{"collection":"myth-cosmogony","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_61699/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_61699","id":"gutenberg_61699","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/61699","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Historical Novels","Category: Mythology, Legends & Folklore","Category: Novels","Category: Science-Fiction & Fantasy","Egypt -- History -- To 332 B.C. -- Fiction","Historical fiction"],"text":"Nore: Images of the original pages are available through\n      Internet Archive. See\n      https://archive.org/details/hanitenchantress00pieriala\n\n\n\n\n\nHANIT THE ENCHANTRESS\n\nby\n\nGARRETT CHATFIELD PIER\n\nAuthor of \u201cInscriptions of the Nile Monuments,\u201d etc.\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n        \u201c_Provided thou art an equipped soul, knowing\n     the Secret Name of Thoth, thou shalt pass unharmed\n      though that abyss which hath no air, whose depths\n                     are illimitable._\u201d\n\n\n\n\n\n\nNew York\nE. P. Dutton & Company\n681 Fifth Avenue\n\nCopyright 1921\nby E. P. Dutton & Company\n\nAll Rights Reserved\n\nPrinted in the United States of America\n\n\n\n\nFOREWORD\n\n\nMy reader. Perhaps you have had the good fortune to visit Egypt! If\nsuch be the case, you have undoubtedly stood among the giant columns of\nthe Temple to the Sun-god Amen in the Northern Apt (Karnak). You have\nmarveled at the ever changing colors which light up the walls and columns\nof the Temple of the Southern Apt (Luxor), so that at one moment they\nseem to have been carved from blocks of amber, at another from coral,\njasper, amethyst or, as the last bright rays of the sinking sun fall full\nupon them, from colossal bars of red Nubian gold.\n\nYou have gazed in awe and reverence at the mummy of King Amenhotep, lying\nin his granite sarcophagus, peacefully asleep he seemed, deep down in the\nvery heart of the Theban Hills.\n\nIn an alcove nearby you may recall the three bodies lying, uncoffined,\nupon the bare rock of the tomb chamber. You were informed that the\nbodies had been removed from their own tombs to this secret chamber of a\ndead Pharaoh, that they might be saved from the hands of tomb-robbers.\n\n\u201cThe mummies of unknown royal personages,\u201d your Arab guide informed you.\n\nPerhaps the guide permitted you to touch the long black tresses of one\nof the three. He pointed out what he called the mark of an arrow, which\ncaused the death of another. He told you that the boy had undoubtedly met\nhis death at the hands of a strangler. He hinted at foul murder!\n\nIf what he said of the three was true, he might well have attempted to\nidentify the bodies. They are, perhaps, those of Wazmes, Queen Hanit\u2019s\nmurdered son, the beautiful slave girl Bhanar, and her one-time mistress,\nthe Princess Sesen, whose wavy black hair appears as soft to-day as when\nRamses and Menna wooed her, as when Renny the Syrian died for her.\n\nAll this, and more, you have doubtless seen.\n\nYet, it is safe to say, you have never so much as heard of the mystery\nsurrounding the tomb of Menna, son of Menna, that most baffling among the\nmany mysterious tombs in and about the great Theban cemeteries.\n\nUndoubtedly, Menna, son of Menna, had in life an enemy, a most vindictive\nenemy; one whose malignant hatred followed Menna into his very tomb.\n\nEnter that tomb to-day, and you see at a glance that this enemy sought to\nnullify and make ineffectual the entire series of engraved prayers and\nmagic formul\u00e6 which witness to Menna\u2019s hopes for an eternity of bliss\nupon the banks of the Celestial Nile. Yes, Menna\u2019s implacable foe sought\nto destroy him, both body and soul!\n\nMenna\u2019s body was not found when, recently, his tomb was discovered\nand opened. We may thus infer that Menna\u2019s arch-enemy accomplished\nthe destruction of Menna\u2019s body as successfully, as fiendishly we may\nsuppose, as he did that of Menna\u2019s soul.\n\nExamine the sculptures upon the walls of his tomb. You will find that\nMenna\u2019s eyes have been cut out; that the lips of his servants and field\nhands are missing; that the tips of his hunting arrows have been blunted;\nthat the knots in his \u201cmeasuring-rope\u201d have been destroyed. Yet, worse\nthan all, the plumb of the scales, upon which Menna\u2019s heart will be\nweighed at the Judgment, has vanished.\n\nLet us suppose that Menna\u2019s mummy _had_ been found, found intact; at the\nopening of his tomb. That empty shell would have been of little use to\nMenna. Since, following his enemy\u2019s work of desecration upon the ordered\nprayers, incantations and scenes painted or engraved upon the walls of\nhis tomb, Menna\u2019s body was doomed to inevitable destruction, and with it,\nthat of his _ka_ or \u201cdouble,\u201d that other self which, from the day of his\nbirth, awaited him in the heavens.\n\nWithout eyes Menna could not find his way among the flint-strewn valleys\nand precipitous heights of the Underworld. Without arrows Menna would\nbe unable to obtain food. Menna\u2019s servants had all perished, as without\nmouths they could neither eat nor drink. And Menna might never measure\noff an allotted acreage among the ever fertile fields of Heaven if, in\nspite of all, he somehow managed to win through to the Celestial Nile.\n\nAlas! this success Menna could never hope to achieve. The breaking of the\nplumb of the scales rendered it impossible that Menna\u2019s trembling soul\ncould pass Osiris, Judge of the Dead, or the fierce hound Amemet, which,\nwith open mouth, awaited his victims beside that great god\u2019s throne.\n\nNo! Menna could never hope to feast at the Table of the Gods. Menna could\nnever enjoy that eternity of bliss among the Blessed Fields of Aaru which\na beneficent Sun-god had promised to the faithful.\n\nBut, Menna\u2019s body was _not_ found at the time of the discovery of his\ntomb, though his body had evidently been placed in the white sarcophagus\nprepared for it by royal command.\n\nWho so bitterly hated Menna, the King\u2019s Overseer? Who so relentlessly\nsought not alone the destruction of his mortal body but the very\nannihilation of his soul?\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS\n\n\n    CHAPTER                                                           PAGE\n\n           FOREWORD                                                      v\n\n        I. TELLS OF HOW PROFESSOR RANNEY PURCHASED AN ANCIENT\n             MANUSCRIPT AND OF WHAT HE FOUND THEREIN                     1\n\n       II. A FALL DOWN THIRTY CENTURIES                                 16\n\n      III. ENANA THE MAGICIAN, WOULD PROVE THAT A RESEMBLANCE BETWEEN\n             A QUEEN AND A PRIESTESS MAY BE TURNED TO HIS ADVANTAGE     33\n\n       IV. HOW BHANAR CAME TO THEBES                                    45\n\n        V. THE PLEASURE BARGE OF THI, THE QUEEN-MOTHER                  53\n\n       VI. HOW BHANAR FOUND A HOME IN EGYPT                             66\n\n      VII. HOW RENNY THE SYRIAN ESCAPED THE CROCODILES                  83\n\n     VIII. N\u014cFERT-\u0100RI DANCES BEFORE PHARAOH                             91\n\n       IX. THE LUMINOUS BOOK                                           119\n\n        X. PHARAOH SEEKS TO EXALT A FOREIGN GOD                        138\n\n       XI. THE STATUE OF AMEN DISAPPEARS                               152\n\n      XII. ENANA CALLS TO HIS AID THE GODS JUSTICE AND VENGEANCE       165\n\n     XIII. RAMSES AND SESEN                                            172\n\n      XIV. A RASH PROMISE                                              187\n\n       XV. A STATUE OF HATHOR, GODDESS OF LOVE                         200\n\n      XVI. THE CURSE OF HUY, GREAT HIGH PRIEST OF AMEN                 208\n\n     XVII. WHY MENNA\u2019S CHAIRBEARER STAKED HIS ALL                      218\n\n    XVIII. WHAT HAPPENED WHEN MENNA, SON OF MENNA, WENT A-WOOING       228\n\n      XIX. THE HITTITES ADVANCE                                        239\n\n       XX. HOW BAR AND RENNY MEET FOR THE LAST TIME                    247\n\n      XXI. OF THE CAPTURE OF BELUR, THE HITTITE                        256\n\n     XXII. THE \u201cDOUBLE\u201d OF HANIT                                       266\n\n\n\n\nHANIT THE ENCHANTRESS\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER I\n\nTELLS OF HOW PROFESSOR RANNEY PURCHASED AN ANCIENT MANUSCRIPT AND OF WHAT\nHE FOUND THEREIN.\n\n\nThe shop of Tanos the Greek, \u201cDealer in Genuine Antiques,\u201d as the sign\nabove the door advised, might well have been named a museum of ancient\nart and curiosities. Entered from the front of the Sharia Kamel, one of\nthe main thoroughfares of Cairo, the shop appeared at first glance to\nconsist of but two long narrow rooms, the one immediately behind the\nother. Both rooms were filled to the very ceiling with curios of all\nsorts, from little agate beads to vast and shapeless mummies of Sacred\nBulls. A half dozen bodies of Egyptian priests, unwrapped and black with\nnatron, stood propped against the walls of the upper room. The odor of\ncinnamon, myrrh and other embalming essences filled the rooms and drifted\nout through the open door to blend with the indefinable, but never\nforgettable, odor of the Cairene streets.\n\nA nearer view of the upper room disclosed the approach to what Tanos\ncalled the \u201choly of holies.\u201d This third, or innermost chamber, was\nscreened from the eyes of the ordinary souvenir hunter by an ivory-inlaid\ndoor of ancient Coptic woodwork.\n\nConnoisseurs generally knew that here were kept the treasures _par\nexcellence_. Here Tanos would display rare statuettes, bronzes, ivories\nand richly glazed potteries for the arch\u00e6ologist; inscriptions on stone\nor papyrus for the philologist; diadems or pendants in the precious\nmetals, necklaces, bracelets and bangles of varicolored gems,\u2014all such\nrich treasure from the seemingly inexhaustible storehouse of antiquity\nas would be most likely to tempt the antiquarian, or dazzle the mere man\nof millions seeking to enrich his curio cabinet or the shelves of his pet\nmuseum or institution.\n\nDuring the course of an unusually hot afternoon in late March three\nEuropeans paused at the threshold of Tanos\u2019 shop.\n\nFollowing their exit from the Ezbekiyeh Gardens their footsteps had\nbeen dogged by that genial soul, Ali Nubi, whose efforts to dispose of\nfly-whisks and sunshades were in no wise affected by the temperature. He\nwas soon joined by a troupe of exceedingly dirty Arab children. These\nturned handsprings along the gutter in hopes of some small coin with\nwhich to buy _loukum_.\n\nFinally, the nerves of the three Europeans had been set on edge by the\ninsistent whine of a deformed Egyptian, whose ceaseless cry for dole,\n\u201c_baksheesh, baksheesh, ya khawageh_,\u201d finally caused one of the trio to\nturn upon him with an impatient, _Allah yalik, kelb ibn kelb_. This, in\nplain English, might be rendered, \u201cMay God give to thee, dog, son of a\ndog,\u201d at once a pious wish and a curse.\n\nThe sound of the guttural Arabic sufficed to scatter at one and the same\ninstant all three disturbing elements.\n\nThe ragged boys fled. Ali Nubi sauntered off to display his merchandise\nand his famous smile elsewhere, whilst the cripple, with a frightened\nglance up and down the street, made off as fast as his deformities would\nallow. The white man was doubtless a _pasha_, a _bey_. Abut Talib felt\nthe sting of the bastinado upon his withered limbs!\n\nWith a laugh the \u201cbey\u201d turned to his companions:\n\n\u201cEnter, Mrs. Gardiner! After you, Clem! I want you to see my latest find.\u201d\n\nProfessor Ranney followed his companions into the shop. In answer to his\ncall Tanos himself appeared at the door of the sanctum. His face lit up\nwith a smile of genuine pleasure when he recognized his visitors.\n\nHe crossed the room with that peculiar crooking of the spine which\nappears to be an ineradicable heritage of the ages to Levantines of his\nstamp wherever met. How well did the Egyptian sculptor of the late New\nEmpire catch that deferential abasement of self!\n\nProfessor Ranney shook hands with Tanos. Gardiner, too, greeted him,\nand introduced the lady of the trio as his bride. For an instant Tanos\nsearched his fertile brains for a suitable congratulatory quotation from\nthe Arabian classics. Oriental etiquette demanded that he rise to the\nemergency. Finally, bending over Mrs. Gardiner\u2019s hand, Tanos murmured\nthose charming lines from Abu Selim\u2019s poem on the love of Omar and Leila.\n\n\u201cOh, Mr. Tanos! What exquisite verses. What a wonderful gift of\nimprovisation!\u201d\n\nTanos bowed again. He made a deprecatory gesture, murmuring as he did so\nsomething about the meter of the second line.\n\nMrs. Gardiner shot a covert glance in the direction of her husband.\n\nThe minx, thought he. He well knew that she had recognized the true\nauthorship of the verses. Mrs. Gardiner had been a former student of her\nhusband at the University of London, where he taught Semitics.\n\nThese small social amenities attended to, Tanos ushered his visitors into\nthe innermost room. In another moment all four were seated about a low\nTurkish table. Upon this reposed two objects, a turquoise-blue goblet of\nancient Egyptian pottery and a linen roll, seemingly of great antiquity,\nif one might judge by its condition.\n\nMeeting the Gardiners in the tea-house of the Gardens, Professor Ranney\nhad urged them to walk over to the shop, in order that they might see the\ncontents of this linen roll, a papyrus scroll of greatest importance,\nnot alone on its own account, but, more especially, for the remarkable\ndocument which it contained.\n\nProfessor Ranney carefully unrolled the frail, discolored linen in which,\nthree thousand years before, the scroll had been wrapped. At once the\nair was filled with a strange, aromatic perfume.\n\nAt sight of the brightly painted vignettes which ornamented each and\nevery page of the closely written sheets, Mrs. Gardiner burst into\nrepeated exclamations of rapture. Even Dr. Gardiner, her husband, who may\nbe said to have lived in an atmosphere charged with the odor of ancient\nparchments, could not repress his interest.\n\nThis interest was intensified when he read, on the front page of the\nmanuscript, the names of an ancient Egyptian monarch \u201c_Nibmara Amenhotep,\nKing of Upper and Lower Egypt, Triumphant_.\u201d\n\n\u201cThis is indeed a treasure, Steven! A perfect copy of the Book of the\nDead. You did well to purchase it before I got wind of it. By Jove! It is\nin better condition than the Papyrus of Ani in the British Museum!\u201d\n\nWithout replying Steven Ranney turned to the last two pages of the\nscroll. Inserted between them was a brown stained sheet of hieroglyphics\nwritten in red ink.\n\n\u201cRead this, Clem. To me it appears to be a find of far more importance\nthan the Ritual itself.\u201d\n\nGardiner translated aloud the lines of somewhat tremblingly written\nhieroglyphics:\n\n    \u201c_A Contract which the Hereditary Prince, the Count, Sole\n    Companion of the King, Instructor of the Royal Princess,\n    and Chief Royal Architect, Amenhotep, son of Hap, made with\n    Hotepra, Great High Priest of Amen._\n\n    \u201c_It is ordained that there be given to the statue of Amenhotep\n    which is in his tomb on the western shore, 1,000 loaves of\n    bread, 1,000 fatted geese, 1,000 jars of wine and 100 bulls,\n    upon the 1st day of the 1st month of the year, what time the\n    servants bring presents to their lord, and lights are lit in\n    house, in tomb and in temple!_\n\n    \u201c_In payment of this endowment of his tomb, Amenhotep, son of\n    Hap, engages to reveal to Hotepa, Great High Priest of Amen,\n    the secret hiding-place of the Luminous Book of Thoth, Scribe\n    of the Gods!_\n\n    \u201c_Behold! Amenhotep, son of Hap, he saith: \u2018By the magic\n    incantation contained within this book the Gods are compelled!\n    By its hekau-charms the Boat of the Sun is stopped, the Moon is\n    darkened!_\n\n    \u201c_Lo, he that reciteth the formul\u00e6 contained therein, may\n    descend into the Underworld and return to mingle again with\n    mortal men._\n\n    \u201c_Lo, the possessor of this Book becomes as the Scribe of the\n    Gods, Thoth himself! For Ra hath breathed upon it; Shu hath\n    entered it!_\n\n    \u201c_Saith Amenhotep, son of Hap: \u2018Behold, as Ra the Sun-god\n    liveth, the Magic Book may be found in a box behind the wall\n    of the false door built within the western end of my tomb\n    chamber!\u2019_\n\n    \u201c_Now, Hotepra heard the oath of Amenhotep and the saying which\n    he said._\n\n    \u201c_Lo, Hotepra, Great High Priest of Amen, believed the words of\n    the son of Hapi._\n\n    \u201c_Hotepra, Great High Priest of Amen, signed the contract,\n    taking the Great Gods, Osiris, Ptah and Ra as witnesses._\u201d\n\n\u201cThere, Clem! In all your years of research among ancient documents\nhave you ever run across the Luminous Book, the Book of Thoth? Could\nit, by any chance, be that mysterious book made use of long ago by the\nsorcerers and magician attached to the great Temple of Amen at Thebes?\nIf such be the case, it is an undoubted reference to the book from which\nMoses studied, the source of Aaron\u2019s successful attempt to confound the\nmagicians of Pharaoh. At any rate, Clem, you will agree with me that\nthis faded sheet, this last will and testament of the old architect, may\nturn out to be of far greater interest than even this splendid copy of\nthe Ritual. I wonder if the will was placed in the Ritual on purpose or\nthrough the carelessness of someone. Hotepra himself it may have been,\nthree thousand years ago!\u201d\n\nDr. Gardiner smiled at his friend\u2019s enthusiasm: \u201cOne thing at a time,\nSteven! Yes, I have met with the Book of Thoth before. And in each and\nevery case it was referred to as a book containing magical incantations\nof great power. In one case an unknown architect states that he \u2018_raised\nthis monument whose pylons reach the dome of heaven by means of the\nmagic Book of Thoth_.\u2019 Your man, Amenhotep, son of Hap, has left an\ninscription, now in the Leiden Museum, in which he affirms that he\n\u2018_possessed the Eye of Horus_\u2019\u2014whatever that may mean\u2014and further that he\nwas \u2018_one who knew all the Wisdom contained in the Book of Thoth, scribe\nof the Gods_.\u2019 That this was no empty boast we may sight the stupendous\ntemples raised by him at Thebes, not forgetting \u2018the Colossi,\u2019 which\nalone would have assured him undying fame, if indeed he erected them. The\ntomb to which he refers in this testament is thought to be beneath the\nTemple of Der el-Medinet. Possibly it is included in your concession,\nSteven. Your men may stumble upon the mummy of Amenhotep, Magic Book and\nall!\u201d\n\nDr. Gardiner turned to his wife: \u201cWell, Dear! We must be off, to help\nAli with the packing. I hope you have a successful winding up of the\ndiggings, Steven!\u201d\n\n\u201cAnd Steven,\u201d broke in his wife, \u201cdo let those abominable old brick ruins\nalone and hunt for the Book instead. By the way, do you suppose Hotepra\nhad a wife? The name is similar to that of Potiphar?\u201d\n\n\u201cMy dear,\u201d interposed Gardiner, as he assumed an expression of shocked\ndelicacy, \u201cthe subject is hardly one for a bride to discuss, especially\nas Great High Priests of Amen, by the uninitiated at least, are\n_presumed_ to have had no wives.\u201d\n\nHe turned to Ranney: \u201cSteven, we both hope that you can stop over at\n\u2018Sevenoaks\u2019 as usual, for a few days at least, on your way through to\nLiverpool. Whew! It is difficult to realize that we shall be enjoying the\nMediterranean breezes to-morrow. Which reminds me. Tanos, don\u2019t forget\nto have the Museum authorities place their _vis\u00e9_ on that statue of Isis.\nB\u00e9n\u00e9dict has his eagle eye upon it, and what B\u00e9n\u00e9dict wishes he usually\nobtains. A little _baksheesh_ in the clammy palm of Pintsch Pasha will\nhelp to get it through!\u201d\n\nDr. Gardiner turned again to his wife: \u201cNow, Miriam, don\u2019t drop that\ngoblet! We could never pay for it, though I read manuscripts until the\ncrack of doom!\u201d\n\nWith exaggerated care Mrs. Gardiner restored the beautiful goblet to its\nplace. She then shook hands with Tanos, reiterated her husband\u2019s wish\nthat Professor Ranney visit them in their new home, and left on the arm\nof Dr. Gardiner.\n\nSteven Ranney turned to the Greek: \u201cTanos, put the scroll in your safe\nuntil I return. The will of Amenhotep I will take with me. I want to show\nit to Todros Pasha. He\u2019s pretty familiar with the tombs of the western\nbank. I\u2019ll see you in about three weeks\u2019 time. Meanwhile, if you manage\nto get that statue of Hathor from Nahman, I\u2019ll take it.\u201d\n\nWith a friendly nod the young American again braved the heat of the\nunprotected sidewalk.\n\nRanney took his way northward, along the Sharia Kamel, in the direction\nof Doctor Braintree\u2019s tree-embowered villa.\n\nDuring his three days\u2019 relaxation from the strain of acting as\nchief-of-excavations amid the heat and dust of work in Upper Egypt,\nRanney had contrived to see more of Susan Braintree than usually fell to\nhis lot. Ranney had loved her from the very first moment he had seen her,\nand that was as far back as February, nearly two months!\n\nIt is unnecessary to describe Susan. Ranney did that in every letter he\nwrote home to his mother and sister in beautiful Greenwich, Connecticut.\nSusan was there described as a paragon of beauty and sweetness. Yet,\nthere seemed to be a fly in the ointment. A tall and \u201cnot a bad looking\nsort of chap,\u201d so Ranney described him, a lieutenant of the Seaforth\nHighlanders, apparently caused Steven not a little worry. It seemed that\nback in their Highland home he lived in the same Scottish village as the\nBraintrees, brother and sister.\n\n\u201cBy George, I\u2019ll take old Amenhotep\u2019s will to Braintree\u2019s dinner\nto-night. I\u2019m sure Susan will be interested; at any rate, she\u2019ll pretend\nto be, bless her. Perhaps she\u2019ll find it more to her taste than that\nEgyptian flint knife I showed her yesterday. Yet, I am surprised that a\nsurgeon\u2019s sister, and a head-nurse at that, should evince such horror of\na knife, even though that ancient instrument had served the embalmer to\nmake the last great incision.\u201d\n\nLate that evening, after a few short but blissful hours spent by Susan\u2019s\nside\u2014Lieutenant Angus Hector McPherson being then on duty at the\nGarrison\u2014Ranney threw his kitbag into a sleeper of the night train to\nUpper Egypt.\n\nAfter some ten hours of fitful sleep amidst the choking dust and fine\nsand which would persist in floating into the compartment, Steven Ranney\nfound himself once again upon the very modern station platform of Thebes,\nthe world\u2019s most ancient city.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER II\n\nA FALL DOWN THIRTY CENTURIES\n\n\nThe research work conducted by Professor Ranney, as chief of the Yale\nexpedition to Egypt, had lain in and about the site of the Mortuary\nTemple of King Amenhotep the Third, well-named \u201cMagnificent.