Faraon

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Autor

 

TOM PIERWSZY

 

Wstęp

 

W północno-wschodnim kącie Afryki leży Egipt, ojczyzna najstarszej cywilizacji w świecie. Przed trzema, czterema, a nawet pięcioma tysiącami lat, kiedy w środkowej Europie odziani w surowe skóry barbarzyńcy kryli się po jaskiniach, Egipt - już posiadał wysoką organizację społeczną, rolnictwo, rzemiosła i literaturę. Nade wszystko zaś wykonywał olbrzymie prace inżynierskie i wznosił kolosalne budowle, których szczątki budzą podziw w technikach nowożytnych.

Egipt - jest to żyzny wąwóz między Pustynią Libijską i Arabską. Głębokość jego wynosi kilkaset metrów, długość sto trzydzieści mil, średnia szerokość zaledwo milę. Od zachodu - łagodne, ale nagie wzgórza libijskie, od wschodu strome i popękane skały arabskie są ścianami tego korytarza, którego dnem płynie rzeka - Nil.

Z biegiem rzeki, na północ, ściany wąwozu zniżają się, a w odległości dwudziestu pięciu mil od Morza Śródziemnego nagle rozchodzą się, i Nil zamiast płynąć ciasnym korytarzem, rozlewa się kilkoma ramionami po obszernej równinie mającej kształt trójkąta. Trójkąt ten, zwany Deltą Nilową, ma za podstawę brzeg Morza Śródziemnego, zaś u wierzchołka, przy wyjściu rzeki z wąwozu, miasto Kair tudzież gruzy przedwiekowej stolicy, Memfisu.

Gdyby kto mógł wznieść się o dwadzieścia mil w górę i stamtąd spojrzeć na Egipt, zobaczyłby dziwną formę kraju i osobliwe zmiany jego koloru. Z tej wysokości, na tle białych i pomarańczowych piasków, Egipt wyglądałby jak wąż, który w energicznych skrętach posuwa się przez pustynię do Morza Śródziemnego i - już zanurzył w nim trójkątną głowę, ozdobioną dwojgiem oczu: lewym - Aleksandrią, prawym - Damiettą.

Długi ten wąż w październiku, kiedy Nil zalewa cały Egipt, miałby błękitną barwę wody. W lutym, kiedy miejsce opadających wód zajmuje wiosenna roślinność, wąż byłby zielony, z błękitną pręgą wzdłuż ciała i mnóstwem błękitnych żyłek na głowie, z powodu kanałów, które przecinają Deltę. W marcu błękitna pręga zwęziłaby się, a ciało węża, skutkiem dojrzewania zbóż, przybrałoby kolor złoty. Wreszcie w początkach czerwca Nilowa pręga byłaby bardzo cienka, a ciało węża zrobiłoby się stare, jakby przysłonięte krepą skutkiem suszy i pyłu.

Zasadniczą właściwością klimatu egipskiego jest upał: w styczniu bywa dziesięć stopni ciepła, w sierpniu dwadzieścia siedem; niekiedy gorąco sięga czterdziestu siedmiu stopni, co u nas odpowiada temperaturze rzymskiej łaźni. Nadto - w sąsiedztwie Morza Śródziemnego, nad Deltą, deszcz pada ledwie dziesięć razy na rok, zaś w Górnym Egipcie raz na dziesięć lat.

W tych warunkach Egipt, zamiast kolebką cywilizacji, byłby pustynnym wąwozem, jakich pełno wśród Sahary, gdyby co roku nie wskrzeszały go wody świętej rzeki Nilu. Od końca czerwca do końca września Nil przybiera i zalewa prawie cały Egipt; od końca października do końca maja roku następnego opada i stopniowo odsłania coraz niższe płaty gruntu. Wody rzeki są tak przesycone mineralnymi i organicznymi szczątkami, że kolor ich staje się brunatnawym, więc w miarę opadania wód na zalanych gruntach osadza się mul żyzny, który zastępuje najlepsze nawozy. Ten muł i gorący klimat sprawia, że Egipcjanin, zamknięty między pustyniami, może mieć trzy zbiory w ciągu roku i około trzystu ziarn z jednego ziarna zasiewu!

Ale Egipt nie jest jednostajną płaszczyzną, lecz krajem falistym; niektóre jego grunta tylko przez dwa lub trzy miesiące piją błogosławione wody, inne nie widzą jej przez cały rok; wylew bowiem nie dosięga pewnych punktów. Niezależnie od tego - trafiają się lata małych przyborów, a wówczas część Egiptu nie otrzymuje zapładniającego mułu. Nareszcie, skutkiem upałów, ziemia prędko wysycha i trzeba ją zlewać jak w doniczkach.

Wszystkie te okoliczności sprawiły, że naród zamieszkujący dolinę Nilu musiał albo zginąć, jeżeli był słabym, albo uregulować wody, jeżeli posiadał geniusz. Starożytni Egipcjanie mieli geniusz, więc stworzyli cywilizację.

Już przed sześcioma tysiącami lat spostrzegli, ze Nil przybiera, gdy słońce ukazuje się pod gwiazdą Syriuszem, a zaczyna opadać, gdy słońce zbliża się do gwiazdozbioru Wagi. Spostrzeżenia te popchnęły ich do obserwacji astronomicznych i mierzenia czasu.

Aby zachować wodę przez cały rok, wykopali w swoim kraju długą na kilka tysięcy mil sieć kanałów. Aby zaś ubezpieczyć się od nadmiernych wylewów, wznosili potężne tamy i kopali zbiorniki, spomiędzy których sztuczne jezioro Moeris zajmowało trzysta kilometrów kwadratowych powierzchni, przy dwunastu piętrach głębokości. Nareszcie wzdłuż Nilu i kanałów pobudowali mnóstwo prostych, ale skutecznych machin hydraulicznych, za pomocą których można było czerpać wodę i wylewać ją na pola położone o jedno lub dwa piętra wyżej. I jeszcze, jako dopełnienie wszystkiego, trzeba było co roku oczyszczać zamulone kanały, poprawiać tamy i budować wysoko położone drogi dla wojsk, które w każdej porze musiały odbywać marsze.

Te olbrzymie prace wymagały, obok wiadomości z astronomii, miernictwa, mechaniki i budownictwa - jeszcze doskonałej organizacji. Czy to umocnienie grobli, czy oczyszczenie kanałów musiało być robione i zrobione w pewnym czasie na wielkiej przestrzeni. Stąd powstała konieczność utworzenia armii robotniczej, liczącej dziesiątki tysięcy głów, działającej w oznaczonym celu i pod jednym kierunkiem. Armii, która musiała mieć mnóstwo małych i wielkich dowódców, mnóstwo oddziałów wykonywających rozmaite prace, skierowane do jednolitego rezultatu, armii, która potrzebowała wiele żywności, środków i sił pomocniczych.

Egipt zdobył się na taką armię pracowników i jej zawdzięcza swoje wiekopomne dzieła. Zdaje się, że stworzyli ją, a następnie nakreślali jej plany - kapłani, czyli mędrcy egipscy; rozkazywali zaś królowie, czyli faraonowie. Skutkiem tego naród egipski w czasach wielkości tworzył jakby jedną osobę, w której stan kapłański odegrywał rolę myśli, faraon był wolą, lud - ciałem, a posłuszeństwo - cementem.

Tym sposobem sama przyroda Egiptu, domagająca się wielkiej, ciągłej i porządnej roboty, stworzyła szkielet społecznej organizacji tego kraju: lud pracował, faraon kierował, kapłani układali plany. I jak długo te trzy czynniki dążyły zgodnie do celów wskazanych przez naturę, tak długo społeczność mogła kwitnąć i dokonywać swoich dzieł wiecznotrwałych.

Łagodny i wesoły, a bynajmniej nie wojowniczy lud egipski dzielił się na dwie klasy: rolników i rzemieślników. Między rolnikami musieli być jacyś właściciele drobnych kawałków gruntu, przeważnie jednak byli dzierżawcy ziem należących do faraona, kapłanów i arystokracji. Rzemieślnicy wyrabiający odzież, sprzęty, naczynia i narzędzia byli samodzielnymi; pracujący zaś przy wielkich budowlach tworzyli jakby armię.

Każda z tych specjalności, a głównie budownictwo wymagało sił pociągowych i motorów: ktoś musiał czerpać po całych dniach wodę z kanałów lub przenosić kamienie z kopalń tam, gdzie były potrzebne. Te najcięższe mechaniczne zajęcia, a przede wszystkim - prace w kamieniołomach, wykonywali przestępcy skazani przez sądy lub schwytani na wojnie niewolnicy.

Rodowici Egipcjanie mieli barwę skóry miedzianą, czym chełpili się gardząc jednocześnie czarnymi Etiopami, żółtymi Semitami i białymi Europejczykami. Ten kolor skóry, pozwalający odróżnić swojego od obcego, przyczyniał się do utrzymania narodowej jedności silniej aniżeli religia, którą można przyjąć, albo język, którego można się wyuczyć.

Z biegiem czasu jednak, kiedy państwowy gmach zaczął pękać, do kraju coraz liczniej napływały obce pierwiastki. Osłabiały one spójność, rozsadzały społeczeństwo, a nareszcie zalały i rozpuściły w sobie pierwotnych mieszkańców kraju.

Faraon rządził państwem przy pomocy armii stałej i milicji czy policji tudzież mnóstwa urzędników, z których powoli utworzyła się arystokracja rodowa. Tytularnie był on prawodawcą, naczelnym wodzem, najbogatszym właścicielem, najwyższym sędzią, kapłanem, a nawet synem bożym i bogiem. Cześć boską odbierał nie tylko od ludu i urzędników, ale niekiedy sam sobie stawiał ołtarze i przed swymi własnymi wizerunkami palił kadzidła.

Obok faraonów, a bardzo często ponad nimi, stali kapłani: był to zakon mędrców kierujący losami kraju.

Dziś prawie nie można wyobrazić sobie nadzwyczajnej roli, jaką stan kapłański odegrywał w Egipcie. Byli oni nauczycielami młodych pokoleń, wróżbitami, a więc doradcami ludzi dorosłych, sędziami zmarłych, którym ich wola i wiedza gwarantowała nieśmiertelność. Nie tylko spełniali drobiazgowe obrządki religijne przy bogach i faraonach, ale jeszcze leczyli chorych jako lekarze, wpływali na bieg robót publicznych jako inżynierowie tudzież na politykę jako astrologowie, a nade wszystko - znawcy własnego kraju i jego sąsiadów.

W historii Egiptu pierwszorzędne znaczenie mają stosunki, jakie istniały między stanem kapłańskim a faraonami. Najczęściej faraon ulegał kapłanom, składał bogom hojne ofiary i wznosił świątynie. Wówczas żył długo, a jego imię i wizerunki, ryte na pomnikach, przechodziły od pokolenia do pokolenia, pełne chwały. Wielu jednak faraonów panowało krótko, a niektórych znikały nie tylko czyny, ale nawet nazwiska. Parę razy zaś trafiło się, że upadała dynastia, a klaff, czapkę faraonów otoczoną wężem, przywdziewał kapłan.

Egipt rozwijał się, dopóki jednolity naród, energiczni królowie i mądrzy kapłani współdziałali sobie dla pomyślności ogółu. Lecz nadeszła epoka, że lud skutkiem wojen zmniejszył się liczebnie, w ucisku i zdzierstwie utracił siły, napływ zaś obcych przybyszów podkopał rasową jedność. A gdy jeszcze w powodzi azjatyckiego zbytku utonęła energia faraonów i mądrość kapłanów, i dwie te potęgi rozpoczęły między sobą walkę o monopol obdzierania ludu, wówczas Egipt dostał się pod władzę cudzoziemców, i światło cywilizacji przez kilka tysięcy lat płonące nad Nilem - zagasło.

Poniższe opowiadanie odnosi się do XI wieku przed Chrystusem, kiedy upadła dynastia dwudziesta, a po synu słońca, wiecznie żyjącym Ramzesie XIII, wdarł się na tron i czoło swoje ozdobił ureusem wiecznie żyjący syn słońca San-amen-Herhor, arcykapłan Amona...

 

Rozdział I

 

W trzydziestym trzecim roku szczęśliwego panowania Ramzesa XII Egipt święcił dwie uroczystości, które prawowiernych jego mieszkańców napełniły dumą i słodyczą.

W miesiącu Mechir, w grudniu, wrócił do Tebów, obsypany kosztownymi darami, bożek Chonsu, który przez trzy lata i dziewięć miesięcy podróżował w kraju Buchten, uzdrowił tam córkę królewską imieniem Bentres i wypędził złego ducha nie tylko z rodziny króla, a nawet z fortecy Buchtenu.

Zaś w miesiącu Farmuti, w lutym, pan Górnego i Dolnego Egiptu, władca Fenicji i dziewięciu narodów, Mer-amen-Ramzes XII, po naradzeniu się z bogami, którym jest równy, mianował swoim erpatrem, czyli następcą tronu, dwudziestodwuletniego syna Cham-sem-merer-amen-Ramzesa.

Wybór ten wielce uradował pobożnych kapłanów, dostojnych nomarchów, waleczną armię, wierny lud i wszelkie żyjące na ziemi egipskiej stworzenie. Starsi bowiem synowie faraona, urodzeni z królewny chetyjskiej, za sprawą czarów, których zbadać nie można, byli nawiedzeni przez złego ducha. Jeden syn, dwudziestosiedmioletni, od czasu pełnoletności nie mógł chodzić, drugi przeciął sobie żyły i umarł, a trzeci przez zatrute wino, którego nie chciał się wyrzec, wpadł w szaleństwo i mniemając, że jest małpą, całe dnie przepędzał na drzewach.

Dopiero czwarty syn, Ramzes, urodzony z królowej Nikotris, córki arcykapłana Amenhotepa, był silny jak wół Apis, odważny jak lew i mądry jak kapłani. Od dzieciństwa otaczał się wojskowymi i, jeszcze będąc zwyczajnym księciem, mawiał:

- Gdyby bogowie, zamiast młodszym synem królewskim, uczynili mnie faraonem, podbiłbym, jak Ramzes Wielki, dziewięć narodów, o których nigdy w Egipcie nie słyszano, zbudowałbym świątynię większą aniżeli całe Teby, a dla siebie wzniósłbym piramidę, przy której grób Cheopsa wyglądałby jak krzak róży obok dojrzałej palmy.

Otrzymawszy tak pożądany tytuł erpatra, młody książę poprosił ojca o łaskawe mianowanie go dowódcą korpusu Menti. Na co jego świątobliwość Ramzes XII, po naradzie z bogami, którym jest równy, odpowiedział, iż uczyni to, jeżeli następca tronu złoży dowód, że potrafi kierować masą wojsk na stopie bojowej

W tym celu zwołana została rada pod prezydencją ministra wojny San-amen-Herhora, który był arcykapłanem największej świątyni - Amona w Tebach.

Rada postanowiła: Następca tronu w połowie miesiąca Misori (początek czerwca) zbierze dziesięć pułków rozlokowanych wzdłuż linii, która łączy miasto Memfis z miastem Pi-Uto leżącym w Zatoce Sebenickiej.

Z dziesięciotysięcznym korpusem, przygotowanym do boju, zaopatrzonym w obóz i machiny wojenne, następca uda się na wschód, ku gościńcowi, który biegnie od Memfis do Chetem, na granicy ziemi Gosen i pustyni egipskiej.

W tym czasie jenerał Nitager, naczelny wódz armii, która strzeże bram Egiptu od najazdu azjatyckich ludów, ma wyruszyć od Gorzkich Jezior przeciw następcy tronu.

Obie armie: azjatycka i zachodnia, zetkną się w okolicach miasta Pi-Bailos, ale - na pustyni, ażeby pracowity rolnik ziemi Gosen nie doznał przeszkód w swoich zajęciach.

Następca tronu zwycięży, jeżeli nie da się zaskoczyć Nitagerowi, a więc - jeżeli zgromadzi wszystkie pułki i zdąży ustawić je w szyku bojowym na spotkanie nieprzyjaciela.

W obozie księcia Ramzesa znajdować się będzie sam jego dostojność Herhor, minister wojny, i o biegu wypadków złoży raport faraonowi. Granicę ziemi Gosen i pustyni stanowiły dwie drogi komunikacyjne. Jedną był kanał transportowy od Memfis do jeziora Timsah, drugą - szosa. Kanał znajdował się jeszcze w ziemi Gosen, szosa już w pustyni, którą obie drogi otaczały półkolem. Z szosy prawie na całej przestrzeni widać było kanał.

Niezależnie od sztucznych granic sąsiadujące krainy różniły się pod każdym względem. Ziemia Gosen pomimo falistości gruntu wydawała się równiną, pustynię zaś składały wapienne wzgórza i doliny piaszczyste. Ziemia Gosen wyglądała jak olbrzymia szachownica, której zielone i żółte poletka odgraniczały się barwą zbóż i palmami rosnącymi na miedzach; zaś na rudym piasku pustyni i jej białych wzgórzach płat zieloności albo kępa drzew i krzaków wyglądały jak zabłąkany podróżny.

Na płodnej ziemi Gosen z każdego pagórka tryskał ciemny gaj akacji, sykomorów i tamaryndusów, z daleka przypominających nasze lipy, wśród których kryły się pałacyki z rzędami przysadzistych kolumn albo żółte lepianki chłopów. Niekiedy obok - gaju bieliło się miasteczko z domami o płaskich dachach albo ponad drzewa ciężko wznosiły się piramidalne bramy świątyń, niby podwójne skały, upstrzone dziwnymi znakami.

W pustyni, spoza pierwszego szeregu trochę zielonych pagórków, wyzierały nagie wzgórza, zasłane stertami głazów. Zdawało się, że przesycony nadmiarem życia kraj zachodni z królewską hojnością rzuca na drugą stronę kanału zieleń i kwiaty, lecz wiecznie głodna pustynia pożera je w następnym roku i przerabia na popiół.

Odrobina roślinności, wygnanej na skały i piaski, trzymała się miejsc niższych, dokąd za pomocą rowów, przebitych w nasypie szosy, można było doprowadzać wodę z kanału. Jakoż między łysymi wzgórzami, w pobliżu szosy, piły rosę niebieską ukryte oazy, gdzie rósł jęczmień i pszenica, winny krzew, palmy i tamaryndusy. W takich miejscach żyli i ludzie - pojedynczymi rodzinami, którzy spotkawszy się na targu w Pi-Bailos, mogli nawet nie wiedzieć, że sąsiadują ze sobą na pustyni.

Szesnastego Misori koncentracja wojsk była prawie skończona. Dziesięć pułków następcy tronu, które miały zluzować azjatyckie wojska Nitagera, już zebrały się na gościńcu, powyżej miasta Pi-Bailos, z obozem i częścią wojennych machin.

Ruchami ich kierował sam następca. On zorganizował dwie linie zwiadów, z których dalsza miała śledzić nieprzyjaciół, bliższa - pilnować własnej armii od napadu, który był możliwym w okolicy pełnej wzgórz i wąwozów. On, Ramzes, w ciągu tygodnia sam objechał i obejrzał maszerujące różnymi traktami pułki pilnie bacząc: czy żołnierze mają porządną broń i ciepłe płaszcze na noc, czy w obozach znajduje się dostateczna ilość sucharów, mięsa i suszonych ryb? On wreszcie rozkazał, aby żony, dzieci i niewolników wojsk, idących na granicę wschodnią, przewieziono kanałem, co wpłynęło na zmniejszenie obozów i ułatwiło ruchy właściwej armii.

Najstarsi jenerałowie podziwiali wiedzę, zapał i ostrożność następcy tronu, a nade wszystko jego pracę i prostotę. Swój liczny dwór, książęcy namiot, wozy i lektyki zostawił on w Memfis; a sam w odzieży prostego oficera jeździł od pułku do pułku, konno, na sposób asyryjski, w towarzystwie dwu adiutantów.

Dzięki temu koncentracja właściwego korpusu poszła bardzo szybko i wojska w oznaczonym czasie stanęły pod Pi-Bailos.

Inaczej było z książęcym sztabem, z greckim pułkiem, który mu towarzyszył, i kilkoma wojennymi machinami.

Sztab, zebrany w Memfis, miał drogę najkrótszą, więc wyruszył najpóźniej, ciągnąc za sobą ogromny obóz. Prawie każdy oficer, a byli to panicze wielkich rodów, miał lektykę z czterema Murzynami, dwukolny wóz wojenny, bogaty namiot i mnóstwo skrzynek z odzieżą i jedzeniem tudzież dzbanów pełnych piwa i wina.

Prócz tego za oficerami wybrała się w podróż liczna trupa śpiewaczek i tancerek z muzyką; każda zaś, jako wielka dama, musiała mieć wóz, zaprzężony w jedną lub dwie pary wołów, i lektykę. Gdy ciżba ta wylała się z Memfis, zajęła na gościńcu więcej miejsca aniżeli armia następcy tronu. Maszerowano zaś tak powoli, że machiny wojenne, które zostawiono na końcu, ruszyły o dobę później, aniżeli był rozkaz. Na domiar złego, śpiewaczki i tancerki zobaczywszy pustynię, wcale jeszcze niestraszną w tym miejscu, zaczęły bać się i płakać. Więc,

dla uspokojenia ich, trzeba było przyśpieszyć nocleg, rozbić namioty i urządzić widowisko, a potem ucztę.

Nocna zabawa, w chłodzie, pod gwiaździstym niebem, na tle dzikiej natury, tak podobała się tancerkom i śpiewaczkom, że oświadczyły, iż odtąd będą występować tylko w pustyni. Tymczasem następca tronu, dowiedziawszy się w drodze o sprawach swego sztabu, przysłał rozkaz, ażeby jak najprędzej zawrócono kobiety do miasta i przyśpieszono pochód.

Przy sztabie znajdował się jego dostojność Herhor, minister wojny, lecz tylko w charakterze widza. Nie prowadził za sobą śpiewaczek, ale też i nie robił żadnych uwag sztabowcom. Kazał wynieść swoją lektykę na czoło kolumny i stosując się do jej ruchów posuwał się naprzód albo odpoczywał pod cieniem wielkiego wachlarza, którym osłaniał go adiutant.

Jego dostojność Herhor był to człowiek czterdziestokilkoletni, silnie zbudowany, zamknięty w sobie. Rzadko odzywał się i równie rzadko spoglądał na ludzi spod zapuszczonych powiek.

Jak każdy Egipcjanin miał obnażone ręce i nogi, odkrytą pierś, sandały na stopach, krótką spódniczkę dokoła bioder, a z przodu fartuszek w pasy niebieskie i białe. Jako kapłan golił zarost i włosy i nosił skórę pantery zawieszoną przez lewe ramię. Nareszcie, jako żołnierz, nakrywał głowę małym gwardyj skim hełmem, spod którego na kark spadała chusteczka, również w białe i niebieskie pasy.

Na szyi miał potrójny łańcuch złoty, a pod lewym ramieniem, na piersiach, krótki miecz w kosztownej pochwie.

Lektyce jego, dźwiganej przez sześciu czarnych niewolników, stale towarzyszyło trzech ludzi: jeden niósł wachlarz, drugi topór ministra, a trzeci skrzynkę z papirusami. Był to Pentuer, kapłan i pisarz ministra, chudy asceta, który w największy upał nie nakrywał ogolonej głowy. Pochodził z ludu, lecz pomimo niskiego urodzenia zajmował ważne stanowisko w państwie dzięki wyjątkowym zdolnościom.

Chociaż minister ze swymi urzędnikami znajdował się na czele sztabowej kolumny i nie mięszał się do jej ruchów, nie można jednak twierdzić, ażeby nie wiedział, co się dzieje poza nim. Co godzinę, niekiedy co pół godziny, do lektyki dostojnika zbliżał się - to niższy kapłan, zwyczajny "sługa boży", to żołnierz maruder, to przekupień albo niewolnik, który niby obojętnie przechodząc obok cichego orszaku ministra, rzucał jakieś słówko. Słówko to zaś Pentuer niekiedy zapisywał, ale najczęściej pamiętał, bo pamięć miał nadzwyczajną.

Na te drobnostki nikt nie zważał w zgiełkliwym tłumie sztabowców. Ofcerowie ci, wielcy panicze, zanadto byli zajęci bieganiem, hałaśliwą rozmową lub śpiewem, ażeby mieli patrzeć, kto zbliża się do ministra; tym więcej że wciąż mnóstwo ludzi snuło się wzdłuż szosy.

