here," she said, "not here in the presence of this Holy One
+who watches all that passes in heaven and earth."
+
+"Then perchance, Amada, she has watched the freeing of Egypt on yonder
+field to-day, and knows for whose sake it was done."
+
+"Hearken, Shabaka. I am your guerdon. Moreover as a woman I am yours.
+There is naught I desire so much as to feel your kiss upon me. For it
+and it alone I am ready to risk my spirit's death and torment. But for
+you I fear. Twice have I sworn myself to this goddess and she is very
+jealous of those who rob her of her votaries. I fear that her curse
+will fall not only on me, but on you also, and not only for this life
+but for all lives that may be given to us. For your own sake, I pray
+you leave me. I hear that Pharaoh my uncle is dead or dying, and
+doubtless they will offer you the throne. Take it, Shabaka, for in it
+I ask no share. Take it and leave me to serve the goddess till my
+death."
+
+"I too serve a goddess," I answered hoarsely, "and she is named Love,
+and you are her priestess. Little I care for Isis who serve the
+goddess Love. Come, kiss me here and now, ere perchance I die. Kiss me
+who have waited long enough, and so let us be wed."
+
+One moment she paused, swaying in the wind of passion, like a tall
+reed on the banks of Nile, and then, ah! then she sank upon my breast
+and pressed her lips against my own.
+
+
+
+                              AND AFTER
+
+For a few moments I, Shabaka, seemed to be lost in a kind of delirium
+and surrounded by a rose-hued mist. Then I, Allan Quatermain, heard a
+sharp quick sound as of a clock striking, and looked up. It was a
+lock, a beautiful old clock on a mantelpiece opposite to me and the
+hands showed that it had just struck the hour of ten.
+
+Now I remembered that centuries ago, as I was dropping asleep, I did
+not know why, I had seen that clock and those hands in the same
+position and known that it was striking the second stroke of ten. Oh!
+what did it all mean? Had thousands of years gone by or--only eight
+seconds?
+
+There was a weight upon my shoulder. I glanced round to see what it
+was and discovered the beautiful head of Lady Ragnall who was sweetly
+sleeping there. Lady Ragnall! and in that very strange dream which I
+had dreamed she was the priestess called Amada. Look, there was the
+mark of the new moon above her breast. And not a second ago I had been
+in a shrine with Amada dressed as Lady Ragnall was to-night, in
+circumstances so intimate that it made me blush to think of them. Lady
+Ragnall! Amada!--Amada! Lady Ragnall! A shrine! A boudoir! Oh! I must
+be going mad!
+
+I could not disturb her, it would have been--well, unseemly. So I,
+Shabaka, or Allan Quatermain, just sat still feeling curiously
+comfortable, and tried to piece things together, when suddenly Amada--
+I mean Lady Ragnall woke.
+
+"I wonder," she said without lifting her head from my shoulder, "what
+happened to the holy Tanofir. I think that I heard him outside the
+shine giving directions for the digging of Pharaoh's grave at that
+spot, and saying that he must do so at once as his time was very
+short. Yes, and I wished that he would go away. Oh! my goodness!" she
+exclaimed, and suddenly sprang up.
+
+I too rose and we stood facing each other.
+
+Between us, in front of the fire stood the tripod and the bowl of
+black stone at the bottom of which lay a pinch of white ashes, the
+remains of the /Taduki/. We stared at it and at each other.
+
+"Oh! where have we been, Shaba--I mean, Mr. Quatermain?" she gasped,
+looking at me round-eyed.
+
+"I don't know," I answered confusedly. "To the East I suppose. That is
+--it was all a dream."
+
+"A dream!" she said. "What nonsense! Tell me, were you or were you not
+in a sanctuary just now with me before the statue of Isis, the same
+that fell on George two years ago and killed him, and did you or did
+you not give me a necklace of wonderful rosy pearls which we put upon
+the neck of the statue as a peace-offering because I had broken my
+vows to the goddess--those that you won from the Great King?"
+
+"No," I answered triumphantly, "I did nothing of the sort. Is it
+likely that I should have taken those priceless pearls into battle? I
+gave them to Karema to keep after my mother returned them to me on her
+death-bed; I remember it distinctly."
+
+"Yes, and Karema handed them to me again as your love-token when she
+appeared in the city with the holy Tanofir, and what was more welcome
+at the moment--something to eat. For we were near starving, you know.
+Well, I threw them over your neck and my own in the shrine to be the
+symbol of our eternal union. But afterwards we thought that it might
+be wise to offer them to the goddess--to appease her, you know. Oh!
+how dared we plight our mortal troth there in her very shrine and
+presence, and I her twice-sworn servant? It was insult heaped on
+sacrilege."