\u201d The low\ndepression which to-day marks the site of this once gorgeous edifice lies\nwell down upon the broad Theban Plain, and immediately fronts that long\nline of rocky mounds, refuse heaps and ruined tombs which rises, tier\nupon tier, along the lower slopes of the towering Libyan Hills.\n\nIt had been a site of rare possibilities from an Egyptologist\u2019s point of\nview. On this account excavation privileges hereabouts had been sought by\nrepresentatives of every great museum or seat-of-learning both in the Old\nWorld and the New.\n\nWhen, finally, the news was telegraphed from Cairo that this most coveted\nconcession had fallen to the Yale Expedition, and that together with a\nsubstantial area of the unexplored mounds to the north and south of the\ntemple site, great had been Professor Ranney\u2019s joy.\n\nThe recent unearthing of the body and rich treasure of Pharaoh\nAkhten-aton, son to that Pharaoh by whom the temple was built, and the\ndiscovery of the rich and comprehensive tomb-equipment of Akhten-aton\u2019s\nfather and mother-in-law, together with the marvelously preserved\nmummies of those ancient worthies, had fired the dampened ardor both of\nthe workers in the field, and, more important still, perhaps, of those\nholders of the purse-strings, the sponsors for the expedition at home.\n\nAs I have said above, the site of King Amenhotep\u2019s Mortuary Temple had\nbeen freely acknowledged to be a very promising one, and so far these\nhopes had been entirely justified.\n\nMany and rare had been the finds during the season\u2019s work now drawing to\na close. And it was not improbable that some other find of the first\nimportance might still fall to the spades of the excavators during the\nnext few weeks of work upon the site.\n\nThink what the nearby Temple of Medinet might at this very moment hold\nfor Professor Ranney! The tomb of Amenhotep, son of Hap; the Magic Book\nof the Sorcerers of Pharaoh, the Luminous Book of Thoth!\n\nHad they had the least suspicion of Professor Ranney\u2019s secret it is safe\nto say that many of his brother scientists would gladly have bartered\nfive years of their lives for a chance at the site. And yet, could any\none of those enthusiasts have foreseen the disaster that would here\nbefall him, not a man among them would have approached it.\n\nBut let us take up the tale, as long as we may, in Professor Ranney\u2019s own\nwords.\n\nI had recently completed my work in and about the site of the Mortuary\nTemple of the illustrious Pharoah Amenhotep the Third and had already\npromised myself a trial excavation at the nearby tomb of Pharaoh\u2019s\nfamous architect and namesake, Amenhotep, when something unexpected\noccurred to effectually put an end to all my plans. What that something\nwas you shall now hear!\n\nAs near as I can piece together the amazing threads of my story, this is\nwhat happened to me that last eventful evening in Thebes. My diary, in\npart, supplies the clue.\n\nUnder date of April 28, 1913, and immediately following the rough\ntranslation of a great memorial tablet which had been found the previous\nday, I note this entry: \u201c_Sandstorm just blown over. Headache, feverish.\nFinished making plan of palace to scale_.\u201d\n\nNow, in spite of the temperature and headache to which I here refer, and\nwhich, had I not been so keen on my work, I should most certainly have\nrecognized as a symptom of trouble to come, I had evidently sought to\ncatch up with a somewhat neglected report of the season\u2019s work.\n\nThis occupation had apparently kept me at my desk well on towards dawn.\nI deduce this from the fact that immediately following the above short\nentry, I find a number of fragmentary hieroglyphic inscriptions having to\ndo with the history of the foundation and erection of Pharaoh\u2019s Mortuary\nTemple, upon which I had been so long at work.\n\nOne of these entries is of special interest in this connection, since,\nafter a lapse of some three thousand years, the two colossal statues of\nKing Amenhotep III, to whom it refers, may still be seen gazing stolidly\nand immutably eastward across the broad reaches of the Theban Plain.\n\nThe following graphic description of the now vanished building itself, a\nliteral translation from the original hieroglyphic, is the last entry in\nmy diary, the last for many a long day, I may add. Further, and for an\nexcellent reason, this last entry was never completed. The translation\nruns in the following somewhat grandiloquent and semi-poetic vein: \u201cIt\nhath been given me to set up in a holy place two great statues of the\nSon of Ra, Amenhotep, Conqueror of Asia. These are they which stand\nbefore the entrance portal of the Mortuary Temple of His Majesty (Life,\nStability and Health to him). Carved from solid blocks of the hard\ngrit-stone of On, they tower seventy feet into the air. Their golden\nheaddresses touch the very dome of heaven. On either side, gold-capped\nobelisks of red granite reach high above the temple pylons. Four cedar\nflag-staffs tipped with gold rise from grooves cut in the sculptured\nsandstone of the temple front. The walls of the temple are carved\nand richly painted with scenes representing the Asiatic conquests of\nPharaoh, Lord of Might. Its great bronze doors are inlaid in gold with\nthe figure of the God Min of Coptos. Through this jeweled outline of\nhis \u2018double\u2019 twice daily doth the Great God enter the Holy Sanctuary,\nthere to partake of the offerings spread upon its jeweled altars. In\nhis honor are the ceilings covered with true lazuli of Babylon, its\nfloors enriched with silver and sprinkled with powdered turquoise.\nIts gleaming walls are engraved with designs representing the New\nYear\u2019s procession of the Sun Barque, from the Northern to the Southern\nApt. Beside the High Altar stands a tablet thirty feet in height,\ncovered with gold and inlaid with sard and emerald. Thus is marked\n\u2018The-Place-Where-His-Majesty-Stands-at-the-Sacrificing.\u2019 Beq, son of Beq,\ncarved the statues and erected the obelisks. Renny, the Syrian, overlaid\nand enriched the tablet.\u201d\n\nInserted here was a drawing of the above mentioned tablet, and, upon it,\nthe following additional fragment: \u201cMemorial-tablet found face downwards.\nI enclose drawings and translations. Evidently _mine_ is a very ancient\n_name_? All traces of\u2014\u2014.\u201d\n\nHere the diary abruptly stops!\n\nNow, I directly trace the mishap which thereafter befell me to the\ndiscovery of this same tablet.\n\nA hot day spent in transcribing to paper its mud-filled inscriptions, and\na night devoted to their decipherment, might well have driven me forth\nin search of the cool breezes to be found along the higher slopes of the\nnearby Libyan Hills.\n\nYet, in this connection, I must not forget to mention the contents of a\nnewspaper-clipping sent me by Gardiner just before he left Alexandria, a\nclipping which seems to have a peculiar meaning, especially in the light\nof the curious experiences which I shall presently relate.\n\nThis clipping was found folded carefully in the page of my Diary opposite\nthat last incomplete entry to which I have referred.\n\nBeneath a date and the words \u201cSphinx, Cairo,\u201d the latter added in\nGardiner\u2019s spidery script, there appear the following extraordinary\nparagraphs: \u201cIn the Museum of the Louvre there is a mummy, Catalogue No.\n49. It is the mummy of a woman, and is said to have been found in one\nof the Tombs of the Queens, south-west of the Theban acropolis. The man\nwho found it was crushed to death within twenty-four hours after he had\ntouched it, and his assistants who hauled it up from the tomb-shaft died\nwithin a few weeks. Three of the carriers who handled it on the Nile boat\ndied within a short space of time, and one of the men who unpacked it at\nParis died in great agony within less than a week after he had played\nhis part in the work of getting it to its destination. All these were\nseemingly natural deaths, but it is odd that all the men whose fingers\ntouched the mummy should have died so soon after the handling. The body\nof the unknown appears to have been interred with all the elaboration\nprescribed for _Queens of the Royal-Blood_! The work of the casemaker\nwas careful in the extreme. Both granite coffin and gold-covered casing\nwere of unusual quality and richness. The many gem-incrustations, with\nwhich the gold cases were inlaid, were similarly of the richest and\nrarest materials. Yet, the name of Meryt, that of a minor priestess of\nthe Temple, found beneath the pitch which had been smeared upon the outer\ncasings, seemed to prove conclusively that the body was that of one of\nthe chantresses of the Temple of Sekhmet at Karnak.\n\n\u201cBut, following the unwinding of the aromatic wrappings which swathed the\nbody, the curator in charge was surprised to find a second inscription.\nThis indicated that the mummy was that of Queen Hanit, the first wife of\nAmenhotep the Third, whom the King put aside in favor of Thi, a beautiful\nSyrian. You may recall how Queen Thi, following Hanit\u2019s incarceration in\nthe great Temple of Sekhmet, is supposed to have instigated the death\nof Hanit\u2019s son, the true heir to the throne, at the hands of Menna, a\nfavorite of hers. Of the further history of Lady Hanit I personally know\nnothing.\u201d\n\nAlong the margin Gardiner had added: \u201cI send this to you, Ranney, knowing\nyour interest in the period which the name of Hanit suggests. Can you\nunravel the mystery surrounding the mummy of this Queen who is not a\nQueen?\n\n\u201cIn regard to the sudden taking off of the seven workmen, and, by the\nway, the curator is now dead, I can hear you expatiate at length upon\nthe fearful \u2018_hekau-spells_\u2019 and \u2018_magic incantations_\u2019 of the ancients!\n\n\u201cOnce more I ask you to prove to me that your ancients ever possessed\nsuch powers, or if they did, that they could by any possible chance have\nsurvived the wear and tear of three thousand years! And, meanwhile, allow\nme to submit myself, your unbelieving friend!\u201d\n\nI smile even now, as I shake my head at Gardiner\u2019s careless words.\n\nWhat can I but think? Childish, you say! A series of remarkable\ncoincidences! Wait!\n\nIt was from Burton that I first heard an account of what he and the other\nmembers of the expedition supposed, and rightly, had happened to me.\n\nIt seemed that I left my tent about dawn and started for one of my\nfavorite walks westward, taking the general direction of a certain\nlofty spur of the deep red Libyan Hills. This jutting ledge immediately\noverhung the ruins of King Mentuhotep\u2019s temple. So close a part of\nthe towering cliff is this sadly mutilated structure that one might\neasily slip from the shelf above and fall directly upon the great stone\npassage-way which conducts to the inner chamber.\n\nTo this somewhat dangerous vantage-point, I had sometimes taken\ndistinguished visitors to our camp, people who had come with letters from\nfriends at home, or those who I felt sure would be willing to put up with\nthe discomforts of a night spent beyond the walls of the luxurious Winter\nPalace Hotel.\n\nI think I may say truthfully, that not one of my visitors failed of being\nmore than repaid for any trifling discomfort which was theirs, since\nfew scenes can equal, certainly none surpass, the view presented by the\nextended vista north, south and eastward across the winding Nile Valley\ntowards Karnak, Luxor, and the deep blue Eastern Hills.\n\nBut to return to my story. That memorable morning the fever must\nassuredly have had me well within its clutches. Since, of that early\nmorning walk, I remember but a single incident\u2014Heaven knows, I am never\nlikely to forget it\u2014a great black void into which I suddenly pitched, a\nhorrible tingling in all my veins, a shock and a myriad of little flames\nthat seemed to burst from my very eyeballs!\n\nWas I conscious, I asked myself! I must be, for I seemed to realize at\nonce what a dreadful thing had happened to me.\n\nOf course, I knew I had pitched headlong into the open mouth of one of\nthose rock-hewn tombs with which the tumbled slopes below the Libyan\nHills are perforated. Well might those crumbling hills been named a\nhoney-comb of death!\n\nI could not move; my whole body seemed numb. By gazing upward I found\nthat I could see the stars! Yes, I recognized the star of Hathor, in all\nher radiant beauty.\n\nHow my head ached! How my ears roared! Worse than all was the agony of a\nceaseless throb-throb, beat-beat, at the back of my head.\n\nIt was as though someone were hitting me with a hammer, rhythmically,\nrelentlessly.\n\nPerhaps after all I _was_ dead!\n\nNo, there were the sharp outlines of the tomb-shaft and the stars above!\n\nI wonder whose tomb it is? Is it charted? Oh, will that throbbing never\nstop? Won\u2019t someone come? Help! Help!\n\nAs if in answer to my cry, high above me I saw a queer, yet strikingly\nfamiliar figure, a figure silhouetted black against the sky.\n\nThe figure leaned over and gazed downwards into the shaft. I noticed its\nlong and thickly curled wig.\n\n\u201cHa, ha! A wig of the New Empire,\u201d said I to myself.\n\nIts owner\u2019s face I could not see, but he\u2014or she\u2014yes, it was a woman,\npeered long and earnestly into the gloomy depths of the shaft where I lay.\n\nSuddenly, and as though through the medium of some unnatural light, her\nface was revealed.\n\n\u201cI was right,\u201d thought I. \u201cIt _is_ a woman, and by her robes, a woman of\nthe New Empire!\u201d\n\nBut what features, what an expression! Never shall I forget it. A face of\nthe most exotic beauty; of a type I knew instantly. It could only have\nbelonged to one of the ladies of the house of Amenhotep the Magnificent!\nSuch a face the Royal Sculptor Beq might carve, or Amenhotep,\nSuperintendent of the Royal Craftsmen.\n\nThe beautiful apparition addressed me in the soft tones of the educated\nEgyptian.\n\nI found that I could rise without difficulty at her bidding. Struggling\nto my feet I pushed a stone at the side of the tomb chamber and passed\nthrough a narrow false door which opened as my hand pressed the secret\nblock. I found myself once more out under the sunset glow.\n\nAll this seemed perfectly natural to me. But, I remember thinking\nhow strange it was that I should find the pyramids of the Antefs and\nMentuhoteps, the sphinx-lined Causeways, and the many Mortuary Temples\nhereabouts, standing clearly defined against the hills, and seemingly\nin all their original beauty. Nay, the very cypresses, palms, karobs\nand myrrh trees which flanked the ivory-toned Causeway leading to Queen\nHatshepsut\u2019s Temple, were to be seen nodding gracefully in the evening\nbreeze.\n\nMy gaze fell questionably upon the smiling face of my adorable savior.\n\nShe must have remarked my bewilderment. Yet, without a word she turned\nand started swiftly toward a small white house half-concealed in a dense\ngrove of feathery acacias.\n\nIn response to a quick gesture on the part of my guide, I pulled back the\nwooden bolt and opened the door. A tall and strikingly handsome Egyptian\narose from an ivory-inlaid stool as I entered. Carefully rolling up a\nmanuscript which he had been reading by the light of an oil lamp, and\nwithout otherwise appearing to notice me, he took from the table nearby a\nblue glazed goblet, handed it to my rescuer, and re-seated himself.\n\nOnce again he picked up the discarded manuscript and continued his\nreading as though nothing had happened to interrupt his train of thought.\n\nPerhaps, after all, I had been expected! I heard my charming guide utter\nthe one softly sibilant Egyptian word: _Drink!_\n\nI lifted the bright blue goblet to my lips and drank deeply,\nthirstily....\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER III\n\nENANA, THE MAGICIAN, WOULD PROVE THAT A RESEMBLANCE BETWEEN A QUEEN AND A\nPRIESTESS MAY BE TURNED TO HIS ADVANTAGE.\n\n\nThe sloping walls of the Temple of Amenra loomed black and forbidding\nagainst the pallid light of early morning.\n\nThe tall cedar flag-poles fronting the entrance pylons and the\ngold-capped shafts of the four granite obelisks seemed carved in ebony,\nso sharply were their dark lines defined.\n\nNo sound came from within; no life was apparent in the wide domain of\ncultivated fields which surrounded the temple on three sides. There was\nno sign of life upon the temple barges moored to the sandstone landing at\nthe temple front.\n\nA long line of cranes flew slowly, noiselessly, across the moon, now\nrapidly sinking into the blue haze which floated above the Western Hills.\n\nWithin the temple precinct, in a small chamber lit by the fitful light of\na six-wicked lamp which swung out from the wall at the end of a pole, a\nrestless figure bent from time to time above a form stretched at length\nupon a high couch.\n\nThe figure was that of a woman, a woman dead and to a certain extent\ndisfigured by the scalpel and fat-extracting implements of the embalmer\nwho now bent over her.\n\nOn a low bench beside him were spread out the many bronze and flint\nutensils of his craft.\n\nKathi, the Embalmer, made the last great incision. With a long, flat\nand minutely serrated flint knife, he laid open a good six inches of\nthe flesh immediately above the heart. Having extracted that organ\nhe carefully placed it in an alabaster jar filled almost to the brim\nwith aromatic spirits. On top of the jar he set the cover, a cover\ncrowned with a tinted portrait-head of the deceased. Three similar jars\ncontaining the viscera, brains and other organs liable to rapid decay,\nhad already been hermetically sealed.\n\nSo quickly comes the dawn in Egypt that, by this time, one could readily\ndistinguish the inscription in letters of dark blue which symmetrically\nfilled a square at the shoulder of each vase:\n\n\u201cAn oblation which the King bestows to the Royal Spouse, His Beloved,\nHanit, Triumphant. Ten thousand oxen and fowl, ten thousand jars of wine,\nten thousand loaves of bread, funerary raiment for the rewrapping of this\nbody, all things pure and good for the soul of the deceased Queen, His\nBeloved, the Lady Hanit, Justified of God.\u201d\n\nBeing at one and the same time Embalmer to the King, Chief Surgeon\nand Magician, as he macerated the shriveled flesh, Kathi recited the\nprescribed Ritual from the Book of the Dead and consecrated the many\namuletic jewels and pendants with which he now proceeded to decorate the\nbody.\n\nEach limb received at his hand the anointing that rendered it\nincorruptible and the magical charms and incantations that should sustain\nthe spark of life.\n\nThis done, Kathi placed a heavy amulet in the cavity whence he had\nextracted the heart, a great emerald beetle, inscribed beneath with a\nprayer for justification and absolution addressed to the Judge of the\nDead, Osiris.\n\nIt did not enter Kathi\u2019s head that he was trying to dupe Osiris by thus\ninserting a heavy stone heart in place of the real organ. Kathi merely\nwished to be sure that the heart would tip the scales against the great\nGod\u2019s \u201cFeather of Truth,\u201d when the deceased was led into the Hall of the\nUnderworld for Judgment.\n\nHaving placed the emerald heart in position, the Embalmer set a long oval\nplaque of gold immediately above it, drew together the clean-cut flesh\nand sewed up the wound.\n\nA small iron amulet, the Two Fingers of Horus, he placed in the hand,\nand the delicate jewels of the deceased, chains of minute carnelian\nemerald, garnet and amethyst pendants, he strung about the throat. Low\nupon the breast he placed a beaded _wesekh_, a broad jeweled pectoral\nornament which, more than a thousand years before his time, King Kufu\nhad called _the national ornament_ of his people. Upon the head he set\none of the huge pleated wigs of the day, confining it with a diadem of\ngold decorated at intervals with gold lotus flowers in high relief.\nGold earrings of rosette form were set in the ears, broad jeweled bands\nslipped upon the arms, wrists and ankles, and Kathi, the Embalmer,\ncommenced to wrap the body in the first few score feet of aromatic linen\nbandages.\n\nThe Embalmer rested a moment, hand on hip. Humming absently to himself he\nturned to trim the spluttering lamp. It was an occupation which consumed\naltogether too much of his time.\n\nKathi\u2019s back being turned for a moment, he failed to see the bent figure\nof Enana, the Magician, who glided into the dimly lit room.\n\n\u201cThou hast succeeded, son of Kathi?\u201d\n\nAt his repressed but high-pitched voice, Kathi, son of Kathi, swung\nabout, startled for an instant out of his wonted calm and immobility. He\nturned to close the door before replying. \u201cAs thou sayest, Holiness, I\nhave succeeded. \u2019Tis but a few short minutes since Thi and Menna stood\nwhere thou standest at this very moment. The Syrian shed real tears above\nthe body of that poor wench there. To her \u2019twas Hanit, doubt not.\u201d Kathi\nsmiled somewhat sadly as he gazed down upon the figure at his feet: \u201cIn\ndeath the Lady Meryt\u2019s striking resemblance to Hanit, our beloved Queen,\nwas most pronounced. And, following my work upon the head, the Lady\nMeryt\u2019s own mother could hardly have chosen between them.\n\n\u201cI noted a hint of suspicion in Menna\u2019s eyes the moment he entered the\nroom. Yet, this instantly vanished, when once he had looked upon the\nbody. He smiled. Menna no longer fears that Hanit will take vengeance for\nthe murder of her son. To Menna, as to Thi, the body is that of Hanit.\nTheir triumph seems to them assured. Hanit and Wazmes, her son, are\ndead. Thi\u2019s son reigns! The Syrian sun-god triumphs over Amen!\u201d\n\nEnana, Chief Magician of the Temple of Amen, rubbed together his lean and\nshriveled hands. His experiment seemed well on the road to success.\n\nA Pharaoh might set aside one queen for another; the late Pharaoh had\ndone that. He might depose a queen of the line of the sun-god Ra in favor\nof Thi, a Syrian, a commoner. Beguiled by the latter\u2019s crafty wiles he\nmight close his eyes to the murder of an inconvenient son or so. \u2019Twas\nharem work that! But, to strike at the great God Amenra whom Enana\nserved\u2014that was a different matter!\n\nThi, the Queen-Mother, was a foreigner, an idolator. The present\nChancellor was also a Syrian, Yakab of Rabbath.\n\nWas it to be wondered at that the present Pharaoh, Thi\u2019s son, was daily\nurged to overthrow the gods whom Egypt worshiped in favor of Aton, the\n_Syrian_ god?\n\nBut what then would become of the great gods Amen, Ptah and Khonsu; of\nOsiris, Isis, Horus, and a host of deities worshiped through countless\nages along the valley of the Nile? And last, but well to the fore in\nEnana\u2019s vision, what would become of the innumerable priests, himself\nincluded, who served those powerful gods?\n\nYes! Menna could strangle Hanit\u2019s only son, the lawful heir; Thi could\nseek to poison Hanit! But, touch the cult of Amen of Thebes and, at a\nword, the great priestly hierarchy throughout Egypt would rise as one man.