Piętnastego Misori sztab następcy tronu, wraz z jego dostojnością ministrem, przepędził noc pod gołym niebem w odległości jednej mili od pułków ustawiających się już do boju w poprzek szosy, za miastem Pi-Bailos.

Przed pierwszą z rana, która odpowiada naszej godzinie szóstej, wzgórza pustynne przybrały kolor fioletowy. Spoza nich wychyliło się słońce. Ziemię Gosen zalała różowość, a miasteczka, świątynie, pałace magnatów i lepianki chłopów wyglądały jak iskry i płomienie, w jednej chwili zapalone wśród zieloności.

Niebawem zachodni horyzont oblała barwa złota. I zdawało się, że zieloność ziemi Gosen rozpływa się w złocie, a niezliczone kanały, zamiast wody, toczą roztopione srebro. Ale wzgórza pustyni zrobiły się jeszcze mocniej fioletowymi, rzucając długie cienie na piaski i czarność na rośliny.

Straże stojące wzdłuż szosy doskonale mogły widzieć wysadzone palmami pola za kanałem. Na jednych zielenił się len, pszenica, koniczyna, na innych złocił się dojrzewający jęczmień drugiego posiewu. Jednocześnie z chat, ukrytych między drzewami, zaczęli wychodzić do roboty rolnicy, ludzie nadzy, barwy miedzianej, którzy za cały ubiór mieli krótką spódniczkę na biodrach i czepek na głowie. Jedni zwrócili się do kanałów, aby oczyszczać je z

mułu albo czerpać wodę i wylewać na pola za pomocą machin podobnych do żurawi przy studniach. Inni rozproszywszy się między drzewami zbierali dojrzałe figi i winogrona. Snuło się tam sporo nagich dzieci i kobiet w białych, żółtych lub czerwonych koszulach bez rękawów.

I był wielki ruch w tej okolicy. Na niebie drapieżne ptactwo pustyni uganiało się za gołębiami i kawkami ziemi Gosen. Wzdłuż kanału huśtały się zgrzytające żurawie z kubełkami płodnej wody, a ludzie, którzy zbierali owoce, ukazywali się i znikali między zielonością drzew jak barwne motyle. Zaś w pustyni, na szosie, już zamrowiło się wojsko i jego służba. Przeleciał oddział konnych uzbrojony w lance. Za nim pomaszerowali łucznicy w czepkach i spódniczkach; mieli oni łuki w garści, sajdaki na plecach i szerokie tasaki u prawego boku. Łucznikom towarzyszyli procarze niosący torby z pociskami i uzbrojeni w krótkie miecze.

O sto kroków za nimi szły dwa małe oddziałki piechoty: jeden uzbrojony we włócznie, drugi w topory. Ci i tamci nieśli w rękach prostokątne tarcze, na piersiach mieli grube kaftany, niby pancerze, a na głowie czepki z chusteczkami zasłaniającymi kark od upału. Czepki i kaftany były w pasy: niebieskie z białym lub żółte z czarnym, co robiło żołnierzy podobnymi do wielkich szerszeni.

Za przednią strażą, otoczona oddziałem toporników, posuwała się lektyka ministra, a za nią, w miedzianych hełmach i pancerzach, greckie roty, których miarowy krok przypominał uderzenia ciężkich młotów. W tyle było słychać skrzypienie wozów, ryk bydła i krzyki woźniców, a z boku szosy przemykał się brodaty handlarz fenicki w lektyce zawieszonej między dwoma osłami. Nad tym wszystkim unosił się tuman złotego pyłu i gorąco.

Nagle od straży przedniej przycwałował konny żołnierz i zawiadomił ministra, że zbliża się następca tronu. Jego dostojność wysiadł z lektyki, a w tejże chwili na szosie ukazała się garstka jeźdźców, którzy zeskoczyli z koni. Po czym jeden z jeźdźców i minister zaczęli iść ku sobie, co kilka kroków zatrzymując się i kłaniając.

- Bądź pozdrowiony, synu faraona, który oby żył wiecznie - odezwał się minister.

- Bądź pozdrowiony i żyj długo, ojcze święty - odparł następca. A potem dodał:

- Ciągnięcie tak wolno, jakby wam nogi upiłowano, a Nitager najpóźniej za dwie godziny stanie przed naszym korpusem.

- Powiedziałeś prawdę. Twój sztab maszeruje bardzo powoli.

- Mówi mi też Eunana - tu Ramzes wskazał na stojącego za sobą oficera obwieszonego amuletami - że nie wysyłaliście patroli do wąwozów. A przecież na wypadek rzeczywistej wojny nieprzyjaciel z tej strony mógł was napaść.

- Nie jestem dowódcą, tylko sędzią - spokojnie odpowiedział minister.

- A cóż robił Patrokles?

- Patrokles z greckim pułkiem eskortuje machiny wojenne.

- A mój krewny i adiutant Tutmozis?

- Podobno jeszcze śpi.

Ramzes niecierpliwie uderzył nogą w ziemię i umilkł. Był to piękny młodzieniec, z twarzą prawie kobiecą, której gniew i opalenizna dodawały wdzięku. Miał na sobie obcisły kaftan w pasy niebieskie i białe, tegoż koloru chustkę pod hełmem, złoty łańcuch na szyi i kosztowny miecz pod lewym ramieniem.

- Widzę - odezwał się książę - że tylko ty jeden, Eunano, dbasz o moją cześć.

Obwieszony amuletami oficer schylił się do ziemi.

- Tutmozis jest to próżniak - mówił następca. - Wracaj, Eunano, na swoje stanowisko. Niech przynajmniej przednia straż ma dowódcę. Potem, spojrzawszy na świtę, która już go otoczyła, jakby wyrosła spod ziemi, dodał:

- Niech mi przyniosą lektykę. Jestem zmęczony jak kamieniarz.

- Czyliż bogowie mogą męczyć się!.... - szepnął jeszcze stojący za nim Eunana.

- Idź na swoje miejsce - rzekł Ramzes.

- A może rozkażesz mi, wizerunku księżyca, teraz zbadać wąwozy? - cicho spytał oficer. -Proszę cię, rozkazuj mi, bo gdziekolwiek jestem, serce moje goni za tobą, aby odgadnąć twoją wolę i spełnić ją.

- Wiem, że jesteś czujny - odparł Ramzes. - Już idź i uważaj na wszystko.

- Ojcze święty - zwrócił się Eunana do ministra - polecam waszej dostojności moje najpokorniejsze służby.

Ledwie Eunana odjechał, gdy na końcu maszerującej kolumny zrobił się jeszcze większy tumult. Szukano lektyki następcy tronu, ale - nie było jej. Natomiast ukazał się, rozbijając greckich żołnierzy, młody człowiek dziwnej powierzchowności. Miał na sobie muślinową koszulkę, bogato haftowany fartuszek i złotą szarfę przez ramię. Nade wszystko jednak odznaczała się jego ogromna peruka, składająca się z mnóstwa warkoczyków, i sztuczna bródka, podobna do kociego ogona.

Był to Tutmozis, pierwszy elegant w Memfis, który nawet podczas marszu stroił się i oblewał perfumami.

- Witaj, Ramzesie! - wołał elegant, gwałtownie rozpychając oficerów - Wyobraź sobie, że gdzieś podziała się twoja lektyka; musisz więc usiąść do mojej, która wprawdzie nie jest godną ciebie, ale nie najgorszą.

- Rozgniewałeś mnie - odparł książę. - Śpisz zamiast pilnować wojska.

Zdumiony elegant zatrzymał się.

- Ja śpię?... - zawołał. - Bodaj język usechł temu, kto mówi podobne kłamstwa. Ja, wiedząc, że przyjedziesz, od godziny ubieram się, przygotowuję ci kąpiel i perfumy...

- A tymczasem oddział posuwa się bez komendy.

- Więc ja mam być komendantem oddziału, w którym znajduje się jego dostojność minister wojny i taki wódz jak Patrokles?

Następca tronu umilkł, a tymczasem Tutmozis zbliżywszy się do niego szeptał:

- Jak ty wyglądasz, synu faraona?... Nie masz peruki, włosy i odzienie pełne kurzu, skóra czarna i popękana jak ziemia w lecie?... Najczcigodniejsza królowa-matka wygnałaby mnie ze dworu zobaczywszy twoją nędzę...

- Jestem tylko zmęczony.

- Więc siadaj do lektyki. Są tam świeże wieńce róż, pieczone ptaszki i dzban wina z Cypru. Ukryłem też - dodał jeszcze ciszej - Senurę w obozie...

- Jest?... - spytał książę. Błyszczące przed chwilą oczy zamgliły mu się.

- Niech wojsko idzie naprzód - mówił Tutmozis - a my tu zaczekajmy na nią...

Ramzes jakby ocknął się.

- Dajże mi spokój, pokuso!... Przecież za dwie godziny bitwa...

- Co to za bitwa!..

- A przynajmniej rozstrzygnięcie losów mego dowództwa.

- Żartuj z tego - uśmiechnął się elegant. - Przysiągłbym, że już wczoraj minister wojny posłał raport do jego świątobliwości z prośbą, ażebyś dostał korpus Menfi.

- Wszystko jedno. Dziś nie potrafiłbym myśleć o czym innym aniżeli o armii.

- Okropny jest w tobie ten pociąg do wojny, na której człowiek nie myje się przez całe miesiące, ażeby pewnego dnia zginąć... Brr!... Gdybyś jednak zobaczył Senurę... tylko spojrzyj na nią...

- Właśnie dlatego nie spojrzę - odparł Ramzes stanowczo.

W chwili gdy spoza greckich szeregów ośmiu ludzi wyniosło ogromną lektykę Tutmozisa dla następcy tronu, od straży przedniej przyleciał jeździec. Zsunął się z konia i biegł tak prędko, aż dzwoniły mu na piersiach wizerunki bogów lub tabliczki z ich imionami. Był to rozgorączkowany Eunana.

Wszyscy zwrócili się do niego, co zdawało się robić mu przyjemność.

- Erpatre, najwyższe usta! - zawołał Eunana schylając się przed Ramzesem. - Kiedy, zgodnie z twoim boskim rozkazem, jechałem na czele oddziału pilnie bacząc na wszystko, spostrzegłem na szosie dwa piękne skarabeusze. Każdy ze świętych żuków toczył przed sobą glinianą kulkę w poprzek drogi, ku piaskom...

- Więc cóż? - przerwał następca.

- Rozumie się - ciągnął Eunana spoglądając w stronę ministra - że jak nakazuje pobożność, ja i moi ludzie, złożywszy hołd złotym wizerunkom słońca, zatrzymaliśmy pochód. Jest to tak ważna wróżba, że bez rozkazu nikt z nas nie ośmieliłby się iść naprzód.

- Widzę, że jesteś prawdziwie pobożnym Egipcjaninem, choć rysy masz chetyckie - odpowiedział dostojny Herhor. A zwróciwszy się do kilku bliżej stojących dygnitarzy dodał:

- Nie pójdziemy dalej gościńcem, bo moglibyśmy podeptać święte żuki. Pentuerze, czy tym wąwozem, na prawo, można okolić szosę?

- Tak jest - odparł pisarz ministra. - Wąwóz ten ma milę długości i wychodzi znowu na szosę, prawie naprzeciw Pi-Bailos.

- Ogromna strata czasu - wtrącił gniewnie następca.

- Przysiągłbym, że to nie skarabeusze, ale duchy moich fenickich lichwiarzy - odezwał się elegant Tutmozis.

- Nie mogąc z powodu śmierci odebrać pieniędzy, zmuszają mnie, abym za karę szedł przez pustynię!..

Świta książęca z niepokojem oczekiwała decyzji, więc Ramzes odezwał się do Herhora:

- Cóż o tym myślisz, ojcze święty?

- Spojrzyj na oficerów - odparł kapłan - a zrozumiesz, że musimy iść wąwozem.

Teraz wysunął się dowódca Greków, generał Patrokles, i rzekł do następcy:

- Jeżeli książę pozwolisz, mój pułk pójdzie dalej szosą. Nasi żołnierze nie boją się skarabeuszów.

- Wasi żołnierze nie boją się nawet grobów królewskich - odpowiedział minister. - Nie musi tam być jednak bezpiecznie, skoro żaden nie wrócił.

Zmieszany Grek usunął się do świty.

- Przyznaj, ojcze święty - szepnął z najwyższym gniewem następca - że taka przeszkoda nawet osła nie zatrzymałaby w podróży.

- Bo też osioł nigdy nie będzie faraonem - spokojnie odparł minister.- W takim razie ty, ministrze, przeprowadzisz oddział przez wąwóz! - zawołał Ramzes. - Ja nie znam się na kapłańskiej taktyce, zresztą muszę odpocząć. Chodź ze mną kuzynie - rzekł do Tutmozisa i skierował się w stronę łysych pagórków.

 

Rozdział II

 

Jego dostojność Herhor natychmiast polecił swemu adiutantowi, który nosił topór, objąć dowództwo straży przedniej w miejsce Eunany. Potem wysłał rozkaz, ażeby machiny wojenne do rzucania wielkich kamieni zjechały z szosy ku wąwozowi, a żołnierze greccy aby ułatwiali im przejście w miejscach trudnych. Wszystkie zaś wozy i lektyki oficerów świty miały ruszyć na końcu. Kiedy Herhor wydawał rozkazy, adiutant noszący wachlarz zbliżywszy się do pisarza Pentuera szepnął:

- Chyba już nigdy nie będzie można jeździć tą szosą...

- Dlaczego? - odparł kapłan. - Ale skoro dwa święte żuki przeszły nam drogę, nie wypada iść nią dalej. Mogłoby się zdarzyć nieszczęście.

- Już i tak jest nieszczęście. Albo nie uważałeś, że książę Ramzes rozgniewał się na ministra, a nasz pan nie należy do tych, którzy zapominają...

- Nie książę na naszego pana, ale nasz pan na księcia obraził się i zgromił go - odrzekł Pentuer. - I dobrze zrobił. Bo młodemu księciu już dziś wydaje się, że będzie drugim Menesem...

- Chyba Ramzesem Wielkim?... - wtrącił adiutant.

- Ramzes Wielki słuchał bogów, za co we wszystkich świątyniach ma chlubne napisy. Ale Menes, pierwszy faraon Egiptu, był burzycielem porządku i tylko ojcowskiej łagodności kapłanów zawdzięcza, że jego imię jest wspominane... Chociaż nie dałbym jednego utena miedzi, że mumia Menesa nie istnieje.

- Mój Pentuerze - mówił adiutant - jesteś mędrcem, więc rozumiesz, że nam wszystko jedno, czy mamy dziesięciu panów, czy jedenastu...

- Ale ludowi nie wszystko jedno, czy ma wydobywać co roku górę złota dla kapłanów, czy dwie góry złota: dla kapłanów i dla faraona - odpowiedział Pentuer i oczy mu błysnęły.

- Rozmyślasz o niebezpiecznych sprawach - szepnął adiutant.

- A ileż razy ty sam gorszyłeś się zbytkami dworu faraona i nomarchów?... - spytał ździwiony kapłan.

- Cicho...cicho!...jeszcze będziemy mówili o tych rzeczach, ale nie teraz.

Pomimo piasku machiny wojenne, do których przyprzężono po dwa woły, szybciej toczyły się po pustyni aniżeli po szosie. Przy pierwszej z nich szedł Eunana, zakłopotany i rozmyślający nad tym: dlaczego minister pozbawił go dowództwa przedniej straży? Czy chce mu powierzyć jakieś wyższe stanowisko? Wyglądając tedy nowej kariery, a może dla zagłuszenia obaw, które miotały jego sercem, pochwycił drąg i gdzie był głębszy piasek, podpierał balistę albo krzykiem zachęcał Greków. Ci jednak mało zwracali na niego uwagi.

Już dobre pół godziny orszak posuwał się krętym wąwozem o ścianach nagich i spadzistych, gdyż straż przednia znowu zatrzymała się. W tym miejscu znajdował się inny wąwóz, poprzeczny, środkiem którego ciągnął się dość szeroki kanał.

Goniec wysłany do ministra z wiadomością o przeszkodzie, przywiózł polecenie, ażeby kanał natychmiast zasypać. Około setki żołnierzy greckich z oskardami i łopatami rzuciło się do roboty. Jedni odrąbywali kamienie ze skał, drudzy wrzucali je do rowu i przysypywali piaskiem.

Wtem z głębi wąwozu wyszedł człowiek z motyką mającą formę bocianiej szyi z dziobem. Był to chłop egipski, stary, zupełnie nagi. Przez chwilę z najwyższym zdumieniem patrzył na robotę żołnierzy, nagle skoczył między nich wołając:

- Co wy dokazujecie, poganie, przecież to kanał?

- A ty jak śmiesz złorzeczyć wojownikom jego świątobliwości? - zapytał go, już obecny w tym miejscu, Eunana.

- Widzę, że musisz być wielkim i Egipcjaninem - odparł chłop - więc odpowiem ci, że ten kanał należy do potężnego pana: jest on ekonomem u pisarza przy takim, co nosi wachlarz jego dostojności nomarchy Memfis. Baczcie więc, ażeby was nieszczęście nie spotkało!...

Róbcie swoje - rzekł protekcjonalnym tonem Eunana do żołnierzy greckich, którzy zaczęli przypatrywać się chłopu. Nie rozumieli jego mowy, ale zastanowił ich ton.

- Oni wciąż zasypują!... - mówił chłop z rosnącym przerażeniem. - Biada wam, psubraty! -zawołał rzucając się na jednego z motyką.

Grek wyrwał motykę, uderzył chłopa w zęby, aż krew wystąpiła mu na usta. Potem znów zabrał się do sypania piasku.

Oszołomiony ciosem chłop stracił odwagę i zaczął błagać:

- Panie - mówił - ależ ten kanał ja sam kopałem przez dziesięć lat nocami i w święta! Nasz pan obiecał, że jeżeli uda mi się przeprowadzić wodę do tej dolinki, zrobi mnie na niej parobkiem, odstąpi piątą część zbiorów i da wolność... Słyszycie?... Wolność mnie i trojgu dzieciom, o bogowie...

Wzniósł ręce i znowu zwrócił się do Eunany:

- Oni nie rozumieją, ci zamorscy brodacze, potomstwo psów, bracia Fenicjan i Żydów. Ale ty, panie, wysłuchasz mnie... Od dziesięciu lat, kiedy inni szli na jarmark albo na tańce, albo na świętą procesję, ja wykradałem się w ten niegościnny wąwóz. Nie chodziłem na grób matki mojej, tylkom kopał; zapomniałem o zmarłych, ażeby moim dzieciom i sobie choć na jeden dzień przed śmiercią dać wolność i ziemię...

Wy bądźcie moimi świadkami, o bogowie, ile razy zaskoczyła mnie tutaj noc... Ile ja tu razy słyszałem płaczliwe głosy hien i widziałem zielone oczy wilków. Alem nie uciekał, bo gdzież bym nieszczęsny uciekł, gdy na każdej ścieżce czyhał strach, a w tym kanale wolność trzymała mnie za nogi.

Raz, o tam, za załamem, wyszedł na mnie lew, faraon wszystkich zwierząt. Motyka wypadła mi z ręki. Więc ukląkłem przed nim i rzekłem te słowa, jak mnie widzicie:

"Panie - czyliż raczyłbyś mnie zjeść... jestem przecież tylko niewolnikiem!"

Lew drapieżca ulitował się nade mną; omijał mnie wilk; nawet zdradzieckie nietoperze oszczędzały biedną moją głowę, a ty, Egipcjaninie...

Chłop umilkł, spostrzegł zbliżający się orszak ministra Herhora. Po wachlarzu poznał, że musi to być ktoś wielki, a po skórze pantery, że kapłan. Pobiegł więc ku niemu, ukląkł i uderzył głową o piasek.

- Czego chcesz, człowieku? - zapytał dostojnik.

- "Światło słoneczne, wysłuchaj mnie! - zawołał chłop. - Oby nie było jęków w twojej komnacie i nieszczęście nie szło za tobą! Oby twoje czyny nie załamały się i oby cię prąd nie porwał, gdy będziesz płynął Nilem na drugi brzeg..."

- Pytam, czego chcesz? - powtórzył minister.

- "Dobry panie - prawił chłop - przewodniku bez kaprysów, który zwyciężasz fałsz, a stwarzasz prawdę... Który jesteś ojcem biedaka, mężem wdowy, szatą nie mającego matki... Pozwól, abym miał sposobność rozgłaszać imię twoje jako prawo w kraju... Przyjdź do słowa ust moich... Słuchaj i zrób sprawiedliwość, najszlachetniejszy ze szlachetnych..."

- On chce, ażeby nie zasypywano tego rowu - odezwał się Eunana.

Minister wzruszył ramionami i posunął się w stronę kanału, przez który rzucano kładkę. Wówczas zrozpaczony chłop pochwycił go za nogi.

- Precz z tym!... - krzyknął jego dostojność cofnąwszy się jak przed ukąszeniem żmii.

Pisarz Pentuer odwrócił głowę; jego chuda twarz miała barwę szarą. Ale Eunana schwycił i

ścisnął chłopa za kark, a nie mogąc oderwać go od nóg ministra wezwał żołnierzy. Po chwili jego dostojność, oswobodzony, przeszedł na drugą stronę rowu, a żołnierze prawie w powietrzu odnieśli chłopa na koniec maszerującego oddziału. Dali mu kilkadziesiąt kułaków, a

zawsze zbrojni w trzciny podoficerowie odliczyli mu kilkadziesiąt kijów i nareszcie - rzucili u wejścia do wąwozu.

Zbity, pokrwawiony, a nade wszystko przestraszony nędzarz chwilę posiedział na piasku, przetarł oczy i nagle zerwawszy się począł uciekać w stronę gościńca jęcząc:

- Pochłoń mnie, ziemio!... Przeklęty dzień, w którym ujrzałem światło, i noc, w której powiedziano: "narodził się człowiek..." W płaszczu sprawiedliwości nie ma nawet skrawka dla niewolników... I sami bogowie nie spojrzą na taki twór, który ma ręce do pracy, gębę tylko do płaczu, a grzbiet do kijów... O śmierci, zetrzyj moje ciało na popiół, ażebym jeszcze i tam, na polach Ozirisa, po raz drugi nie urodził się niewolnikiem...

 

Rozdział III

 

Dyszący gniewem książę Ramzes wdzierał się na pagórek, a za nim Tutmozis. Elegantowi przekręciła się peruka, sztuczna bródka odpadła, więc niósł ją w rękach. Pomimo zmęczenia byłby blady na twarzy, gdyby nie warstwa różu.

Wreszcie książę zatrzymał się na szczycie. Od wąwozu dolatywał ich zgiełk żołnierstwa i łoskot toczących się balist; przed nimi rozciągał się ogromny płat ziemi Gosen, wciąż kąpiącej się w blaskach słońca. Zdawało się, że to nie ziemia, ale złoty obłok, na którym marzenie wymalowało krajobraz farbami ze szmaragdów, srebra, rubinów, pereł i topazów. Następca wyciągnął rękę.

- Patrz - zawołał do Tutmozisa - tam ma być moja ziemia, a tu moje wojsko... I otóż tam -najwyższymi budowlami są pałace kapłanów, a tu najwyższym dowódcą wojsk jest kapłan!... Czy można cierpieć coś podobnego?...

- Tak zawsze było - odparł Tutmozis, lękliwie oglądając się dokoła.

- To fałsz! Znam przecież dzieje tego kraju zasłonięte przed wami. Dowódcami wojsk i panami urzędników byli tylko faraonowie, a przynajmniej energiczniejsi spośród nich. Tym władcom nie schodziły dnie na ofiarach i modlitwach, lecz na rządzeniu państwem...

- Jeżeli jest taka wola jego świątobliwości... - wtrącił Tutmozis.

- Nie jest wolą mojego ojca, ażeby nomarchowie rządzili samowolnie w swoich stolicach, a etiopski namiestnik prawie uważał się za równego królowi królów. I nie może być wolą mego ojca, ażeby jego armia obchodziła dwa złote żuki, dlatego że ministrem wojny jest kapłan.

- Wielki to wojownik!... - szepnął coraz bardziej wylękniony Tutmozis.