+
+"At a guess, because love is stronger than fear," I replied. "But it
+seems that you dreamed a little longer than I did. So perhaps you can
+tell me what happened afterwards. I only got as far as--well, I forget
+how far I got," I added, for at that moment full memory returned and I
+could not go on.
+
+She blushed to her eyes and grew disturbed.
+
+"It is all mixed up in my mind too," she exclaimed. "I can only
+remember something rather absurd--and affectionate. You know what
+strange things dreams are."
+
+"I thought you said it wasn't a dream."
+
+"Really I don't know what it was. But--your wound doesn't hurt you,
+does it? You were bleeding a good deal. It stained me here," and she
+touched her breast and looked down wonderingly at her sacred, ancient
+robe as though she expected to see that it was red.
+
+"As there is no stain now it /must/ have been a dream. But my word!
+that was a battle," I answered.
+
+"Yes, I watched it from the pylon top, and oh! it was glorious. Do you
+remember the charge of the Ethiopians against the Immortals? Why of
+course you must as you led it. And then the fall of Pharaoh Peroa--he
+was George, you know. And the death of the Great King, killed by your
+black bow; you were a wonderful shot even then, you see. And the
+burning of the ships, how they blazed! And--a hundred other things."
+
+"Yes," I said, "it came off. The holy Tanofir was a good strategist--
+or his Cup was, I don't know which."
+
+"And you were a good general, and so for the matter of that was Bes.
+Oh! what agonies I went through while the fight hung doubtful. My
+heart was on fire, yes, I seemed to burn for----" and she stopped.
+
+"For whom?" I asked.
+
+"For Egypt of course, and when, reflected in the alabaster, I saw you
+enter that shrine, where you remember I was praying for your success--
+and safety, I nearly died of joy. For you know I had been, well,
+attached to you--to Shabaka, I mean--all the time--that's my part of
+the story which I daresay you did not see. Although I seemed so cold
+and wayward I could love, yes, in that life I knew how to love. And
+Shabaka looked, oh! a hero with his rent mail and the glory of triumph
+in his eyes. He was very handsome, too, in his way. But what nonsense
+I am talking."
+
+"Yes, great nonsense. Still, I wish we were sure how it ended. It is a
+pity that you forget, for I am crazed with curiosity. I suppose there
+is no more /Taduki/, is there?"
+
+"Not a scrap," she answered firmly, "and if there were it would be
+fatal to take it twice on the same day. We have learned all there is
+to learn. Perhaps it is as well, though I should like to know what
+happened after our--our marriage."
+
+"So we /were/ married, were we?"
+
+"I mean," she went on ignoring my remark, "whether you ruled long in
+Egypt. For you, or rather Shabaka, did rule. Also whether the Easterns
+returned and drove us out, or what. You see the Ivory Child went away
+somehow, for we found it again in Kendah Land only a few years ago."
+
+"Perhaps we retired to Ethiopia," I suggested, "and the worship of the
+Child continued in some part of that country after the Ethiopian
+kingdom passed away."
+
+"Perhaps, only I don't think Karema would ever have gone back to
+Ethiopia unless she was obliged. You remember how she hated the place.
+No, not even to see those black children of hers. Well, as we can
+never tell, it is no use speculating."
+
+"I thought there /was/ more /Taduki/," I remarked sadly. "I am sure I
+saw some in the coffer."
+
+"Not one bit," she answered still more firmly than before, and,
+stretching out her hand, she shut down the lid of the coffer before I
+could look into it. "It may be best so, for as it stands the story had
+a happy ending and I don't want to learn, oh! I don't want to learn
+how the curse of Isis fell on you and me."
+
+"So you believe in that?"
+
+"Yes, I do," she answered with passion, "and what is more, I believe
+it is working still, which perhaps is why we have all come down in the
+world, you and I and George and Hans, yes, and even old Har�t whom we
+knew in Kendah Land, who, I think, was the holy Tanofir. For as surely
+as I live I /know/ beyond possibility of doubt that whatever we may be
+called to-day, you were the General Shabaka and I was the priestess
+Amada, Royal Lady of Egypt, and between us and about us the curse of
+Isis wavers like a sword. That is why George was killed and that is
+why--but I feel very tired, I think I had better go to bed."
+
+
+
+As I recall that I have explained, I was obliged to leave Ragnall
+Castle early the next morning to keep a shooting engagement. O
+heavens! to keep a shooting engagement!
+
+
+
+But whatever Amada, I mean Lady Ragnall, said, there /was/ plenty more
+/Taduki/, as I have good reason to know.
+
+Allan Quatermain.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Ancient Allan, by H. Rider Haggard
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ANCIENT ALLAN ***
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