\n\nSo, at least, thought Enana. So too Huy, First Prophet of Amen, his\nbrother, and so Kathi, the Embalmer, their hireling.\n\nIf it was to resolve itself into a clash between Court and Temple (and,\ncertainly, recent events had pointed to a rupture) Enana and the Prophets\nof Amen were ready.\n\nEnana\u2019s small black eyes fixed themselves upon those of the Embalmer who\nperceptibly cringed. He laid one thin hand upon Kathi\u2019s shoulder: \u201cSon of\nKathi, thy skill is that of thy revered father (peace in Aaru be his),\nnay, more excellent! For what man was ever called upon to do the work\nthat thou hast done?\u201d Enana pointed to the figure lying half-concealed in\nthe shadows of the room. \u201cVerily in thee hath Amen a faithful follower,\none whose reward shall surely find him.\n\n\u201cListen, son of Kathi. The long-expected hour has come. Pharaoh, Thi and\nthe Syrians about them can no longer conceal their plan to bring about a\ncivil war. Jealous of our power, Thi and Yakab have decided to challenge\nthe supremacy of all-mighty Amen. The priesthood of Egypt is to be\noverthrown. Hook-nosed Syrians and Canaanites are to be installed in our\nstead, and our beloved banks of Hapi are to be overrun with the kinsmen\nof Yakab, the Chancellor, may the twenty-four demigods blast him!\n\n\u201cYet, mark my words, son of Kathi. Though Aton seem to triumph yet, in\nthe end, shall Amen find his own. Though all the powers of the conjurers\nof Amen be counted in vain, yet shall Amen triumph through Enana, his\nservant. More I cannot tell thee at this time. Yet, through troublous\ndays to come, remember my words.\u201d\n\nWith a muttered farewell the aged Magician shuffled off down the narrow\nacacia-bordered path which led to the landing-stage by the side of the\nriver.\n\nKathi stood watching Enana\u2019s bent figure until it disappeared down the\nsandstone steps which led to the ferry.\n\nLike Enana, his master, Kathi was above all a devoted follower of the\ngreat god Amen, whose worship the Queen-Mother now sought to destroy.\n\nYet, of late, there had been many moments such as this when Kathi had\nfelt the bow-string at his throat, the arms of the strangler about his\nneck. Kings deal harshly with conspirators and Kathi, the Embalmer, whose\nhorizon might well be said to have been circumscribed by death, feared to\ndie.\n\nKathi\u2019s fears were somewhat dissipated at sight of the onrushing sun-god,\nnow vaulting higher and higher above the rosy Eastern Hills. He\nstretched forth his hands, palms upward, in that appealing attitude of\nprayer so suggestive of a spiritual offering.\n\nOn the river below him the boatmen burst into the Hymn to Ra at his\nRising, which had been first sung by the Sage and Prophet Imhotep, two\nthousand years before their time!\n\nNature, too, added her welcome to the nurturing sun-god. The falcons\nsailed in great circles above the flashing waters of the river. To their\nshrill and quavering notes, intermingled with the joyous twitterings\nand flitterings back and forth of other birds, there was added the soft\nlowing of the sacred cows and the shrill chattering of the apes belonging\nto the Temple of Mut in Asheru.\n\nBeams of light seemed to dance upon the gold caps of the lofty obelisks.\nHuge streamers rose upon the flag-poles which fronted the great portal of\nthe sun-god\u2019s mightiest temple.\n\nAlong the walls of the temple of the deified King Thomes, a phyle of\nchanting priests moved slowly, the _keri heb_ with his tube-like censer\nat their head. Kathi found it next to impossible to believe that a\nhideous civil war was about to burst upon such peace as this.\n\nKathi shook his head. He turned once more to his unfinished task within.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IV\n\nHOW BHANAR CAME TO THEBES\n\n\nIt was about the third hour of the auspicious sixteenth day of Athyr. On\nthe river a high-prowed galley of foreign cut could be seen attempting\nto gain the western landing under her own sail. This great sail,\npicturesquely marked with broad stripes of green and dull red, spread\nitself to the fitful breeze with but little effect.\n\nSuddenly a raucous command rang out. At once, as if the command had been\nmomentarily expected, twenty oars were thrust out from the vessel\u2019s\nsides, twenty lusty throats called aloud upon the name of some god or\nbeneficent demon, and at each shout the great blades took the water and\nthe vessel sprang shoreward, a line of bubbles and swirling eddies in her\nwake.\n\nA pilot stood at prow and stern. The bow pilot held a mooring-stake\nand mallet ready in his hand. A pair of buffers already hung over the\nvessel\u2019s sides. It was often a dangerous matter to pick a path through\nthe many barges, war-galleys, sea-going vessels and lesser river craft\nwhich were strung out as far as the eye could see along the western bank\nof the Nile.\n\n\u201cBy Hathor,\u201d said Nakht, a fieldhand, as he fixed his tired eyes upon the\noncoming galley, \u201ca man who can scull, row, and swim as can I, should\nhave a place upon some such vessel. Think of the life those dirty Amu\nlead!\u201d All foreigners were Amu to Nakht, sand-dwellers and loathed for\ntheir filthy habits and the lice that covered them.\n\n\u201cAye, Nakht! Thou mayest well envy them. Think of the days and nights\nin port, ever with gold _uten_ to spend. Think of Thethi\u2019s wine, Aua\u2019s\ndancing girls, a brawl with the city watchmen\u2014more damned foreigners!\n\n\u201cAi, ai! Once I knew it well! See this scar. \u2019Twas Thethi himself gave it\nme. We were young men then, both as quick as southern panthers.\n\n\u201cBreath of Ra! How many maidens and hapless youths think you Baltu\nbrings to Thebes this trip?\u201d\n\nA sharp blow from the staff of the overseer cut short this soliloquy.\nOnce again began the splashing of waters mingled with the droning song of\nthe irrigation worker: \u201cLife to this seed, O Waters, Breath of Osiris,\nBlood of Isis! Life to these our seedlings that we may eat and live to\nsing thy praises.\u201d\n\nThe galley drifted slowly to the bank. The oars were drawn in; the great\nsteering-oars alone guided her.\n\nThe emblem at the prow of the vessel showed her to hail from Tyre. Her\nfreight, as Nakht had hinted, consisted in the main of hapless youths\nand maidens torn from the arms of their murdered parents, enveigled from\ntheir homes by false promises or bought outright in foreign slave-marts.\n\nAmong the jostling crowds gathered upon the embankment and overlooking\nthe clustered vessels, stood Renny, the Syrian. His gaze was fixed upon\nthe forms of two little children busily occupied in modeling dolls from\nthe plastic Nile mud of the river bank. The children\u2019s occupation had\ninterested him since Renny, the Syrian, was a sculptor.\n\nRenny was startled out of his state of artistic introspection by the\nharsh voices of a number of the foreign sailors. They had jumped ashore\nfrom the Tyrian galley and now sought to jostle their way up the steep\nand crowded bank.\n\nWhile these swarthy adventurers drove in the mooring-stake, Renny\u2019s eyes\nroamed along the deck of the galley itself. As he gazed at the ordered\ncases of merchandise, which had but recently been brought up on deck\npreparatory to their unloading, three figures emerged from a cabin door\nplaced toward the stern of the vessel.\n\nRenny instantly decided that the first of the three, a huge man heavily\nbearded and with a commanding eye and voice of thunder, was the master\nand probable owner of the vessel. The second was a dainty youth, of a\nnation unknown to Renny; the third a woman, by her robes a Syrian like\nhimself.\n\nThe merchant made some remark in a tongue unknown to Renny and, at the\nsame time, pointed shoreward. The trembling youth replied by throwing the\nlong sleeve of his rich robe over his head, a gesture indicative of grief\nor despair.\n\nBut Renny was far more interested in the figure of the Syrian, his\ncountrywoman.\n\nWhat heartless parent had sold that drooping figure into harsh captivity?\nWhat disastrous war had resulted in her present plight? Or had this\nhook-nosed Semite filched her from her nest high up above some gentle\nSyrian valley?\n\nThe sculptor\u2019s heart ached for her. Thoughts of his own beloved vineyard\nflashed through his mind. For an instant he visualized the purple hills\nwhich encircled Ribba, his native village, the clear blue sky, the\nsparkling stream, his father\u2019s white-walled house and the little temple\nwhich stood, well nigh hidden, near the edge of an ancient grove.\n\nPoor little exile! Never had Renny so longed for power, for heavy golden\n_uten_, as he did at that moment. Instinctively he gripped the single\nbar that encircled his left wrist. He smiled sadly. Fifty, nay, a hundred\nsuch, might not buy her freedom, and this single golden bar represented\nthe fruits of two years\u2019 untiring labor under the patronage of a great,\nif capricious, noble.\n\nSuddenly his gaze riveted itself more intently upon the drooping figure\nof the Syrian woman. It could not be! Yes! He knew her! \u2019Twas Bhanar, a\nmaid of Ribba, of Ribba itself, his dear Syrian village!\n\nCould his eyes have played him false? He sauntered carelessly toward the\nPhoenician vessel. Yes! It was Bhanar, playmate of his boyhood, Bhanar\nwhom his dead sister had loved so devotedly.\n\nIn vain he sought to attract her attention. Finally, through an\ninspiration, Renny turned towards the east and gave the shrill cry of the\nSyrian hillmen when danger threatened.\n\nThe effect was instantaneous. Bhanar\u2019s drooping form slowly raised\nitself. Astonishment, joy and instant recognition passed rapidly over\nher beautiful face.\n\nShe had seen him; she knew him! With a warning gesture Renny slowly\nreclimbed the embankment.\n\nHow to save her? To whom could he turn for help?\n\nHis master\u2014the noble Menna? Small hope there! The Queen-Mother, herself\na Syrian? Yes, he would attempt to reach the ear of the powerful\nQueen-Mother herself!\n\nTo do so, he must act quickly. Yakab, her Syrian chancellor, should be\nseen and quickly. Yakab was an importation of the Queen-Mother, and a\nfavorite of hers.\n\nRenny found Yakab seated beside the pool in his garden. He affected to be\nabsorbed in a game of draughts with his youngest daughter.\n\nIn a few hurried words Renny acquainted him with the plight of their\ncountrywoman and begged his instant help. He drew the golden bracelet\nfrom his wrist but Yakab, smiling, stopped him.\n\nThe latter rose and in a few short words set Renny\u2019s mind at rest.\n\nIn fact, within the minute, they had parted at Yakab\u2019s stucco gate, Yakab\nto take a short cut to the palace, Renny to take his way along the river\nbank toward the vast estates of Menna, the Royal Superintendent, his\nexalted protector.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER V\n\nTHE PLEASURE BARGE OF THI, THE QUEEN-MOTHER\n\n\nDuring his reign, Pharaoh Amenhotep, the Magnificent, had set aside or\ninfringed upon many an established precedent or custom. It almost seemed\nas if he had thus sought to prove to his subjects his utter infatuation\nfor Thi, the Syrian, his second wife.\n\nFor the late Pharaoh had done nothing without Thi\u2019s cooperation. Though\nof common extraction, her name and titles had appeared upon all state\ndocuments beside his own. This was at once a new and a radical innovation.\n\nAmenhotep\u2019s infatuation for the beautiful Thi had produced, among many\nother marvels, a vast pleasure lake, an artificial body of water, which\nnow stretched its placid reaches on three sides of the villa-palace of\nthe former monarch. This villa was now occupied by Thi and the new\nPharaoh, her son.\n\nAbout the banks of the broad lake waved feathery acacia, sweet scented\nmimosa, marsh flowers, and tall papyrus plants. Upon its pellucid waters\nrested white and blue lotus flowers. Great cranes, pink and white\nflamingos and pure white ibises pecked leisurely among the lily pads or\nspread their wings to dry in the rays of the late afternoon sun.\n\nA sheltered landing-stage opened on a causeway whose granite flagging\nled up to the door of the palace, the Per-aoh or \u201cGreat House\u201d as both\nthe palace and its august master were called. To the left of this\ncauseway stood a small building set apart by the art-loving Pharaoh for\nexperiments in glass and fayence. To the right lay the series of rooms\nreserved to Auta, the Royal Sculptor, and his pupils. Counted among the\nlatter were the then reigning Pharaoh, Akhten-aton, and Noferith, his\nwife.\n\nAkhten-aton has a great admiration for his valiant ancestor Thothmes,\nthird of the name. He counted among his most prized possessions a gold\ngoblet said to have been designed and fashioned by the hand of that\ngifted Pharaoh.\n\nAll Egyptians knew how well the hand of the great \u201cConqueror of Asia\u201d had\nwielded the curved sword of Amen, and with what marvelous results alike\nfor the enrichment of Egypt and for the prestige of her name. Few had\never guessed that Thothmes\u2019 rare moments of relaxation had been spent in\nthe studio of his Chief Goldsmith.\n\nTo-day, Akhten-noferu, the \u201cpleasure barge\u201d of the Queen, was drawn up\nbeside the landing-stage in anticipation of Thi\u2019s arrival.\n\nLess than a hundred cubits in length, its cedar beams were covered\nthroughout with thin plates of pure gold. Its linen sail was ornamented\nwith squares of blue and red. The blades of the light cedar oars were\ntipped with silver; the two great steering-oars were entirely sheathed\nin the same bright metal. A portrait head of the late Pharaoh was carved\nupon the handle of each of the steering-oars. Two elongated eyes at the\nprow of the barge were inlaid with alabaster and deep Babylonian lazuli.\nThe name of the vessel appeared inlaid in pale green emerald from Suan in\nthe south. In the after part of the vessel a low dais was covered with\nred and blue checkered tapestry, to match the great sail.\n\nWith half-suppressed giggles of excitement and whispered jests, the\n\u201csailors\u201d now appeared. Noisily trooping down the causeway they took\ntheir places at the oar benches, as their leader indicated. Their\nleader, Princess Sesen, was as amusingly disguised as her \u201csailors,\u201d the\nhandmaidens of the Queen-Mother herself.\n\nQueen Thi now appeared. As her short figure passed from the dark\nshadows of the passage into the glare of day, two ebony black Nubians\ndropped in an arch above her large and profusely curled wig, a pair of\nostrich-feather sunshades dyed in brilliant tones of red and blue. The\nservants fell prostrate at sight of her and so remained, muttering wishes\nfor \u201clong life and health,\u201d until she was safely seated upon her gilded\ncedar chair, and a cushion placed at her feet by little Ata, youngest of\nher maidens.\n\nAt her approach the \u201csailors\u201d had been silenced by a warning gesture from\nthe Princess.\n\nSuddenly the momentary decorum of these little maids was interrupted by a\nwailing cry from one of their number, who, without apparent reason, burst\ninto a violent fit of weeping.\n\nFor a few moments she was unable to explain the reason of her distress.\nBut finally, her sisters gathered that her turquoise pendant had slipped\nfrom her neck and fallen into the water. This pendant, a gift from the\nPrincess herself, the tearful little maiden vowed she must have. She\ncould not row, she would not row, until it was found.\n\nAfter much delay her fears were somewhat allayed by the Chief Eunuch, who\npromised to send for Enana, the Magician. Enana\u2019s incantations would soon\nbring to the surface her missing jewel. He promised that she would find\nit awaiting her when the barge returned to the landing-stage. Thus, in\npart reassured, little Thutu dried her eyes and again bent over her oar\nin anticipation of the signal to start.\n\nA trumpeter in the prow blew a shrill note upon his long instrument (a\nnew importation from Syria), a group of singing women from the temple\nof Sekhmet burst into song; Rahotep, the Chief Eunuch, clapped his fat\nhands; the ropes were cast off, and the forty maidens dipped their light\ncedar oars in the placid waters. The barge \u201cBeauties of the Sun Disc\u201d\ndrew out slowly into the dancing waters of the lake.\n\nSeated in the shadow of the great checkered sail, Queen Thi smiled her\nappreciation of the novel surprise which her maidens had prepared for\nher. As the vessel drew out through the nodding lotus flowers Kema\u2019s\nflute made soft music which seemed to mingle with the pearling ripples of\nthe waters. Kema, it seems, played the flute so well that the cranes and\nwater-fowl often lit upon the sides of the barge to hear him.\n\nQueen Thi was not aware that novel entertainments such as this had been\ncustomary with the Egyptian court from days immemorial. She was now to\nhear of just such a method of distraction as had been practiced under\nthe great Egyptian monarch Senefru, who had lived, died and been laid to\nrest, high up in his colossal pyramid, some twenty centuries before her\ntime.\n\nFor Sianekh, the story-teller, suddenly appeared and seated herself\nupon the deck in front of the Queen\u2019s chair. As was her custom, she\nneglected both the prostration and the formul\u00e6 of greeting. Sianekh was\na privileged character at Court, a favorite with the late King, both on\naccount of her inexhaustible fund of stories and because of the fact that\nPepi, her husband, had lost his life while defending his royal master\nfrom the attack of a wounded lion.\n\nYes! Thi\u2019s obese and indolent husband, the late Pharaoh, had once been\ninordinately fond of lion-hunting. One hundred and two lions he had\nkilled with his own arrows. One had gone down upon the very expedition\nso fatal to his chariot-driver, Pepi. But it was the last animal of that\ngreat hunt which had sent Sianekh\u2019s husband to the Valley of Shadows.\nPharaoh never forgot Pepi\u2019s sacrifice. Pepi\u2019s tomb never lacked its\nofferings of beer, wine and milk, flesh and fowl or of fresh white linens\nfor the rewrapping of his mummy.\n\nSianekh, the story-teller, slipped from the sleeve of her loose white\nmantle a small ebony wand tipped with electrum.\n\nWithout preamble she commenced a tale of King Senefru\u2019s days, a tale of\nthe epoch of those gods of old, the pyramid-builders.\n\nIn her monotonous singsong she told how the good king, tired with the\ncares of state and oppressed by the great heat of noonday, sought a cool\nspot in which to rest, and found it not. How his son flew upstream in the\nfleetest royal barge in search of a famous magician. How he found him\nfishing in the Nile without a hook, and finally persuaded him to come to\nhis father\u2019s court.\n\nShe told of the wonders performed there by the aged seer. Of wine\nturned to honey. Of bees which went into a little hive only to emerge\nas brilliantly colored birds resembling those of distant Punt. Of the\ngoose\u2019s head which he restored to its body so that it sprang once more to\nits feet and rushed cackling and hissing from their midst.\n\nFinally she told of Senefru\u2019s pleasure-barge, of the little maidens who\nrowed it and of one of their number who dropped her pendant into the\nwater, even as had Thutu, and of the magician of old who parted the\nwaters and descended dryshod to the finding of the pendant.\n\n\u201cBut see, O Queen. Enough of the doings of the ancients. There is the\ntablet to the faithful Nakht, a hero of our own day and generation.\u201d\nSianekh pointed to a tall shaft which rose high above the bank. \u201cThat\ntall shaft marks the stake where Nakht met his death. The story goes that\nIsis, only daughter of the Vizier Rames, made an appointment to meet\nthe son of Nakht at this spot. Yonder inlet was filled to overflowing\nwith the waters of the inundation. But Nakht, son of Nakht, rather than\nabandon his tryst, let the swirling waters of the inundation flow over\nhis devoted head. Isis threw herself into the waters with him. To this\ndate lovers hang garlands about the shaft and breathe a prayer to Hathor\nfor sons and daughters like Nakht and Isis.\u201d\n\nAs Sianekh rose to her feet the Queen thanked her and presented her\nwith a pair of gold earrings which she unfastened from her own ears, an\nunheard of honor, and one which even the story-teller appreciated.\n\nThe Eunuchs showed their approbation by loud cries of affected\nastonishment, for the stories were not new to them. But the little\nmaidens, who had rested on their oars during the recital, showed their\nkeen delight in the tales by frequent \u201coh\u2019s\u201d and \u201cah\u2019s\u201d of astonishment\nand approval scattered throughout the telling.\n\nOn the barge the hours slipped by unnoted. To Yakab the Chancellor, who\nnow anxiously awaited the return of the Queen, each minute seemed an\nhour.\n\nYakab had hurried off to acquaint the Queen of Bhanar\u2019s plight, and to\nbeg her to come to the assistance of one of her unfortunate country-women.\n\nHour after hour Yakab was compelled to sit beneath the striped awning\nwhich fronted the palace door. Hour after hour he pretended to listen to\nthe doorkeeper\u2019s account of his exploits amidst the Nubian goldfields,\nin the arid Turquoise Country, among the hills of Mitanni or beyond the\nGreat Bend of the Euphrates.\n\nPentaur, the Doorkeeper, had served three successive Pharaohs. Already\nwas he popularly supposed to have exceeded the one hundred and ten years\ncustomarily prayed for by all pious Egyptians. Yet, Pentaur seemed to\nhave the key to some mysterious _hekau_-charm, which kept his well-worn\nteeth in his head, his deep-set eyes clear and his head erect. Though\nPentaur walked with a jackal-headed cane, it was from choice, and not\nnecessity.\n\nLike all men, Pentaur had his failings. Next to the somewhat colored\nrecital of his own travels and successes, Pentaur loved to recount the\nexploits, narrow escapes and journeyings of his famous ancestor and\nnamesake, Pentaur, companion and histographer of that greatest of all\nPharaohs, Thothmes the Great. As he listened, perforce, to this garrulous\ndescendant of Pentaur, Yakab wondered if it had indeed been the fiery\nThothmes who had crushed Nubia and the whole of Asia, or whether the\nfirst Pentaur had not in point of fact been the true instrument of\nPharaoh\u2019s worldwide successes.\n\nYet, much of what the Doorkeeper said of his ancestor was true. Was not\nPentaur the Historian\u2019s account of Pharaoh\u2019s exploits written in good\nhieroglyphic and graphically pictured upon the walls of Amen\u2019s temple\nnearby? Indeed, Pentaur, the Doorkeeper, had good cause for his pride of\nancestry.\n\nThe weary Yakab was on the point of relinquishing his long vigil when the\nnotes of a trumpet announced the return of the royal barge. Soon after\nPentaur sent in Yakab\u2019s crumpled note to the Queen-Mother\u2019s apartment.\n\nOnce the acknowledgment was in his hands, Yakab picked up his long staff\nand rose to depart. As his gaunt form passed beneath the outer pylon,\nPentaur motioned him back to the ebony stool. Pentaur considered Yakab an\nexcellent conversationalist, for the reason, perhaps, that Pentaur\u2019s flow\nof anecdote had not once been interrupted.