- Jaki on tam wojownik!... Że pobił garstkę zbójców libijskich, którzy powinni uciekać na sam widok kaftanów egipskich żołnierzy? Ale zobacz, co robią nasi sąsiedzi. Izrael zwłóczy ze składaniem haraczu i płaci coraz mniej. Chytry Fenicjanin co roku wycofuje po kilka okrętów z naszej floty. Przeciw Chetom musimy na wschodzie trzymać wielką armię, a koło Babilonu i Niniwy kipi ruch, który czuć w całej Mezopotamii.

I jakiż jest ostateczny skutek rządów kapłańskich? Ten, że kiedy jeszcze mój pradziad miał sto tysięcy talentów rocznego dochodu i sto sześćdziesiąt tysięcy wojska, mój ojciec ma ledwie pięćdziesiąt tysięcy talentów i sto dwadzieścia tysięcy woj ska.

A co to za wojsko!... Gdyby nie korpus grecki, który trzyma ich w porządku jak brytan owce, już dziś egipscy żołnierze słuchaliby tylko kapłanów, a faraon spadłby do poziomu nędznego nomarchy.

- Skąd ty to wiesz?... Skąd takie myśli? - dziwił się Tutmozis.

- Alboż nie pochodzę z rodu kapłanów! Przecież uczyli mnie, gdym jeszcze nie był następcą tronu. O, gdy zostanę faraonem po moim ojcu, który oby żył wiecznie, położę im na karkach nogę obutą w spiżowy sandał... A najpierwej sięgnę do ich skarbnic, które zawsze były przesycone, ale od czasów Ramzesa Wielkiego zaczęły puchnąć i dzisiaj są tak wydęte złotem, że spoza nich nie widać skarbu faraona.

- Biada mnie i tobie! - westchnął Tutmozis. - Masz zamysły, pod którymi ugiąłby się ten pagórek, gdyby słyszał i rozumiał. A gdzie twoje siły... pomocnicy... żołnierze?... Przeciw tobie stanie cały naród, prowadzony przez potężną klasę... A kto za tobą?

Książę słuchał i zamyślił się. Wreszcie odparł:

- Wojsko...

- Znaczna część jego pójdzie za kapłanami.

- Korpus grecki...

- Beczka wody w Nilu.

- Urzędnicy...

- W połowie należą do nich.

Ramzes smutnie potrząsnął głową i umilkł.

Ze szczytu nagim i kamienistym spadkiem zeszli na drugą stronę wzgórza. Wtem Tutmozis, który wysunął się trochę naprzód, zawołał:

- Czy urok padł na moje oczy?... Spojrzyj, Ramzesie!.. Ależ między tymi skałami kryje się drugi Egipt...

- Musi to być jakiś folwark kapłański, który nie opłaca podatków - z goryczą odpowiedział książę.

U ich stóp, w głębi leżała żyzna dolina mająca formę wideł, których rogi kryły się między skałami. W jednym rogu widać było kilka chat dla służby i ładny domek właściciela czy rządcy. Rosły tu palmy, wino, oliwki, drzewa figowe z powietrznymi korzeniami, cyprysy, nawet młode baobaby. Środkiem płynęła struga wody, zaś na stokach wzgórz co kilkaset kroków widać było nieduże sadzawki.

Zeszedłszy między winnice, pełne dojrzałych gron, usłyszeli kobiecy głos, który wołał, a raczej śpiewał na tęskną nutę:

- Gdzie jesteś, kureczko moja, odezwij się, gdzie jesteś, ulubiona?... Uciekłaś ode mnie, choć sama poję cię i karmię czystym ziarnem, aż wzdychają niewolnicy... Gdzież jesteś, odezwij się!... Pamiętaj, że cię noc zaskoczy i nie trafisz do domu, w którym wszyscy ci usługują; albo przyleci z pustyni rudy jastrząb i poszarpie ci serce. Wtedy na próżno będziesz wołała twojej pani, jak teraz ja ciebie... Odezwijże się, bo rozgniewam się i odejdę, a ty będziesz musiała wracać za mną piechotą...

Śpiew zbliżał się w stronę podróżnych. Już śpiewaczka była od nich o kilka kroków, gdy Tutmozis wsunąwszy głowę między krzaki zawołał:

- Spojrzyj no, Ramzesie, ależ to prześliczna dziewczyna !...

Książę, zamiast patrzeć, wpadł na ścieżkę i zabiegł drogę śpiewającej. Było to istotnie piękne dziewczę z greckimi rysami twarzy i cerą słoniowej kości. Spod welonu na głowie wyglądały ogromne czarne włosy, skręcone w węzeł. Miała na sobie białą szatę powłóczystą, którą z jednej strony unosiła ręką; pod przejrzystą zasłoną widać było dziewicze piersi z kształtu podobne do jabłek.

- Kto ty jesteś, dziewczyno? - zawołał Ramzes. Z czoła zniknęły mu groźne bruzdy, oczy zaiskrzyły się...

- O Jehowo!... ojcze!... - krzyknęła przerażona, bez ruchu zatrzymując się na ścieżce. Powoli jednak uspokoiła się, a jej aksamitne oczy przybrały zwykły wyraz łagodnego smutku.

- Skądeś się tu wziął?... - zapytała Ramzesa trochę drżącym głosem. - Widzę, że jesteś żołnierz, a tu żołnierzom wchodzić nie wolno.

- Dlaczego nie wolno?

- Bo to jest ziemia wielkiego pana, Sezofrisa...

- Ho! ho!... - uśmiechnął się Ramzes.

- Nie śmiej się, bo wnet zbledniesz. Pan Sezofris jest pisarzem pana Chairesa, który nosi wachlarz nad najdostojniejszym nomarchą Memfisu... A mój ojciec widział go i padał przed nim na twarz.

- Ho! ho! ho!... - powtarzał, wciąż śmiejąc się, Ramzes.

- Słowa twoje są bardzo zuchwałe - rzekła marszcząc się dziewczyna. - Gdyby z twarzy nie patrzyła ci dobroć, myślałabym, że jesteś greckim najemnikiem albo bandytą.

- Jeszcze nim nie jest, ale kiedyś może zostać największym bandytą, jakiego ta ziemia nosiła - wtrącił elegancki Tutmozis poprawiając swoją perukę.

- A ty musisz być tancerzem - odparła już ośmielona dziewczyna. - O!... jestem nawet pewna, że widziałam cię na jarmarku w Pi-Bailos, jak zaklinałeś węże...

Obaj młodzi ludzie wpadli w doskonały humor.

- A któż ty jesteś? - zapytał dziewczyny Ramzes biorąc ją za rękę, którą cofnęła.

- Nie bądź taki śmiały. Jestem Sara, córka Gedeona, rządcy tego folwarku.

- Żydówka?... - rzekł Ramzes i cień przesunął mu się po twarzy.

- Cóż to szkodzi... co to szkodzi!... - zawołał Tutmozis. - Czy myślisz, że Żydówki są mniej słodkie od Egipcjanek?... Są tylko skromniejsze i trudniejsze, co ich miłości nadaje wdzięk nadzwyczajny.

- Więc jesteście poganami - rzekła Sara z godnością. - Odpocznijcie, jeżeliście zmęczeni, narwijcie sobie winogron i odejdźcie z Bogiem. Nasza służba nierada takim gościom.

Chciała odejść, lecz Ramzes ją zatrzymał.

- Stój... Podobałaś mi się i nie możesz tak nas opuszczać.

- Zły duch cię opętał. Nikt w tej dolinie nie śmiałby przemawiać w taki sposób do mnie... -oburzyła się Sara.

- Bo widzisz - wtrącił Tutmozis - ten młodzik jest oficerem kapłańskiego pułku Ptah i pisarzem u pisarza takiego pana, który nosi wachlarz nad noszącym wachlarz za nomarchą Habu.

- Pewnie, że musi być oficerem - odparła Sara w zamyśleniu patrząc na Ramzesa. - Może nawet sam jest wielkim panem?... - dodała kładąc palec na ustach.

- Czymkolwiek jestem, twoja piękność przewyższa moje dostojeństwo - odparł Ramzes namiętnie. - Powiedz - rzekł nagle - czy prawda, że wy... jadacie wieprzowinę?...

Sara spojrzała na niego obrażona, a Tutmozis wtrącił:

- Jak to widać, że nie znasz Żydówek !...Dowiedz się zatem, że Żyd wolałby umrzeć aniżeli jeść świńskie mięso którego ja wreszcie nie uważam za najgorsze...

- Ale koty zabijacie? - nalegał Ramzes ściskając ręce Sarze i patrząc jej w oczy.

- I to bajka... podła bajka!... - zawołał Tutmozis. - Mogłeś mnie zapytać o te rzeczy zamiast gadać brednie.

Miałem przecie trzy Żydówki kochankami...

- Dotychczas mówiłeś prawdę, ale teraz kłamiesz - odezwała się Sara. - Żydówka nie będzie niczyją kochanką! - dodała dumnie.

- Nawet kochanką pisarza u takiego pana, który nosi wachlarz nad nomarchą memfijskim?... - zapytał drwiącym tonem Tutmozis.

- Nawet...

- Nawet kochanką tego pana, który nosi wachlarz?...

Sara zawahała się, lecz odparła:

- Nawet.

- Więc może nie zostałaby kochanką nomarchy?...

Dziewczynie opadły ręce. Ze zdziwieniem spoglądała kolejno na obu młodych ludzi; usta jej drżały, a oczy zachodziły łzami.

- Kto wy jesteście? - pytała zatrwożona. - Zeszliście tu z gór, jak podróżni, którzy chcą wody i chleba... Ale mówicie do mnie jak najwięksi panowie... Coście wy za jedni? Twój miecz - zwróciła się do Ramzesa - jest wysadzany szmaragdami, a na szyi masz łańcuch takiej roboty, jakiego w swoim skarbcu nie posiada nasz pan, miłościwy Sezofris...

- Odpowiedz mi lepiej, czy ci się podobam?... - spytał z naleganiem Ramzes, ściskając jej rękę i tkliwie patrząc w oczy.

- Jesteś piękny jak anioł Gabriel, ale ja boję się ciebie, bo nie wiem, kto ty jesteś...

Wtem, spoza gór, odezwał się dźwięk trąbki.

- Wzywają cię - zawołał Tutmozis.

- A gdybym ja był taki wielki pan jak wasz Sezofris?... - pytał książę.

- Ty możesz być... - szepnęła Sara.

- A gdybym ja nosił wachlarz nad nomarchą Memfisu?...

- Ty możesz być nawet i tak wielkim...

Gdzieś na wzgórzu odezwała się druga trąbka.

- Idźmy, Ramzesie!... - nalegał zatrwożony Tutmozis.

- A gdybym ja był... następcą tronu, czy poszłabyś do mnie, dziewczyno?... - pytał książę.

- O Jehowo!... - krzyknęła Sara upadając na kolana.

Teraz w rozmaitych punktach grały trąbki gwałtowną pobudkę.

- Biegnijmy!... - wołał zdesperowany Tutmozis. - Czy nie słyszysz, że w obozie alarm?...

Następca tronu prędko zdjął łańcuch ze swej szyi i zarzucił go na Sarę.

- Oddaj to ojcu - mówił - kupuję cię od niego. Bądź zdrowa...

Namiętnie pocałował ją w usta, a ona objęła go za nogi. Wyrwał się, odbiegł parę kroków, znowu wrócił i znowu piękną jej twarz i krucze włosy pieścił pocałunkami jakby nie słysząc niecierpliwych odgłosów armii.

- W imieniu jego świątobliwości faraona wzywam cię - idź ze mną!... - krzyknął Tutmozis i schwycił księcia za rękę.

Zaczęli biec pędem w stronę głosu trąbek. Ramzes chwilami zataczał się jak pijany i odwracał głowę. Wreszcie zaczęli wdrapywać się na naprzeciwległy pagórek.

"I ten człowiek - myślał Tutmozis - chce walczyć z kapłanami!..."

The Pharaoh and the Priest

Introduction

 

In the northeastern corner of Africa lies Egypt, that land of most ancient civilization. Three, four, and even five thousand years ago, when the savages of Central Europe wore untanned skins for clothing and were cave-dwellers, Egypt had a high social organization, agriculture, crafts, and literature. Above all, it carried out engineering works and reared immense buildings, the remnants of which rouse admiration in specialists of our day.

Egypt is that rich ravine between the Libyan sands and the Arabian desert. Its depth is several hundred meters, its length six hundred and fifty miles, its average width barely five. On the west the gently sloping but naked Libyan hills, on the east the steep and broken cliffs of Arabia form the sides of a corridor on the bottom of which flows the river Nile.

With the course of the river northward the walls of the corridor decrease in height, while a hundred and twenty-five miles from the sea they expand on a sudden, and the river, instead of flowing through a narrow passage, spreads in various arms over a broad level plain which is shaped like a triangle. This triangle, called the Delta of the Nile, has for its base the shore of the Mediterranean; at its apex, where the river issues from the corridor, stands the city of Cairo, and near by are the ruins of Memphis, the ancient capital.

Could a man rise one hundred miles in the air and gaze thence upon Egypt, he would see the strange outlines of that country and the peculiar changes in its color. From that elevation, on the background of white and orange colored sands, Egypt would look like a serpent pushing with energetic twists through a desert to the sea, iii which it has dipped already its triangular head, which has two eyes, the left Alexandria, the right Damietta.

In October, when the Nile inundates Egypt, that long serpent would be blue, like water. In February, when spring vegetation takes the place of the decreasing river, the serpent would be green, with a blue line along its body and a multitude of blue veins on its head; these are canals which cut through the Delta. In March the blue line would be narrower, and the body of the serpent, because of ripening grain, would seem golden. Finally, in the first days of June the line of the Nile would be very narrow and the serpent's body gray from dust and drought. The chief climatic feature in Egypt is heat. During January it is 57 above zero, in July sometimes the heat reaches 149 which answers to the temperature of a Roman bath. Moreover, in the neighborhood of the Mediterranean, on the Delta, rain falls barely ten times a year; in Upper Egypt it falls once during ten years.

In these conditions Egypt, instead of being the cradle of civilization, would have been a desert ravine like one of those which compose the Sahara, if the waters of the sacred Nile had not brought life to it annually. From the last days of June till the end of September the Nile swells and inundates almost all Egypt; from the end of October to the last days in May the year following it falls and exposes gradually lower and lower platforms of land. The waters of the river are so permeated with mineral and organic matter that their color becomes brownish; hence, as the waters decrease, on inundated lands is deposited fruitful mud which takes the place of the best fertilizer. Owing to this, mud and to heat, Egyptian earth tillers, fenced in between deserts, have three harvests yearly and from one grain of seed receive back about three hundred.

Egypt, however, is not a flat plain, but a rolling country; some portions of its laud drink the blessed waters during two or three months only; others do not see it every year, as the overflow does not reach certain points annually. Besides, seasons of scant water occur, and then a part of Egypt fails to receive the enriching deposit. Finally, because of heat the earth dries up quickly, and then man has to irrigate out of vessels.

In view of all these conditions people inhabiting the Nile valley had to perish if they were weak, or regulate the water if they had genius. The ancient Egyptians had genius, hence they created civilization.

Six thousand years ago they observed that the Nile rose when the sun appeared under Sirius, and began to fall when it neared the constellation Libra. This impelled them to make astronomical observations and to measure time.

To preserve water for the whole year, they dug throughout their country a network of canals many thousand miles in length. To guard against excessive waste of water, they built mighty dams and dug reservoirs, among which the artificial lake Moeris occupied three hundred square kilometers of surface and was fifty-four meters deep. Finally, along the Nile and the canals they set up a multitude of simple but practical hydraulic works; through the aid of these they raised water and poured it out upon the fields; these machines were placed one or two stories higher than the water. To complete all, there was need to clear the choked canals yearly, repair the dams and build lofty roads for the army, which had to march at all seasons.

These gigantic works demanded knowledge of astronomy, geometry, mechanics, and architecture, besides a perfect organization. Whether the task was the strengthening of dams or the clearing of canals, it had to be done and finished within a certain period over a great area. Hence arose the need of forming an army of laborers, tens of thousands in number, acting with a definite purpose and under uniform direction, an army which demanded many provisions, much means, and great auxiliary forces.

Egypt established such an army of laborers, and to them were due works renowned during ages. It seems that Egyptian priests or sages created this army and then drew out plans for it, while the kings, or pharaohs, commanded. In consequence of this the Egyptians in the days of their greatness formed as it were one person, in which the priestly order performed the role of mind, the pharaoh was the will, the people formed the body, and obedience gave cohesion.

In this way nature, striving in Egypt for a work great, continuous, and ordered, created the skeleton of a social organism for that country as follows: the people labored, the pharaoh commanded, the priests made the plans. While these three elements worked unitedly toward the objects indicated by nature, society had strength to flourish and complete immortal labors.

The mild, gladsome, and by no means warlike Egyptians were divided into two classes, earth-tillers and artisans. Among earth-tillers there must have been owners of small bits of laud, but generally earth-tillers were tenants on lands belonging to the pharaohs, the priests, and the aristocracy. The artisans, the people who made clothing, furniture, vessels, and tools, were independent; those who worked at great edifices formed, as it were, an army.

Each of those specialties, and particularly architecture, demanded power of hauling and moving; some men had to draw water all day from canals, or transport stones from the quarries to where they were needed. These, the most arduous mechanical occupations, and above all work in the quarries were carried on by criminals condemned by the courts, or by prisoners seized in battle.

The genuine Egyptians had a bronze-colored skin, of which they were very proud, despising the black Ethiopian, the yellow Semite, and the white European. This color of skin, which enabled them to distinguish their own people from strangers, helped to keep up the nation's unity more strictly than religion, which a man may accept, or language, which he may appropriate.

But in time, when the edifice of the state began to weaken, foreign elements appeared in growing numbers. They lessened cohesion, they split apart society, they flooded Egypt and absorbed the original inhabitants.

The pharaohs governed the state by the help of a standing army and a militia or police, also by a multitude of officials, from whom was formed by degrees an aristocracy of family. By his office the pharaoh was lawgiver, supreme king, highest judge, chief priest; he was the son of a god, a god himself even. He accepted divine honors, not only from officials and the people, but sometimes he raised altars to his own person, and burnt incense before images of himself.

At the side of the pharaoh and very often above him were priests, an order of sages who directed the destinies of the country.

In our day it is almost impossible to imagine the extraordinary role which the priests played in Egypt. They were instructors of rising generations, also soothsayers, hence the advisers of mature people, judges of the dead, to whom their will and their knowledge guaranteed immortality. They not only performed the minute ceremonies of religion for the gods and the pharaohs, but they healed the sick as physicians, they influenced the course of public works as engineers, and also politics as astrologers, but above all they knew their own country and its neighbors.

In Egyptian history the first place is occupied by the relations which existed between the priests and the pharaohs. Most frequently the pharaoh laid rich offerings before the gods and built temples. Then he lived long, and his name, with his images cut out on monuments, passed from generation to generation, full of glory. But many pharaohs reigned for a short period only, and of some not merely the deeds, but the names disappeared from record. A couple of times it happened that a dynasty fell, and straightway the cap of the pharaohs, encircled with a serpent, was taken by a priest.

Egypt continued to develop while a people of one composition, energetic kings, and wise priests co-operated for the common weal. But a time came when the people, in consequence of wars, decreased in number and lost their strength through oppression and extortion; the intrusion of foreign elements at this period undermined Egyptian race unity. And when the energy of pharaohs and the wisdom of priests sank in the flood of Asiatic luxury, and these two powers began to struggle with each other for undivided authority to plunder the toiling people, then Egypt fell under foreign control, and the light of civilized life, which had burnt on the Nile for millenniums, was extinguished.

The following narrative relates to the eleventh century before Christ, when the twentieth dynasty fell, and after the offspring of the sun, the eternally living Ramses XIII, Sem-Amen-Herhor, the high priest of Amon and ever-living offspring of the sun, forced his way to the throne and adorned his head with the ureus.

 

Chapter I

 

In the thirty-third year of the happy reign of Ramses XII, Egypt celebrated two festivals which filled all its faithful inhabitants with pride and delight.

In the month of Mechir that is, during January the god Khonsu returned to Thebes covered with costly gifts. For three years and nine months he had traveled in the country of Buchten, where he restored health to the king's daughter, Bentres, and expelled an evil spirit not only from the royal family, but even from the fortress.

So in the month Farmuti (February) Mer-Amen-Ramses XII, the lord of Upper and Lower Egypt, the ruler of Phoenicia and nine nations, after consultation with the gods to whom he was equal, named as erpatr, or heir to the throne, his son, aged twenty years, Cham-Sem Merer-Amen- Ramses.

This choice delighted the pious priests, the worthy nomarchs, the valiant army, the faithful people, and every creature living in Egypt, because the older sons of the pharaoh, who were born of a Hittite princess, had been visited by an evil spirit through enchantments which no one had the power to investigate. One son of twenty-seven years was unable to walk after reaching maturity; the second opened his veins and died; the third, through poisoned wine, which he would not cease drinking, fell into madness, and believing himself a monkey, passed whole days among tree branches.

But the fourth son, Ramses, born of Queen Nikotris, daughter of the priest Amenhotep, was as strong as the bull Apis, as brave as a lion, and as wise as the priests. From childhood he surrounded himself with warriors, and while still a common prince, used to say,

˝If the gods, instead of making me the youngest son of his holiness, had made me a pharaoh, like Ramses the Great, I would conquer nine nations, of which people in Egypt have never heard mention; I would build a temple larger than all Thebes, and rear for myself a pyramid near which the tomb of Cheops would be like a rosebush at the side of a full-grown palm-tree.˝

On receiving the much desired title of heir, the young prince begged his father to be gracious and appoint him to command the army corps of Memphis. To this his holiness, Ramses XII, after consultation with the gods, to whom he was equal, answered that he would do so in case the heir could give proof that he had skill to direct a mass of troops arrayed for battle.

A council was called under the presidency of the minister of war, Sem-

Amen-Herhor, high priest of the great sanctuary of Amon in Thebes.

The council decided in this way: ˝The heir to the throne, in the middle of the month Mesore, will take ten regiments, disposed along the line which connects Memphis with the city of Pi-uto, situated on the Bay of Sebenico.

˝With this corps of ten thousand men prepared for battle, provided with a camp and with military engines, the heir will betake himself eastward along the highroad from Memphis toward Hittite regions, which road lies on the boundary between the land of Goshen and the wilderness. At this time General Nitager, commander of the army which guards the gates of Egypt from attacks of Asiatic people, will move from the Bitter Lakes against the heir, Prince Ramses.

˝Both armies, the Asiatic and the Western, are to meet near Pi-Bailos, but in the wilderness, so that industrious husbandmen in the land of Goshen be not hindered in their labors.

˝The heir will be victorious if he does not let himself be surprised by Nitager, that is, if he concentrates all his forces and succeeds in putting them in order of battle to meet the enemy.

˝His worthiness Herhor, the minister of war, will be present in the camp of Prince Ramses, and will report to the pharaoh.˝

Two ways of communication formed the boundary between the land of

Goshen and the desert. One was the transport canal from Memphis to Lake

Timrah; the other was the highroad. The canal was in the laud of

Goshen, the highroad in the desert which both ways bounded with a half

circle.

The canal was visible from almost every point upon the highroad. Whatever artificial boundaries might be, these neighboring regions differed in all regards. The land of Goshen, though a rolling country, seemed a plain; the desert was composed of limestone hills and sandy valleys. The land of Goshen seemed a gigantic chessboard the green and yellow squares of which were indicated by the color of grain and by palms growing on their boundaries; but on the ruddy sand of the desert and its white hills a patch of green or a clump of trees and bushes seemed like a lost traveler.

On the fertile land of Goshen from each hill shot up a dark grove of acacias, sycamores, and tamarinds which from a distance looked like our lime-trees; among these were concealed villas with rows of short columns, or the yellow mud huts of earth-tillers. Sometimes near the grove was a white village with flat-roofed houses, or above the trees rose the pyramidal gates of a temple, like double cliffs, many-colored with strange characters. From the desert beyond the first row of hills, which were a little green, stared naked elevations covered with blocks of stone. It seemed as if the western region, sated with excess of life, hurled with regal generosity to the other side flowers and vegetables, but the desert in eternal hunger devoured them in the following year and turned them into ashes.