\n\nBut Yakab smilingly shook his head. He could not resist following up\nhis heart-felt expressions of farewell with a sarcastic prayer for the\nrepose of the souls of Pentaur\u2019s ancestry, as far as he could recall it,\ncommencing with Den, one of the valiant \u201cFollowers of Horus\u201d of the days\nof the gods.\n\nYakab feared that he had failed a member of his race. He had been too\nlate. Yakab loved riches; Yakab loved power. But, above all else, Yakab\nloved his home, his family, his people. And was not Bhanar one of his\npeople?\n\nThat night Yakab could not sleep.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VI\n\nHOW BHANAR FOUND A HOME IN EGYPT\n\n\nBaltu the Phoenician left his bales of merchandise and returned to the\nside of the trembling Bhanar. Erdu, his steersman could count the bales\nas well as he. As each tenth bale passed over the vessel\u2019s side, Erdu\nsang out the tally. He checked it with a mark upon a piece of potsherd\nwhich he held in his hand.\n\nMisunderstanding the signs of excitement which appeared in the face of\nthe trembling Bhanar, following Renny\u2019s signal, the Phoenician merchant\nsought to interest her in the sights about her. In a few moments she\nwould be off his hands forever. She must not be allowed to break down at\nthis juncture.\n\nIn a voice which he sought to make sympathetic Baltu pointed out the\nwonders of the Western Bank.\n\nHe named the builders of the various temples, shrines and gold-capped\nobelisks; the owners of the more important villas whose gardens lined the\nriver bank. He even attempted to give some chronological sequence to the\nintricate maze of rock-hewn tombs which rose, vast and imposing, from the\nedge of the Theban Plain to a point high up beneath the crumbling cliffs\nof the western hills.\n\nYet, Bhanar found little of interest in her surroundings. Her eyes dwelt\nfearfully upon the treeless hills, upon the mud-walled villages and\ngloomy temples. She noted that each and all of the Theban temples were\nguarded from the eyes of mortals by high and forbidding walls of solid\nmasonry.\n\nHow different was this to the hospitality of her own little temple,\nwhose snowy colonnades were open to every passerby; its great wooden\ndoors thrown open from sunrise to sunset! Again, in contradistinction\nto these sun-baked hills her native village nestled in an olive grove,\nits encircling hills were green with pastures and crowned with thickly\ngrowing trees. At this very season its fields were yellow with the\nfragrant Syrian crocus. Over all was a sky blue as a turquoise, an\natmosphere pure and limpid. How different from the blazing heat of Egypt\nand that great throbbing cauldron of molten brass which the Egyptians\ncalled their sky!\n\nPresently she would be swallowed up in one of those forbidding temples,\npalaces or villas! She thought that the well of her tears had dried, yet\nnow the tears sprang hot and blinding to her eyes.\n\nFearing that she might ruin his chances if she lost that soft rose\ncoloring he so prized, to divert her Baltu led her to the cabin door and\nbade her robe herself to go ashore. Baltu took from his long fringed gown\ntwo small gold-capped jars of obsidian and placed them in her hands:\n\u201cDescend to thy cabin, my Rose-bud. Bid Darman let down that glossy hair\nof thine. Let her sprinkle a little of this perfumed oil and gold dust\nupon it. The oil is more precious than the gold. Let her not waste a\ndrop. Now haste thee, my Syrian Crocus! We go ashore immediately.\u201d\n\nSoon Bhanar was arrayed in a cream-colored robe, a golden girdle\nencircled her slender waist, a diadem gleamed in her perfumed hair.\n\nDarman stood back to admire the effect of her ministrations. Darman,\nlike Bhanar, snatched from some distant village, was short, fat and\ncontinually sniffling or weeping outright. She had often assured Bhanar,\nas indeed she had assured other unfortunates whom it had been her lot to\nserve in a like capacity, that the love and devotion which she bore her,\nalone prevented her from throwing herself overboard.\n\nIn the present case it may well have been the truth, for Darman had\nconceived an utter infatuation for the beautiful Syrian. On the contrary,\nDarman loathed her loud-voiced master, though her abject fear of him was\ncause for jest with the whole crew, including Baltu himself.\n\nIn spite of her threats to do away with herself Darman had now spent\nsix years upon the Tyrian\u2019s vessel. During this time she had prepared\nhundreds of timorous maidens for their first, and last, appearance upon\nthe slave-traders\u2019 dais. When the owner grew tired of his new plaything,\nlike the playthings of infancy, it disappeared. No one knew whither, no\none cared.\n\nBhanar reappeared on deck to find Baltu in the act of teasing the\nunfortunate youth, who now lay prostrate at his feet in an agony of fear\nand apprehension.\n\n\u201cUp! Dry those woman\u2019s tears, Page of Pharaoh! Dost wish a tombkeeper\nto purchase thee? Queen Ataho\u2019s page servitor to a mummy! Pull thyself\ntogether, boy! Otherwise\u201d\u2014Baltu closed his eyes, folded his hands across\nhis chest and assumed the rigid pose of a mummy.\n\nAs his eyes opened he caught sight of the advancing Bhanar: \u201cAstar\u2019s\ndoves! Did I not tell thee Darman, \u2018A robe of cream, transparent,\nbordered with green and gold, dainty sandals of pink and gold, a simple\ngold diadem and the hair parted in the center\u2014so!\u2019 Seen through such\nSyrian byssus that rosy form proclaims thee Astar\u2019s daughter. Ah,\nNebamon, what a treat for thine eyes!\u201d\n\nHardly waiting for the unfortunate Hittite youth to gather himself\ntogether, Baltu, trembling with excitement and cupidity, led his two\nvictims to the long cedar gangplank. Once on shore he pushed aside the\nsweating carriers, and pulling along his two charges with him, started\noff down the street.\n\nPresently they passed the common slaver\u2019s block. Two brilliantly painted\nbooths were at the moment in use. Upon one stood a stolid Nubian woman\nand two weeping children; upon the other a troop of half-starved Amu,\nwhom the priests of Karnak, their original owners, were now selling.\n\nBaltu\u2019s great fist thundered at the door of the last house southward\nalong the waterfront. He slid back the bolt and threw open the door,\nwaving his two charges into a narrow corridor. In a stentorian voice he\nshouted a command or greeting to the unseen inhabitants of the dwelling\nand stalked off down the corridor, and then up a short flight of stairs\nto a room in the harem or second story.\n\nThis room turned a blank wall to the river front\u2014as indeed did all three\nstories of the house\u2014but it overlooked a broad and well-kept garden. Its\npainted cedar door gave upon an awning-covered balcony which immediately\noverlooked the customary lotus-pool. A giant sycamore spread its shady\nbranches far and wide above the flower-dotted water.\n\nIn the shade of this aged tree Baltu\u2019s Egyptian wife, an enormously fat\nbut strikingly handsome Theban, was taking a short walk supported on the\narms of two Nubian women. Her pet gosling rested upon her capacious bosom.\n\nAt the sudden appearance of their lord and master the latter dropped\nBentamen\u2019s arms and commenced dancing, clapping their hands, and sending\nout upon the quiet morning air the shrill \u201cwelcome cry\u201d of their race, in\nwhich the beaming Bentamen, Baltu\u2019s spouse, attempted to join. Tears of\njoy the while dropped in a shower upon the head of her devoted pet.\n\nHowever, Baltu had no time for greetings. In response to his directions\nBentamen, supported by her maids, waddled slowly toward a little kiosk\nin the rear of the garden, a summer house almost buried in a circle of\nragged date and d\u00f4m palm. Though in his rough way, Baltu devotedly loved\nhis fat wife, business always consigned her to second place in her lord\u2019s\nheart.\n\nDuring this little scene Bhanar had had time to gaze about her. The room\nin which they stood was decorated with painted designs of hunting scenes,\nboomerang-hunting amidst the marshes, a common pastime with the wealthier\nEgyptians. The ceiling decoration consisted of a painted band of spiral\ngrape vines, whose dainty tendrils met and intertwined immediately above\nher head.\n\nIn one corner the artist had introduced a cat crouching to spring upon an\nunsuspecting field mouse. The latter was busily engaged in eating its way\ninto a fat bunch of luscious purple grapes.\n\nPuns being the Egyptian\u2019s stock in trade, his common form of wit, the\nartist had scrawled in minute hieroglyphics below: \u201cOh, guest, whosoever\nthou art, what do you think of this for a vignette?\u201d\n\nBhanar, it is true, could not read the inscription, but she could\nappreciate the charm of the little apartment, its brilliant frescoes and\nits floors powdered with finest white sand, gold dust, lapis lazuli and\nturquoise.\n\nA scent as of some sweet pungent incense floated in the air. Scented\nwoods from the Incense Country had been stocked in the center of the\nlittle brazier which glowed fitfully at the edge of a low dais hung with\nrichly embroidered linen.\n\nThis dais stood well back against the eastern wall of the room. Upon it\nstood a light wicker-work couch, its head and back of ebony, its four\nhigh feet of ivory carved to represent panther\u2019s claws.\n\nClapping his hands, Baltu gave certain sharp directions to an obsequious\nNubian, who appeared as if by magic at his summons. Thereafter Baltu\nsmiled, stroked his long beard and, taking a small bottle of wine from\na niche in the wall, shook a few drops into the brazier. He muttered\na prayer to Bar, Baal and Isis as he poured out the wine. Could his\ntwo hearers have understood his words, they would have heard the old\nslaver bribe his gods, foreign and Egyptian alike, with promises of rich\nlibations, of oxen and geese, should his bait be taken at the figure he\nhad fixed.\n\nBaltu in this, did but follow the lead of Pharaoh himself, though\nPharaoh, god incarnate, had he but paused to consider it, did but seek to\nbribe himself, in the person of his celestial counterpart.\n\nWord soon spread through the mart that Baltu the Phoenician was selling,\nand Baltu was known as a merchant who sold nothing but the best and\nrarest, whether that best consisted of spices, perfumes, wines, jewels,\nBabylonian glass or slaves.\n\nBaltu the Phoenician lifted a jeweled hand: \u201cListen, Thebans! Four months\nhave passed since I have gazed upon the Queen of Cities, Thebes the\nGlorious! During these four months I have visited Meggido, Charchemish,\nTyre and Askelon. My last voyage hither brought ye true lazuli of\nBabylon, and precious incense from the Incense Land, the waterless land\nof the East!\n\n\u201cThis time we bring ye amethysts and turquoise for your beads and\nbangles, malachite for the healing of your eyes, incense for your\nnostrils, precious oils for your anointing, or to mix with those\nceremonial cones that custom bids ye place upon your graceful wigs,\nalso\u201d\u2014suddenly his eyes catch the sight of the one man above all others\nhe wished to see. He broke off and addressed the newcomer directly.\n\u201cFor thee, my lord Nebamon, a rose; nay, a human rose, softly pink as a\nrose of Naharin! Step up, great lord, _see for thyself_!\u201d With a quick\nmovement Baltu unloosed the gold girdle that supported the heavy robe so\ngracefully draped about the shrinking Bhanar.\n\n\u201cA rose indeed, Nebamon? Do my lord\u2019s lists boast a form more perfect, a\nskin more lustrous, hair so long, so like the ruddy gold of Nubia? Should\nnot this damsel, this daughter of a long line of kings, be added to the\nroyal lists? Were the great noble Menna, son of Menna, here now, would he\nnot straightway buy the maiden? Never shall I be content until I see thee\ntake from thy finger the seal that adds this wondrous creature to thy\nvilla yonder.\u201d\n\nNebamon, typical eunuch and slave-dealer, handsome of face, obese to such\nan extent that the skin of his torso lay over his jeweled girdle in thick\nfolds, Nebamon nodded his head as his great velvet eyes slowly appraised\nthe many charms of the crouching maiden.\n\n\u201cThy price, Baltu? And mark thee well! Should she turn out the shrew that\nfair-skinned Hittite Gadiya proved to be, she shall be returned, or never\nagain will Baltu\u2019s galley pass the northern frontier into Egypt! May the\nHound eat her, she is still upon my hands, and like to be!\u201d\n\n\u201cGreat lord! Could I know the Hittite for a shrew. Remember, more than\nthree months I had her on my book. With me, as with Darman, she was a\nvery dove, as soft and cooing as the sacred doves of Hathor\u2019s temple\nyonder! Nay, have done with Gadiya; we will speak of her anon. Thou\nwouldst know the price of Bhanar the Beautiful, of Bhanar\u2014a daughter\nof Kings? There are perhaps four whose names allow the purchase of the\nmaid, and these be Pharaoh himself, Rames, your good Vizier, Menna, the\nKing\u2019s Overseer, and, perhaps, thyself! One thousand gold _uten_ and five\nhundred bags of northern wheat will buy the maid, Nebamon! Make up thy\nmind, and quickly. Yonder I see approaching the carrying chair of thy\nmost dreaded rival, Menna, son of Menna. What says my lord Nebamon?\u201d\n\n\u201cFive hundred _uten_, Baltu; all I have is thine for the maid!\u201d The\nhandsome noble shot a hasty glance in the direction of the oncoming chair\nof Menna, the King\u2019s Overseer. It was plainly visible to all present, as\nit swung up the garden path, two outrunners with slaves going before, a\nforeign conceit which Menna had imported from Naharin.\n\nNebamon drew from his jeweled girdle his writing set. He affected to\nwrite out a memorandum.\n\n\u201cOne thousand _uten_ and five hundred bags of wheat will buy the maid,\nNebamon, nothing less.\u201d\n\nArriving just in time to hear the repetition of the price Menna descended\nfrom his chair, crossed the room and stood before the shrinking Bhanar.\nMenna never haggled. He bought outright or he signaled his bearers and\nwas borne away without a word.\n\nOn this occasion Menna took a hasty look at Bhanar, turned to Baltu and\ncried: \u201cDone, the girl is mine!\u201d\n\nWith a scowl upon his handsome face Nebamon haughtily withdrew, followed\nby a half score of excited Theban nobles and the usual group of hangers\non, those \u201cflies on meat\u201d who customarily attached themselves to the\nmore reckless nobles of the resident city.\n\nWithin the hour the delighted Bhanar found herself attached as maid\nto the person of the Princess Sesen, attendant of Noferith, the young\nQueen. All her fears in this direction were instantly dispelled when\nthe Princess advised her of her simple duties in Syrian as pure as her\nown. From that hour Bhanar adored the very ground her beautiful mistress\nwalked on. From that day Bhanar became the very shadow of the little\nPrincess.\n\nThe secret of Bhanar\u2019s present good fortune was due to the fact that\nMenna, son of Menna, loved the Princess Sesen. Menna felt that such a\ngift as that of the beautiful slave-girl would go far to impress the\nhaughty little maiden with the sincerity of his suit. Possibly this\nlavish expenditure would touch her hard little heart.\n\nThe price was indeed a high one, even for a Royal Overseer. But it was\nthe first time in all Menna\u2019s thirty-odd years that a woman had not\nsmiled upon his suit.\n\nStranger still, perhaps, for the first time, Menna truly loved a woman.\nTrue, Menna\u2019s love by now was closely akin to madness, since the little\nmaid continually frowned upon his suit. The youthful general, Ramses, he\nknew, was ever in her thoughts.\n\nYet, Menna never despaired. In earlier years he had often been on the\npoint of relinquishing some tirelessly pursued quarry, of a similarly\nserenely unruffled type, when lo, the pomegranate had suddenly fallen\ninto his hands.\n\nBut what of Renny, Bhanar\u2019s would-be rescuer? Returning overjoyed from\nhis visit to Yakab, the Chancellor, Renny had reached the acacia grove\nfronting Thethi\u2019s Tavern when something suddenly descended upon his head\nand the last thing he remembered was a stunning blow and then\u2014oblivion.\n\nCould Renny the Syrian but have had some slight premonition of what next\nwould happen to his poor unconscious body, he would certainly have rubbed\nthat small green crocodile pendant at his neck, the gift of an Egyptian\nfriend, and uttered the formula which drives that voracious creature\nfrom its prey.\n\nBut Renny was a Syrian. He wore that little green charm merely to please\nhis friend. Renny put no trust in feathers of ibis or blood of lizard; he\nsmiled at charms and magic incantations. Renny\u2019s own simple religion was\na religion of love, not of fear.\n\nYet, who knows, perhaps the little charm was to assist him, and this in\nspite of himself.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VII\n\nHOW RENNY THE SYRIAN ESCAPED THE CROCODILES\n\n\nWe have already alluded to the violent sandstorm which had raged over\nThebes. As Kham-hat had truthfully said, such a storm had not been\nknown since that memorable day when Thi the Beautiful, had been brought\nup-river to Egypt\u2019s capital, there to become the favorite wife of the\nlate Pharaoh.\n\nThe storm had been especially severe in the immediate vicinity of the\ncapital, or so at least, it had seemed to the disgusted Thebans. Their\nloud complaints as to the hideous damage done were not unduly emphasized,\nsince the baleful effects of this storm, both in and about the resident\ncity, were apparent on every hand.\n\nMany of the famous palms and giant sycamores in Pharaoh\u2019s palace garden\nhad been uprooted or despoiled of their finest branches. Many of the\nAbyssinian trees and Lebanus cedars, that lined the causeway leading\nto Hatshepsut\u2019s ivory-toned chapel, now lay prone across its well-paved\nincline, or, loosened at the roots, hung shriveled, torn and dejected,\nfar out across its brightly painted parapets.\n\nDust, a foot or more in depth, had drifted against the gates of the\nvillas, many of which seemed as if they might rather have opened upon\nsome gloomy mortuary-garden than upon the dainty gardens of exalted\nnobles, with their wealth of tamarisks, acacias, myrrh, sandalwood and\nstately Lebanus cedars.\n\nNot a sign of life was visible along the sloping walls of the city, not a\nliving thing stirred in its dark and narrow streets. Covered by the same\ngray pall of dust, Thebes had seemingly united herself with her immense\nburial-ground to the westward. Thebes appeared to have become one vast\ncity of the dead!\n\nA swirl of the fine impalpable Egyptian dust rose into the shimmering\nair, a whirling and ever-widening cone\u2014part sand, part river-silt, part\n_human_ ashes. Yes, throughout the Nile Valley, an Egyptian might be\nsaid to breathe the very ashes of his ancestors.\n\nSuddenly the sun leaped above the Eastern Hills. The city awoke. Smoke\nrose upon the heavy morning air and drifted slowly, like a blue-gray\nstreamer, up the curving shores of the Theban Valley.\n\nKathi, the embalmer, on his way to the landing stage leading to the\nTemple of Karnak, paused to watch the maneuvers of the war-vessels, as\nthey sought their berths along the western bank.\n\nAt this moment, one vessel\u2019s huge square sail, a picturesque\nchecker-board of green and white, flapped madly, as its head flew up\nsuddenly in the wind. It seemed that Du\u0101dmochef, the Wind-god, was not to\nbe cheated out of a few parting puffs from his lusty lungs!\n\nThe look-out-man, standing in the prow, pole in hand, shouted a hasty\nwarning to the captain aft, but, before his raucous order could be\nunderstood, the heavy boat had buried its nose, with the ghastly trophies\nit bore, deep in a hidden sand-bar. For a time it seemed that the\nstiffly swaying forms of the wretched foreign chieftains lashed to the\nprow would break the thongs which held them in place. It availed nothing\nthat Ranuf, the captain, cursed the look-out-man, his father and his\nforebears since Egypt emerged from the primordial _Nu_! And the unhappy\nAmeni suffered the irate captain\u2019s curses in silence, as it was the sixth\nmishap of the kind since leaving the sandstone quays of Enet, sacred to\nthe Goddess Hathor.\n\nAs Ranuf hurled at the bent head of his look-out-man a last fearful\n_hekau_, a potent spell intended to consign the soul of his discomfited\nassistant to the voracious maw of Osiris\u2019s hound, he noticed a dark patch\nfloating upon the water below. A white face gazed up into his:\n\n\u201cAbdi, quick! A drowning man; a countryman of thine; if I mistake not.\u201d\n\nThe Syrian addressed strode quickly to the captain\u2019s side, took one\nlook at the slowly drifting body and, casting aside his sandals and\nloin-cloth, disappeared headlong into the river. Cautiously the captain\nextended a long pole in the direction of the swimming sailor. In another\nmoment, Abdi was drawn safely to the deck, and, with him, the apparently\nlifeless figure of the man he had attempted to save.\n\nAbdi rose to his feet, seemingly none the worse for his adventure. He\nclasped the captain\u2019s hand: \u201cAdon! I thought a devil had me by the heels!\nTruly the eddies hereabouts have a deadly grip! Dost know the lad? A\nfellow countryman by those blue eyes of his! See, they open! Breath of\nAdon, \u2019tis an ugly crack he hath! Cut the thongs that bind him! Verily,\n\u2019tis dangerous work to meddle with Syrians, as they who planned this\ntreacherous attack will find, should Thi get wind of it! Thou knowest in\nsuch a case, even the \u2018tried, judged, found his bitter doom!\u2019 is omitted\nfrom the records, since \u2018thus we save the government\u2019s ink,\u2019 says that\nwag Thethi!\u201d\n\nThe captain bent over the still motionless form of the unknown. He tried\nto recall the face but failed.\n\nAt this moment the Syrian presented a most woeful appearance. The\nlong, slim form lay inert; the eyes from time to time opened and closed\nwearily. Blood still trickled slowly from a slight cut along one side of\nhis forehead.\n\nBy now he was surrounded by half a score of curious, yet sympathetic\nsailors. One bound up his wound, another provided him with a striped\nheadcloth, another placed a dry robe about his shoulders.\n\nAs he once more fluttered back to consciousness, a sailor addressed him\nin the Egyptian tongue:\n\n\u201cStranger, how comest thou in such a strait? Verily had it not been for\nthat patch of reeds, the crocodiles that swarm about the temple quay had\nsighted thy bobbing form, or the gripping whirlpools around the Southern\nBend had drawn thee to the river\u2019s slimiest depths? Breath of Sebek! Thy\npendant did indeed protect thee!\u201d\n\nThe question was understood, as was evident from the color that rushed to\nthe pale face, and the intelligence that lit up the bright blue eyes.\n\nNo doubt the question recalled to the Syrian\u2019s brain the memory of the\nattack which had so nearly cost him his life. He struggled to his feet.\nA draught of wine, and, in a few moments, he seemed little the worse for\nhis experience.