The stunted vegetation, exiled to cliffs and sands, clung to the lower places until, by means of ditches made in the sides of the raised highroad, men conducted water from the canals to it. In fact, hidden oases between naked hills along that highway drank in the divine water. In these oases grew wheat, barley, grapes, palms, and tamarinds. The whole of such an oasis was sometimes occupied by one family, which when it met another like itself at the market in Pi-Bailos might not even know that they were neighbors in the desert.

On the fifteenth of Mesore the concentration of troops was almost

finished. The regiments of Prince Ramses, which were to meet the

Asiatic forces of Nitager, had assembled on the road above the city of

Pi-Bailos with their camp and with some military engines.

The heir himself directed all the movements. He had organized two parties of scouts. Of these the first had to watch the enemy, the other to guard its own army from attack, which was possible in a hilly region with many ravines. Ramses, in the course of a week, rode around and examined all the regiments, inarching by various roads, looking carefully to see if the soldiers had good weapons and warm mantles for the night hours, if in the camps there was dried bread in sufficiency as well as meat and dried fish. He commanded, besides, that the wives, children, and slaves of warriors marching to the eastern boundary should be conveyed by canal; this diminished the number of chariots and eased the movements of the army.

The oldest generals admired the zeal, knowledge, and caution of the heir, and, above all, his simplicity and love of labor. His court, which was numerous, his splendid tent, chariots, and litters were left in the capital, and, dressed as a simple officer, he hurried from regiment to regiment on horseback, in Assyrian fashion, attended by two adjutants.

Thanks to this concentration, the corps itself went forward very swiftly, and the army was near Pi-Bailos at the time appointed.

It was different with the prince's staff, and the Greek regiment accompanying it, and with some who moved military engines.

The staff, collected in Memphis, had the shortest road to travel; hence it moved latest, bringing an immense camp with it. Nearly every officer, and they were young lords of great families, had a litter with four negroes, a two-wheeled military chariot, a rich tent, and a multitude of boxes with food and clothing, also jars full of beer and wine. Besides, a numerous troop of singers and dancers, with music, had betaken themselves to journey behind the officers; each woman must, in the manner of a great lady, have a car drawn by one or two pair of oxen, and must have also a litter.

When this throng poured out of Memphis, it occupied more space on the highway than the army of Prince Ramses. The march was so slow that the military engines which were left at the rear moved twenty-four hours later than was ordered. To complete every evil the female dancers and singers, on seeing the desert, not at all dreadful in that place, were terrified and fell to weeping. To calm these women it was necessary to hasten with the night camp, pitch tents, arrange a spectacle, and a feast afterward.

The night amusement in the cool, under the starry sky, with wild nature for a background, pleased dancers city with a very small assembly of believers, mainly women. But they were forced to withdraw, for Egyptians reviled them and foreigners went so far as to hurl stones at the sacred boats of the divinities.

In presence of these abuses the police bore themselves with indifference, some of them even took part in unseemly jests. During the afternoon unknown persons told the crowd that the priests would not permit relief to be given the people and desired a rebellion against the pharaoh.

Toward evening laborers gathered in crowds at the temples, where they hissed the priests and abused them. Meanwhile stones were hurled at the gate, and some criminals openly beat off the nose of Horus who was on guard at his own entrance.

A couple of hours after sunset the high priests and their most faithful adherents assembled in the temple of Ptah. The worthy Herhor was there; so were Mefres, Mentezufis, three nomarchs, and the highest judge.

˝Terrible times!˝ said the judge, ˝I know to a certainty that the pharaoh wishes to rouse a rabble to attack temples.˝

˝I have heard,˝ said the nomarch of Sebes, ˝that an order has been sent to Nitager to hurry at the earliest with new troops, as if those here were insufficient.˝

˝Communication between Upper and Lower Egypt is interrupted since yesterday,˝ added the nomarch of Aa. ˝On the roads are posted troops, and the galleys of his holiness examine every barge sailing on the river.˝

˝Ramses XIII is not 'holiness,'˝ said Mefres, dryly, ˝for he has not received a crown from the gods yet.˝

˝All this would be a trifle,˝ said the judge. ˝Treason is worse. We have indications that many of the younger priests are favorable to the pharaoh and inform him of everything.˝

˝There are some even who have undertaken to facilitate the occupation of the temples by troops,˝ added Herhor.

˝Are troops to enter the temples?˝ exclaimed the nomarch of Sebes.

˝They have such an order at least for the 23d,˝ replied Herhor.

˝And dost Thou speak of this, worthiness, quietly?˝ inquired the nomarch of Ament.

Herhor shrugged his shoulders, while the nomarchs exchanged glances.

˝I do not understand this,˝ said the nomarch of Aa, almost in anger. ˝There are barely a few hundred warriors at the temples, some priests are traitors, the pharaoh cuts us off from Thebes and is rousing the people, while the worthy Herhor speaks as though we were invited to a banquet. Either let us defend ourselves, if that be still possible, or.˝

˝Shall we yield to 'his holiness'?˝ inquired Mefres with irony.

˝We shall have time for that always!˝

˝But we should like to learn about means of defense,˝ said the nomarch of Sebes.

˝The gods will save those who are faithful to them,˝ answered Herhor.

The nomarch of Aa wrung his hands.

˝If I am to open my heart, I must say that I too am astonished at thy indifference,˝ said the judge. ˝Almost all the people are against us.˝

˝The common people are like barley in the field, they incline with the wind.˝

˝But the army?˝

˝What army will not fall before Osiris?˝

˝I know,˝ replied the nomarch of Aa, with impatience, ˝but I see neither Osiris nor that wind which is to turn the people toward us. Meanwhile, the pharaoh has attached them by promises, and he will appear with gifts to-morrow.˝

˝Fear is stronger than promises and gifts,˝ replied Herhor.

˝What have they to fear? Those three hundred soldiers of ours?˝

˝They will fear Osiris.˝

˝But where is he?˝ asked the indignant nomarch of Aa.

˝Ye will see him. But happy the man who will be blind on that day.˝

Herhor spoke with such calm solemnity that silence settled on the assembly.

˝But what shall we do?˝ asked the judge after a while.

˝The pharaoh,˝ said Herhor, ˝wishes the people to attack the temple on the 23d. We must make them attack us on the 20th of Paofi.˝

˝The gods live through eternity!˝ cried the nomarch of Aa, raising his hands. ˝But why should we bring misfortune on our heads, and besides two days earlier?˝

˝Listen to Herhor,˝ said Mefres with a voice of decision; ˝try by all means that the attack be made on the morning of the 20th.˝

˝But if they beat us in fact?˝ inquired the judge in confusion.

˝If Herhor's spells fail I will call the gods to assist us,˝ replied

Mefres, and in his eyes was an ominous glitter.

˝Ah, ye high priests have secrets which ye may not explain to us. We will do what ye command; we will cause the attack on the 20th. But remember, on your heads be our blood and the blood of our children.˝

˝So be it! So be it!˝ cried both high priests together.

Then Herhor added: ˝For ten years we have governed the state, and during that time no wrong has happened to any of you, and we have kept every promise; so be patient and faithful for a few days. Ye will see the might of the gods and receive your reward.˝

The nomarchs took farewell of the high priests, not trying even to hide their own grief and alarm. Only Herhor and Mefres remained. After a long silence Herhor said,

˝Yes, that Lykon was good as long as he counterfeited the maniac. But that it should be possible to show him instead of Ramses.˝

˝If the-mother did not detect him,˝ answered Mefres, ˝the man must resemble Ramses remarkably. As to sitting on the throne and saying a few words to those present, he will do that. Moreover, we shall be there.˝

˝A terribly stupid comedian!˝ sighed Herhor, rubbing his forehead.

˝He is wiser than millions of other men, for he has second sight and he may render the state immense service.˝

˝Thou art speaking continually, worthiness, of that second sight. Let me convince myself of it certainly.˝

˝Dost Thou wish to do so?˝ inquired Mefres. ˝Well come with me. But by the gods, Herhor, mention not, even before thy own heart, what Thou shalt witness.˝

They went beneath the temple of Ptah and entered a large vault where a lamp was then gleaming. By the feeble light Herhor saw a man sitting at a table; he was eating. The man wore a coat of the pharaoh's guardsmen.

˝Lykon,˝ said Mefres, ˝the highest dignitary of the state wishes evidence of those powers with which the gods have gifted thee.˝

˝Cursed be the day in which the soles of my feet touched your land!˝ muttered Lykon, pushing away a plate with food on it. ˝I should rather labor in the quarries, and be beaten.˝

˝There will be time for that always,˝ interrupted Herhor, severely.

The Greek was silent, and trembled suddenly when he saw a dark crystal globe in the hand of Mefres. He grew pale, his sight became dim, large drops of sweat came out on his face. His eyes were fixed on one point, as if fastened to that ball of crystal.

˝He is sleeping,˝ said Mefres. ˝Is this not wonderful?˝

˝If he is not feigning.˝

˝Punch him, stick him, burn him even,˝ said Mefres.

Herhor drew from under his white robe a dagger and pointed it as if to strike Lykon between the eyes, but the Greek did not move, even his eyelids did not quiver.

˝Look!˝ said Mefres, holding the crystal up to Lykon. ˝Dost Thou see the man who carried off Kama?˝

The Greek sprang from his chair, his fists were clenched, and there was saliva on his lips.

˝Let me go!˝ cried he with a hoarse voice. ˝Let me go and drink his blood.˝

˝Where is he now?˝ inquired Mefres.

˝In the villa at the side of the garden next the river. A beautiful woman is with him.˝

˝Her name is Hebron, and she is the wife of Tutmosis,˝ added Herhor.

˝Confess, Mefres, that second sight is not needed to know that.˝

Mefres closed his thin lips tightly.

˝If this does not convince thee, worthiness, I will show something better,˝ said he at length. ˝Lykon, find now the traitor who is seeking the way to the treasure of the labyrinth.˝

The sleeping Greek looked for a while at the crystal intently, and answered,

˝I see him he is dressed in the rags of a beggar.˝

˝Where is he?˝

˝In the court of the last inn before the labyrinth. He will be there in the morning.˝

˝How does he look?˝

˝He has red hair and beard,˝ answered Lykon.

˝Well?˝ inquired Mefres of Herhor.

˝Thou hast good police, worthiness,˝ replied Herhor.

˝But the overseers of the labyrinth guard it poorly!˝ said Mefres in anger. ˝I will go there to-night with Lykon to warn the local priests. But if I succeed in saving the treasure of the gods, Thou wilt permit me to become its overseer, worthiness?˝

˝As Thou wishest,˝ answered Herhor with indifference. But in his heart he added: ˝The pious Mefres begins at last to show his claws and teeth. He desires to become only overseer of the labyrinth, and his ward, Lykon, he would make only pharaoh! Indeed, to satisfy the greed of my assistants the gods would have to make ten Egypts,˝

When both dignitaries had left the vault, Herhor, in the night, returned on foot to the temple of Isis where he had a dwelling, but Mefres commanded to make ready a couple of litters on horses. In one of these the younger priests placed the sleeping Lykon with a bag on his head; in the other the high priest himself took his place and, surrounded by a party of horsemen went at a sharp trot in the direction of Fayum.

On the night between the 14th and 15th Paofi the high priest Samentu, according to the promise given Ramses, entered the labyrinth by a corridor known to himself only. He had in his hand a bundle of torches, one of which was burning, and on his back he carried tools in a small basket.

Samentu passed very easily from hall to hall, from corridor to corridor, pushing back with a touch stone slabs in columns and in walls where there were secret doors. Sometimes he hesitated, but then he read mysterious signs on the walls and compared them with signs on the beads which he bore on his neck.

After a journey of half an hour he found himself in the treasure room, whence by pushing aside a slab in the pavement he reached a hall in the lower story. The hall was spacious and its ceiling rested on a number of short thick columns.

Samentu put down his basket and, lighting two torches, began by the light of them to read inscriptions on the walls.

˝Despite my wretched figure,˝ declared one inscription, ˝I am a real son of the gods, for my auger is terrible.

˝In the open air I turn to a column of fire, and I am lightning.

Confined I am thunder and destruction, and no building can resist me.

˝Nothing can weaken me but sacred water which takes my force away. But my anger is roused as well by the smallest spark as by a flame.

˝In my presence everything is twisted and broken. I am like Typhon, who overturns the highest trees and lifts rocks from their places.˝

˝In one word, every temple has its secret which others do not know,˝ thought Samentu.

He opened one column and took a large pot from it. The pot had a' cover sealed with wax, also an opening through which passed a long slender cord; it was unknown where this cord ended inside the column. Samentu cut off a piece, touched the torch with it and saw that the cord gave out a hiss and burned quickly. Then with a knife be removed the cover very carefully and saw inside the pot as it were sand and pebbles of an ashen color. He took out a couple of the pebbles and going aside touched them with the torch. In one moment a flame burst forth and the pebbles vanished leaving thick smoke behind and a disagreeable odor. Samentu took some of the ash-colored sand, poured it on the pavement, put in the middle of it a piece of the cord which he had found at the pot, covered all with a heavy stone. Then he touched the cord with his torch, the cord burned and after a while the stone sprang up in a flame.

˝I have that son of the gods now!˝ said Samentu smiling. ˝The treasure will not be lost.˝

He went from column to column to open slabs and take out hidden pots.

In each pot was a cord which Samentu cut, the pots he left at one side.

˝Well,˝ said the priest, ˝his holiness might give me half these treasures and make my son a nomarch and surely he will do so, for he is a magnanimous sovereign.˝

When he had rendered the lower hall safe in this way Samentu returned to the treasure chamber, and hence went to the upper hall. There also were various inscriptions on the walls, numerous columns and in them pots provided with cords and filled with kernels which burst when fire touched them. Samentu cut the cords, removed the pots from the interior of the columns, and tied up in a rag one pinch of the sand. Then being wearied he sat down to rest. Six of his torches were burnt now. The night must have been nearing its end.

˝I never should have supposed,˝ said he to himself, ˝that those priests had such a wonderful agent. Why, with it they could overturn Assyrian fortresses! Well, we will not tell our own pupils everything either.˝

The wearied man fell to thinking. Now he was certain that he would hold the highest position in Egypt, a position higher than that held by Herhor. What would he do? Very much.

He would secure wealth and wisdom to his posterity. He would try to gain their secrets from all the temples and this would increase his power immensely; he would secure to Egypt preeminence above Assyria.

The young pharaoh jeered at the gods, that would facilitate to Samentu the establishment of the worship of one god, Osiris, for example; and the union of Phoenicians, Jews, Greeks, and Libyans in one state with Egypt.

Together they would make the canal to join the Red Sea and the

Mediterranean. Along that canal they would build fortresses and

concentrate a numerous army all the trade with unknown nations of the

Orient and the West would fall into the hands of Egyptians.

They would require an Egyptian fleet and Egyptian sailors. But above all was the need to crush Assyria, which was growing each year more dangerous. It was imperative to stop priestly greed and excesses. Let priests be sages, let them have a sufficiency, but let them serve the state instead of using it for their own profit as at present.

˝In the month Hator,˝ thought Samentu, ˝I shall be ruler of Egypt! The young lord loves women and warriors too well to labor at governing. And if he has no son, then my son, my son.˝

He came to himself. One more torch had burnt out; it was high time to leave those underground chambers.

He rose, took his basket and left the hall above the treasure.

˝I need no assistance,˝ thought he, laughing. ˝I have secured everything I alone I, the despised priest of Set!˝

He had passed a number of tens of chambers and corridors when he halted on a sudden. It seemed to him that on the pavement of the hall to which he was going he saw a small streak of light.

In one moment such dreadful fear seized the man that he put out his torch. But the streak of light on the pavement had vanished. Samentu strained his hearing, but he heard only the throbbing of his own temples.

˝That only seemed to me!˝ said he.

With a trembling hand he took out of the basket a small vessel in which punk was burning slowly, and he lighted the torch again.

˝I am very drowsy,˝ thought he. Looking around the chamber he went to a wall in which a door was hidden. He pushed a nail; the door did not slip back. A second, a third pressure no effect.

˝What does this mean?˝ thought Samentu in amazement.

He forgot now the streak of light. It seemed to him that a new thing, unheard of, had met him. He had opened in his life so many hundreds of secret doors, he had opened so many in the labyrinth, that he could not understand simply the present resistance. Terror seized him a second time. He ran from wall to wall and tried secret doors everywhere. At last one opened. He found himself in an immense hall, filled as usual with columns. His torch lighted barely a part of the space, the remainder of it was lost in thick darkness.

The darkness, the forest of columns, and above all the strangeness of the hall gave the priest confidence. At the bottom of his fear a spark of naive hope was roused then. It seemed to him that since he did not know the place himself no one else knew it, and that no man would meet him in that labyrinth.

He was pacified somewhat and felt that his legs were bending under him; so he sat down. But again he sprang up and looked around, as if to learn whether danger was really threatening, and whence. From which of those dark comers would it come out to rush at him?

Samentu was acquainted as no other man in Egypt with subterranean places, with going astray, and with darkness. He had passed also through many alarms in his life. But that which he experienced then was something perfectly new and so terrible that the priest feared to give its own name to it.

At last, with great effort, he collected his thoughts, and said,

˝If indeed I have seen a light if indeed some one has closed the doors,

I am betrayed. In that case what?˝

˝Death!˝ whispered a voice hidden in the bottom of his soul somewhere.

˝Death?˝

Sweat came out on his face, his breath stopped-. All at once the madness of fear mastered him. He ran through the chamber and struck his fist against the wall, seeking an exit. He forgot where he was and how he had got there; he lost his direction, and even the power of taking bearings with the bead-string.

All at once he felt that in him were two persons, so to speak: one really bewildered, the other wise and self-possessed. This wiseman explained to himself that all might be imagination, that no one had discovered him, that no one was searching, and that he could escape if he would recover somewhat. But the first, the bewildered man, would not listen to the voice of wisdom; on the contrary, he gained on his internal antagonist every moment.

Oh, if he could only hide in some column! Let them seek then Though surely no one would seek, and no one would find him, while self-command would come again to him.

˝What can happen to me here?˝ said he, shrugging his shoulders. ˝If I calm myself they can chase me through the whole labyrinth. To cut off all the roads there would have to be many thousand persons, and to indicate what cell I am in a miracle would be needed! But let us suppose that they seize me. Then what? I will take this little vial here, put it to my lips, and in one moment I shall flee away so that no one could catch me not even a divinity.˝

But in spite of reasoning, such terrible fear seized the man again that he put out the torch a second time, and trembling, his teeth chattering, he pushed up to one of the columns.

˝How was it possible how could I decide to come in here?˝ thought Samentu. ˝Had I not food to eat, a place on which to lay my head? It is a simple thing, I am discovered! The labyrinth has a multitude of overseers as watchful as dogs, and only a child, or an idiot, would think of deceiving them. Property power! Where is the treasure for which it would be worth while for a man to give one day of his life? And here, I, a man in the bloom of existence, have exposed myself.˝

It seemed to him that he heard heavy knocking. He sprang up and in the depth of the chamber he saw a gleam of light.

Yes! a real gleam of light, not an illusion. At a distant wall, somewhere at the end, stood an open door through which at that moment armed men were coming in carefully with torches.

At sight of this the priest felt a chill in his feet, in his heart, in his head. He doubted no longer that he was not merely discovered, but hunted and surrounded.

Who could have betrayed him? Of course only one man: the young priest of Set, whom he had acquainted minutely enough with his purposes. The traitor, if alone, would have had to look almost a month for the way to the treasure, but if he had agreed with the overseers they might in one day track out Samentu.

At that moment the high priest felt the impressions known only to men who are looking at death face to face. He ceased to fear since his imagined alarms had now vanished before real torches. Not only did he regain self-command, but he felt immensely above everything living. In a short time he would be threatened no longer by danger of any sort.

The thoughts flew through his head with lightning clearness and speed. He took in the whole of his existence: his toils, his perils, his hopes, his ambitions, and all of those seemed to him a trifle. For what would it serve him to be at that moment the pharaoh, or to own every treasure in all kingdoms? They were vanity, dust, and even worse an illusion. Death alone was all-mighty and genuine.

Meanwhile the torch-bearers were examining columns most carefully, and also every corner; they had passed through half the immense hall. Samentu saw even the points of their lances, and noted that the men hesitated and advanced with alarm and repulsion. A few steps behind them was another group of persons to whom one torch gave light. Samentu did not even feel aversion toward them, he was only curious as to who could have betrayed him. But even that point did not concern him overmuch, for incomparably more important then seemed the question: Why must he die, and why had he been brought into existence? For with death present as a fact a whole life-time is shortened into one painful minute even though that life were the longest of all and the richest in experience.

˝Why was he alive? For what purpose?˝

He was sobered by the voice of one of the armed men,

˝There is no one here, and cannot be.˝

They halted. Samentu felt that he loved those men, and his heart thumped within him.

The second group of persons came up; among them there was a discussion,

˝How can even thou, worthiness, suppose that some one has entered?˝ asked a voice quivering with anger. ˝All the entrances are guarded, especially now. And even if any one stole in it would be only to die here of hunger.˝

˝But, worthiness, see how this Lykon bears himself,˝ answered another voice. ˝The sleeping man looks all the time as if he felt an enemy near him..˝

˝Lykon?˝ thought Samentu. ˝Ah, that Greek who is like the pharaoh. What do I see? Mefres has brought him!˝

At this moment the sleeping Greek rushed forward and stopped at the column behind which Samentu was hidden. The armed men ran after him, and the gleam of their torches threw light on the dark figure of Samentu.

˝Who is here?˝ cried, with a hoarse voice, the leader.

Samentu stood forth. The sight of him made such a powerful impression that the torch-bearers withdrew. He might have passed out between them, so terrified were they, and no one would have detained him; but the priest thought no longer of rescue.

˝Well, has my man with second sight been mistaken?˝ said Mefres, pointing at his victim. ˝There is the traitor!˝

Samentu approached him with a smile, and said,

˝I recognize thee by that cry, Mefres. When Thou canst not be a cheat,

Thou art merely an idiot.˝

Those present were astounded. Samentu spoke with calm irony.

˝Though it is true that at this moment Thou art both cheat and fool. A cheat, for Thou art trying to persuade the overseers of the labyrinth that this villain has the gift of second sight; and a fool, for Thou thinkest that they believe thee. Better tell them that in the temple of Ptah there are detailed plans of the labyrinth.˝

˝That is a lie!˝ cried Mefres.

˝Ask those men whom they believe: thee, or me? I am here because I found plans in the temple of Set; Thou hast come by the grace of the immortal Ptah,˝ concluded Samentu, laughing.

˝Bind that traitor and liar!˝ cried Mefres.

Samentu moved back a couple of steps, drew forth quickly from under his garment a vial, and said, while raising it to his lips, ˝Mefres, Thou wilt be an idiot till death. Thou hast wit only when it is a question of money.˝

He placed the vial between his lips and fell to the pavement.

The armed men rushed to the priest and raised him, but he had slipped through their fingers already.

˝Let him stay here, like others,˝ said the overseer of the labyrinth.

The whole retinue left the hall and closed the open doors carefully.

Soon they issued forth from the edifice.

When the worthy Mefres found himself in the court he commanded the priests to make ready the mounted litters, and rode away with the sleeping Lykon to Memphis.

The overseers of the labyrinth, dazed by the uncommon events, looked now at one another, and now at the escort of Mefres, which was disappearing in a yellow dust cloud.

˝I cannot believe,˝ said the chief overseer, ˝that in our days there was a man who could break into the labyrinth.˝

˝Your worthiness forgets that this day there were three such,˝ interrupted one of the younger priests looking askance at him.

˝A a true!˝ answered the high priest. ˝Have the gods disturbed my reason?˝ said he, rubbing his forehead and pressing the amulet on his breast.

˝And two have fled,˝ added the younger priest.

˝Why didst Thou not turn my attention to that in the labyrinth?˝ burst out the superior.

˝I did not know that things would turn out as they have.˝

˝Woe is on my head!˝ cried the high priest. ˝Not chief should I be at this edifice, but gatekeeper. We were warned that some one was stealing in, but now we have let out two of the most dangerous, who will bring now whomever it may please them O woe!˝

˝Thou hast no need, worthiness, to despair,˝ said another priest. ˝Our law is explicit. Send four or six of our men to Memphis, and provide them with sentences. The rest will be their work.˝

˝I have lost my reason,˝ complained the high priest.