\n\n\u201cFriends, \u2019tis a tale of jealousy. I am named Renny, a Syrian, a sculptor\nattached to the house of the Lord Menna, son of Menna, Overseer of\nPharaoh (health to him). I know not who hath planned this murderous\nattack upon me. No enemies have I to my knowledge.\u201d\n\nHe turned to Abdi: \u201cFellow countryman, I thank thee that thou dids\u2019t so\nopportunely go to my rescue. May this bar requite thee!\u201d Renny slipped\nfrom his arm a broad band of gold and handed it to Abdi.\n\nWhether the excitement of the rescue and rush of all hands to the side\nhad had anything to do with it or not no one could say, but at this\nmoment the clumsy barge suddenly yielded itself to the renewed efforts of\nthe chanting polers, and swung around into mid-stream.\n\nAs it drew alongside the western landing-stage, Renny leaped ashore.\nWith a wave of the hand to his rescuers, he abruptly disappeared among\nthe bales of hides and serried ranks of great empty water jars, which\nwere piled up high along the shore, awaiting shipment to the north.\n\nRenny had seen a company of Royal Guardsmen drawn up before the\ncolonnaded portico of the royal landing-stage.\n\nHe had nothing to fear from the soldiers. These, he well knew, waited to\nescort the victorious General Ramses into Pharaoh\u2019s presence.\n\nYet, at their head, idly swinging a jeweled scarab which hung upon a\nlong gold chain, stood Bar, a spy in the service of Menna, the King\u2019s\nOverseer, Renny\u2019s powerful patron.\n\nRenny had his reasons for seeking to avoid the Prince\u2019s servant at this\njuncture. He could not shake off the feeling that Bar, the spy, was\nconcerned, in some way, with the attack that had so nearly cost him his\nlife.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VIII\n\nN\u014cFERT-\u0100RI DANCES BEFORE PHARAOH\n\n\nIn chariots or carrying-chairs members of the Court were hurrying to the\nPalace, to assist at the feast planned to honor, at one and the same\ntime, Belur, the newly arrived Hittite Ambassador, and the victorious\nEgyptian general, Ramses, but now returned from Nubia.\n\nAccording to precedent Ramses would present himself before Pharaoh and\nthe Court in order to receive the customary favors bestowed upon a\nvictorious Egyptian leader, those \u201cfavors which the King bestows\u201d and\n\u201cthe gold order of valor.\u201d\n\nThroughout the long day the excitable Theban populace had yelled itself\nhoarse, as one after another the war-barges swung around the great bend\nof the river, south of Thebes.\n\nEach boat was marked by its standard-of-cognizance, and no sooner was its\nmooring-stake driven into the bank than a yelling, gesticulating and\njoyfully-weeping hoard of relatives and friends of the crew burst upon\nits decks.\n\nFrom that moment, all signs of discipline utterly vanished. Men, women\nand children entered upon one of those inevitable carouses which, in\nEgypt, ever followed such a home-coming.\n\nEveryone was coming up to Thebes in order to witness the great\ncelebration in honor of victory. It being festival time even the indigent\npassengers at the western bank were to-day allowed to work their way\nacross the river by bailing the leaky ferryboats.\n\nThi, the Queen-Mother, in company with the weak but pretty young queen,\nleft the Women\u2019s Apartments early, on her way to the Banquet-hall. As she\npassed the various courts and columned porticos the watchful eunuchs,\nguards and servants, hurled themselves prostrate at sight of her. On\nknees and elbows they groveled, prayers for \u201chealth\u201d and \u201clong life\u201d upon\ntheir trembling lips.\n\nTo the dreaded Thi, as to Pharaoh himself, honors were rendered as to the\ngods.\n\nAnd she whom Egypt feared, and Enana the Magician dared; she who had\nbeen called by her friends Thi the Beautiful, by her enemies Thi the\nForeigner, Thi the Commoner, how shall we best describe her?\n\nThe Queen-Mother\u2019s head was small, her low forehead slightly retreated.\nHer nose was of the delicate Syrian type, the tip somewhat rounded, the\nnostrils well opened. From beneath artificially prolonged eyebrows,\neyebrows shaved close and lightly penciled with black antimony paste,\nglowed two large and lustrous eyes. Thi\u2019s lips were full, but well-cut.\nCruelty showed in the drooping corners.\n\nAt this moment Thi was clad in one of the richest costumes of the\nextravagant New Empire, a pale-green robe minutely plaited and studded\nat intervals with lotus-flowers in beaten gold. Gold plumes, which rose\nabove a gem-encrusted headdress of vulture form, seemed to give height\nand dignity to one who was in reality a short and slender woman.\n\nAbout the great Queen\u2019s throat, wrist and ankles were broad bands of\nalternate gold bars and minute cylinders of beryl and amethyst. The names\nof Aton, the Syrian sun-god, stamped in rich blue fayence, hung from a\nlong chain well down upon her high bosom.\n\nThough now no longer in the dazzling beauty of her youth, Thi still\npossessed many a charm of face and form. Yet, had she been devoid of\nsuch, her voice had served to win for her the great and powerful empire\nthat was hers. At the sound of it, one knew at once why in Akhmin, where\nfirst her parents had settled, men had called her Nightingale; why, at\na later date, poets and singers of the Theban court had vied with one\nanother to do her honor.\n\nNo mere doll-faced beauty had caused the former monarch to set aside\nQueen Hanit, an exalted lady of the line of Egypt\u2019s royal house and a\nlineal descendant of Ra the sun-god, yes, and to cause the death of the\nunhappy Prince Wazmes whom she had borne him.\n\nThi\u2019s face and form had been enough to set kings and princes warring.\nYet, to those prized gifts of Hathor, Beauty\u2019s Goddess, had Ptah of\nMemphis added the voice of a ten-stringed lute, and Khnum, Fashioner of\nMankind, an intellect that had quickly won to her by far the greater\nnumber of the nobles of the court.\n\nThus had Thi, a foreigner, a woman sprung, by descent at least, from\ncommon Syrian stock, usurped the rightful place of the great Queen Hanit,\ndescendant of kings and a king\u2019s wife.\n\nAt the foot of a short flight of steps leading to the festival hall, Thi\nand Menna met. They exchanged the customary string of effusive greetings\nand honorifics.\n\nAs the Queen-Mother swept on she found her way blocked by the crooked\nform of Enana. The wizened old Magician stood leaning upon his\njackal-headed staff immediately in the center of the narrow passage.\n\nEnana\u2019s sole garment consisted of a long kilt or tunic fastened at the\nwaist by a jeweled belt, and faced in front with squares of fine gold.\nThis was an affectation of a fashion long since forgotten.\n\nAt Thi\u2019s cold greeting the puckered and heavily-lined face of this\nanimated mummy trembled with what might equally well have answered for\na smile or a grimace. Yet, beneath his shaven eyebrows, his half-veiled\neyes glittered ominously, as they lifted for a second to those of the\nfrowning queen. Enana ignored her greeting.\n\nInvoluntarily Thi shuddered, yet inwardly cursed herself for a fool. It\nwas only Enana, a fellow who lived, nay, had lived for centuries, \u2019twas\nsaid, upon the credulity and superstition of the Thebans!\n\nThi swept past him and out upon the balcony overlooking the long hall.\nThere she found Noferith, her son\u2019s wife, the Princess Sesen, and others\nof the maids of honor, awaiting her.\n\nAs Thi seated herself, Menna passed below her balcony. He bowed to the\ntwo queens, yet his eyes sought those of the Princess Sesen.\n\nMenna, the King\u2019s Overseer, had again yielded himself to the spell of a\npair of lustrous eyes and dimpled cheeks. He loved the little Princess,\nas he had never loved before.\n\nFor the past few weeks, Menna had wooed the Princess assiduously. Thi,\nthe Queen-Mother, for reasons of her own, had sought to aid him in his\nsuit.\n\nAll in vain.\n\nThe little Princess would have none of him. Thi knew well, as in fact\ndid Menna, that Sesen\u2019s heart was filled with thoughts of Ramses, with\nhopes of his speedy return. Menna\u2019s servant, Bar, called by many \u201cMenna\u2019s\nshadow,\u201d as lean and hungry looking as a neglected _ka_, sought to\nconvince his master that her indifference was due to a present lover,\nsome favorite among the courtiers. Menna knew better, yet affected\nto believe him. Meanwhile, unused to failure in such enterprises, he\ncontinued to besiege the Princess with well-turned couplets, rich and\never-varied presents, and courtly flatteries.\n\nAt this moment, his restless black eyes sought to attract those of the\nall-unconscious object of his affections. His glance dwelt with delight\nupon her spotless white gala robes. He noted the graceful wig confined by\na rose-colored fillet from which drooped fragrant white lotus-flowers;\nthe huge circular gold earrings, and the flashing pectoral ornament\u2014a\nglitter of jeweled inlays\u2014which rose and fell at every breath.\n\nSesen\u2019s cheeks and lips were artificially reddened, her eyebrows shaved\nand lightly penciled with kohl, like those of the Queen and Queen-Mother.\nYet, unlike them, her tongue was silent, her smiles had vanished. Sesen\u2019s\nsomber eyes evinced little interest in the bustle and joyful preparations\nabout her. Twice did Noferith the Queen touch her with the dainty little\nscent-tube she carried, in an effort to recall her to her laughter-loving\nself.\n\nFinally, after the sweet-scented lotus which each lady carried had been\nchanged but once, the Princess Sesen rose, pleading faintness. The\nsympathetic Queen whom she served, allowed her to retire without exacting\nthe formal prostration.\n\nAt her withdrawal Menna\u2019s disappointment was intense. He sank back deep\ninto his painted cedar chair. For Menna the feast was at an end.\n\nBut not for the noisy revelers about him. Even the haughty members of the\nHittite ambassador\u2019s suite forgot for a moment their lofty attitude of\ndetachment.\n\nFor the corpulent Mentu, son of the Vizier Kena, had whetted the\nappetites of these Asiatics. Through the somewhat hesitating medium of a\nsibilant Canaanitic dialect, the garrulous Mentu had somehow managed to\nmake them understand that the entire kitchen forces of the governor of\nThinis and of Hotepra, Prince of On, had been brought upstream to assist\nthe royal cooks.\n\n\u201cIndeed,\u201d said Mentu, \u201cthough whirling sandstorms bury us; though drought\nand pestilence stalk the blistered banks of Hapi, yet shall we enjoy the\nchoicest viands, the rarest wines,\u201d he clicked his purple tongue; \u201cwines\nwhose seals have stood intact since good King Ahmes\u2019 time! But, wait\nuntil thou seest N\u014dfert-\u0101ri! Breath of Ra! Then shalt thou say, \u2018Baal\nforgive me! Our country is afar off! Between us lies the raging sea!\nEgypt is a land of pleasure and delight! Here let us tarry!\u2019\u201d\n\nAnd so it proved. For marvel followed marvel with almost bewildering\nrapidity.\n\nA dish that won the plaudits of all was an enormous platter of Syrian\ncraftsmanship. Upon this gold dish, in the midst of gold reeds and\npapyrus, swam ducks, plover, and other aquatic birds. In a miniature\nskiff, a diminutive Egyptian boatman propelled his silver craft over\nperfumed water. An Egyptian noble, standing upright in the bow, aimed a\njeweled throw-stick at a flock of egrets which, with wings outspread,\nquivered upon gold wires high above a thicket of feathery papyrus.\n\nThe realistic little figures were of pastry, the birds cooked with all\ntheir feathers on!\n\nDishes of this sort were countless in number, the design of the last more\nastonishing than that of the first, since each jealous cook had sought\nto outshine his rival, both in originality of design and richness of\nmaterial.\n\nBut now, at a signal from Penn\u016bt the Usher, Pharaoh rose from the throne\nand advanced to the edge of the dais. To his feet the Usher led the\nyouthful Ramses.\n\nAnd there, to the accompaniment of a deepening roar of applause from\nthe onlookers, Pharaoh slipped about his victorious general\u2019s neck that\ncoveted distinction of the Egyptian military, the necklace of gold lions\nand flies.\n\nIn a brief lull the words of Pharaoh echoed through the resplendent hall:\n\n\u201cWelcome, thrice welcome, Ramses! Let the praises of thy lord expand\nthy heart! Mei has recounted the story of thy skill and energy in the\nconducting of this most bitterly fought campaign. Where now are the\nchieftains of Nubia? They have been ground down as the seed of the date\nbeneath the crusher, as eye-paint upon the palette. Yea, they have become\nas grain which the mill has crushed! Now are the chieftains of Wawat\nforced to sulk in the caves of the hyena. As a fly hast thou worried\nthem, as a lion hast thou destroyed them! We place these precious\norders about thy throat. From this day thy renown is fragrant as the\nperfume of the Incense Country. Arise! Take thy place beside us as\n\u2018Fan-bearer-on-the-right-of-Pharaoh, thy Lord!\u2019\u201d\n\nAt his elevation to this coveted position, renewed applause seemed to\nshake the painted roof.\n\nFriends pressed forward to kiss the jeweled chains and ornaments that had\nbut now left the hand of the god-king. Some hurled themselves prostrate\nbefore these rewards which only Pharaohs might bestow.\n\nThe King shot a covert glance in the direction of the Balcony reserved\nfor the royal harem. The Queen-Mother shook her jeweled _menat_ in\ncompany with the other ladies. Yet, in Thi\u2019s case, the action represented\nfar more than mere applause or acclamation.\n\nThe tactful Belur, Prince of the Hittites, in turn, rose and added a\nfew well chosen words of praise for a difficult task so promptly and\nbloodlessly accomplished.\n\nPharaoh, watching him from beneath his richly painted canopy, doubted\nthe sincerity of the smile that played about the handsome lips of\nthe Hittite. Again he resolved in his mind the probable cause of the\nHittite\u2019s inopportune visit.\n\nA space was cleared in the center of the hall. The tables, still groaning\nunder the burden of their barely glanced at dainties, disappeared as\nif by magic. The well-woven mats and glossy panther-skins were lifted\nfrom the stucco floor, and out upon the space so made sprang a troupe of\nlotus-wreathed girls, naked save for the beaded cincture of maidenhood\nwhich encircled their slender hips.\n\nScattering Syrian crocuses and the pure white petals of the lotus, these\ncoffee-colored little maids, the very embodiment of childish grace,\npelted one another with the perfumed shower until their little ankles\nwere well-nigh hidden.\n\nAs if this had been a signal, the bright blue warbonnet of Pharaoh was\nlifted from his head; an Asiatic slave-boy bathed the royal fingers\nand Pharaoh, with a nervous twitch to his long, thin features, leaned\nback wearily against the embroidered cushions placed at his back by the\nattentive Dedu.\n\nThe last scene of what had proved a veritable feast of marvels was about\nto commence.\n\nThe sudden entrance of the merry little children had been the prelude to\n\u201cthe King\u2019s dance.\u201d\n\nThis dance was a far different performance from that series of posturing\nand tumbling commonly provided by the acrobats of old.\n\nAnd it was thought that \u201cthe King\u2019s dance\u201d could only be performed by\nN\u014dfert-\u0101ri, claimed as daughter by the blind Tut\u012bya, though known to the\nirreverent youth of Thebes as the child of Hathor, of the Goddess of\nBeauty, sprung from the head of Ra.\n\nAt one end of the flowery carpet left by the little children knelt three\nheavily-cloaked women. Behind them squatted eight shaven-headed harpers,\nclutching to their naked breasts the gilded frames of their ten-stringed\ninstruments. Back of these again were flute-players, players on the\nhand drum, players on the ivory castanets, and a group of men and women\nwhose duty it was to mark the syncopated time by clapping their hands,\nagitating _menats_ of jeweled beads, or shaking sistra of silver or gold.\n\nSuddenly, like the blood-curdling cry of a savage desert-dweller, the\nhigh-pitched call of Tut\u012bya thrilled the heated frames of the expectant\nonlookers.\n\nInstantly the harpers, in a soft and minor key, commenced an air at once\nslow in measure, plaintive and sad, an air that sounded distant amid\nthe confused murmur of a thousand voices, the clatter of dishes and the\ndistant tap-tap of the butlers\u2019 hurrying sandals.\n\nThe shrill cry of Tut\u012bya had brought two of the three women to their\nfeet. Dropping the cloaks that had enveloped them, they took their places\nat some distance in front of the third figure.\n\nTurning toward the royal dais the two dancers sank down in a slowly\nexecuted courtesy, until the nodding lotus-flowers that wreathed their\ncurling wigs swept the flower-strewn floor below him.\n\nThen, in answer to Pharaoh\u2019s scarcely perceptible acknowledgment, slowly\nthey rose upon their slender feet and, with a \u201clife and health, lords\u201d\nplaced themselves once more beside the still motionless central figure.\n\nAll eyes were centered upon this well-cloaked figure. It, too, now rose.\n\nWas it motionless? It called to mind the birth of some glorious\nbutterfly or moth. The undulating movement that one sees in the soon to\nbe discarded shell best described the bursting of N\u014dfert-\u0101ri upon the\ndelighted vision of her audience as, shivering with the peculiar motion\nseen but in those creatures of a day, she suddenly dropped the dull-brown\ncloak that enveloped her, and appeared fresh and smiling to their view.\n\nIn the dancer N\u014dfert-\u0101ri we see a slim, though willowy form, a form and\ncountenance that represented the very arch-type of all that an Egyptian\nheld beautiful in women. A pair of sparkling eyes, elongated, obliquely\nset, gleamed in frames of blue-black antimony, which served to accentuate\nthe striking whiteness in which swam their fathomless pupils.\n\nOn N\u014dfert-\u0101ri\u2019s head was set a dark brown wig which, covered thickly as\nit was with a myriad little knots and curls, dropped in well-regulated\nlayers until it grazed the tips of her thin and high-set shoulders. This\ndainty perruque, fringing with its line of dancing curls a forehead\nthat rivaled polished jasper, and touching as it did at every move and\ngesture the outer pencilings of her shaven and thickly kohl-stained\neyebrows, seemed to soften the rather prominent cheekbones and perhaps\ntoo pointed chin. The quiver of her wide though delicate nostrils,\nbespoke a passionate nature, which the faintest of dimples and the ivory\nflash of small though regular teeth, did their best to contradict. The\ndancer\u2019s full round throat, her arms, wrists, and well-formed bust, were\nablaze with jewels, amid which pale green beryl, dew-like crystal, rose\ncarnelian, gold, electrum and silver, gleamed in opulent splendor, as her\nbosom rose and fell.\n\nAs she stood, a pale blue lotus drooping above each hidden ear, a jeweled\n_menat_ in one hand, her coffee-colored and well oiled skin agleam with\nthe reflected light of innumerable prismatic colors, she seemed less an\nanimated human form than a figure carved, by Ptah the god of sculptors\nhimself, from a block of glowing opal.\n\nWith her first perceptible motions the music rose to the major key. The\ntime-beaters accentuated the broken rhythm more and more, while Tut\u012bya,\nher heavy though sightless eyes glowing in their painted depths\u2014she too\nhad once been hailed a Theban favorite\u2014burst ever and anon into the\n\u201cNubian cry,\u201d that blood-stirring cry which acted as an incentive to her\nnow posturing daughter.\n\nIn the center of the flowery carpet stood N\u014dfert-\u0101ri, languidly shaking\nher jeweled _menat_. Slowly she turned upon herself, the muscles of her\nlithe little body seeming to quiver in measure with the vibrant thrumming\nof the many stringed harps.\n\nWhen again she faced the Egyptian monarch\u2019s dais, unlike the impassive\ngaze of Pharaoh, her features seemed to have become transformed. The\n\u201cKing\u2019s dance,\u201d into which she now threw all her fascination, all her\nmesmeric charm and unrivaled ability, portrayed by movement of the body\nand gesture alone the meeting and stolen tryst of a pair of lovers.\n\nAt first she affected the love-smitten beauty, a coy beauty, mindful of\nher many charms.\n\nSuddenly with a start, a pigeon-like coo of delight, she appeared to\nthrow herself into her lover\u2019s arms.\n\nAgain, with all the abandon of an artless coquetry, she stretched out her\nlong arms and supple fingered hands as if to push him from her.\n\nFinally, with one or two graceful little steps, accompanied by an arch\nglance over her shoulder, N\u014dfert-\u0101ri advanced to the very edge of the\nroyal dais and commenced that portion of the dance for which she was so\nfamed.\n\nInto this every muscle of her supple body was forced to move in unison or\nsingly as she willed. Her lustrous eyes gleamed beneath their darkened\neyebrows, her expanded nostrils quivered, her full vermilioned lips were\nparted, the very veins in her forehead throbbed in measure with the\nrefrain. As her supple arms, wrists, and hands played about her body\nwith a wavelike\u2014an indescribable motion\u2014her jeweled bust and firm, yet\nflexible hips, swayed to the spasmodic movements natural to the dance.\n\nThe music ever increased in volume and, as if to add contrast to the\ngrace and beauty of the peerless dancer, a hideous naked pigmy, beating\na tiny onoga-skin drum, leaped out upon the floor beside her, and\ngrotesquely imitated her every move and gesture.\n\nThus, to a chorus of wild staccato yells from Tut\u012bya and the excited\ntime-beaters, N\u014dfert-\u0101ri, her form seeming to undulate in fierce\nspasmodic waves from breast to hip, with arms thrown high above her\nhead, fingers clenched and eyes fast closed, sank slowly to the stucco\nfloor.\n\nPresently, as she rose, still trembling, and while the echoes of that\nclamorous applause still reverberated amid the flaring lotus-capitals, a\nroyal usher hurried to her side, and in the name of Pharaoh, presented\nher with a blue fayence goblet of lotiform design. Inlaid in green, white\nand red about the foot was an inscription revealing her euphonious and\nhappily\u2014chosen name, N\u014dfert-\u0101ri, \u201cShe who is made of beauty.\u201d\n\nFollowing the dance, Pharaoh had retired within himself. He had assumed\nan air of studied abstraction and aloofness.\n\nYet, Dedu remarked signs of nervousness in the twitching of the jaw. Dedu\nhad been born in the palace, in the self-same year as his exalted master.\nDedu might well have been called, as indeed at times he was, his master\u2019s\n\u201cdouble,\u201d his other self.\n\nIn Pharaoh\u2019s slightly twitching hands and in the covert glances which\nfrom time to time he directed toward the haughty leader of the Hittites,\nDedu spelled expectancy and, withal, a nameless fear.\n\nThen it was the Hittite, not Enana the Magician, his royal master feared!\nDedu knew there had been much speculation as to the true meaning of\nBelur\u2019s sudden and quite unexpected visit to the Egyptian capital.