˝What has happened is over,˝ interrupted the young priest, with irony. ˝One thing is certain: that men who not only reach the vaults, but even walk through them as through their own houses, may not live.˝

˝Then select six from our militia.˝

˝Of course! It is necessary to end this,˝ confirmed the overseers.

˝Who knows if Mefres did not act in concert with the most worthy

Herhor?˝ whispered some one.

˝Enough!˝ exclaimed the high priest. ˝If we find Herhor in the labyrinth we will act as the law directs. But to make guesses, or suspect any one is not permitted. Let the secretaries prepare sentences for Mefres and Lykon, Let those chosen hurry after them, and let the militia strengthen the watch. We must also examine the interior of the edifice and discover how Samentu got into it, though I am sure that he will have no followers in the near future.˝

A couple of hours later six men had set out for Memphis.

 

Chapter LXIV

 

On the eighteenth day of Paofi chaos had begun. Communication was interrupted between Lower and Upper Egypt; commerce had ceased; on the Nile moved only boats on guard, the roads were occupied by troops marching toward those cities which contained the most famous temples.

Only the laborers of the priests were at work in the fields. On the estates of nobles and nomarchs, but especially of the pharaoh, flax was unpulled, clover uncut; there was no one to gather in grapes. The common people did nothing but prowl about in bands; they sang, ate, drank, and threatened either priests or Phoenicians. In the cities all shops were closed, and the artisans who had lost their occupation counseled whole days over the reconstruction of Egypt. This offensive spectacle was no novelty, but it appeared in such threatening proportions that the tax-gatherers, and even the judges began to hide, especially as the police treated all offences of common men very mildly.

One thing more deserved attention: the abundance of food and wine. In dramshops and cook houses, especially of the Phoenicians, as well in Memphis as in the provinces, whoso wished might eat and drink what he pleased at a very low price, or for nothing. It was said that his holiness was giving his people a feast which would continue a whole month in every case.

Because of difficult and even interrupted communication the cities were not aware of what was happening in neighboring places. Only the pharaoh, or still better the priests, knew the general condition of the country.

The position was distinguished, first of all, by a break between Upper, or Theban, and Lower, or Memphian Egypt. In Thebes partisans of the priesthood were stronger, in Memphis adherents of the pharaoh. In Thebes people said that Ramses XIII had gone mad, and wished to sell Egypt to Phoenicians; in Memphis they explained that the priests wished to poison the pharaoh and bring in Assyrians. The common people, as well in the north as the south, felt an instinctive attraction toward the pharaoh. But the force of the people was passive and tottering. When an agitator of the government spoke, the people were ready to attack a temple and beat priests, but when a procession appeared they fell on their faces and were timid while listening to accounts of disasters which threatened Egypt in that very month of Paofi.

The terrified nobles and nomarchs had assembled at Memphis to implore the pharaoh for rescue from the rebelling multitude. But since Ramses enjoined on them patience, and did not attack the rabble, the magnates began to take counsel with the adherents of the priesthood.

It is true that Herhor was silent, or enjoined patience also; but other high priests proved to the nobles that Ramses was a maniac, and hinted at the need of deposing him.

In Memphis itself two parties were facing each other. The godless who drank, made an uproar, threw mud at temples and even at statues, and the pious, mainly old men and women who prayed on the streets, prophesied misfortune aloud and implored all the divinities for rescue. The godless committed outrages daily; each day among the pious health returned to some sick man or cripple. But for a wonder neither party, in spite of roused passions, worked harm on the other, and still greater wonder neither party resorted to violence, which came from this, that each was disturbed by direction, and according to plans framed in higher circles.

The pharaoh, not having collected all his troops and all his proofs against the priests, did not give the order yet for a final attack on the temples; the priests seemed waiting for something. It was evident, however, that they did not feel so weak as in the first moments after the voting by delegates. Ramses himself became thoughtful when men reported from every side that people on the lands of the priests did not mix in disturbances at all, but were working.

˝What does this mean?˝ asked the pharaoh of himself. ˝Do the shaven heads think that I dare not touch temples, or have they means of defense quite unknown to me?˝

On the 19th of Paofi a police official informed Ramses that the night before people had begun to break the walls inclosing the temple of Horus.

˝Did ye command them to do that?˝ inquired the pharaoh.

˝No. They began of their own accord.˝

˝Restrain them mildly restrain them,˝ said Ramses. ˝In a few days they may do what they like. But now let them not act with great violence.˝

Ramses, as a leader and victor at the Soda Lakes, knew that once men attack in a multitude nothing has power to restrain them; they must break or be broken. Unless the temples defend themselves the multitude will take them; but if they defend themselves? In that case the people will flee and there will be need to send warriors, of whom there were many it is true, but not so many as would be needed, according to the' pharaoh's own reckoning. Moreover, Hiram had not returned from Pi-Bast yet with letters proving the treason of Mefres and Herhor. And what was more important, the priests who sided with the pharaoh were to assist the troops only on Paofi 23d. By what means then could he forewarn them in temples which were so numerous and so distant from one another? And did not caution itself command him to avoid relations which might betray them?

For these reasons Ramses did not wish an earlier attack on the temples.

Meanwhile the disturbance increased in spite of the pharaoh. Near the temple of Isis a number of pious persons were slain who predicted misfortune to Egypt, or who had recovered their health by a miracle. Near the temple of Ptah the multitude rushed on a procession, struck down the priests, and broke the holy boat in which the god was advancing. Almost at the same time messengers flew in from the cities of Sochem and Anu with news that people were breaking into the temples, and that in Cheran they had even broken in and desecrated the most holy places.

Toward evening a deputation of priests came, almost by stealth, to the palace of his holiness; the revered prophets fell at his feet, weeping, crying out to him to defend the gods and their sanctuaries.

This altogether unexpected event filled the heart of Ramses with great delight and still greater pride. He commanded the delegates to rise, and answered graciously that his regiments would be always ready to defend the temples when conducted into them.

˝I have no doubt,˝ said he, ˝that the rioters themselves will withdraw when they see the dwellings of the gods occupied by the army.˝

The delegates hesitated.

˝It is known to thee, holiness,˝ answered the chief, ˝that the army may not enter the enclosure of a temple. We must ask, therefore, what the high priests have to say.˝

˝Very well, take counsel,˝ answered the sovereign. ˝I cannot perform miracles, and I cannot defend temples from a distance.˝

The saddened delegates left the pharaoh, who after their departure summoned a confidential council. He was convinced that the priests would yield to his will, and it did not even occur to him that the delegation itself was a trick arranged by Herhor to lead him into error.

When the civil and military officials had assembled in the pharaoh's chamber Ramses began,

˝I thought,˝ said he, proudly, ˝to occupy the temples of Memphis only on the 23d, but I consider it better to do so to-morrow.˝

˝Our troops have not assembled yet,˝ objected Tutmosis.

˝And we have not Herhor's letters to Assyria,˝ added the chief scribe.

˝Never mind!˝ answered the pharaoh. ˝Proclaim tomorrow that Herhor and Mefres are traitors, and we will show the nomarchs and priests the proofs three days later when Hiram returns from Pi-Bast to us.˝

˝Thy new command, holiness, will change the first one greatly,˝ said Tutmosis. ˝We shall not occupy the labyrinth to-morrow. If the temples in Memphis make bold to resist, we have not even rams to break down the gates.˝

˝Tutmosis,˝ answered the pharaoh, ˝I might not explain my commands, but I wish to convince thee that my heart estimates the course of events more profoundly. If people attack the temples today they will wish to break into them to-morrow. Unless we support them they will be repulsed, and will be discouraged in every case from deeds of daring. The priests send a delegation today, hence they are weak. Meanwhile the number of their adherents among the common people may be greater some days hence. Enthusiasm and fear are like wine in a pitcher; it decreases in proportion as it is poured out, and only he can drink who puts his goblet under in season. If the people are ready to attack today and the enemy is frightened, let us make use of the situation, for, as I say, luck may leave us in a few days, or may turn against us.˝

˝And provisions will be exhausted,˝ added the treasurer. ˝In three days the people must return to work, for we shall not have the wherewithal to feed them.˝

˝Oh, seest thou,˝ continued the pharaoh to Tutmosis. ˝I myself have commanded the chief of police to restrain the people. But it is impossible to restrain them, we must make a movement. An experienced sailor struggles neither with wind nor current, but he lets them bear him in the direction which they have taken.˝

At this moment a courier came in with news that the people had fallen upon foreigners. They had assaulted Greeks, Assyrians, but especially Phoenicians. They had plundered many shops and slain a number of persons.

˝Here is proof,˝ cried the excited pharaoh, ˝that we should not turn a crowd from the road it has taken. Let the troops be near the temples to-morrow, and let them march in if the people begin to burst into them, or or if they begin to withdraw under pressure.

˝It is true that grapes should be gathered in the month Paofi; but is there a gardener, who if his fruit were ripe a month earlier, would leave it on the vines to wither?

˝I repeat this: I wished to delay the movement of the people till we had finished preparations. But if it is impossible to delay, let us raise our sails and use the wind which is blowing. Ye must arrest Herhor and Mefres tomorrow and bring them to the palace. In a few days we will finish with the labyrinth.˝

The members of the council recognized that the decision of the pharaoh was proper, and they departed admiring his promptness and wisdom. Even generals declared that it was better to use the occasion at hand than to have forces ready when the time had passed in which to use them.

It was night. Another courier rushed in from Memphis with information that the police had been able to protect foreigners, but that the people were excited and it was unknown what they might attempt on the morrow.

Thenceforth courier arrived after courier. Some brought news that a great mass of men armed with clubs and axes were moving toward Memphis from every direction. From somewhere else information came that people in the region of Peme, Sochem, and On, were fleeing to the fields and crying that the end of the world would come the day following.

Another courier brought a letter from Hiram that he would arrive very soon. Another announced the stealthy advance of temple regiments to Memphis, and, what was more important, that from Upper Egypt were moving strong divisions of people and troops hostile to the Phoenicians, and even to his holiness.

˝Before they arrive,˝ thought the pharaoh, ˝I shall have the high priests in my hands and even the regiments of Nitager now some days late in arriving.˝

Finally information was brought that troops had seized here and there on the highways, disguised priests who were trying to reach the palace of his holiness, no doubt with evil purpose.

˝Bring them here,˝ answered Ramses, laughing. ˝I wish to see men who dare to form evil plans against the pharaoh.˝

About midnight the revered queen, Niort's, desired an audience of his holiness.

The worthy lady was pale and trembling. She commanded the officers to leave the pharaoh's chamber, and when alone with her son she said, weeping,

˝My son, I bring thee very bad omens.˝

˝I should prefer, queen, to hear accurate information of the strength and intention of my enemies.˝

˝This evening the statue of the divine Isis in my chapel turned its face to the wall, and water became blood-red in the sacred cistern.˝

˝That proves,˝ replied the pharaoh, ˝that there are traitors in the palace. But they are not very dangerous if they are able only to defile water and turn statues back forward.˝

˝All our servants,˝ continued the queen, ˝all the people are convinced that if thy army enters the temples, great misfortune will fall upon Egypt.˝

˝A greater misfortune,˝ said the pharaoh, ˝is the insolence of the priesthood. Admitted by my ever-living father to the palace, they think today that they have become its owners. But by the gods, what shall I become at last in presence of their all-mightiness? And shall I not be free to claim my rights as a sovereign?˝

˝At least at least,˝ said the lady after a while, ˝be gracious. Yes, Thou must claim thy rights, but do not permit thy soldiers to violate holy places and do injustice to the priesthood. Remember that the gracious gods send down delight on Egypt, and the priests in spite of their errors (who is without them) have rendered incomparable services to this country. Only think, if Thou shouldest impoverish and dismiss them, Thou wouldst destroy wisdom which has raised our kingdom above all others.˝

The pharaoh took his mother by both hands, kissed her, and replied, smiling,

˝Women must always exaggerate. Thou art speaking to me, mother, as if I were the chief of wild Hyksos, and not a pharaoh. Do I wish injustice to the priests? Do I hate their wisdom, even such barren wisdom as that of investigating the course of the stars which move in the heavens without our aid, and do not enrich us one uten? Neither their wisdom nor their piety troubles me, but the wretchedness of Egypt, which within is growing weak from hunger, and without is afraid of any threat from Assyria. Meanwhile the priests, in spite of their wisdom, not merely do not wish to help me in my measures, but they present resistance in the most dangerous manner.

˝Let me, mother, convince them that not they, but I am the master of my own heritage. I should not be able to take revenge on the submissive, but I will trample on the necks of the insolent.

˝They know this, but still do not trust, and with a lack of real power they wish to frighten me by declaring some misfortune. That is their last resource and weapon. When they understand that I do not fear their terrors they will submit. And then not a stone will fall from their temples, or one ring be lost from their treasures.

˝I know those men! Today they put on a great front, for I am far from them. But when I stretch out a bronze fist they will fall on their faces, and all this confusion will end in general prosperity and contentment.˝

The queen embraced his feet and went out comforted, imploring him, however, to respect the gods and spare their servants.

After the departure of his mother he summoned Tutmosis.

˝Tomorrow,˝ said the pharaoh, ˝my troops will occupy the temples. But tell the commanders of regiments, let them know that it is my will, that the holy places must be inviolate, and that no one is to raise a hand on any priest in Egypt.˝

˝Even on Mefres and Herhor?˝ inquired Tutmosis.

˝Even on them. They will be punished enough when they are put out of their present positions; they will live in learned temples to pray and investigate wisdom without hindrance.˝

˝It will be as Thou commandest, holiness though.˝

Ramses raised his finger in sign that he did not wish to hear arguments. And then, to change the conversation, he said, with a smile,

˝Dost Thou remember, Tutmosis, the maneuvers at Pi-Bailos? Two years have passed. When I was angry then at the insolence and greed of the priests, couldst Thou think that I should reckon with them so early? But poor Sarah and my little son. How beautiful he was!˝

Two tears rolled down the pharaoh's cheeks.

˝Indeed, if I were not a son of the gods, who are magnanimous and merciful, my enemies would pass through grievous hours to-morrow. How many humiliations have they put on me! How often have my eyes grown dark from weeping!˝

 

Chapter LXV

 

On the 20th of Paofi Memphis looked as it might during a great solemn festival. All occupations had ceased; even carriers were not bearing burdens. The whole population had come out on the streets, or had collected around the temples, mainly around the temple of Ptah, which was the best defended, and where the spiritual dignitaries had come together, also those lay officials who were under the direction of Herhor and Mefres.

Near the temples troops were posted in loose rank, so that the warriors might come to an understanding with the populace.

Among the common people and the army circulated many hucksters, 'with baskets of bread and with pitchers and skin bags in which there was wine. They entertained free of charge. When any one asked them why they took no pay, some answered that his holiness was entertaining his subjects, while others said,

˝Eat and drink, right-believing Egyptians, for it is unknown whether we shall see to-morrow!˝

These were hucksters in the service of the priesthood.

A multitude of agents were circling about. Some proved to listeners that the priests were rebelling against their lord, and even wanted to poison him, because he had promised the seventh day for rest. Others whispered that the pharaoh had gone mad, and had conspired with foreigners to destroy the temples and Egypt. The first encouraged the people to attack the temples where the priests and nomarchs were arranging to oppress laborers and artisans; the others expressed fear that if the people attacked the temples some great misfortune might fall on them.

Under the walls of Ptah were a number of strong beams, and piles of stones brought, it was unknown from what quarter.

The serious merchants of Memphis, passing among the crowds, had no doubt that the popular disturbance was called forth artificially. Inferior scribes, policemen, overseers of laborers, and disguised decurions denied neither their official positions, nor this, that they were urging the people to occupy the temples. On the other side dissectors, beggars, temple servants and inferior priests, though they wished to conceal their identity, were unable to do so, and each one who was endowed with perception saw that they were urging the people to violence. The thinking citizens of Memphis were astonished at this action of partisans of the priesthood, and the people began to fall away from their zeal of yesterday. Genuine Egyptians could not understand what the question was, or who was really calling forth disturbance. The chaos was increased by half-frenzied zealots, who, running about the streets naked, wounded themselves till the blood flowed, and cried,

˝Woe to Egypt! Impiety has passed its measure and the hour of judgment is coming! O gods show your power over the insolence of injustice.˝

The troops bore themselves calmly, waiting till the people should break into the temples. For an order to that effect had come from the palace; and on the other the officers foresaw ambushes in the temples, and preferred that men of the crowd should perish rather than warriors, who would be sufficiently occupied in every case.

But in spite of the shouts of agitators, and wine given for nothing, the crowd hesitated. Laborers looked at the artisans; the artisans and all were waiting for something.

Suddenly, about one in the afternoon, from side streets a drunken band poured forth toward the temple of Ptah; it was armed with poles and axes and was made up of fishermen, Greek sailors, shepherds, and Libyan vagrants, even convicts from the quarries in Turra. At the head of this band went a laborer of gigantic stature, with a torch in his hand. He stood before the gate of the temple and cried with an immense voice to the people,

˝Do ye know, right believers, what the high priests and the nomarchs are preparing here? They wish to force his holiness, Ramses XIII, to deprive laborers of a barley cake a day, and to impose new taxes on the people, a drachma each man. I say, then, that ye are committing a low and stupid deed by standing here with your arms crossed. We must catch these temple rats at last and give them into the hands of our lord, the pharaoh, against whom these godless wretches are conspiring. If our lord yields to priests, who will take the part of honest people?˝

˝He speaks truth!˝ called out voices from the multitude.

˝Our lord will command to give us the seventh day for rest.˝

˝And will give us land.˝

˝He had compassion always for the common people. Remember how he freed those who, two years ago, were under judgment for attacking the house of the Jewess.˝

˝I myself saw him beat a scribe, when the man was dragging an unjust tax from laborers.˝

˝May he live through eternity, our lord, Ramses XIII, the guardian of oppressed laborers!˝

˝But look!˝ called out some voice from afar, ˝the cattle are coming from pasture, as if evening were near.˝

˝What cattle! Go on against the priests!˝

˝Hei, ye!˝ cried the giant at the temple gate. ˝Open to us of your own will, so that we may know what the high priests and the nomarchs are counseling!˝

˝Open, or we will break the gate!˝

˝A wonderful thing,˝ said people from afar; ˝the birds are going to sleep. But it is only midday.˝

˝Something evil has happened in the air!˝

˝O gods, night is coming, and I have not pulled salad for dinner,˝ said some girl.

But these remarks were drowned by the uproar of the drunken band, and the noise of beams striking the bronze gate of the temple. If the crowd had been less occupied with the violent deeds of the attackers, they would have seen that something unusual was happening in nature. The sun was shining, there was not one cloud in the sky, and still the brightness of the day had begun to decrease and there was a breath of coolness.

˝Give us another beam!˝ cried the attackers of the temple. ˝The gate is giving way!˝

˝Powerfully! Once more!˝

The crowd looking on roared like a tempest. Here and there men began to separate from the throng and join the attackers. At last a whole mass of people pushed slowly toward the temple.

Though but just past midday, gloom increased. In the gardens of the temple the cocks began to crow. But the rage of the throng was so great now that few noticed the change.

˝Look ye!˝ cried some beggar. ˝Behold the day of judgment is coming O gods.˝

He wished to speak on, but struck on the head by a club he fell prostrate.

On the walls of the temple naked but armed figures began to climb up. Officers called the warriors to arms, certain that soon they would have to support the attack of the multitude.

˝What does this mean?˝ whispered warriors, looking at the sky. ˝There is not a cloud, still the world looks as it does in the time of a tempest.˝

˝Strike! break!˝ shouted men near the temple.

The sound of beams was more and more frequent.

At that moment on the terrace above the gate appeared Herhor. He was surrounded by a retinue of priests and civil dignitaries. The most worthy high priest was in a golden robe, and wore the cap of Amenhotep with its regal serpent.

Herhor looked at the enormous masses of people who surrounded the temple, and bending toward the band of stormers, he said to them,

˝Whoever ye are, right believers or unbelievers, leave this temple in peace, in the name of the gods I summon you.˝

The uproar of the people ceased suddenly, and only the pounding of the beams against the bronze gate was audible. But soon even that ceased.

˝Open the gate!˝ cried the giant from below. ˝We wish to see if ye are forging treason against the pharaoh.˝

˝My son,˝ replied Herhor, ˝fall on thy face and implore the gods to forgive thee thy sacrilege.˝

˝Ask Thou the gods to shield thee!˝ cried the leader of the band, and taking a stone he threw it toward the high priest.

At the same time, from a window of the pylon shot out a small stream which seemed to be water, and which struck the giant's face. The bandit tottered, threw up his hands, and fell.

Those nearest him gave out a cry of fear, whereupon the farther ranks, not seeing what had happened, answered with laughter and curses.

˝Break down the gate!˝ was heard from the end of the crowd, and a volley of stones flew in the direction of Herhor and his retinue.

Herhor raised both hands, and when the crowd had grown silent again the high priest shouted,

˝O gods! into your protection I give these sacred retreats, against which blasphemers and traitors are advancing!˝

A moment later, somewhere above the temple, an unearthly voice was heard,

˝I turn my face from the accursed people and may darkness fall on the earth.˝

Then a dreadful thing happened: as the voice rose the sun decreased, 'and with the last word there was darkness as at night. Stars began to shine in the heavens; instead of the sun was a black disk surrounded with a thin hoop of flame.

An immense cry was rent from a hundred thousand breasts. Those who were storming the gate threw down their beams; common people fell to the earth.

˝Oh, the day of punishment and death has come!˝ cried a shrill voice at the end of the street.

˝O gods of mercy! O holy men, ward off this terror!˝ cried the crowd.

˝WOE TO ARMIES WHICH CARRY OUT THE ORDERS OF GODLESS COMMANDERS!˝ cried a great voice from the temple.

In answer all the people fell on their faces, and confusion rose in the two regiments standing before the temple. The ranks broke, warriors threw down their weapons and ran toward the river insensate. Some, rushing like blind men, knocked against the walls of houses in the darkness; others fell to the ground and were trampled to death by their comrades. In the course of a few minutes, instead of close columns of warriors, on the square, spears and axes lay scattered about, and at the entrance of the streets were piles of dead and wounded.

˝O gods! O gods!˝ groaned and cried the people, ˝take pity on the innocent.˝

˝Osiris!˝ cried Herhor from the terrace, ˝have compassion and show thy face to the unfortunate people.˝

˝AT LAST I HEAR THE PRAYERS OF MY PRIESTS, FOR I AM COMPASSIONATE,˝ answered the supernatural voice from the temple.

At that moment the darkness began to disappear, and the sun to regain its brightness.

A new shout, new weeping, and new prayers were heard in the throng. The people, drunk with delight, greeted the sun which had risen from the dead. Men unknown to one another embraced, some persons died, and all crawled on their knees to kiss the sacred walls of the temple.

Above the gate stood the most worthy Herhor, his eyes fixed on the sky, and two priests supporting his holy hands with which he had dissipated darkness, and saved his people from destruction.

Scenes of the same kind with certain changes took place throughout all Lower Egypt. In each city on the 20th of Paofi people had collected from early morning. In each city about midday some band was storming a sacred gate. About one the high priest of the temple, with a retinue, cursed the faithless attackers and produced darkness. But when the throng fled in panic, or fell on the ground, the high priest prayed to Osiris to show his face, and then the light of day returned to the earth again.

In this way, thanks to the eclipse of the sun, the party of the priests, full of wisdom, had shaken the importance of Ramses XIII in Lower Egypt.

In the course of a few minutes the government of the pharaoh had come, even without knowing it, to the brink of a precipice. Only great wisdom could save it, and an accurate knowledge of the situation. But that was lacking in the pharaoh's palace, where the all-powerful reign of chance had set in at that critical moment.

On the 20th of Paofi his holiness rose exactly at sunrise, and, to be nearer the scene of action, he transferred himself from the main palace to a villa which was hardly an hour's distance from Memphis. On one side of this villa were the barracks of the Asiatic troops, on the other the villa of Tutmosis and his wife, the beautiful Hebron. With their lord came the dignitaries faithful to Ramses, and the first regiment of the guard in which the pharaoh felt unbounded reliance.

Ramses was in perfect humor. He bathed, ate with appetite, and began to hear the reports of couriers who flew in from Memphis every fifteen minutes.

Their reports were monotonous to weariness: The high priests and some of the nomarchs, under the leadership of Herhor and Mefres, had shut themselves up in the temple of Ptah. The army was full of hope, and the people excited. All were blessing the pharaoh, and waiting the order to move on the temple.