\n\nSo far, oriental courtesy\u2014coupled with the Egyptian\u2019s inherent regard\nfor the rights of hospitality\u2014had forbidden any outward evidences of\nimpatience on the part of Pharaoh or his august Mother.\n\nAnd Pharaoh did well to distrust the wily Hittite. With the pause that\nhad followed the withdrawal of N\u014dfert-\u0101ri and her assistants, the Asiatic\nprince rose to his feet, slowly lifting his jeweled hand to command\nattention. His keen glance swept the heads of the swaying crowd which\ncraned its neck the better to see him and to hear his words.\n\nThe Prince of Charchemish bowed to Pharaoh. Slowly he arranged the\nsash which served to hold in place his fringed robes and the little\nivory-handled dagger which rested in its folds.\n\nSilence fell upon the noisy revelers, an ominous silence. It seemed as if\nPharaoh\u2019s nervousness had somehow mysteriously communicated itself to the\nvarious groups of Egyptian nobles gathered about him.\n\nBelur the Hittite began to speak. He dwelt at length upon the many\noccasions during which Egyptian ships had brought grain and other food\nto famine-stricken Asia. He thanked Great Pharaoh for his present\nhospitality and the courteous consideration which had been shown him\nsince first he landed upon the fertile soil of Egypt. He dwelt upon the\npower for good exerted by Egypt, not only in Asia, but among the savage\ntribes of Nubia, as witness the victorious campaign just brought to a\nclose, and which they were at that moment celebrating.\n\nKnowing the might of Pharaoh, lord of Egypt, Rimur, King of Charchemish,\nhis brother, had sent him down into Egypt, that he might effect an\nalliance with the throne of Egypt, an alliance which he was sure would\neventually prove of mutual benefit to Thebes and Charchemish alike.\n\nIn token of his fraternal esteem Rimur had sent to Egypt a full shipload\nof the treasure of his country and of the countries adjacent thereto.\nIts hold was filled with the gold and silver vessels of Zahi, with\nswords and daggers cunningly damascened with gold, the work of Megiddan\ncraftsmen. Inlaid corselets were there, jeweled quivers, gauntlets\nworked with gold and silver threads, and shawls for the ladies of the\ncourts, so finely woven that they might be passed with ease through\nPharaoh\u2019s golden signet-ring. To the Queen, the Hittite King had sent a\ncovered carrying-chair, of stamped leather richly gilded; to the august\nQueen-Mother, a golden goblet from the hands of Ilg of Kadesh; and\nlastly, to Pharaoh, his kingly brother, three fully equipped chariots,\ntogether with nine Syrian horses, swifter than the north-wind, to draw\nthem! In the name of King Rimur, his brother, he asked for the hand of\nthe eldest daughter of Pharaoh his brother, the Princess Aten-merit, in\nmarriage!\n\nDuring this speech Pharaoh\u2019s nervous fears had gradually given place to\nastonishment and finally to anger. This new-found arrogance and assurance\namong the \u201clittle people\u201d was an entirely new departure.\n\nAs he rose to his feet to reply there was a look upon his face which\nneither Belur nor his own courtiers had expected to see. Before that look\neven Belur\u2019s assumed effrontery slowly dissolved.\n\n\u201cSon of Rabatta, it is now less than a year since a Hittite embassy\nstood within this very hall! Like thee, it came freighted With the\nrarest and richest products of the Asiatics! If we remember rightly its\nofferings included one hundred logs of Lebanus cedar, five hundred pounds\nof Cilician silver, three hundred pounds of the true lapis-lazuli of\nBabylon, two hundred gold and electrum goblets, with choice silver vases\nof the workmanship of Zahi! In comparison with this, thy meager offerings\nseem to prove that Charchemish hath lost its hold upon the Lebanus, upon\nthe Cilician mines, upon the princes of Zahi, of Kadesh and Megiddo? Or\nperhaps thy brother hath forgotten the circumstances which prompted his\nfather\u2019s princely gift! Not with gifts for favors to be received came\nRabatta thy father! Nay, with _tribute_, with the tribute of a _vassal_\ndid he come! With tribute exacted through fear of Egypt\u2019s might.\n\n\u201cTake back this message to Rimur thy brother! Thus saith Pharaoh of\nEgypt: \u2018\u2019Tis but a breath of time since Rabatta knelt at Pharaoh\u2019s knee,\nswearing fealty! Wherefore hath Rimur, his son, failed to do the like?\u2019\n\n\u201cAs to thy insolent proposal, when hath a Daughter of the Sun left the\nland of Egypt at the beck and call of rebel princelings? \u2019Tis in our mind\nto hold thee hostage for thy brother\u2019s quick return to reason. Yet, go!\nAnd with thee take thy gifts, fit only to dazzle some savage Amu!\u201d\n\nAt Pharaoh\u2019s words Belur the Hittite took a step nearer to the royal\ndais. A covert sneer played about his well-cut lips, though his eyes were\nhard, his cheek pale. Raising his hand with a gesture almost threatening\nonce again he addressed the trembling monarch:\n\n\u201cHear me, Pharaoh! One other word my august brother sends to Pharaoh,\nking of Egypt. The Hittite army is to-day one hundred thousand strong.\nThe princes of Zahi and Naharin, the kings of Kadesh, Gezer and Megiddo,\nhave joined their forces unto his! Of thy Syrian vassals half have left\nthee! The Khabiri are up! Ribaddi alone stands true to thee and, even he\nby now doubtless has fed a vulture\u2019s maw.\n\n\u201cHearken to the words of Rimur, my brother! Thy present state is well\nknown to us! Thy plague-stricken land stands on the brink of a great\nreligious war! In Nubia to the south, as in thy Asiatic possessions to\nthe north, thy vassal-states have risen in revolt against thee! Nay,\nPharaoh, heed the words of Rimur my brother, or thy Asiatic possessions\nare lost to thee! Great Kheta, the combined armies of all the Asiatic\nprincipalities, stand at thy very gates ready to devour thee! Thus saith\nRimur, Lord of lords, King of kings, Lion that Devoureth Lions!\u201d\n\nPharaoh\u2019s face was terrible to see. His jaws worked, the veins upon his\nforehead stood out like knotted ropes, his large eyes flashed with fires\nof wrath. He quickly raised his golden scepter as if he would have felled\nthe audacious Hittite at his feet. The wand of sard and gold snapped\nbetween his clenched fingers.\n\nControlling himself by a mighty effort Pharaoh pointed to the door and\nsomehow managed to articulate the one word: \u201cBegone!\u201d\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IX\n\nTHE LUMINOUS BOOK\n\n\nHigh up among the tombs lived Unis, neophyte of the Temple of Amen. The\nabandoned tomb-chapel which served to shelter him immediately overlooked\nthe tree-embowered villa of Enana the Magician, for whom, at times, the\nyouthful prophet worked. His only attendant was Bata, an aged Ethiopian,\nnot so long ago his nurse.\n\nBata was seen almost daily in the market-place. Here she not only\ncollected the various offerings of the simple herdsmen and peasants, but\nacted as go-between in the affairs of the superstitious farmers, herdsmen\nand petty officials who were in the habit of consulting her master.\nFor Unis carried on a desultory practice in necromancy, astrology and\ndivination. Bata collected the fees, which were generally paid in kind.\n\nUnis spent the few \u201causpicious days\u201d which the Egyptian calendar allowed\nto each month, seated upon a low bench beneath a sycamore tree on the\nborder of a narrow canal, immediately opposite Enana\u2019s island home. Here\nhe listened to those who came to consult him or wrote letters for those\nwho required it.\n\nIn his character of seer, Unis had found it necessary to act in many\nvaried capacities. During the course of a single day, he was often called\nupon to act as scribe, physician, exorcist, diviner, faith-healer and\nfarmer.\n\nUnis was supposed to know the past; he could foretell the future. He\ncould \u201csee\u201d one who had tampered with his neighbor\u2019s landmarks or altered\nthe flow of water in his neighbor\u2019s dykes. He could forewarn of an\napproaching sandstorm\u2014that nine days\u2019 terror of the traveler. He could\nprovide the necessary amulets against the bite of snake or scorpion. He\ncould tell the whereabouts of lost cattle or name that man or woman who\nhad made off with the offerings to the dead.\n\nThus, a timid maiden, desirous of a love-charm, was advised to drink the\nashes of a lizard dissolved in water and to swallow it, with a prayer to\nHathor, some auspicious evening when Aah, the silver moon, shone at her\nbrightest.\n\nConsulted by some young gallant of the city, on similar, though less\nwholesome lines, Unis would draw a circle in the sand. A circle, a gold\nbangle! Money can open many a door!\n\nThe circle might be readily understood, but the outline of the jackal\nabove it\u2014death\u2019s emblem, spiritual and physical\u2014was generally beyond the\nyoung man\u2019s powers of comprehension.\n\nTo the aged Teta, desirous of a potion which would assure to him the\nwished for one hundred and ten years, Unis replied: \u201cI see the _ba_-bird\npoised above thy tomb.\u201d Teta was found dead upon his couch the following\nmorning.\n\nTo Benta the ambitious Unis had taught the value of patience by pointing\nto Auta hard at work upon his granite statue of the Princess Bekit-aton.\n\nSix months of cutting, chiseling, rubbing and burnishing had the\npersevering Auta lavished upon his masterpiece, and, throughout those\nweary months, but three simple implements had served him for his\ndifficult task\u2014a wooden mallet, a bronze chisel and a flint burnisher.\nApart from this, sand, water and emery-dust were Auta\u2019s only helpers.\n\nThough Unis was consulted by peasant and petty official, peasant and\nofficial alike considered him mad. As such he became a person to be\npitied and cared for, as one afflicted by the gods, yet one through whom\nthe gods spoke. Thus, Unis could come and go wheresoever and whensoever\nhe pleased.\n\nExcept for his periodic visits to the sycamore, Unis was rarely seen. All\nhis time was spent in the great temple library or amidst the crumbling\nshrines and half-choked tombs of the necropolis.\n\nTo the guards of the cemetery he was someone\u2019s animated _ka_, a restless\n\u2018soul\u2019 seeking, perhaps, to identify his ruined tomb or to find and\nbecome reunited to the lost \u2018souls\u2019 of his wife and children. He was\nconstantly on the lips of the public-storytellers as an ever-present\nexample of the truth of one of the oldest and most familiar of Egyptian\nwondertales, the Adventures of Menti.\n\nIn point of fact, Unis was as much flesh and blood as anyone. Yet none,\nwhether courtier, priest or peasant, could have guessed the reason of his\ntireless researches among the open shafts and ruined chapels of the older\npart of the great Theban cemetery.\n\nHowever, the very fact that the Thebans were so frequently regaled with\nthe story of Menti might well have given them a clue as to the true\nreason of Unis\u2019 occupation in that haunted spot.\n\nIt seems that Menti\u2019s \u201cspirit\u201d returned from enjoying a few hours among\nliving men and reentered his mummy to find that the bodies of his wife\nand child were missing from their coffins. Menti at once compelled their\nrestoration by means of his knowledge of the names, charms and talismans\ncontained in the magic Book of Thoth.\n\nWritten, \u2019twas said, by the God Thoth himself, this wonder-working\nBook had once belonged to that Architect and Seer of old, Imhotep. It\nwas a common saying in Unis\u2019 day that the Great Step Pyramid west of\nwhite-walled Memphis, could never have been raised had it not been for\nthe compelling incantations\u2014recited in the prescribed attitude and with\nthe proper tone of voice\u2014by that now deified architect of the godkings of\nold, Imhotep.\n\nBefore the death of Imhotep, it was said that he had hidden the Magic\nBook behind the sarcophagus in which lay King Zozer, his master, deep\nwithin his stupendous pyramid. A thousand years later its hiding place\nhad been revealed to Amenhotep, son of Hap, in a dream.\n\nAmenhotep\u2019s possession of the Book must have been a fact. How else could\nhe have erected the colossal Temple to the \u201cspirit\u201d of the late Pharaoh;\nhow otherwise could he have built the Temple at Kha-en-Mat, the beautiful\nTemple on the Island and the great colonnaded Temple of Amen, upon\nwhich, at the command of Pharaoh Akhten-aton, work had but recently been\nrelinquished.\n\nIndeed, without Thoth to assist him, who could have raised the two great\nstatues of the late Pharaoh, over seven hundred tons in weight. Who could\nhave lifted above the court the stupendous architraves of his Mortuary\nTemple, two hundred tons of stone, and, finally, who could have perfected\nthe huge stone tablet, thirty feet in height, and covered it with gold\nand gems? None but the God Thoth, of course!\n\nBut, would Thoth willingly stop the Sunboat and descend to earth merely\nto raise for men monuments that should rival the very halls of the gods\nthemselves?\n\nNot unless compelled thereto by the fact that his _Names_ were known to\nmortals, his stolen _Talismans_ in the possession of some inhabitant of\nearth.\n\nOne object alone on earth contained those Hidden Names and Talismans,\ntogether with the \u201cUtterances\u201d which could compel both Thoth and Set to\nleave their appointed places in the sky and descend to earth.\n\nThis series of irresistible \u201cincantations,\u201d these compelling\n\u201cutterances\u201d which could thus drag the very gods from heaven, were all\ncontained in the \u201cLuminous Book of Thoth.\u201d\n\nHerein were inscribed the Hidden Names of all the Gods, the Triads, the\nEnneads of the Sky. Herein were the Mysterious Names of the Keepers of\nthe Double Gates of Heaven; of the Serpents that guard the approaches of\nDuat, of Ra in his Boat, of Osiris on his Throne!\n\nSo awe-inspiring a hold upon the imagination of the Thebans had the\nlegend of this mysterious Book that its name was never mentioned. Rarely,\nindeed, was it alluded to by the priests.\n\nLike that of Pharaoh, the sun-god manifest in the flesh, like that of\nthe Unseen Statue of the Great Temple of Amen, like that of the abhorred\nCrocodile God of Ombos, its name was never taken upon the lips.\n\nWhen the architect Amenhotep, son of Hap, was gathered to his fathers,\nPharaoh commanded that he should be buried beneath a little temple which\nstood somewhat to the south of his own stupendous mortuary temple.\n\nHere, for a time, Unis had acted as lector, intoning the prayers and\noffering to the hidden _ka_-statue of the dead architect the various\nportions of meat, bread and wine with which Pharaoh had endowed the tomb,\nout of taxes received from the nearby town of Onit. In so doing, Unis\nstood immediately above the subterranean chamber in which the mummy of\nAmenhotep lay.\n\nUnis had been called from his duties at the son of Hap\u2019s tomb by Enana,\nand set to work among the ancient manuscripts of the great library of\nAmen.\n\nEnana would have him find some clue to the present whereabouts of the\nBook of Thoth. As he loved life and feared death he was told to keep for\nhis master\u2019s ears alone any news to this effect.\n\nUnis soon became an initiate of the Sorcerers of Amen, then minor prophet\nof Amen. With such a powerful master as Enana, first Magician of the\nTemple, Unis felt that he should go far. He gave himself up wholly to the\nwork in hand. Certain hints gleaned from the documents led him to believe\nthat the Book had, as of old, been secreted in a tomb, in this case an\nunnamed tomb on the western shore.\n\nUnis took up his residence in one of the abandoned tombs. With\nunremitting assiduity and stoical fortitude he spent day after day among\nthe excoriated boulders, the dusty mounds, the bat-infested shafts and\ntumbled-in shrines which constituted the older corner of the Theban\nnecropolis.\n\nIn this fruitless search the Gods Hunger and Thirst were his only\ncompanions.\n\nUnis turned once more to the library. With indomitable patience he\ncontinued his researches among its unending shelves of musty documents.\n\nSoon he noticed that the name of Amenhotep, the son of Hap, was very\nfrequently coupled with that of the lost Book. In fact, Unis finally\nconvinced himself that the Book lay buried with the body of that old\nsage, in the subterranean vault of the little temple at which he had\nformerly served.\n\nArmed with permission to spend a night in the temple, Unis waited until\nAhmes, the present _ka_-priest, had retired into the outer forecourt,\nin an alcove of which he slept. When the aged priest had snuffed\nout his lamp, Unis descended into the vault immediately beneath the\noffering-tablet and altar.\n\nWith determined perseverance, Unis tapped walls and floor, slowly,\nsystematically. In the western corner of the floor his work met with\nsuccess. The pavement thereabouts emitted a hollow sound. In a few\nmoments Unis had lifted a square slab which fitted so nicely to the\nfloor that the joints had been invisible. Lamp in hand, Unis descended a\nshort flight of steps, picked his way along an uneven rocky passage, and\npresently stood in the vaulted tomb-chamber of the son of Hap.\n\nFor an instant unreasoning fear clutched at the heart of the reckless\npriest. There stood the alabaster sarcophagus which held the body of the\nsage. Unis read the inscription engraved upon the side: \u201cAmenhotep, born\nof Yatu; his father Hap, son of Hap, Justified of Osiris.\u201d There lay\nAmenhotep and, with him, the Book.\n\nThe Book! Unis\u2019 fears vanished. Trembling with excitement and high\nhopes the young priest set himself to his self-imposed task. It was an\nauspicious night in the calendar of the prophets of Amen! The Star of\nThoth was in the ascendent!\n\nUnis set to work with a short, stout bronze bar. Hour after hour went by\nunnoted by the feverishly excited youth.\n\nAt last the stone cover yielded to his efforts. Unis\u2019 eyes gleamed with\njoy and anticipation. Enana, his master, would be hailed as one with\nImhotep, builder of the pyramids, with Ptahhotep the Philosopher, with\nAmenhotep, son of Hap, himself! Perhaps he too would compel the gods to\ndo his bidding!\n\nUnis gave a last push to the great cover. It fell to the sand-covered\nfloor with a dull thud. He lowered the lamp. There before him was the\nouter coffin of the old sage. This, in turn, Unis lifted and found,\nbeneath, the gem-crusted coffin\u2014solid gold it seemed\u2014in which Amenhotep\u2019s\nroyal master had caused the son of Hap to be placed.\n\nThe heat in the little chamber was intense. The blood in Unis\u2019 temples\nthrobbed with his exertions. His body gleamed in the flickering light;\nperspiration ran from every pore. For a time the youth returned to the\nupper chamber where he could fill his lungs with the purer and cooler air.\n\nBut not for long. In a few moments he returned to the tomb chamber. He\nlifted the gorgeous coffin-lid from the linen-swathed form it concealed.\nAt once the stifling odor of myrrh, liquidambar, cinnamon, and other\nstrong essences again almost overcame him.\n\nUnis bent down. With an effort he lifted the mummified figure. He\nfelt about underneath the head. Nothing! Unis tried the feet of the\ntightly-draped figure. No book!\n\nThen Unis did something for which he knew punishment on earth was\nsevere. What might be his fate in the hereafter Unis did not dare to\nthink! Lifting the body from the coffin altogether, he commenced slowly\nand methodically to unwrap it. Yard upon yard of aromatic linens he\nloosened, until finally nothing but the blackened form of Amenhotep lay\nbefore him.\n\nNo eyes had Unis for the jewels with which Amenhotep\u2019s sorrowing\nmaster had covered the dead architect. The throbbing brain of Unis was\nconcentrated upon but one thing, the Magic Book.\n\nIt was not in the wrappings. It was not between the knees of the\ndeceased, where, as Unis knew, so often documents are placed. It was not\nbetween the folded hands of Amenhotep. It was neither at his head nor at\nhis feet.\n\nUnis replaced the body in its coffin, throwing the linens in upon it\npellmell. He covered it with its two wooden covers. The great stone outer\ncover he knew must stay where it had fallen. He could have that replaced\nby others, following his report on the present condition of the extra\nwrappings of the son of Hap, which had been his ostensible reason for\nentering the tomb.\n\nUnis once again took mallet in hand. He carefully and methodically\nexamined both walls and floor.\n\nHe dared not rap upon the False Door. Behind it slept Amenhotep\u2019s living\nself, as represented by his statue.\n\nUnis had far more terror of that enchanted wooden portrait of the dead\nman than he had of the body; the shell, of Amenhotep itself.\n\nAlas, all his efforts were in vain. The Book of Books was not in the tomb.\n\nBitterly disappointed, Unis stooped to pick up his flickering lamp. As\nhe did so his eyes fell upon a gleaming object which was almost hidden\nin the sand at his feet. Mechanically he picked it up and glanced at the\nblue and green inlays. The _tat_-emblem and solar-disc upon its gold base\nshowed it to be the scarab-ring of Amenhotep, son of Hap.\n\nFrom that date, Unis spent all the daylight hours among the tombs of the\nTheban cemetery. He systematically covered every foot of the hill-side,\nentering both the ancient tombs, and the modern, as far as he was\nallowed. At night he delved among the ancient scrolls of the library of\nAmen.\n\nEach night upon his return he had been met by the impatient Enana. Every\nnight, week in, week out, he had perforce to shake his head, to spread\nhis scratched and often bleeding hands deprecatingly.\n\nOf late Unis\u2019 step had lost its elasticity. An unnatural brightness\nglistened in his sunken eyes. To-night, especially, Enana\u2019s mind had been\nfilled with anxiety for his safety.\n\nUnis should have rounded the point by the tamarisk grove hours ago.\nEnana\u2019s anxiety was not for Unis. His one thought was of the Book. The\nBook he must have, if he would put his present plans into effect.\n\nHad the young priest but known it, he was the third person sacrificed by\nEnana, the Magician, to the finding of the Book.\n\nAs Enana turned to enter the low doorway of the tomb in which Unis had\nrecently taken up his quarters, an unusual light in the valley below\ncaught his attention. He paused. At the foot of the steep incline, at the\nupper reaches of which he stood, moved an unnatural pinkish flame. It\nseemed to palpitate, to wax and wane as it moved, for move it did.\n\nNearer, ever nearer, it came, constantly growing larger and brighter,\nuntil suddenly by its light Enana recognized the pallid face of Unis, his\nassistant.\n\nAs Unis came towards him the overjoyed Enana noticed that his long thin\narms were held straight out before him, that there, upon his upturned\npalms lay\u2014the Luminous Book!\n\nIt needed no word of Unis to tell him what it was. The light that glowed\nabout its pure white leather cover proved it the Book of Books.