When the fourth courier came about nine, and repeated the same words, the pharaoh was frowning.

˝What are they waiting for?˝ asked he. ˝Let them attack immediately.˝

The courier answered that the chief band which was to attack and batter down the bronze gate had not arrived yet.

This explanation displeased the pharaoh. He shook his head, and sent an officer to Memphis to hasten the attack.

˝What does this delay mean?˝ asked he. ˝I thought that my army would waken me with news of the capture of the temple. In such cases prompt action is the condition of success.˝

The officer rode away, but nothing had changed at the temple of Ptah. The people were waiting for something, but the chief band was not in its place yet. Some other will seemed to delay the execution of the order.

About ten the litter of Queen Niort's came to the villa occupied by the pharaoh. The revered lady broke into her son's chamber almost with violence, and fell at his feet, weeping.

˝What dost Thou wish of me, mother?˝ asked Ramses, hardly hiding his impatience. ˝Hast Thou forgotten that the camp is no place for women?˝

˝I will not leave thee today, I will not leave thee for an instant!˝ exclaimed the queen. ˝Thou art the son of Isis, it is true, and she surrounds thee with care. But I should die from fright.˝

˝What threatens me?˝ inquired the pharaoh, shrugging his shoulders.

˝The priest who investigates the stars,˝ said she, tearfully, ˝declared to a serving woman that Thou wilt live and reign a hundred years if this day favors thee.˝

˝Ah! Where is that man who is skilled in my fate?˝

˝He fled to Memphis,˝ replied the lady.

Ramses thought a while, then he said, smiling,

˝As the Libyans at the Soda Lakes hurled missiles at us, the priests hurl threats today. Be calm, mother! Talk is less dangerous than stones and arrows.˝

From Memphis a new courier rushed in with a report that all was well, but still the main band was not ready.

On the comely face of the pharaoh appeared signs of anger. Wishing to calm the sovereign, Tutmosis said to him,

˝The people are not an army. They know not how to assemble at a given hour; while marching they stretch out like a swamp, and obey no commands. If the occupation of the temples were committed to regiments they would be in possession at present.˝

˝What art Thou saying, Tutmosis?˝ cried the queen. ˝Where has any one heard of Egyptian troops.˝

˝Thou hast forgotten,˝ interrupted Ramses, ˝that according to my commands the troops were not to attack, but defend the temples from attacks of the people.˝

˝Action is delayed through this also,˝ answered Tutmosis, impatiently.

˝O counselors of the pharaoh!˝ burst out the queen. ˝Your lord acts wisely, appearing as a defender of the gods, and ye, instead of making him milder, urge him to violence.˝

The blood rushed to Tutmosis' head. Fortunately an adjutant called him from the chamber with information that at the gate was an old man who wished to speak with his holiness.

˝Today each man is struggling to get at the pharaoh, as he might at the keeper of a dramshop,˝ muttered the adjutant.

Tutmosis thought that in the time of Ramses XII no one would have dared to speak of the ruler in that way. But he feigned not to hear.

The old man whom the watch had detained was Prince Hiram. He wore a soldier's mantle covered with dust; he was irritated and wearied.

Tutmosis commanded to admit him, and when both were in the garden, he said to him,

˝I judge that Thou wilt bathe, worthiness, and change thy dress before

I obtain an audience with his holiness?˝

Hiram raised his iron-gray brows, and his bloodshot eyes became bloodier.

˝From what I have seen,˝ said he firmly, ˝I may even not ask for an audience.˝

˝Hast Thou the letters of the high priest to Assyria?˝

˝What good are those letters, since ye have agreed with the priests?˝

˝What dost Thou say, worthiness?˝ inquired Tutmosis, starting.

˝I know what I say!˝ replied Hiram. ˝Ye have obtained tens of thousands of talents from the Phoenicians, as it were for the liberation of Egypt from the power of the priesthood, and today in return for that ye are robbing and slaying us. See what is happening from the sea to the First Cataract: your common people are hunting the Phoenicians like dogs, for such is the command of the priesthood.˝

˝Thou art mad, Phoenician! Our people are taking the temple of Ptah in

Memphis.˝

Hiram waved his hand.

˝They will not take it! Ye are deceiving us, or ye are deceiving yourselves. Ye were to seize, first of all, the labyrinth and its treasure, and that only on the 23d. Meanwhile ye are wasting power on the temple of Ptah, and the labyrinth is lost. What is happening here? Where is mind to be found in this place?˝ continued the indignant Phoenician. ˝Why storm an empty building? Ye are attacking it so that the priests may take more care of the labyrinth!˝

˝We will seize the labyrinth, too,˝ said Tutmosis.

˝Ye will seize nothing, nothing! Only one man could take the labyrinth, and he will be stopped by today's action in Memphis.˝

Tutmosis halted on the path.

˝About what art Thou troubled?˝ asked he, abruptly.

˝About the disorder which reigns here. About this, that ye are no longer a government, but a group of officers and officials whom the priests send whithersoever they wish and whensoever it pleases them. For three days there is such terrible confusion in Lower Egypt that the people are killing us, your only friends, the Phoenicians. And why is this? Because government has dropped from jour hands, and the priests have seized it.˝

˝Thou speakest thus for Thou knowest not the position,˝ replied Tutmosis. ˝It is true that the priests thwart us and organize attacks on Phoenicians. But power is in the hands of the pharaoh; events move in general according to his orders.˝

˝And the attack on the temple of Ptah?˝ inquired Hiram.

˝Was ordered by the pharaoh. I was present at the confidential council, during which the pharaoh gave command to take possession of the temples today instead of the 23d.˝

˝Well, I declare to thee, commander of the guard, that ye are lost, for I know to a certainty that the attack of today was decided on at a council of high priests and nomarchs in the temple of Ptah, which was held on Paofi 13.˝

˝Why should they arrange an attack on themselves?˝ asked Tutmosis in a jeering voice.

˝They must have had some reason for it. And I have convinced myself that they manage their affairs better than ye manage yours.˝

Further conversation was interrupted by an adjutant summoning Tutmosis to his holiness.

˝But but,˝ added Hiram, ˝your soldiers have stopped on the path the priest Pentuer, who has something important to convey to the pharaoh.˝

Tutmosis seized his own head, and sent officers immediately to find Pentuer. Then he ran to the pharaoh, and after a while returned and commanded the Phoenician to follow him.

When Hiram entered the chamber of Ramses he saw Queen Niort's, the chief treasurer, the chief scribe, and a number of generals. Ramses XIII was irritated, and walked up and down quickly through the chamber.

˝Here we have the misfortune of the pharaoh, and of Egypt!˝ exclaimed the queen, pointing to the Phoenician.

˝Worthy lady,˝ answered Hiram, without confusion, bowing to her, ˝time will show who was the faithful and who the evil servant of his holiness.˝

Ramses stopped suddenly before Hiram.

˝Hast Thou the letters of Herhor to Assyria?˝ inquired he.

The Phoenician drew from under his robe a package, and in silence handed it to the pharaoh.

˝This is what I needed!˝ exclaimed the pharaoh in triumph. ˝We must declare at once to the people that the high priests are guilty of treason.˝

˝My son,˝ interrupted the queen in an imploring voice, ˝by the shade of thy father I adjure thee; delay this announcement a couple of days. There is need of great caution with gifts from Phoenicia.˝

˝Holiness,˝ put in Hiram, ˝Thou mayst even burn these letters. I am in no way concerned with them.˝

The pharaoh thought a while, then hid the package in his bosom.

˝What hast Thou heard in Lower Egypt?˝ inquired the sovereign.

˝They are beating Phoenicians at all points,˝ replied Hiram. ˝Our houses are wrecked, our effects stolen, and a number of tens of Phoenicians are slain.˝

˝I have heard. This is the work of the priests,˝ said the pharaoh.

˝Say, rather, my son, that it comes of the godlessness and extortion of

Phoenicians,˝ interrupted Queen Niort's.

˝For three days the chief of police from Pi-Bast is in Memphis with two assistants, and they are on the trail of the murderer and deceiver Lykon.˝

˝Who was hidden in Phoenician temples!˝ cried Niort's.

˝Lykon,˝ continued Hiram, ˝whom the high priest Mefres stole from the police and the courts Lykon, who in Thebes ran naked through the garden as a maniac, counterfeiting thee, holiness.˝

˝What dost Thou tell me?˝ cried the pharaoh.

˝Holiness, ask the most revered queen if she saw him,˝ answered Hiram.

Ramses looked in confusion at his mother.

˝Yes,˝ said she. ˝I saw that wretch, but I said nothing so as to spare thee pain. I must explain, however, that no one has proof that Lykon was put there by the priests, for the Phoenicians might have done that as well.˝

Hiram laughed sneeringly.

˝O mother, mother!˝ cried Ramses, with sorrow. ˝Is it possible that the priests are dearer to thy heart than I am?˝

˝Thou art my son and most precious sovereign,˝ said the queen with enthusiasm, ˝but I cannot suffer a stranger, an infidel, to cast calumny on the holy order of the priests from which we are both descended. O Ramses,˝ exclaimed she, falling on her knees, ˝expel these wicked counselors who urge thee to insult temples, and raise thy hand against the successor of thy grandsire, Amenhotep. There is still time for agreement, still time to save Egypt.˝

All at once, Pentuer, in torn garments, entered the chamber.

˝Well, and what hast Thou to say?˝ inquired the pharaoh, with wonderful calmness.

˝Today, perhaps immediately, there will be an eclipse of the sun.˝

The pharaoh started back in astonishment.

˝How does an eclipse of the sun concern me, especially at this moment?˝

˝Lord,˝ said Pentuer, ˝I thought the same till I read in old chronicles of eclipses. An eclipse is such a terrifying spectacle that it was necessary to forewarn the whole people of it.˝

˝That is the truth!˝ interrupted Hiram.

˝Why didst Thou not inform earlier?˝ inquired Tutmosis.

˝The warriors kept me in prison two days. We cannot forewarn the people now, but at least inform the troops at the palace, so that they, too, should not give way to panic.˝

Ramses clapped his hands.

˝Ah, it is too bad!˝ whispered he, and added aloud. ˝When will it be, and what will take place?˝

˝Day will become night,˝ said Pentuer. ˝This will last as much time, perhaps, as is needed in walking five hundred yards. It will begin at midday, so Menes told me.˝

˝Menes,˝ repeated the pharaoh, ˝I know that name.˝

˝He wrote thee a letter concerning it, holiness. But let the army know.˝

Straightway they sounded the trumpets; the guard and the Asiatics were drawn out under arms, and the pharaoh, surrounded by his staff, informed the troops of the eclipse, telling them not to be alarmed, that it would pass soon, and that he would be with them.

˝Live through eternity!˝ answered the armed ranks.

At the same time a number of the best riders were sent to Memphis.

The generals took their places at the head of the columns, the pharaoh walked through the court thoughtfully, the civilians whispered with Hiram; Queen Niort's, left alone in the chamber, fell on her face before the statue of Osiris.

It was after one. The light of the sun began to lessen.

˝Will night come in fact?˝ asked the pharaoh of Pentuer.

˝It will come, but during a very short interval.˝

˝Where will the sun be?˝

˝It will hide behind the moon.˝

˝I must restore to my favor the sages who investigate stars,˝ said the pharaoh to himself.

The darkness increased quickly. The horses of the Asiatics grew restive, flocks of birds flew into the garden, and occupied all the trees, with noisy twitter.

˝Rouse up!˝ cried Kalippos to the Greeks.

The drums beat, the flutes sounded, and to this accompaniment the Greek soldiers sang a dancing song of the priest's daughter who was so timid that she could sleep only in the barracks.

Meanwhile an ominous shade fell on the tawny Libyan hills, and covered

Memphis, the Nile, and the palace gardens with lightning swiftness.

Night embraced the earth, and in the heavens appeared a ball as black

as coal surrounded by a rim of brightness.

An immense uproar drowned the song of the Greek regiment. This was caused by the Asiatics, who raised a military shout as they sent a cloud of arrows toward the sky to frighten the evil spirit which was gulping the sun down.

˝Dost say that that black ball is the moon?˝ inquired the pharaoh of

Pentuer.

˝That is what Menes asserts.˝

˝He is a great sage! And will the darkness end soon?˝

˝To a certainty.˝

˝And if this moon should tear itself away and fall to the earth?˝

˝That cannot be. Here is the sun!˝ cried Pentuer, with delight.

The assembled regiments raised a shout in honor of Ramses XIII.

The pharaoh embraced Pentuer. ˝Indeed,˝ said he, ˝we have seen a most wonderful event. But I should not like to see it a second time. I feel that if I had not been a warrior fear would have mastered me.˝

Hiram approached Tutmosis, and whispered,

˝Send couriers, worthiness, to Memphis immediately, for I fear that the high priests have done something evil.˝

˝Dost Thou think so?˝

Hiram nodded.

˝They would not have managed the kingdom so long,˝ said he, ˝they would not have buried eighteen dynasties if they had not known how to use events like the present.˝

When Ramses had thanked the troops for good bearing in presence of the strange phenomenon, he returned to his villa. He continued thoughtful, he spoke calmly, even mildly, but on his shapely face doubt was evident.

In the pharaoh's soul there was indeed a grievous struggle. He had begun to understand that the priests possessed powers which he not only had not weighed, but had not noted; he had not even wished to hear of them. In a few moments the priests who followed the movements of stars rose in his eyes immensely, and he said to himself that in every case he should learn this wonderful wisdom which confuses people's plans so terribly.

Courier after courier flew from the palace to Memphis to learn what had happened during the eclipse. But the couriers did not return, and uncertainty spread its black wings above the retinue of the pharaoh. No one doubted that something evil had happened at the temple of Ptah. More than that, no man dared to draw his own conclusions. It seemed as though the pharaoh and his intimate counselors were glad when a minute passed without tidings. Meanwhile Queen Niort's sat down at the pharaoh's side, and whispered,

˝Let me act, Ramses. Women have served this state more than once. Only remember Queen Niort's in the sixth dynasty, or Makara who created a fleet on the Red Sea. In our sex there is no lack of mind or of energy, so let me act. If the temple of Ptah is not taken, and the priests are not wronged I will reconcile thee with Herhor. Thou wilt take his daughter as wife, and thy reign will be full of glory. Remember that thy grandfather, the holy Amenhotep, was also a high priest and a viceroy of the pharaoh, and Thou thyself, who knows if Thou wouldst be reigning today, had the holy order of the priests not desired to have its own blood on the throne. Art thou, too, not obliged to them for dominion?˝

The pharaoh as he listened to her, thought all the time that the wisdom of the priests was an immense power, and the struggle with them difficult.

Only about three in the afternoon did the first courier arrive from Memphis, an adjutant of the regiment which had been stationed at the temple. He informed the sovereign that the temple had not been taken because of the anger of the gods; that the people had fled, that the priests were triumphant, and that even in the army disorder had arisen during that brief but terrible darkness.

Then, taking Tutmosis aside, the adjutant declared to him directly that the troops were demoralized; that, because they had fled in a panic, as many were wounded and killed as in a battle.

˝What is happening now with the troops?˝ inquired Tutmosis in consternation.

˝Of course,˝ replied the adjutant, ˝we were able to rally the men and bring them to order. But we cannot even speak of using them against the temples, especially now when they are occupied with caring for the wounded. At present a warrior is ready to fall to the earth before a shaven head and a panther skin; a long time will pass before any one will dare to cross a sacred gateway.˝

˝But what are the priests doing?˝

˝Blessing the warriors, giving food and drink to them, and pretending that the troops are not guilty of attacking the temple; that that was the work of Phoenicians.˝

˝But do ye permit this demoralization of troops?˝ exclaimed Tutmosis.

˝Well, his holiness commanded us to defend the priests against the multitude. Had we been permitted to occupy the temple we should have done so at ten in the morning, and the high priests now would be sitting in a dungeon.˝

At this moment the officer in attendance informed Tutmosis that again some priest had arrived from Memphis, and desired to speak with his holiness.

Tutmosis looked at the guest. He was a man rather young, with a face as if carved out of wood. He said that he had come to the pharaoh from Samentu.

Ramses received the priest, who prostrated himself and gave the pharaoh a ring, at sight of which his holiness grew pallid.

˝What does this mean?˝ asked he.

˝Samentu is no longer alive,˝ replied the priest.

Ramses could not recover his voice for a time. At last he asked,

˝How has this happened?˝

˝It appears,˝ replied the priest, ˝that Samentu was discovered in one of the halls of the labyrinth, and that he poisoned himself to escape torture. It seems that Mefres discovered him through the aid of a certain Greek, who, as they tell us, resembles thee, holiness.˝

˝Again Mefres and Lykon!˝ exclaimed Tutmosis in anger. ˝O lord,˝ said he, turning to Ramses, ˝wilt Thou never free thyself from those traitors?˝

The pharaoh summoned a confidential council again. He called in Hiram, also the priest who had brought the ring from Samentu. Pentuer did not wish to take part in the council, but the worthy queen went herself to it.

˝I see,˝ whispered Hiram to Tutmosis, ˝that after the expulsion of priests women are to govern Egypt.˝

When the dignitaries had assembled, the pharaoh let Samentu's messenger speak.

The young priest would not talk of the labyrinth, but he explained sufficiently that the temple of Ptah was undefended, and that a few tens of men would suffice to arrest all who were hiding there.

˝This man is a traitor!˝ screamed the queen. ˝A priest himself, he persuades thee to violence against the priesthood.˝

In the face of the messenger no muscle quivered. ˝Worthy lady,˝ replied he, ˝if Mefres destroyed my guardian and master, Samentu, I should be a dog if I sought not revenge. Death for death!˝

˝This young man pleases me,˝ whispered Hiram.

Indeed a fresher air seemed to move in the assembly. Generals straightened themselves; civilians looked at the priest with curiosity; even the pharaoh's face became livelier.

˝Listen not to him, my son,˝ implored Queen Niort's.

˝What dost Thou think,˝ asked the pharaoh on a sudden; ˝what would the holy Samentu do now were he living?˝

˝I am sure,˝ answered the priest, energetically, ˝that Samentu would go to the temple of Ptah and burn incense to the gods; but he would punish murderers and traitors.˝

˝And I repeat that Thou art the worst of traitors!˝ cried the queen.

˝I only fulfill my duty,˝ said the priest, unmoved by her language.

˝This man is a pupil of Samentu indeed,˝ said Hiram. ˝He alone sees what is left us to do, and sees clearly.˝

The military and civil dignitaries recognized the correctness of

Hiram's opinion.

˝Since we have begun a struggle with the priests,˝ said the chief scribe, ˝we should finish it, and finish it today when we have letters proving that Herhor was negotiating with the Assyrians, an act which is high treason against Egypt.˝

˝He is carrying out the policy of Ramses XII,˝ said the queen.

˝But I am Ramses XIII,˝ said the pharaoh impatiently.

Tutmosis rose from his chair.

˝My lord,˝ said he, ˝let me act. It is very dangerous to continue uncertainty in the government, and it would be folly and crime not to use this occasion. Since this priest says that the temple is not defended, let me go to it with a handful of men whom I will select.˝

˝I am with thee!˝ said Kalippos. ˝According to my experience, an enemy while triumphant is the weakest. If we attack the temple of Ptah immediately.˝

˝Ye do not need to attack, but go in there as executives of the pharaoh who commands you to imprison traitors,˝ said the chief scribe. ˝Even force is not needed. How often does one policeman rush at a crowd of offenders and seize as many as he wishes.˝

˝My son,˝ said the queen, ˝yields to the pressure of your counsels. But he does not wish force; he forbids you to use it.˝

˝Ha! if that be the case,˝ said the young priest of Set, ˝I will tell his holiness one other thing.˝ He breathed a couple of times deeply, but still he finished in a stifled voice and with effort. ˝On the streets of Memphis the party of the priests is announcing, that.˝

˝That what? Speak boldly,˝ said the pharaoh.

˝That thou, holiness, art insane, that Thou hast not the ordination of high priest, that Thou art not even made pharaoh, and that 'it is possible to exclude thee from the throne.˝

˝That is just what I feared,˝ whispered Niort's.

The pharaoh sprang up from his seat.

˝Tutmosis!˝ cried he, in a voice in which his recovered energy was heard. ˝Take as many troops as Thou wishest; go to the temple of Ptah and bring me Herhor and Mefres, accused of high treason. If they are justified I will return my favor; in the opposite case.˝

˝Hast Thou finished?˝ interrupted the queen.

This time the indignant pharaoh did not answer her, and the officials cried,

˝Death to traitors! When has it begun that in Egypt a pharaoh must sacrifice faithful servants to beg for himself the favor of scoundrels?˝

Ramses XIII confided to Tutmosis the package of letters of Herhor to

Assyria, and said in a solemn voice,

˝Till the rebellion of the priests is suppressed, I place my power in the person of Tutmosis, commander of the guards. And do ye listen to him, and do thou, worthy mother, go with thy judgments to him?˝

˝Wisely and justly has the sovereign acted!˝ exclaimed the chief scribe. ˝It does not become a pharaoh to struggle with sedition, and a lack of firm rule might destroy us.˝

All the dignitaries inclined before Tutmosis. Queen Niort's fell at her son's feet.

Tutmosis, in company with the generals, went out to the court. He commanded the first regiment of the guard to form, and said,

˝I need 'a few tens of men who are ready to die for the glory of our lord.˝

More presented themselves, both men and officers, than were needed, and at the head of them Eunana.

˝Are ye prepared for death?˝ inquired Tutmosis.

˝We will die with thee, lord, for his holiness!˝ exclaimed Eunana.

˝Ye will not die, but ye will overcome vile criminals,˝ replied

Tutmosis. ˝Soldiers belonging to this expedition will become officers,

and officers will be advanced two degrees. I say this to you, I,

Tutmosis, supreme chief by the will of the pharaoh.˝

˝Live Thou forever!˝

Tutmosis commanded to prepare twenty-five two-wheeled chariots of the

heavy cavalry, and ordered the volunteers to enter. Then he with

Kalippos mounted their horses, and soon the whole retinue turned toward

Memphis and vanished in a dust cloud.

When Hiram saw this from the window of a villa, he bowed before the pharaoh and whispered,

˝Now for the first time I believe that Thou art not in conspiracy with the high priests.˝

˝Wert Thou mad?˝ burst out the pharaoh.

˝Pardon, sovereign, but the attack on the temple today was planned by the priests. How they drew thee into it, holiness, I do not understand to this moment.˝

It was five in the afternoon.

 

Chapter LXVI

 

At that same hour to a minute, the priest, watching on the pylon of the temple of Ptah in Memphis, informed the high priests and nomarchs counseling in the hall, that the palace of the pharaoh was giving some signals.

˝It seems that his holiness will beg us for peace,˝ said one of the nomarchs, smiling.

˝I doubt that!˝ answered Mefres.

Herhor ascended the pylon, for they were signaling to him from the palace. Soon he returned and said to those assembled:

˝Our young priest has managed very well. At this moment Tutmosis is advancing with some tens of volunteers to imprison or slay us.˝

˝And wilt Thou dare still to defend Ramses?˝ cried Mefres.

˝I must and will defend him, for I swore solemnly to the queen that I would. Were it not for the worthy daughter of the holy Amenhotep, our position today would not be what it is.˝

˝Well, but I have not sworn,˝ replied Mefres, and he left the hall.

˝What does he wish?˝ asked one of the nomarchs.

˝He is an old man grown childish,˝ replied Herhor, shrugging his shoulders.

Before six o'clock in the evening a division of the guard approached the temple of Ptah unhindered, and the leader of it knocked at the gate, which was opened immediately. This was Tutmosis with his volunteers.

When the chief entered the temple court he was astonished to see Herhor in the miter of Amenhotep, and surrounded only by priests come out to meet him.

˝What dost Thou wish, my son?˝ asked the high priest of the chief, who was somewhat confused by the meeting.

Tutmosis mastered himself quickly, and said,

˝Herhor, high priest of Amon in Thebes, because of letters which Thou hast written to Sargon, the Assyrian satrap, which letters I have with me, Thou art accused of high treason to the state, and must justify thyself before the pharaoh.˝

˝If the young lord,˝ answered Herhor calmly, ˝wishes to learn the object of the policy of the eternally living Ramses XII, let him apply to our Supreme Council and he will receive explanations.˝

˝I summon thee to follow me at once, unless Thou wish that I should force thee,˝ continued Tutmosis.

˝My son, I implore the gods to preserve thee from violence, and from the punishment which Thou deservest.˝

˝Wilt Thou go?˝ asked Tutmosis.

˝I wait here for Ramses,˝ answered Herhor.

˝Well, then, remain here, trickster!˝ cried Tutmosis.

He drew his sword and rushed at Herhor.

At that instant Eunana, who was standing behind the chief, raised an axe and struck Tutmosis with all his might between the neck and the right shoulder blade, so that the blood spurted in every direction. The favorite of the pharaoh fell to the earth almost cut in two.

Some of the warriors with leveled spears rushed at Eunana, but they fell after a brief struggle with their own comrades. Of the volunteers, three-fourths were in the pay of the priesthood.

˝May he live, his holiness Herhor, our lord!˝ cried Eunana, waving his bloody axe.

˝May he live through eternity!˝ repeated the warriors and priests, and all fell on their faces.

The most worthy Herhor raised his hands and blessed them.

On leaving the court of the temple, Mefres went to the underground chamber to Lykon. The high priest at the very threshold drew from his bosom a crystal ball, at the sight of which the Greek fell into auger.

˝Would that the earth swallowed you! Would that your corpses might know no rest!˝ said Lykon, abusing him in a voice which grew lower and lower.

At last he was silent and fell into a trance.

˝Take this dagger,˝ said Mefres, giving the Greek a slender steel blade. ˝Take this dagger and go to the palace garden. Halt there at the clump of fig trees and wait for him who deprived thee of Kama, and took her away.˝

Lykon gritted his teeth in helpless rage.

˝And when Thou seest him, wake,˝ concluded Mefres.

He threw over the Greek an officer's mantle with a cowl, whispered the password into his ear and led him forth to the empty streets of Memphis through a secret door of the temple.

Then Mefres ran with the celerity of youth to the summit of the pylon, and taking in his hand some banners, made signals toward the palace. They saw and understood him, that was evident, for a bitter smile came to the parchment like face of the high priest.

Mefres put down the banners, left the summit of the pylon and descended slowly. When he reached the pavement he was surrounded by some men in light brown tunics, which were covered by coats in white and black stripes.

˝Here is the most worthy Mefres,˝ said one of them. And all three knelt before the high priest, who raised his hand mechanically, as if to bless them. But he dropped it suddenly, inquiring, ˝Who are ye?˝

˝Overseers of the labyrinth.˝

˝Why have ye barred the way to me?˝ asked he, and his hand and thin lips began to tremble.

˝We need not remind thee, holy man,˝ said one of the overseers still kneeling, ˝that some days ago Thou wert in the labyrinth, to which Thou knowest the way as well as we, though Thou art uninitiated. Thou art too great a sage not to know what our law is in such a case.˝

˝What does this mean?˝ exclaimed Mefres in a raised voice. ˝Ye are murderers sent by Her.˝

He did not finish. One of the men seized him by the arms, another passed a kerchief over his head, and a third threw a transparent liquid over his face. Mefres struggled a number of times, and fell. They sprinkled him again. When he was dead they placed him in a niche, pushed into his dead hand a papyrus, and vanished.

Three men dressed similarly chased after Lykon almost the instant that he was pushed out of the temple by Mefres and found himself on the empty street. The men had hidden not far from the door through which the Greek issued, and at first let him pass freely. But soon one of them noted something suspicious in his hand, so they followed.

A wonderful thing! Lykon though in a trance felt, as it were, the pursuit; he turned quickly into a street full of movement, then to a square where a multitude of people were circling about, and then ran to the Nile by Fisher Street. There, at the end of some alley, he found a small boat, sprang into it and began to cross the river with a speed which was remarkable.

He was a couple of hundred yards from the shore when a boat pushed out after him with one rower and three passengers. Barely had these left land when a second boat appeared with two rowers and three passengers also.

Both boats pursued Lykon with stubbornness. In that which had only one rower sat the overseers of the labyrinth, looking diligently at their rivals, as far as was permitted by the darkness, which came soon after sundown.

˝Who are those three?˝ whispered they among themselves. ˝Since the day before yesterday they have been lurking around the temple, and today they are pursuing Lykon. Do they wish to protect him from us?˝

Lykon's small boat reached the other shore. The Greek sprang from it and went swiftly toward the palace garden. Sometimes he staggered, stopped, and seized his head, but after an instant he went forward again, as if drawn by some incomprehensible attraction.

The overseers of the labyrinth landed also, but they were preceded by their rivals.

And a race began which was unique in its kind: Lykon was hurling toward the palace, like a swift runner; after him were the three unknown men, and the three overseers of the labyrinth.

A few hundred steps from the garden the pursuing groups came together.

It was night then, but clear.

˝Who are ye?˝ asked one of the labyrinth men of the others.

˝I am the chief of police in Pi-Bast, and, with my centurions, am pursuing a great criminal,˝ answered one of them.

˝We are overseers of the labyrinth and are following the same person.˝

The groups looked at each other with hands on their swords or knives.

˝What will ye do with him?˝ asked the chief of police.

˝We have a sentence against the man.˝

˝But will ye leave the body?˝

˝With all that is on it,˝ replied the elder overseer.

The police whispered among themselves.

˝If ye tell the truth,˝ said the chief at last, ˝we shall not hinder you. On the contrary, we will lend him to you for a while, as he will fall into our hands later.˝

˝Do ye swear?˝

˝We swear.˝

˝Then we may go together.˝

So they joined forces, but the Greek had vanished.

˝Curses on him!˝ cried the chief of police. ˝He has escaped again!˝

˝He will be found,˝ answered the overseer of the labyrinth, ˝or perhaps even he will return.˝

˝Why should he go to the pharaoh's garden?˝ asked the chief of police.

˝The high priests are using him for some purpose of their own, but he will return to the temple.˝

They decided to wait and act in common.

˝We are spending the third night for nothing,˝ said one of the policemen, yawning.

They wrapped themselves in their cloaks and lay on the grass.

Immediately after the departure of Tutmosis, the worthy lady Niort's, in silence, with lips tightly closed from anger, left the chamber of her son, and when Ramses wished to calm her, she interrupted him sharply,

˝I take leave of the pharaoh, and pray the gods to permit me to see him to-morrow as pharaoh.˝

˝Dost Thou doubt that, mother?˝

˝It is possible to doubt everything in presence of one who listens to madmen and traitors.˝

They parted in anger.

Soon his holiness recovered good-humor and conversed joyously with the officials. But about six o'clock alarm began to torment him.

˝Tutmosis ought to send us a courier,˝ said he. ˝For I am certain that the affair is already settled in one or another way.˝

˝I do not know that,˝ said the chief treasurer. ˝They may not have found boats at the crossing. There may have been resistance at the temple.˝

˝But where is that young priest?˝ asked Hiram on a sudden.

˝The priest? The messenger of the late Samentu?˝ repeated the officials in concern. ˝That is true where can he be?˝

Men were sent to search the garden. They searched every path, but there was no priest.

This circumstance made a bad impression on the dignitaries. Each one sat in silence, sunk in alarming thoughts.

About sundown the pharaoh's chamber servant entered and whispered that the lady Hebron was very ill, and implored his holiness to visit her.

The officials, knowing the relations between their lord and the beautiful Hebron, looked at one another. But when the pharaoh announced his purpose of going into the garden they made no protest. The garden, thanks to numerous guards, was as safe as the palace. No one considered it proper to watch over the pharaoh even from a distance, knowing that Ramses did not wish any one to be occupied with him at certain moments.

When he disappeared, the chief scribe said to the treasurer,

˝Time drags on like a chariot in the desert. Perhaps Hebron has some news from Tutmosis.˝

˝At this moment,˝ answered the treasurer, ˝his expedition with a few tens of men to the temple of Ptah seems to me inconceivable madness!˝

˝But did the pharaoh act more wisely at the Soda Lakes when he chased all night after Tehenna?˝ put in Hiram. ˝Daring means more than numbers.˝

˝But that young priest?˝ asked the treasurer.

˝He came without our knowledge and went without leave,˝ added Hiram.

˝Each one of us acts like a conspirator.˝

The treasurer shook his head.

Ramses passed the space between his villa and that of Tutmosis quickly. When he entered her chamber Hebron threw herself on his neck with weeping.

˝I am dying of fear!˝ cried she.

˝Art Thou alarmed for Tutmosis?˝

˝What is Tutmosis to me?˝ answered Hebron, with a contemptuous grimace. ˝I care for thee only! Of thee only am I thinking, I am alarmed for thee!˝

˝Blessed be thy alarm which freed me even for a moment from tedium,˝ said the pharaoh, laughing. ˝O gods! what a day! If Thou hadst heard our discussions, if Thou hadst seen the faces of our counselors! And in addition to all, it pleased the worthy queen to honor our assembly with her presence. Never bad I supposed that the dignity of pharaoh could be so annoying.˝

˝Do not say this audibly,˝ cautioned Hebron. ˝What wilt Thou do if

Tutmosis does not succeed in seizing the temple?˝

˝I will take the leadership from him, hide my crown in a box, and put on an officer's helmet,˝ answered Ramses. ˝I am certain that when I appear at the head of the troops myself the sedition will vanish.˝

˝Which one?˝ inquired Hebron.

˝Ah, true, we have two,˝ laughed Ramses. ˝That of the people against the priests, that of the priests against me.˝

He seized Hebron in his arms and went toward the couch whispering,

˝How beautiful Thou art today! Each time I see thee Thou art different, each time more beautiful than ever.˝

˝Let me go,˝ whispered Hebron. ˝At times I am afraid that Thou wilt bite me.˝

˝Bite? No! But I might kiss thee to death. Thou dost not even suspect thy own beauty.˝

˝I am beautiful in comparison with ministers and generals. But free me.˝

˝In thy presence I should wish to be like a pomegranate. I should wish to have as many arms as the tree has branches, so as to embrace thee with all of them, as many hands as it has leaves, and as many lips as it has flowers, so as to kiss thy lips, eyes, and bosom at once with them.˝

˝Thou hast a mind marvelously free of care for a sovereign whose throne is in peril.˝

˝On the couch, I do not care for a throne. While I have a sword I shall have power.˝

˝Thy troops are scattered,˝ said Hebron, defending herself.

˝Tomorrow fresh troops will come, and after to-morrow I shall gather the scattered ones. I repeat to thee be not occupied with trifles. One moment of fondling is worth more than a year of dominion.˝

One hour after sunset the pharaoh left Hebron's villa and returned slowly to his palace. He was full of imaginings, he was dreamy, and he thought the high priests were great fools to resist him. Since Egypt became Egypt there had not been a kindlier pharaoh.

All at once, from out a clump of fig trees sprang a man in a dark mantle, and barred the road to Ramses. The pharaoh, to see the man better, approached his face to the face of the stranger and cried suddenly,

˝O wretch, is it thou? Go to the guard house!˝

It was Lykon. Ramses seized him by the neck; the Greek hissed and knelt on the ground. At the same moment the pharaoh felt a sharp pain in the left side of his stomach.

˝Dost Thou bite too?˝ cried Ramses. He seized the Greek with both hands, and when he heard the cracking of his broken spine he hurled him off in disgust.

Lykon fell quivering in the convulsions of death.

The pharaoh moved back a couple of steps. He examined his body and discovered the handle of a dagger.

˝He has wounded me!˝

He drew the slender steel from his side and pressed the wound.

˝I wonder,˝ thought he, ˝if any of my counselors has a plaster?˝ He felt weak and hurried forward. Right at the palace one of the officers stood before him and said, ˝Tutmosis is dead; the traitor Eunana slew him.˝

˝Eunana?˝ repeated the pharaoh. ˝But what of the others?˝

˝All, all the volunteers who went with Tutmosis were sold to the priests.˝

˝Well, I must finish this!˝ said Ramses. ˝Sound the trumpets for the

Asiatic regiments.˝

The trumpets sounded, and the Asiatics hurried from the barracks, leading their horses.

˝Give me my steed!˝ said the pharaoh. But he felt a sudden dizziness and added, ˝No, give me a litter, I should tire myself.˝

All at once he tottered into the arms of the officers.

˝Oh, I almost forgot,˝ said Ramses in a dying voice. ˝Bring my helmet and sword that steel sword from the Soda. Let us go to Memphis.˝

Officials and servants ran out of the villa with torches. The pharaoh was supported by officers, his face was pale and his eyes were mist- covered. He stretched forth his hand as if seeking his breastplate, his lips moved, and amid general silence the lord of two worlds, the temporal and the western, breathed his life out.

The dove-eyed goddess Astaroth had avenged the wrong done her priestess.

 

Chapter LXVII

 

From the death of Ramses XIII till the day of his burial the state was governed by the most worthy San-Amen-Herhor as high priest of the Theban Amon, and viceroy of the late pharaoh.

The government of the viceroy, lasting some months, was very prosperous for Egypt. Herhor pacified the outbreaks of the people, and, in accordance with former times, he gave the seventh day for rest to the working man. He introduced stern discipline among the priests; he extended protection to foreigners, especially Phoenicians, and concluded a treaty with Assyria, not yielding Phoenicia, however, which remained tributary to Egypt.

In the course of this short government, justice was meted out quickly, but without cruelty, and this or that man did not dare to beat an Egyptian laborer, who had the right to appeal to a court if he had time sufficient and witnesses.

Herhor occupied himself too in paying the debts which weighed on the lands of the state and the pharaoh. With this object he persuaded the Phoenicians to resign a certain part of the sums due them from the treasury, and to cover the rest he drew from the labyrinth the enormous sum of thirty thousand talents.

Thanks to these measures, in the course of three months peace and prosperity were established in Egypt.

˝May the rule of the viceroy, San-Amen-Herhor be blessed!˝ said the people. ˝Indeed the gods predestined him to power so as to free Egypt from misfortunes brought on by Ramses XIII, who was a woman-hunter and frivolous.˝

A few days sufficed the people to forget that all Herhor's acts were merely the accomplishment of plans made by the young and lofty-minded pharaoh.

In the month Tobi, when the mummy of Ramses XIII was placed in its tomb, a great assembly of the most important personages met in the temple of Amon. There were present almost all the high priests, nomarchs, and generals of troops, and among them, covered with glory, was the gray-haired chief of the eastern army, Nitager.

In this same gigantic hall of columns, where half a year earlier the priests had judged Ramses XII, and shown dislike for Ramses XIII, those dignitaries assembled to settle the most important question of state, under the presidency of Herhor. On the 25th of Tobi, exactly at noon, Herhor, in the miter of Amenhotep, sat on the throne; others sat in armchairs, and the council took place.

It was of wonderfully short duration, just as if the result had been arranged previously.

˝High priests, nomarchs, and leaders,˝ began Herhor. ˝We have assembled here on sad and important business. With the death of the eternally living Ramses XIII, whose short and stormy reign ended in a manner so unfortunate ˝Here Herhor sighed.

˝With Ramses XIII perished not only a pharaoh, but the twentieth dynasty, which was full of glory.˝

Among those present rose a murmur.

˝The dynasty has not ended,˝ interrupted the powerful nomarch of Memphis, almost harshly. ˝The worthy Queen Niort's is still living, therefore the throne belongs to her.˝

After a time Herhor answered: ˝My most worthy consort, Queen Niort's.˝

Now in the assembly was heard, not a murmur, but a cry, and it lasted a number of minutes. When it ceased Herhor continued calmly and with emphasis:

˝My most worthy consort, Queen Niort's, inconsolable through sorrow for her son, has abdicated the throne.˝

˝Permit!˝ exclaimed the nomarch of Memphis. ˝The most worthy viceroy has called the queen his consort. This intelligence is entirely new, and, first of all it must be verified.˝

At a sign from Herhor the judge of Thebes drew out an act concluded two

days before between the most worthy high priest of Amon, San-Amen-

Herhor, and Queen Niort's, widow of Ramses XII, and mother of Ramses

XIII.

After this explanation came a grave-like silence. Herhor began again,

˝Since my consort, who is the only heir to the throne, has abdicated, the reign of the twentieth dynasty is ended; we must choose a new sovereign.

˝This sovereign,˝ continued Herhor, ˝should be a man of ripe years, energetic, and skilled in government. For this reason I advise you to choose for the highest position.˝

˝Herhor!˝ cried some one.

˝The most famous Nitager, the leader of the eastern army,˝ finished

Herhor.

Nitager sat a long time with closed eyes, smiling. At last he rose, and said,

˝Never will there be a lack of men eager for the title of pharaoh. We have more of them perhaps than are needed. Luckily, the gods themselves, in setting aside useless rivals, have indicated a man most worthy of power, and it seems to me that I shall act wisely if, instead of receiving the crown offered me graciously, I answer,

˝May he live through eternity, his holiness, San-Amen-Herhor, the first pharaoh of a new dynasty!˝

Those present, with few exceptions, repeated the shout, and at the same time the supreme judge brought on a golden tray two caps: the white one of Upper, and the red one of Lower Egypt. One of these was taken by the high priest of Osiris, the other by the high priest of Horus, and they delivered them to Herhor, who, when he had kissed the golden serpent, put them both on his head.

Then those present began the ceremony of offering homage, which lasted a couple of hours. After that a proper act was written; those who took part in the election placed their seals on it, and from that moment San-Amen-Herhor was the real pharaoh, the lord of both worlds, also of the life and death of his subjects.

Toward evening his holiness returned wearied to his chambers of a high priest, where he found Pentuer, who had grown thin, and on whose emaciated face weariness and sadness were evident.

When Pentuer prostrated himself the pharaoh raised him and said with a smile,

˝Thou didst not sign my election, Thou didst not give me homage, and I fear that I shall have to arrest thee some time in the temple of Ptah. Well, hast Thou been thinking to leave me? Dost prefer Menes?˝

˝Forgive, holiness,˝ answered the priest, ˝but court life has so wearied me that my only desire is to learn wisdom.˝

˝Thou canst not forget Ramses?˝ inquired Herhor. ˝And yet Thou knewest him only a very short time, while Thou hast labored with me during years.˝

˝Blame me not, holiness, but Ramses XIII was the first pharaoh to commiserate the Egyptian people.˝

Herhor smiled.

˝O ye learned men,˝ said he, shaking his head. ˝But it was Thou who didst turn the attention of Ramses to the people, and now Thou bearest mourning for him in thy heart, though he did nothing whatever for the people. It was Thou who commiserated, not he. Ye are strange men, in spite of your powerful minds,˝ continued Herhor. ˝It is the same thing with Menes. That priest considers that he is the most peaceful man in Egypt, though it was he who overturned the dynasty and smoothed the road to power for me. Were it not for his letter about the eclipse of the sun on the 20th of Paofi, perhaps I and the late Mefres would be splitting stones now in the quarries.

˝Well, go; go and greet Menes for me. Remember also that I know how to be thankful, which is the great secret of ruling. Tell Menes that I shall carry out every wish of his, unless he asks me, for example, to abdicate. Return to me when Thou hast rested, I will keep an important place for thee.˝

And he touched Pentuer's head, which was inclined submissively.and singers exceedingly; they declared that they would travel thenceforth only through the desert. Meanwhile Prince Ramses sent an order to turn all women back to Memphis at the earliest and urge the march forward.

His dignity Herhor, minister of war, was with the staff, but only as a spectator. He had not brought singers himself, but he made no remarks to officers. He gave command to carry his litter at the head of the column, and accommodating himself to its movements, advanced or rested under the immense fan with which his adjutant shaded him.

Herhor was a man of forty and some years of age, strongly built, concentrated in character. He spoke rarely, and looked at people as rarely from under his drooping eyelids. He went with arms and legs bare, like every Egyptian, his breast exposed; he had sandals on his feet, a short skirt about his hips, an apron with blue and white stripes. As a priest, he shaved his beard and hair and wore a panther- skin hanging from his left shoulder. As a soldier, he covered his head with a small helmet of the guard; from under this helmet hung a kerchief, also in blue and white stripes; this reached his shoulders. Around his neck was a triple gold chain, and under his left arm a short sword in a costly scabbard. His litter, borne by six black slaves, was attended always by three persons: one carried his fan, another the mace of the minister, and the third a box for papyrus. This third man was Pentuer, a priest, and the secretary of Herhor. He was a lean ascetic who in the greatest heat never covered his shaven head. He came of the people, but in spite of low birth he occupied a high position in the state; this was due to exceptional abilities.

Though the minister with his officials preceded the staff and held himself apart from its movements, it could not be said that he was unconscious of what was happening behind him. Every hour, at times every half hour, some one approached Herhor's litter, now a priest of lower rank, an ordinary ˝servant of the gods,˝ a marauding soldier, a freedman, or a slave, who, passing as it were indifferently the silent retinue of the minister, threw out a word. That word Pentuer recorded sometimes, but more frequently he remembered it, for his memory was amazing.

No one in the noisy throng of the staff paid attention to these details. The officers, sons of great lords, were too much occupied by running, by noisy conversation, or by singing, to notice who approached the minister; all the more since a multitude of people were pushing along the highway.

On the sixteenth of Mesore the staff of Prince Ramses, together with his dignity the minister, passed the night under the open sky at the distance of five miles from the regiments which were arranged in battle order across the highway beyond the city of Pi-Bailos.

In that early morning which precedes our six o'clock, the hills grew violet, and from behind them came forth the sun. A rosy light flowed over the land of Goshen. Villages, temples, palaces of magnates, and huts of earth-tillers looked like sparks and flames which flashed up in one moment from the midst of green spaces. Soon the western horizon was flooded with a golden hue, and the green land of Goshen seemed melting into gold, and the numberless canals seemed filled with molten silver. But the desert hills grew still more marked with violet, and cast long shadows on the sands, and darkness on the plant world.

The guards who stood along that highway could see with the utmost clearness fields, edged with palms, beyond the canal. Some fields were green with flax, wheat, clover; others were gilded with ripening barley of the second growth. Now earth-tillers began to come out to field labor, from huts concealed among trees; they were naked and bronze- hued; their whole dress was a short skirt and a cap. Some turned to canals to clear them of mud, or to draw water. Others dispersing among the trees gathered grapes and ripe figs. Many naked children stirred about, and women were busy in white, yellow, or red shirts which were sleeveless.

There was great movement in that region. In the sky birds of prey from the desert pursued pigeons and daws in the land of Goshen. Along the canal squeaking sweeps moved up and down, with buckets of fertilizing water; fruit-gatherers appeared and disappeared among the trees, like colored butterflies. But in the desert, on the highway, swarmed the army and its servants. A division of mounted lancers shot past. Behind them marched bowmen in caps and petticoats; they had bows in their hands, quivers on their shoulders, and broadswords at their right sides. The archers were accompanied by slingers who carried bags with missiles and were armed with short swords.

A hundred yards behind them advanced two small divisions of footmen, one division armed with darts, the other with spears. Both carried rectangular shields; on their breasts they had thick coats, as it were armor, and on their heads caps with kerchiefs behind to ward off the sun-rays. The caps and coats had blue and white stripes or yellow and black stripes, which made those soldiers seem immense hornets.

Behind the advance guard, surrounded by a retinue of macebearers, pushed on the litter of the minister, and behind it, with bronze helmets and breastplates, the Greek companies, whose measured tread called to mind blows of heavy hammers. In the rear was heard the creaking of vehicles, and from the side of the highway slipped along the bearded Phoenician merchant in his litter borne between two asses. Above all this rose a cloud of golden dust, and heat also.

Suddenly from the vanguard galloped up a mounted soldier and informed Herhor that Prince Ramses, the heir to the throne, was approaching. His worthiness descended from the litter, and at that moment appeared a mounted party of men who halted and sprang from their horses. One man of this party and the minister began to approach each other, halting every few steps and bowing.

˝Be greeted, O son of the pharaoh; may he live through eternity!˝ said the minister.

˝Be greeted and live long, O holy father!˝ answered Ramses; then he added,

˝Ye advance as slowly as if your legs were sawn off, while Nitager will stand before our division in two hours at the latest.˝

˝Thou hast told truth. Thy staff marches very slowly.˝

˝Eunana tells me also,˝ here Ramses indicated an officer standing behind him who was covered with amulets, ˝that ye have not sent scouts to search ravines. But in case of real war an enemy might attack from that side.˝

˝I am not the leader, I am only a judge,˝ replied the minister, quietly.