\n\nThe overjoyed Magician advanced toward the young priest, but suddenly\nhalted, as he caught the horrible expression which distorted the latter\u2019s\nlivid face. It was as if Unis was being compelled against his will to\nhold the Book.\n\nUnis\u2019 eyes were open, but they did not seem to see. His feet carried him\nalong, whither he seemed not to care. Foam flecked his blackened lips;\nbeads of perspiration stood out upon his forehead.\n\nGazing straight before him, slowly Unis advanced. Hesitating for a bare\nsecond at the threshold of the doorway\u2014one might have supposed that\nhe was unfamiliar with it\u2014he slowly entered the chamber, set the Book\ncarefully down upon a cedar table near the upper wall, turned and left as\nsilently as he had entered.\n\nThe room, which had formerly been in total darkness, was now illumined as\nthough by a temple lamp. For a moment Unis paused, turned his unseeing\neyes full upon his master, the next he had vanished behind a great stone\nstela which stood beside the ancient tomb which had been his dwelling\nplace.\n\nFar better it had been for Unis had he continued to fear the pursuing\nfury of the _ka_-statue of the son of Hap!\n\nAlas for Unis! Searching one day through the manuscripts of the library\nof Hotephra, Great High Priest of Amen, he had stumbled upon the son of\nHap\u2019s will. It lay folded in the High Priest\u2019s copy of the temple ritual.\nThe secret hiding-place of the Book was thus revealed to him.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER X\n\nPHARAOH SEEKS TO EXALT A FOREIGN GOD\n\n\nPharoah stirred.\n\nAt once two ebony black Nubians recommenced to wave their ostrich-feather\nfans above his restless head.\n\nAgain did Shamash, an Asiatic eunuch, hold to his master\u2019s nose a small\nglass phial of somnific poppy-oil.\n\nOnce again did Bekit, his little daughter, chafe with fragrant sandal oil\nhis fleshless ankles.\n\nAll in vain! Pharaoh\u2019s frame failed to relax.\n\nSuddenly, with an impatient gesture, Pharaoh pushed aside the ivory\nhead-rest and summoned Dedu, Keeper of the Royal Linen.\n\nThe rebuffed, but smiling Bekit, held to her father\u2019s lips a blue glazed\ngoblet filled to its lotiform brim with sparkling Thinite wine. As he\ndrank, the swaying forms of Ata and Mai, youngest of the court dancers,\nrose from the floor beyond him. Barely had they assumed a single graceful\nposture before the gold seal-ring upon Pharaoh\u2019s hand flashed in the\nsemi-gloom. He waved them impatiently aside.\n\nEntering softly, Dedu, Keeper of the Royal Linen, carefully drew back\nthe curtains from the windows. These green byssus draperies had served\nto keep out the brilliant rays of the sun, as reflected from Queen Thi\u2019s\n\u201cpleasure lake,\u201d on the northern shore of which Perao, the royal palace,\nstood.\n\nThus, one might admire the charming decoration of the room, with its\ngreen tiled walls, its cedar columns, its elaborately designed ceiling,\nand its painted stucco floor covered with powdered lazuli and gold dust.\n\nIn answer to a hasty motion on the part of his silent master, Dedu\ncommenced to bind him in the long, flaring-skirted gala robes of the\nday, things of wonder for the seemingly innumerable ramifications of\ntheir softly rippling white pleats. A gem-encrusted belt of ruddy Nubian\ngold was clasped about his slender waist, a girdle broad in the back and\ntapering towards the front, where a fiercely charging oryx, carved from\na solid block of Babylonian lazuli, served to conceal the mechanism of\nthe clasp. The restless monarch\u2019s feet were bound in soft gazelle-hide\nsandals, sandals dyed a rich rose-pink, gilded and turned up at the toe.\nOver a padded linen skull-cap was set the royal warbonnet, a magnificent\ndome-shaped headdress of a brilliant sky blue. From the center of\nthis regal head-covering, and immediately above the monarch\u2019s low and\nunnaturally retreating forehead, the red jasper eyes of two golden asps\nglittered like spots of hidden fire, as they quivered upon flexible wires\nwith every movement of the impatient monarch.\n\nIn public, the vain and indolent monarchs who had followed Thothmes,\nConqueror of Asia, had ever affected the Warbonnet above all other\nheaddresses. At sight of its bright blue inlays the discreet and\nsycophantic courtiers invariably burst into vociferous applause; the\nsoldiers, with howls of delight, broke into stirring war-dances. With\nthe people at large it was hailed with delight. To them it symbolized\nImperial Egypt, an Egypt to which tribute arrived from Nubia to the\n\u201cgreat bend\u201d of the distant Euphrates. Thus, policy had dictated the\nLinen Keeper\u2019s choice, for the fiction of Pharaoh as world-conqueror\n_must_ be maintained.\n\nDeftly the fawning Dedu encircled Pharaoh\u2019s emaciated arms and wrists\nwith jeweled bands, his hollow chest with the _wesekh_, a broad, flat\nband of jewels composed of alternate strands of varicolored stones. The\ntender green of Nubian emerald, the soft rose of native carnelian, the\nviolet or rich purple of Asiatic amethyst and the several red tones of\ntranslucent sard and banded agate, were intensified as much by Pharaoh\u2019s\nswarthy countenance as by the pure white linen tunic over which they were\nspread.\n\nFinally, the scepter of gold, banded with deep red sardonyx, was placed\nin Pharaoh\u2019s nervously twitching hand, and Akhten-aton, \u201cTerror of\nAsia,\u201d shuffled to the door, where his ivory carrying-chair, his sixteen\npriestly bearers, his sun-shade and fan-bearers, and his pet lion,\nawaited him.\n\nWith the inevitable prayer for \u201chealth and long life\u201d upon their lips,\none and all saluted the god-king by raising their right hands and\ncrooking their lean backs in the obsequious Syrian mode, but recently\nintroduced.\n\nIn the columned forecourt of the Great Hall, the stentorian voice of the\nCourt Herald warned of Pharaoh\u2019s approach and Akhten-aton, Son of the\nSun-god, Lord of the Two Lands, Ruler of Rulers, Bull that Goreth Bulls,\ngave the looked-for signal that should start the forward movement of that\ngreat procession which would usher him into the Double Audience Hall with\nall the dignity of a ruler, whose sway, nominally at least, extended from\nthe further confines of Nubia to the Great River of Mitanni.\n\nSoon, no one but Wozer, Keeper of the Gates, his spearmen and the cooks\nand butlers, remained within the palace walls. It was with a sigh of\nsatisfaction that Wozer heard the ever-receding tones of the chanting\nprophets and priestesses of the temple who headed the procession.\n\nAs Ptah the Cellarer rolled heavily by, Wozer made a gesture expressive\nat once of thirst and a good game. Thereafter, Ptah and he forgot, for a\ntime, that there was a gate to watch or fragrant jars of wine to seal.\nSkull-cap to headcloth, both lost themselves in a high-staked game of\ndraughts!\n\nThe Great Double Hall to which Pharaoh had been conducted consisted of a\nlong, high nave. On either side this gigantic lotus-columned nave stood\nsmaller aisles. Both nave and aisles were bathed in the subdued light\nwhich filtered through pierced alabaster gratings.\n\nThe dimly seen roof was composed of huge flat slabs of sandstone painted\nblue, and dotted with myriads of little gold stars. The bulging shafts\nof the columns which supported it\u2014gigantic pillars covered from capital\nto base with brilliantly colored representations of Egypt\u2019s host of\ndeities\u2014glowed in the shimmering light with a thousand prismatic colors.\nThe floor was of beaten gold, its high walls a glitter of yellow tiles\ninlaid with varicolored paste hieroglyphs. These seemingly unending lines\nof inscription extolled the late Pharaoh for gifts which he had given,\nperforce, to the temples, or lauded him for certain imaginary deeds of\nprowess performed in unknown campaigns in Nubia and Asia.\n\nAt the upper end of the hall, raised upon a low dais, stood the throne of\nEgypt, the \u201cgolden throne of Horus.\u201d As was fitting, its curved arms were\nsupported by the bent backs of pinioned Nubians and Asiatics.\n\nTo the right, and immediately overlooking the royal dais, was a balcony\nreserved for Noferith, the Queen; for Thi, the all-powerful Queen-Mother,\nand for a few favored ladies of their suites. This balcony, at the\nmoment, was hung with rich embroideries.\n\nIn front of Pharaoh\u2019s throne stood painted cedar vase-stands, from whose\nblue-glazed jars drooped sprays of feathery acacia, sweet-scented mimosa\nand nodding papyrus. To the left, high upon a lotus-festooned stand,\nstood a huge oryx-handled bowl of solid gold, part of the Asiatic spoil\nof Pharaoh\u2019s warlike ancestor Thothmes, the conqueror of Asia. From its\nfitfully glowing interior rose a thin blue line of aromatic incense,\nwhich broke and spread in gray, semi-transparent rings as it touched the\ngold stars which dimly flashed amidst the deep blue of its lofty ceiling.\n\nThe herald\u2019s announcement of the approach of Pharaoh stopped for a\nmoment the sibilant whispers of the ladies, as the court nobles, a\nline of white-robed figures, ranged themselves about the dais in\norder of precedence. Soon after, to the acclaiming shouts of the\nmultitude, Akhten-aton, himself, appeared. Assisted by Shamash and the\never-attentive Dedu, Pharaoh slowly seated himself upon the throne of his\nancestors.\n\nFollowing a motion from his long thin hand, an usher threw wide the\ncedar doors at the end of the hall and, standing upon its granite\nthreshold, cried to the vast concourse of restless figures now visible in\nthe court:\n\n\u201cLong live Pharaoh, our Lord!\n\n\u201cMillions of millions of years to him, even so long as the sun endureth!\u201d\n\nWith a roar the accustomed royal salutation was taken up:\n\n\u201cLife, health, abundance and fullness of joy be to Pharaoh, our Lord,\nforever and forever!\u201d\n\nThe crowd of petty nobles, counts, monarchs and captains now pressed\nforward. With heads bent, spines arched, right hands raised, slowly and\nreverently they ranged themselves about the lower end of the hall. Were\nit possible, the forms of these white-robed newcomers flashed with the\nglitter of well-nigh as many jewels and gold or silver orders as did\nthose of the more exalted nobles gathered about Pharaoh\u2019s throne.\n\nThose who were unable, for lack of space, to gain access to the hall, had\nperforce, to stand outside in the unprotected court and exposed to the\nblinding shafts of the vaulting sun. Yet, few complained, so momentous\nwas the step now contemplated by the fanatical young Pharaoh.\n\nAnticipation and, it may well have been fear of the result, explained the\nunusual sternness of expression visible upon the faces of all present, a\ntension seldom seen upon the faces of this pleasure-loving people.\n\nFor weeks past the Theban capital, nay, Egypt itself, had been a seething\nmaelstrom of riotous priests, mutinous soldiery, and piteously clamorous\nslaves and petty farmers.\n\nWith the speed of a hungry jackal the news had spread that Pharaoh had at\nlast determined upon the final break with the priests of Amen in Karnak.\n\nPharaoh\u2019s keen interest in the Syrian cult of Thi, his mother, was well\nknown. The new Sun cult already had a certain following, at least among\nthe nobles of the court. At this very moment many members of the nobility\nhad recently bound themselves to support their royal master in the\nrevolutionary step he now contemplated.\n\nIt is true that the more exalted members of Pharaoh\u2019s court still\ncontinued their visits to the great temple of Amen in Karnak. But the\nnasal intonation of Ameni, the ibis-nosed lector, had of late merely\nserved to amuse them. As to Pharaoh, himself, the over-powering reek of\nincense, flowers, fresh-baked bread, and blood, did but sicken him. The\nglitter in the silver eyes of a host of granite statues, ancestors of\nhis, _ka_-figures of a long line of loyal and devout followers of Amen,\nboth unnerved and repelled him.\n\nFrom his golden throne Pharaoh\u2019s prominent eyes swept the oil-coned heads\nof his subjects. One and all were dressed, be-jeweled and anointed as for\na gala day. Their loyal shouts of welcome had warmed his heart. At the\nsame time, their enthusiasm seemed to give him the necessary strength for\nhis momentous task.\n\nNo sooner was he seated, and the jeweled scepter placed upon a stand at\nhis side, than the nobles on his right, ever the most exalted, pressed\nabout him. Some prostrated themselves before him; some kissed the pointed\ntip of his gilded sandal, while others, in this case the aged members of\nhis court or blood relations, embraced the pleated skirt that tightly\nbound his knees.\n\nSuddenly Pharaoh signaled that he would hear no more, and immediately,\nwith a wave of his scepter, rose to his feet.\n\nAt once, as if by magic, whisperings ceased. No one so much as breathed.\nSuch a hush fell upon that crowded hall that one could hear without the\nshrill cries of the quarrelsome hawks, that flew in circles back and\nforth from the eaves of the roof.\n\nAs one, that vast audience sank to its knees. As one, it broke into the\nstirring shout of welcome:\n\n\u201cHail, Life-giver! Hail, Electrum of Kings! Hail, Thou who art the very\nbreath of our nostrils! Life, health and peace be thine, so long as Ra\nendures!\u201d\n\nThen again the same expectant hush fell upon that shimmering hall.\nPharaoh raised his hand. His soft, but resonant voice filled the long\nhall:\n\n\u201cMy children! We have summoned you before us that you may hear the words\nof Pharaoh, which change not! For centuries past hath Egypt been a jest\nin the mouths of strangers who cried:\n\n\u201cThese be the sons of the Egyptians that have raised to themselves\nmore gods than they have days in which to worship them.\u2019 Had we not\nbeen hindered by the priests of Amen yonder, long ago, yea, even in\nour fathers\u2019 time, this reproach had been removed from amongst us!\nHenceforth, my children, cease to cry upon the Triads; upon Amen, Mut,\nand Khonsu; upon Horus, Set and Ausar!\n\n\u201cAs you all know, the gods of Thebes, of On, of white-walled Memphis, are\nbut attributes of the one beneficent sun-god, of Aton the Glorious, the\nLife-giver, who dwelleth within the Sun!\n\n\u201cHenceforth, let Aton, not Amen, be upon your lips! Let Aton, not Amen,\nbe upon the lips of your children! Thus, as in times past, Egypt shall\nworship one god from Nubia to Suan of the North. May Aton\u2019s bright beams\nembrace you! May Aton\u2019s rays forever enfold you!\u201d\n\nAcross the flashing waters of the Nile, where the great temple of Karnak\nraised its giant pylons high above the palm groves which fronted it,\nHuy, Great High Priest of Amen, frowned darkly as the sound of the loud\napplause which followed Pharaoh\u2019s speech, reached his ears.\n\nTo Huy and the prophets of Amen that sound heralded the beginning of a\nwar to the death.\n\nBut Enana, the Magician, did but smile.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XI\n\nTHE STATUE OF AMEN DISAPPEARS\n\n\nIn Thebes a religious drama was enacted annually, a drama in which was\nportrayed the eternal conflict waged between Amen, the sun-god, and Apep,\nPrince of Darkness.\n\nUnknown to the peasant, as indeed to many a priestly participant, the\nstory of the drama, in truth, perpetuated the prehistoric invasion of\nEgypt by those \u201cFollowers of Horus\u201d who had subdued, and, eventually,\nbecome absorbed by the original inhabitants of the Nile Valley.\n\nAt that early date, Thebes had been but a small village, a cluster of\nmud huts and a small shrine, over whose walls rose the emblem of the\nprimitive cult.\n\nSince that time, three thousand years had come and gone, and Thebes had\nbecome the richest and most powerful city of the ancient world.\n\nNow, since Horus, son of Hathor, was the leader of the victorious\ninvaders, and the two great battles had taken place at Nekhen and\nAbdu\u2014Thebes being entirely outside the field of operations\u2014the various\nincidents enacted in this great religious spectacle had nothing whatever\nto do with Thebes nor, indeed, with its famed local deity, the sun-god\nAmen.\n\nBut the priests of Amen\u2019s great temple at Thebes had always looked with\nenvy at the popularity of the yearly spectacle as enacted in the two\nrival cities. Thus, when finally a Theban prince became Pharaoh, the\nfirst care of the Chief Prophet of Amen had been to get the royal seal\naffixed to a permit looking toward the perpetual endowment of a similar\nfestival in his own city of Thebes, a six days\u2019 wonder that should\nutterly eclipse anything of which Nekhen, Abdu or any other rival god or\ncity could boast.\n\nIn the drama as presented at Thebes, the son of Hathor became the sun-god\nAmen of Thebes. The \u201cFollowers of Horus\u201d were personified by Theban\npriests, local notables and others.\n\nAs to the \u201cFollowers of Set,\u201d the enemies in the drama, such miscreants\nwere portrayed by unhappy foreign slaves, criminals and the like, many\nof whom were sacrificed before the altar of the sun-god, following the\nconclusion of the customary mimic battle and mock attempt to carry off\nthe holy statue of Amen.\n\nThe great Theban festival called for a full week of continued\nmerrymaking. Military tournaments were instituted, athletic contests\ntook place; boat races were a daily occurrence along the river front. In\nthe palace magical contests were held, the wisdom of ancient sages was\ndiscussed, or great prophets of the day were brought before Pharaoh\u2019s\nthrone.\n\nIn the latter case Pharaoh heard, at first hand, of the marvelous deeds\nof magic under the ancestors of the Pyramid Age, or was admonished to\ngive more thought to his oppressed and hungry people.\n\nOne stalwart hermit had had the temerity to prophesy the overthrow of\nPharaoh and the coming of \u201ca righteous king,\u201d under whom Egypt would\nreturn to the blissful state of long ago, \u201cbefore death was,\u201d and\nmankind, both native and foreign, would become united in an international\nbrotherhood which would make one the lands of men and the Blessed fields\nof Aaru, the abode of the gods!\n\nThe rash prophet was not handed to the strangler, but led courteously\nfrom the Presence. An order for a tomb, a fine limestone coffin, and a\ntomb-statue, followed him to his distant home. During the Feast of the\nApts, one might speak one\u2019s true mind, even before Majesty.\n\nTo-day, the day of \u201cbringing in the god,\u201d crowds jostled and pushed along\nevery Theban lane and alley. Everyone sought the Avenue of Sphinxes, or\nthe River Road. The latter route, which extended from the main pylon of\nthe Temple to the Sacred Quay, was policed along its short extent by a\ndouble line of foreign spearmen.\n\nThe two-horse chariot of the chief of these mercenaries dashed madly up\nthe well guarded course, turned and disappeared down the long Avenue of\nSphinxes which led to the Southern Temple. The Chief would take one last\nsurvey of the flower-strewn route before the \u201cAppearance of the sun-god\u201d\nshould commence.\n\nThe gold statue of Amen the Hidden One, would presently be taken from\nthe Holy of Holies in the dim shrine of the Northern Apt, and escorted\nupstream on the Sacred Barge to the jeweled sanctuary of the Temple of\nthe Southern Apt.\n\nBefore the open cedar doors of the temple Pharaoh himself might be seen\nupon his portable throne of gold and ivory, high above the shoulders of\ntwenty-four priestly bearers. As usual, his tame lion stood upon the dais\nat its royal master\u2019s side.\n\nThe grand procession now moved forward. It was headed by a priest, who\nsolemnly burned incense in a long hawk-headed bronze censer. All about\nhim musicians played and women-of-the-temple, women playing to the\nmystical harem of the god, sang the adorations to the sun-god. Two other\ngroups marked time by clapping of hands and playing of ivory castanets.\n\nImmediately in front of the king\u2019s throne marched serried ranks of\nkilted Egyptian soldiers, singing as they went. Their raw-hide shields\nmoved across their naked breasts in time with the music. At the close of\neach verse they lifted their short spears or axes above their heads and\nshouted a short but resounding: \u201cHai! Amen! Ya\u2014hai! Amen!\u201d\n\nSoon the long lines of onlookers had taken up the refrain, and the limpid\nair of the Capital thrilled to the wild cries of \u201cHai! Amen! Ya\u2014hai!\nAmen!\u201d As the gold throne of the Monarch advanced, groups of White-robed\nnobles fell into line behind it.\n\nThen followed a long line of women from the Temples of Amen, Mut and\nKhonsu, who marked the time of the hymn of praise by shaking golden\nsistra and rattling _menats_, short but thick necklaces of beryl,\namethyst and carnelian beads. With much beating of drums and clicking of\ncastanets a group of feathered negroes pressed close after the singers.\n\nThere followed another long line of soldiers, Egyptian, Asiatic, Nubian,\nLibyan, and, finally, a little group of Cretans, remarkable not so much\nfor the breadth of their shoulders as for the slimness of their waists,\n\u201chornet waisted\u201d they had been nicknamed by the Thebans. These latter\nwere almost lost behind their enormous ox-hide shields.\n\nEach group carried its own special type of weapon, since there were\ndefinite regiments of archers, axemen, spearmen and slingers, and each\ncompany was headed by its own device or standard bearer.\n\nAt last the heavy bronze doors of the Temple of Amen slowly opened and\na seemingly unending line of white-robed priests issued from the deep\nshadows of the stupendous pylons.\n\nHigh upon their gleaming shoulders rested portable barques containing\nthe various sacred deities belonging to the various temples which were\nwell-nigh hidden by the lofty enclosure walls. Certain priests offered\nincense to these gods, at intervals, along the whole extent of the route.\n\nIn the midst of one group might be seen a number of spirited bulls, with\nhorns decorated in gold. Great yokes of flowers and sweet-smelling leaves\nwere hung about their throats.\n\nTrailing out behind these last followed a long line of priests carrying\nthe standards of the gods, since the whole company of the Blessed Gods\nmarched, unseen, in this great procession.\n\nA renewed wave of cheering went up as the linen-draped shrine of Amen\nappeared. A vacant place was kept clear behind it, in which marched the\n\u201csouls\u201d of dead kings! Thirty-six tall priests carried this Holy of\nHolies towards a gleaming barge, moored to the water\u2019s edge at the Sacred\nQuay. Over two hundred feet long, this barge was built throughout its\nentire extent of cedar from the Lebanus Terraces. Its sides were covered\nto the water\u2019s edge with pure Nubian gold. Enormous necklaces of gold\nwere hung at prow and stern. The \u201cTwo eyes of Horus,\u201d at the prow, were\ninlaid in brilliant blue lazuli from Babylon. The great checkered linen\nsail, which lay furled upon the silver deck, was of the square Egyptian\ntype. It was decorated with squares of red and blue embroidery.