˝But what can Patrokles be doing?˝

˝Patrokles is bringing up the military engines with his Greek regiment.˝

˝But my relative and adjutant, Tutmosis?˝

˝He is sleeping yet, I suppose.˝

Ramses stamped impatiently, and was silent. He was a beautiful youth, with a face almost feminine, to which anger and sunburn added charm. He wore a close-fitting coat with blue and white stripes, a kerchief of the same color behind his helmet, a gold chain around his neck, and a costly sword beneath his left arm.

˝I see,˝ said the prince, ˝that Thou alone, Eunana, art mindful of my honor.˝

The officer covered with amulets bent to the earth.

˝Tutmosis is indolent,˝ said the heir. ˝Return to thy place, Eunana.

Let the vanguard at least have a leader.˝

Then, looking at the suite which now surrounded him as if it had sprung from under the earth on a sudden, he added,

˝Bring my litter. I am as tired as a quarryman.˝

˝Can the gods grow tired?˝ whispered Eunana, still standing behind him.

˝Go to thy place!˝ said Ramses.

˝But perhaps Thou wilt command me, O image of the moon, to search the ravines?˝ asked the officer, in a low voice. ˝Command, I beg thee, for wherever I am my heart is chasing after thee to divine thy will and accomplish it.˝

˝I know that Thou art watchful,˝ answered Ramses. ˝Go now and look after everything.˝

˝Holy father,˝ said Eunana, turning to the minister, ˝I commend my most obedient service to thy worthiness.˝

Barely had Eunana gone when at the end of the marching column rose a still greater tumult. They looked for the heir's litter, but it was gone. Then appeared, making his way through the Greek warriors, a youth of strange exterior. He wore a muslin tunic, a richly embroidered apron, and a golden scarf across his shoulder. But he was distinguished above all by an immense wig with a multitude of tresses, and an artificial beard like cats' tails.

That was Tutmosis, the first exquisite in Memphis, who dressed and perfumed himself even during marches.

˝Be greeted, Ramses!˝ exclaimed the exquisite, pushing aside officers quickly. ˝Imagine thy litter is lost somewhere; Thou must sit in mine, which really is not fit for thee, but it is not the worst.˝

˝Thou hast angered me,˝ answered the prince. ˝Thou sleepest instead of watching the army.˝

The astonished exquisite stopped.

˝I sleep?˝ cried he. ˝May the man's tongue wither up who invented that calumny! I, knowing that Thou wouldst come, have been ready this hour past, and am preparing a bath for thee and perfumes.˝

˝While thus engaged, the regiment is without a commander.˝

˝Am I to command a detachment where his worthiness the minister of war is, and such a leader is present as Patrokles?˝

Ramses was silent; meanwhile Tutmosis, approaching him, whispered,

˝In what a plight Thou art, O son of the pharaoh! Without a wig, thy hair and dress full of dust, thy skin black and cracked, like the earth in summer. The queen, most deserving of honor, would drive me from the court were she to look at thy wretchedness.˝

˝I am only tired.˝

˝Then take a seat in my litter. In it are fresh garlands of roses, roast birds, and a jug of wine from Cyprus. I have kept also hidden in the camp,˝ added he in a lower voice, ˝Senura.˝

˝Is she here?˝ asked the prince; and his eyes, glittering a moment before, were now mist-covered.

˝Let the army move on,˝ said Tutmosis; ˝we will wait here for her.˝

Ramses recovered himself.

˝Leave me, tempter! The battle will come in two hours.˝

˝What! a battle?˝

˝At least the decision as to my leadership.˝

˝Oh, laugh at it!˝ smiled the exquisite. ˝I would swear that the minister of war sent a report of it yesterday, and with it the petition to give thee the corps of Memphis.˝

˝No matter if he did. Today I have no thought for anything but the army.˝

˝In thee this wish for war is dreadful, war during which a man does not wash for a whole month, so as to die in-Brr! But if Thou couldst see Senura, only glance at her. .˝

˝For that very reason I shall not glance at her,˝ answered Ramses, decisively.

At the moment when eight men were bringing from beyond the Greek ranks the immense litter of Tutmosis for the use of Ramses, a horseman raced in from the vanguard. He dropped from his horse and ran so quickly that on his breast the images of the gods or the tablets with their names rattled loudly. This was Eunana in great excitement.

All turned to him, and this gave him pleasure apparently.

˝Erpatr, the loftiest lips,˝ cried Eunana, bending before Ramses. ˝When, in accordance with thy divine command, I rode at the head of a detachment, looking carefully at all things, I noticed on the highroad two beautiful scarabs. Each of these sacred beetles was rolling an earth ball toward the sands near the roadside.˝

˝What of that?˝ interrupted Ramses.

˝Of course,˝ continued Eunana, glancing toward Herhor, ˝I and my people, as piety enjoins, rendered homage to the golden symbols of the sun, and halted. That augury is of such import that no man of us would make a step forward unless commanded.˝

˝I see that Thou art a pious Egyptian, though Thou hast the features of a Hittite,˝ answered the worthy Herhor; and turning to certain dignitaries standing near, he added,

˝We will not advance farther by the highway, for we might crush the sacred beetles. Pentuer, can we go around the road by that ravine on the right?˝

˝We can,˝ answered the secretary. ˝That ravine is five miles long, and comes out again almost in front of Pi-Bailos.˝

˝An immense loss of time!˝ interrupted Ramses, in anger.

˝I would swear that those are not scarabs, but the spirits of my Phoenician usurers,˝ said Tutmosis the exquisite. ˝Not being able, because of their death, to receive money from me, they will force me now to march through the desert in punishment!˝

The suite of the prince awaited the decision with fear; so Ramses turned to Herhor,

˝What dost Thou think of this, holy father?˝

˝Look at the officers,˝ answered the priest, ˝and Thou wilt understand that we must go by the ravine.˝

Now Patrokles, leader of the Greeks, pushed forward and said to the heir,

˝If the prince permit, my regiment will advance by the highway. My soldiers have no fear of beetles!˝

˝Your soldiers have no fear of royal tombs even,˝ added the minister.

˝Still it cannot be safe in them since no one has ever returned.˝

The Greek pushed back to the suite confounded.

˝Confess, holy father,˝ hissed the heir, with the greatest anger, ˝that such a hindrance would not stop even an ass on his journey.˝

˝True, but no ass will ever be pharaoh,˝ retorted the minister, calmly.

˝In that case thou, O minister, wilt lead the division through the ravine!˝ exclaimed Ramses. ˝I am unacquainted with priestly tactics; besides, I must rest. Come with me, cousin,˝ said he to Tutmosis; and he turned toward some naked hills.

 

Chapter II

 

Straightway his worthiness Herhor directed his adjutant who carried the mace to take charge of the vanguard in place of Eunana. Then he commanded that the military engines for hurling great stones leave the road, and that the Greek soldiers facilitate passage for those engines in difficult places. All vehicles and litters of staff-officers were to move in the rear.

When Herhor issued commands, the adjutant bearing the fan approached

Pentuer and asked,

˝Will it be possible to go by this highway again?˝

˝Why not?˝ answered the young priest. ˝But since two sacred beetles have barred the way now, we must not go farther; some misfortune might happen.˝

˝As it is, a misfortune has happened. Or hast Thou not noticed that

Prince Ramses is angry at the minister? and our lord is not forgetful.˝

˝It is not the prince who is offended with our lord, but our lord with the prince, and he has reproached him. He has done well; for it seems to the young prince, at present, that he is to be a second Menes.˝

˝Or a Ramses the Great,˝ put in the adjutant.

˝Ramses the Great obeyed the gods; for this cause there are inscriptions praising him in all the temples. But Menes, the first pharaoh of Egypt, was a destroyer of order, and thanks only to the fatherly kindness of the priests that his name is still remembered, though I would not give one brass uten on this, that the mummy of Menes exists.˝

˝My Pentuer,˝ added the adjutant, ˝Thou art a sage, hence knowest that it is all one to us whether we have ten lords or eleven.˝

˝But it is not all one to the people whether they have to find every year a mountain of gold for the priests, or two mountains of gold for the priests and the pharaoh,˝ answered Pentuer, while his eyes flashed.

˝Thou art thinking of dangerous things,˝ said the adjutant, in a whisper.

˝But how often hast Thou thyself grieved over the luxuries of the pharaoh's court and of the nomarchs?˝ inquired the priest in astonishment.

˝Quiet, quiet! We will talk of this, but not now.˝

In spite of the sand the military engines, drawn each by two bullocks, moved in the desert more speedily than along the highway. With the first of them marched Eunana, anxiously. ˝Why has the minister deprived me of leadership over the vanguard? Does he wish to give me a higher position?˝ asked he in his own mind.

Thinking out then a new career, and perhaps to dull the fears which made his heart quiver, he seized a pole and, where the sands were deeper, propped the balista, or urged on the Greeks with an outcry.

They, however, paid slight attention to this officer.

The retinue had pushed on a good half hour through a winding ravine with steep naked walls, when the vanguard halted a second time. At this point another ravine crossed the first; in the middle of it extended a rather broad canal.

The courier sent to the minister of war with notice of the obstacle brought back a command to fill the canal immediately.

About a hundred soldiers with pickaxes and shovels rushed to the work. Some knocked out stones from the cliff; others threw them into the ditch and covered them with sand.

Meanwhile from the depth of the ravine came a man with a pickaxe shaped like a stork's neck with the bill on it. He was an Egyptian slave, old and entirely naked. He looked for a while with the utmost amazement at the work of the soldiers; then, springing between them on a sudden, he shouted,

˝What are ye doing, vile people? This is a canal.˝

˝But how darest Thou use evil words against the warriors of his holiness?˝ asked Eunana, who stood there.

˝Thou must be an Egyptian and a great person, I see that,˝ said the slave; ˝so I answer thee that this canal belongs to a mighty lord; he is the manager and secretary of one who bears the fan for his worthiness the nomarch of Memphis. Be on thy guard or misfortune will strike thee!˝

˝Do your work,˝ said Eunana, with a patronizing tone, to the Greek soldiers who began to look at the slave.

They did not understand his speech, but the tone of it arrested them.

˝They are filling in all the time!˝ said the slave, with rising fear.

˝Woe to thee!˝ cried he, rushing at one of the Greeks with his pickaxe.

The Greek pulled it from the man, struck him on the mouth, and brought blood to his lips; then he threw sand into the canal again.

The slave, stunned by the blow, lost courage and fell to imploring.

˝Lord,˝ said he, ˝I dug this canal alone for ten years, in the night time and during festivals! My master promised that if I should bring water to this little valley he would make me a servant in it, give me one fifth of the harvests, and grant me freedom do you hear? Freedom to me and my three children! O gods!˝

He raised his hands and turned again to Eunana,

˝They do not understand me, these vagrants from beyond the sea, descendants of dogs, brothers to Jews and Phoenicians! But listen, lord, to me! For ten years, while other men went to fairs and dances or sacred processions, I stole out into this dreary ravine. I did not go to the grave of my mother, I only dug; I forgot the dead so as to give freedom with laud to my children, and to myself even one free day before death. Ye, O gods, be my witnesses how many times has night found me here! how many times have I heard the wailing cries of hyenas in this place, and seen the green eyes of wolves! But I did not flee, for whither was I, the unfortunate, to flee, when at every path terror was lurking, and in this canal freedom held me back by the feet? Once, beyond that turn there, a lion came out against me, the pharaoh of beasts. The pickaxe dropped from my hands, I knelt down before him, and I, as ye see me, said these words: 'O lord! is it thy pleasure to eat me? I am only a slave.' But the lion took pity, the wolf also passed by; even the treacherous bats spared my poor head; but thou, O Egyptian.˝

The man stopped; he saw the retinue of Herhor approaching. By the fan he knew him to be a great personage, and by the panther skin, a priest. He ran to the litter, therefore, knelt down, and struck the sand with his forehead.

˝What dost Thou wish, man?˝ asked the dignitary.

˝O light of the sun, listen to me!˝ cried the slave. ˝May there be no groans in thy chamber, may no misfortune follow thee! May thy works continue, and may the current not be interrupted when Thou shalt sail by the Nile to the other shore.˝

˝I ask what thy wish is,˝ repeated Herhor.

˝Kind lord,˝ said the man, ˝leader without caprice, who conquerest the false and createst the true, who art the father of the poor, the husband of the widow, clothing for the motherless, permit me to spread thy name as the equal of justice, most noble of the nobles.˝ [Authentic speech of a slave.]

˝He wishes that this canal be not filled in,˝ said Eunana.

Herhor shrugged his shoulders and pushed toward the place where they were filling the canal. Then the despairing man seized his feet.

˝Away with this creature!˝ cried his worthiness, pushing back as before the bite of a reptile.

The secretary, Pentuer, turned his head; his lean face had a grayish color. Eunana seized the man by the shoulders and pulled, but, unable to drag him away from the minister's feet, he summoned warriors. After a while Herhor, now liberated, passed to the other bank of the canal, and the warriors tore away the earth-worker, almost carrying him to the end of the detachment. There they gave the man some tens of blows of fists, and subalterns who always carried canes gave him some tens of blows of sticks, and at last threw him down at the entrance to the ravine.

Beaten, bloody, and above all terrified, the wretched slave sat on the sand for a while, rubbed his eyes, then sprang up suddenly and ran groaning toward the highway,

˝Swallow me, O earth! Cursed be the day in which I saw the light, and the night in which it was said, 'A man is born!' In the mantle of justice there is not the smallest shred for a slave. The gods themselves regard not a creature whose hands are for labor, whose mouth was made only for weeping, and whose back is for clubs. O death, rub my body into ashes, so that there, beyond on the fields of Osiris, I be not born into slavery a second time.˝

 

Chapter III

 

Panting with anger, Prince Ramses rushed up the hill, while behind him followed Tutmosis. The wig of the exquisite had turned on his head, his false beard had slipped down, and he carried it in his hand. In spite of exertion he would have been pale had it not been for the layers of rouge on his face.

At last Ramses halted at the summit. From the ravine came the outcry of warriors and the rattle of the onrolling balistas; before the two men stretched the immense plain of Goshen, bathed continually in sun-rays. That did not seem land, but a golden cloud, on which the mind painted a landscape in colors of silver, ruby, pearl, and topaz.

˝Look,˝ cried the heir to Tutmosis, stretching out his hand, ˝those are to be my lands, and here is my army. Over there the loftiest edifices are palaces of priests, and here the supreme chief of the troops is a priest! Can anything like this be suffered?˝

˝It has always been so,˝ replied Tutmosis, glancing around with timidity.

˝That is not true! I know the history of this country, which is hidden to thee. The leaders of armies and the masters of officials were the pharaohs alone, or at least the most energetic among them. Those rulers did not pass their days in making offerings and prayers, but in managing the state.˝

˝If it is the desire of his holiness to pass his days that way?˝ said

Tutmosis.

˝It is not my father's wish that nomarchs should govern as they please in the capitals of provinces. Why, the governor of Ethiopia considered himself as almost equal to the king of kings. And it cannot be my father's wish that his army should inarch around two golden beetles because the minister of war is a high priest.˝

˝He is a great warrior,˝ whispered Tutmosis, with increasing timidity.

˝He a great warrior? Because he dispersed a handful of Libyan robbers ready to flee at the mere sight of Egyptians. But see what our neighbors are doing. Israel delays in paying tribute and pays less and less of it. The cunning Phoenician steals a number of ships from our fleet every year. On the east we are forced to keep up a great army against the Hittites, while around Babylon and Nineveh there is such a movement that it is felt throughout all Mesopotamia.

˝And what is the outcome of priestly management? This, that while my great-grandfather had a hundred thousand talents of yearly income and one hundred and sixty thousand troops, my father has barely fifty thousand talents and one hundred and twenty thousand troops.

˝And what an army! Were it not for the Greek corps, which keeps them in order as a dog watches sheep, the Egyptian soldiers today would obey only priests and the pharaoh would sink to the level of a miserable nomarch.˝

˝Whence hast Thou learned this?˝ asked Tutmosis, with astonishment.

˝Am I not of a priestly family? And besides, they taught me when I was not heir to the throne. Oh, when I become pharaoh after my father, may he live through eternity! I will put my bronze-sandaled foot on their necks. But first of all I will seize their treasures, which have always been bloated, but which from the time of Ramses the Great have begun to swell out, and today are so swollen that the treasure of the pharaoh is invisible because of them.˝

˝Woe to me and to thee!˝ sighed Tutmosis. ˝Thou hast plans under which this hill would bend could it hear and understand them. And where are thy forces, thy assistance, thy warriors? Against thee the whole people will rise, led by a class of men with mighty influence. But who is on thy rider?˝

Ramses listened and fell to thinking. At last he said,

˝The army.˝

˝A considerable part of it will follow the priests.˝

˝The Greek corps.˝

˝A barrel of water in the Nile.˝

˝The officials.˝

˝Half of them belong to the priests.˝

The prince shook his head sadly, and was silent.

From the summit they went down by a naked and stony slope to the opposite base of the hill. Then Tutmosis, who had pushed ahead somewhat, cried,

˝Has a charm fallen on my eyes? Look, Ramses! Why, a second Egypt is concealed between these cliffs!˝

˝That must be an estate of some priest who pays no taxes,˝ replied the prince, bitterly.

In the depth before their feet lay a rich valley in the form of a fork the tines of which were hidden between cliffs. At the juncture of the tines a number of servants' huts were visible, and the beautiful little villa of the owner or manager. Palmtrees grew there, grapes, olives, figs with aerial roots, cypresses, even young baobabs. In the centre flowed a rivulet, and at the source of it, some hundreds of yards higher up, small gardens were visible.

When they had gone down among grapevines covered with ripe clusters, they heard a woman's voice which called, or rather sang in pensive notes:

˝Where art Thou gone from me, where art thou, hen of mine? Thou hast fled, Thou art gone from me. I give thee drink and clean grain; what I give is so good that slaves envy thee. Where art Thou gone, my hen wilt Thou not answer me? Night will come down on thee, think of that; Thou wilt not reach thy home, where all are at work for thee. Come; if Thou come not, a falcon will fly from the desert and tear the heart out of thee. If he come Thou wilt call in vain, as I now call in vain to thee. Give answer, or I shall be angry and leave this place. If I leave Thou 'It go home on thy own feet.˝

The song came toward the two men. The songstress was a few yards from them when Tutmosis thrust, his head from between the bushes, and said,

˝Just look, Ramses, but that is a beautiful maiden!˝

Instead of looking, the prince sprang into the path and stopped the road before the songstress. She was really a beautiful maiden, with Grecian features and a complexion like ivory.

From under the veil on her head peeped forth an immense mass of dark hair, wound in a knot. She wore a white trailing robe which she held on one side with her hand; under the transparent covering were maiden breasts shaped like apples.

˝Who art thou?˝ cried Ramses.

The threatening furrows vanished from his forehead and his eyes flashed.

˝O Jehovah! O Father!˝ cried she, frightened, halting motionless on the path.

But she grew calm by degrees, and her velvety eyes resumed their expression of mild sadness.

˝Whence hast Thou come?˝ inquired she of Ramses, with a voice trembling a little. ˝I see that Thou art a soldier, but it is not permitted soldiers to come here.˝

˝Why is it not permitted?˝

˝Because this is the land of a great lord named Sesofris.˝

˝Ho! ho!˝ laughed Ramses.

˝Laugh not, for Thou wilt grow pale soon. The lord Sesofris is secretary to the lord Chaires, who carries his fan for the most worthy nomarch of Memphis. My father has seen him and fallen on his face before him.˝

˝Ho! ho! ho!˝ repeated Ramses, laughing continually.

˝Thy words are very insolent,˝ said the maiden, frowning. ˝Were kindness not looking from thy face, I should think thee a mercenary from Greece or a bandit.˝

˝He is not a bandit yet, but some day he may become the greatest bandit this laud has ever suffered,˝ said Tutmosis the exquisite, arranging his wig,

˝And Thou must be a dancer,˝ answered the girl, grown courageous. ˝Oh! I am even certain that I saw thee at the fair in Pi-Bailos, enchanting serpents.˝

The two young men fell into perfect humor.

˝But who art thou?˝ asked Ramses of the girl, taking her hand, which she drew back.

˝Be not so bold. I am Sarah, the daughter of Gideon, the manager of this estate.˝

˝A Jewess,˝ said Ramses; and a shadow passed over his face.

˝What harm in that? what harm in that?˝ cried Tutmosis.

˝Dost think that Jewesses are less sweet than Egyptian girls? They are only more modest and more difficult, which gives their love an uncommon charm.˝

˝So ye are pagans,˝ said Sarah, with dignity. ˝Rest, if ye are tired, pluck some grapes for yourselves, and go with God. Our servants are not glad to see guests like you.˝

She wished to go, but Ramses detained her.

˝Stop! Thou hast pleased me, and may not leave us in this way.˝

˝The evil spirit has seized thee; no one in this valley would dare to speak thus to me,˝ said Sarah, now indignant.

˝Yes; for, seest thou,˝ interrupted Tutmosis, ˝this young man is an officer of the priestly regiment of Ptah, and a secretary of the secretary of a lord who carries his fan over the fan-carrier of the nomarch of Habu.˝

˝Surely he must be an officer,˝ answered Sarah, looking with thoughtfulness at Ramses. ˝Maybe he is a great lord himself?˝ added she, putting her finger on her lips.

˝Whoever I am, thy beauty surpasses my dignity,˝ answered he, suddenly.

˝But tell me, is it true that the Jews eat pork?˝

Sarah looked at him offended; and Tutmosis added,

˝How evident it is that Thou knowest not Jewesses! I tell thee that a Jew would rather die than eat pork, which, for my part, I do not consider as the worst.˝

˝But do they eat cats?˝ insisted Ramses, pressing Sarah's hand and looking into her eyes.

˝And that is a fable, a vile fable!˝ exclaimed Tutmosis. ˝Thou mightst have asked me about those things instead of talking nonsense. I have had three Jewish mistresses.˝

˝So far Thou hast told the truth, but now Thou art lying,˝ called out

Sarah. ˝A Jewess would not be any man's mistress,˝ added she, proudly.

˝Even the mistress of the secretary of a lord who carries the fan for the nomarch of Memphis?˝ asked Tutmosis, jeeringly.

˝Even.˝

˝Even the mistress of the lord who carries the fan?˝

Sarah hesitated, but answered,

˝Even.˝

˝Then perhaps she would not become the mistress of the nomarch?˝

The girl's hands dropped. With astonishment she looked in turn at the young men; her lips quivered, and her eyes filled with tears.

˝Who are ye?˝ inquired she, alarmed. ˝Ye have come down from the hills, like travelers who wish bread and water, but ye speak to me as might the greatest lords. Who are ye? Thy sword,˝ said she, turning to Ramses, ˝is set with emeralds, and on thy neck is a chain of such work as even our lord, the great Sesofris, has not in his treasury.˝

˝Better tell me if I please thee,˝ insisted Ramses, pressing her hand and looking into her eyes tenderly.

˝Thou art beautiful, as beautiful as the angel Gabriel; but I fear thee, for I know not who Thou art.˝

Then from beyond the hilltop was heard the sound of a trumpet.

˝They are calling thee!˝ cried Tutmosis.

˝And if I were as great a lord as thy Sesofris?˝ asked Ramses.

˝Then maybe˝ answered Sarah.

˝And if I carried the fan of the nomarch of Memphis?˝

˝Thou mayest be even as great as that.˝

Somewhere beyond the hill was heard the second trumpet.

˝Come, Ramses!˝ insisted the frightened Tutmosis.

˝But if I were heir to the throne, wouldst Thou come to me?˝ cried the prince.

˝O Jehovah!˝ exclaimed Sarah, dropping on her knees.

From various points trumpets summoned, now urgently.

˝Let us run!˝ cried Tutmosis, in desperation. ˝Dost Thou not hear the alarm in the camp?˝

Ramses took the chain from his neck quickly and threw it on Sarah.

˝Give this to thy father. I will buy thee from him. Be in health.˝

He kissed her lips passionately, and she embraced-his knees. He tore away, ran a couple of paces, turned again, and again fondled her beautiful face and dark hair with kisses, as if he heard not those impatient calls to the army.

˝In the name of his holiness the pharaoh, I summon thee, follow me!˝ cried Tutmosis; and he seized the prince's hand.

They ran toward the trumpet-calls. Ramses tottered at moments like a drunken man, and turned his head. At last they were climbing the opposite hill.

˝And this man,˝ thought Tutmosis, ˝wants to battle with the priesthood!˝