\n\nThere was now as much noise and excitement on the river as on shore. The\ncaptains of fifty great painted barges awaited the signal to pull up\ntheir mooring-stakes as soon as the Sacred Barge should be well under\nway. Were it possible, the startled air trembled to still louder shouts\nas excited overseers, taskmasters and men commenced to pull at the great\ntowing ropes. The swift Nile current made it necessary that the barge be\ndragged upstream by a whole army of young and lusty Egyptians.\n\nAlong the line of route people began to disappear from the gayly\ndecorated windows. The last scene of the day\u2019s ceremony was about to take\nplace within the still unfinished forecourt of the Southern Temple of\nAmen.\n\nCarrying-chairs were frantically demanded, but soon abandoned, as who\ncould make headway in that fashion in the midst of such a crowd? A few\nfortunate people managed to squeeze through the broad square lined with\nits rows of booths, where slaves were hastily preparing wine, fruit,\nflowers and incense or cutting up the unfortunate bulls as part of the\n\u201cbeautiful festival of the Apt.\u201d\n\nPharaoh offered incense to his father Amen as four exalted members of the\npriesthood poured out wine from festooned jars of painted pottery. With\nthe exception of these four noblemen, high initiates of the Sorcerers\nof Amen and Huy, the Great High Priest, no one could witness the taking\nof the image of Amen from its jeweled shrine and its transference to\nthe silver tabernacle within the granite naos which stood, beside \u201cthe\nposition which the king takes,\u201d deep within the gloom of the upper temple.\n\nPharaoh himself, though the personification of Amen, dare not venture\nbeyond that fixed \u201cposition,\u201d a spot marked by a huge block of turquoise\nfrom the Sinaitic mines, set in the richly painted wall of the upper\ntemple.\n\nAround the great forecourt, the nobles knelt or stood, according as they\nbelonged to the two rival factions of Amen or Aton.\n\nTo the latter group, this marked what was no doubt the very last\nprocession of its kind. Hence these adherents of Aton, the Syrian God,\nstood stiffly in the background. A covert smile might have been noted on\nmany a swarthy face among them.\n\nPharaoh\u2019s expression was one of cold indifference.\n\nThroughout the whole scene the apathetic monarch seemed not to be\nconscious of where he was or of what he was doing. It is true, he\nsuccessfully finished each and every detail of the exacting ritual of\nAmen. But, what he did, he did mechanically.\n\nThe last mock-reverence finished, Pharaoh retired.\n\nAs his throne was borne swiftly toward the royal barge, his mask of\nimpassibility vanished. He sank back and allowed his gaze to travel from\none side to the other. There was an air of expectancy in each turn of his\nhead. He even went so far as to bow to the acclamations of his people,\nand this not a little to their bewilderment, since Pharaohs, in public,\nwere customarily, at best, but breathing statues.\n\nScarcely had the king set foot upon the deck of his beautiful barge,\n\u201cStar of the Gods,\u201d when a frightful tumult broke out along the bank,\nimmediately fronting the great barge of Amen. Wild shrieks from the\nwomen-of-the-temple, hoarse and angry cries from the men, intermingled\nwith mocking laughter and shouts of derision.\n\nA great crowd of angry priests of Amen might be seen pushing their way\nthrough the dense crowd which was massed in front of the giant statues of\nThothmes, whose temple stood near by. Frantic attempts were being made\nby the priests of Amen to burst through this crowd. Yet each insistent\nattempt ended in failure, as did a last charge in one serried block.\n\nThe crowd itself was by now so divided into factions that blows were\nfalling right and left, and hapless people were constantly being trampled\nunder foot.\n\nShrieking: \u201cSacrilege! Sacrilege!\u201d the priests turned and rushed headlong\nto their boats.\n\nThe Holy figure of the Hidden One, the sacred Statue of Amen, the\nsun-god, had disappeared.\n\nThe followers of Aton had scored their first success, and that success\none of tremendous import!\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XII\n\nENANA CALLS TO HIS AID THE GODS JUSTICE AND VENGEANCE\n\n\nThe nameless horror that had driven the youthful Unis from his side had\nno terrors for Enana the Magician.\n\nEnana stood bathed in the palpitating glow of the self-illuminated Book.\nSlowly he approached his hands to its cover, a cover as white as the\nsandals of the gods themselves.\n\nThe instant Enana\u2019s shriveled fingers came in contact with its radiance,\na sudden change came over him. Enana\u2019s face glowed; a circle of light\nplayed about his head. His eyes blazed with a light of triumph.\n\nHolding the Magic Book before him, he commenced to sway back and forth,\nback and forth, like some mystic of the temple about to prophesy.\n\nThe aged Magician began to speak, softly at first, but with a flow of\nwords that scarcely waited for breath.\n\n\u201cWhat saith the son of Hap? Seek the Book of Thoth. Eat not, drink not,\nsleep not, until the Book is found! Two magic formul\u00e6 hath the Book!\nRecite the first and thou shalt charm the sky, the earth, the moon, the\nheights, the depths! Thou shalt converse with the birds. Thou shalt\nunderstand the sayings of the fish and reptiles!\n\n\u201cRecite the second and, even though thy desire be among the Silent Ones,\nthe Dead, yet shall thou have power to raise them upon their feet in the\nforms and with the hearts their mothers gave them.\n\n\u201cBy the Double Spell thou shalt produce a Rising of the Moon at will.\nThou shalt be enabled to stop the Sun\u2019s Ascension. Yea, thou shalt darken\nthe faces of both Sun and Moon. By the Double Spell thou shalt see the\nAscension of Ra and the Cycle of the Gods.\n\n\u201cRecited at the full of the Moon, thou shalt master the Hidden Names\nof the Gods, whereby thou shalt become possessed of their amulets and\ntalismans. Yea, thou shalt become greater than Ra himself!\u201d\n\nSlowly Enana the Magician opened the Book. In characters of gold the\nsecret incantations of the gods were spread before him. Here appeared\nthe Secret Names of the Six White Gods of Day and the Six Black Gods\nof Night. Here were the irresistible words of power that could stop\nthe planets in their courses and Ra in his passage of the sky. Here\nagain were the Mystic Names of Thoth and Set. Here were the dread\n_hekau_-spells that could revivify the dead or consign the living to\nannihilation and their \u201cdoubles\u201d to extinction.\n\nEnana closed the magic book. Carefully he placed it in his bosom. The\nsoft effulgence at once disappeared.\n\nLeaving the little chamber, Enana stood upon the terrace. Below and about\nhim stretched the city, the city of the dead. A rift of dully gleaming\nwaters and, beyond it, lay another city, the city of the living.\n\nA dull roar, a deep murmur, as of many voices, came up to him where he\nstood. In honor of the annual Feast of the Apts, lights were breaking out\nalike in temple, palace and peasant hut.\n\nTo-night the doors would be left open. Thus would the living welcome the\n\u201csouls\u201d of their dead.\n\nAlready lines of flickering torches showed where many a devout\n_ka_-servant, together with priests to assist him, could be seen winding\nalong the well-beaten paths or marching up the inclined planes of the\nsphinx or tree-bordered avenues by which the royal mortuary-temples were\napproached.\n\nThe Feast of the Apts was indeed, as it was often styled, a veritable\n\u201cFeast of Lights.\u201d\n\nEnana gazed northward. Across the river, a bright circle of lights showed\nwhere his brother-priests of Amen had commenced the encircling of the\nwalls of Amen\u2019s temple. Huy and his brother-priests still put on a bold\nfront.\n\nFires were lit at intervals along the Nile embankments. The river itself\nnow reflected many a fire that leaped, died, and leaped into life again,\nalong the great quay fronting the temple of the Southern Apt.\n\nNearer, scarcely a stone\u2019s throw away, it seemed, appeared the lights\nof the innumerable lamps which served to illuminate the pleasure-barge\nof Thi, the Queen-Mother. As Enana well knew, Pharaoh and his immediate\nfamily were accustomed to join the nightly f\u00eate from this point of\nvantage.\n\nEnana raised his hands in the direction of the broad patch of buildings\nand trees which marked at once the royal palace and the nearby villa of\nMenna, the Overseer.\n\nSuddenly a brilliant meteor shot from the highest zenith and seemed to\nbury itself in the waters of the palace lake. Enana\u2019s voice rose upon the\nnight air:\n\n    An omen, Pharaoh! an omen Thi! an omen Menna!\n    By the Power of the Book, closed to ye are\n    The gates of the Sky. Closed to ye are\n    The Double Doors of Heaven!\n    Ye shall not cross the Lily Lake of the Sky,\n    Ye shall not sail upon the Boat with Ra!\n    The Magic Vestments shall not be spread for ye!\n    The White Sandals shall be hidden from ye!\n    Yea, by the Secret Names I know, by the\n    Hidden Talismans I possess, your bodies\n    Shall be destroyed; your tombs shall know\n    Them not! Your _kas_ shall not stand behind ye!\n    Your _bas_ shall not sit upon your tombs!\n    Annihilation is your portion; obliteration\n    Your destiny!\n\nEnana\u2019s voice rose to a shrill falsetto; his whole form seemed to tremble\nas he cried aloud the first dread incantation:\n\n    Thoth! Thoth! Thoth!\n    Come to my aid in thy name of Wisdom!\n    Set! Set! Set!\n    Descend to me in thy name of Evil!\n    Turn thy face earthward, O Thoth!\n    Turn thy face earthward, O Set!\n    Enter my heart, Ye Gods; let thy\n    Hearts become my heart; thy wisdom\n    My Wisdom.\n    I know thy Hidden Names, O Thoth!\n    Thy Talismans are before me, O Set!\n    Thoth thou art compelled, Set thou art\n    Compelled. Hither to me, O Wisdom! Hither\n    To me, O Evil!\n    Send inspiration, O Thoth! Grant opportunity, O Set!\n\nAs the aged Magician\u2019s voice shrilled out upon the night air Bata, the\nunhappy Unis\u2019 aged nurse, suddenly awoke.\n\nSoftly she stole down the corridor from a chamber at the rear of the\ntomb, where she usually slept. Bata reached the open door just in time to\nhear Enana command the very gods to descend to earth. The horrified Bata\nfell in a faint across the threshold.\n\nWhen at length Bata returned to consciousness, she somehow managed\nto crawl back to her room, dumb with terror. Bata had seen the old\nMagician\u2019s trembling form aglow with a mystic light, his upturned face\nshining with some inward flame. Before him, out of the gloom there had\nsuddenly appeared two heavily cloaked figures. Bata never doubted but\nthat the tall forms were those of the great gods Thoth and Set.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XIII\n\nRAMSES AND SESEN\n\n\nThe youthful Ramses, leader of the recent successful expedition against\nthe Nubians, had won for himself many titles of distinction. Yet,\nchief among these undoubtedly, was his new appointment to the rank of\nFan-Bearer-on-the-Right-of-Pharaoh.\n\nThe post of Fan-Bearer was an office eagerly sought by the more exalted\nnobles, since it gave one the ear of Pharaoh, as did perhaps no other\nposition at Court. The one possible exception was the post held by Dedu,\nson of Den, through four generations at least, the coveted post of\nKeeper-of-the-King\u2019s-Robes.\n\nThe title of Fan-Bearer had been given Ramses by Pharaoh at Thi\u2019s earnest\nsolicitation. The Queen-Mother had been prompted to this step through\nno love she bore the youthful soldier, but as part of a plan which was\nintended to lull the stubborn adherents of Amen into a sense of false\nsecurity.\n\nThe aged Enana, grandfather to Ramses, was the subject of the\nQueen-Mother\u2019s especial detestation. Indeed, detestation was by far too\nmild a word to express her feelings in respect to the old magician.\n\nBy conferring the title of Fan-Bearer upon Enana\u2019s grandson, Thi hoped to\nput Enana and the other followers of Amen off their guard. For, would not\nthe very title imply a definite and continuous sojourn in the capital?\n\nYet, of late, Thi felt that the attempt to keep the young soldier near\nthe Court had been ill-advised. For various rumors, vague hints of an\nalarming nature, had reached the ears of Menna the Overseer.\n\nThese ill-defined rumors had been promptly reported to Thi, with various\nembellishments, of course, on the part of Menna, son of Menna.\n\nWithout a doubt, someone who knew the Court, someone who was familiar\nwith the secret intrigues of harem life in the palace, had been quietly\nspreading broadcast palace secrets of a most terrifying nature.\n\nOne report had it that the present Pharaoh was a Syrian, born before\nThi\u2019s parents came down into Egypt.\n\nIt was hinted that Yakab the Chancellor was his true father. Had they\nnot both the same extraordinarily attenuated figure? Did not both suffer\nfrom the same racking cough? Did not both speak with a marked lisp? Thi,\nthe Queen-Mother, was almost stout; the late Pharaoh had been a corpulent\nman, in his youth possessed of unusual strength. The face was that of\nThi, perhaps, but the body that of Yakab the Chancellor!\n\nYes, it was plain that Thi had done away with Pharaoh\u2019s former wife, the\nLady Hanit; that Menna and Thi had planned the murder of the true heir\nto the throne, the Lady Hanit\u2019s son, in order that Yakab\u2019s son, by Thi,\nmight ascend the Egyptian throne.\n\nFinally it was whispered that the murdered Prince still lived; that he\nhad escaped from Menna, son of Menna, into whose baleful charge he had\nbeen placed.\n\nAll unwittingly, Ramses had been drawn into this maelstrom of palace\nintrigue. His name was frequently mentioned in connection with the\nprobable succession to the throne.\n\nThe subject of a successor to the Horus Throne was one of great\nimportance at this moment. Queen Noferith had borne the king but\ngirls\u2014\u201cfive little beams of Shu the sun-god\u201d their royal father had\nplayfully called them. And of these one had recently become the perfume\nof the heavenly lotus which the sun-god holds to his august face!\n\nPharaoh felt sure that Ramses himself knew nothing of these rumors. In\nmany a bitter discussion with his mother and Menna the Overseer Pharaoh\nhad frequently stated his conviction that Ramses would utterly condemn\nsuch traitorous thoughts should they ever come to his ears.\n\nPharaoh had loved Ramses like a brother. He had admired him as some\nsuperior being. For a time neither Menna\u2019s craftily embellished reports\nnor Thi\u2019s openly avowed hatred of Enana\u2019s grandson could turn Pharaoh\nfrom his blind trust in the good faith of his boyhood\u2019s hero.\n\nHimself ever a sickly child, Pharaoh had sighed for his coming of age,\nthat he might take the field with Ramses, and be himself a witness of the\nlatter\u2019s many deeds of valor.\n\nFor years had Pharaoh pictured himself in the famous Warbonnet of the\nPharaohs, that bright blue headdress which Thothmes and a long line of\nheroic forebears had carried far into the ranks of their stricken foes\nand, with one exception, returned in safety to their acclaiming people.\nYes, even King Sequenen\u2019s horrible death, at the hands of the Hyksos\ninvaders, was better far than his present life of inaction, a life varied\nonly by tiresome harem plots, counterplots and the probabilities of a\ngeneral religious or civil upheaval.\n\nBut Pharaoh, under Thi\u2019s baleful influence, was as pliable as the clay in\nthe deft fingers of the potter. The Queen-Mother presently took fright\nat these oft-repeated and ever highly-colored rumors, and it was not long\nbefore she and Menna had convinced Pharaoh that the grandson of Enana, at\nThebes, was a constant menace.\n\nThus, when \u201cthe rewards of the King\u201d were yet warm in Ramses\u2019 hands, that\nhappy young warrior was dismayed to receive a roll of papyrus, straight\nfrom the hands of Majesty, a brief note whose finely written contents\nnecessitated another exile from Sesen, from Thebes and the home he so\ndearly loved, the villa of Enana the Magician, his grandsire. Ramses was\ncommanded to depart for the north with the setting of the morrow\u2019s sun,\nthere to take over the Egyptian army guarding the hostile frontier in\nAsia. Bitter disappointment, and somewhat of anger, caused the voice of\nRamses to tremble as he directed his chairmen to set him down at Enana\u2019s\nvilla.\n\nThe home of Ramses\u2019 grandsire was built upon a circular island on the\nwestern side of the Nile. Seen from a distance, this island appeared to\nfloat upon the quiet waters. The low white walls which surrounded its\ngarden, its branching cedars, full crested palms and feathery mimosa\ntrees, were mirrored in the waters of the inundation.\n\nEnana the Magician had felt called upon to live comparatively near to\nSemet, Thebes\u2019 unending burial ground, since, during the former monarch\u2019s\nlifetime he had been appointed \u201cGuardian of the Royal Tombs.\u201d\n\nEnana was proud of his skill in necromancy; Enana was even more proud\nof his knowledge of astrology, botany, medicine and of his intimate\nacquaintance with the Magic Scrolls of the Conjurers and Sorcerers of\nAmen. But, above all else, Enana enjoyed hearing himself addressed as\nGuardian of the Ancestors, whenever a summons from Majesty or a Court\nFunction had necessitated his presence at the Palace. Alas, as far as\nEnana and Renet, his wife, were concerned, such functions had long since\nceased!\n\nNevertheless, to-day was a gala day with Enana, a day of rejoicing to\nhis entire household. For to-day Enana, son of Enana, had arrived at the\never-prayed for one hundred and ten years!\n\nOne other living person alone could boast of such a record and that was\nthe father of Thi, the Queen-Mother. But Iuya was only a nobleman by\ncourtesy, an Asiatic, an heretical believer in Aton. Enana scorned Iuya\nas a pretentious old scoundrel, who spent the major part of his time\ndecrying everything Egyptian and lauding Syria, and all things Syrian.\n\nAll morning had the aged Magician, and the Lady Renet, his wife, sat\nbeside the garden pool listening to the effusive congratulations of his\nfriends, his neighbors, and the many members of his house and wide domain.\n\nAll that morning his bustling servants had been busy arranging the\nvarious presents along the awning-shaded corridor which faced the\ntree-set garden.\n\nBars and collarettes of gold, electrum and silver; bead stands of lazuli,\nmalachite, crystal, carnelian, amethyst, beryl, jasper; great pendants\nin gold, silver or bright blue fayence; finger-rings of gold encrusted\nwith colored pastes or set with little green glazed beetles, carved in\nstone and engraved below with felicitous expressions; treasures big and\nlittle were piled high in seemingly innumerable vessels and exposed on\nbrightly painted wooden tables or stands along the halls and corridors.\n\nClusters of white, soft pink or pale blue lotus flowers were bound about\nframes bent to represent the _anekh_ or sign of \u201clongevity.\u201d The _nofer_\nor sign of \u201chappiness,\u201d in the shape of little lutes, hung from every\nbranch in the garden.\n\nThere had been but one thing lacking in a morning of\nnever-to-be-forgotten successes. As Khufu the Butler had remarked, not a\nsingle member of the Royal House had visited their honored master; not\neven a Royal Usher had come with the customary messages of felicitation\nor with the usual \u201cgold of honor.\u201d To Khufu, as to the other devoted\nservants of the aged Magician, this neglect was the occasion of grave\nconcern.\n\nNot so to Enana! Well he knew the reason of this breach of courtesy, this\npublic affront.\n\nEnana\u2019s early training had been behind the walls of Amen\u2019s great temple\nin the Apt. There for years had he served Amen, God of Thebes, as\nchorister, incense-bearer, lector, _keri heb_ and, lastly, as Chief\nMagician.\n\nEnana was known as a devoted follower of Amen, as an ardent and\nincorruptible believer in the power of the greatest of all gods, Amen\nof Thebes. As such he knew well that he had incurred the undying hatred\nof Thi the Syrian, whose one ambition in life, now that her son was\nestablished on the throne, was the overthrow of Amen and the destruction\nof all the other local gods of Egypt. If Thi could compass it, Aton, the\nSyrian sun-god, should be the sole object of worship from Suan of the\nnorth to Suan of the south.\n\nAt the present moment, however, Enana had pushed from his mind all\nthoughts of Thi. All his present enjoyment was centered in the scheme\nnext his heart and in his anticipation of seeing Ramses, his grandson,\nwhom it mostly concerned.\n\nAt any moment the young soldier might dash through the gate in that\nimpetuous way so dear to the frail old man.\n\nEnana sat with his wrinkled hands resting upon the squares of gold leaf\nwith which his tunic was faced. His beady black eyes were fixed upon the\nopen door, his ears alert to catch the first shout of Ramses\u2019 bearers,\nas they rounded the great Mortuary Temple near by. From time to time his\nhand went to his bosom where rested the magic book.\n\nBut the sun-god began his descent into the realms of darkness, lights\nbroke out in the distant city, a line of chanting priests bearing torches\nappeared upon the walls of Amenhotep\u2019s temple, the light upon the high\nstand at Enana\u2019s elbow was lit. Yet Ramses did not come.\n\nAh, Enana, but a little patience! Magician though thou art, the Goddess\nHathor is more powerful than thou!\n\nEven as Ramses had finished reading the royal command and set his hand to\nthe arm of his carrying-chair, Seneb the Usher advanced bowing and handed\nhim a second note.\n\nJoy lit up the stern face of the young soldier as he read; a sudden\nanimation seemed to fill his whole being. Bidding his chairmen await him\nin the outer court, he turned and followed Seneb, the Usher, through the\ncolumned aisles of the Audience Hall.\n\nArrived before the line of granite sphinxes which fronted the Treasury of\nSilver, Seneb bowed again, turned on his heel and left him.\n\nThree women stood beneath a doorway which fronted the innermost court.\nEagerly Ramses advanced as the form of the Princess Sesen stepped out\nfrom its shadows:\n\n\u201cSesen, they told me thou wert with thy Father in Thinis! Had I known, in\ntruth, that the Palace held thee, I would have come to claim thy promised\nreward.\n\n\u201cBy Hathor! Thou are more radiantly beautiful than when I left thee last!\nHow often have I lain awake at night thinking of thee. The hot nights\nupon the desert sand passed quickly, restfully, for dreams of thee!\n\n\u201cSesen, thou knowest all my love; all my hopes are centered in thee.\nWhat are the rewards of Majesty to the reward that thou hast promised\nme\u2014thyself. Look! I have kept my word. I found the famous jewel which\nEnana told thee of and\u2014it is thine!\u201d\n\nSlowly Ramses drew from his girdle a great emerald set in gold. A\nrose-colored band of fine gazelle hide showed it to have been worn about\nthe forehead of its former owner, the Nubian King.\n\nKing Shaba will need \u201cthe panther\u2019s eye\u201d no more. His ashes lie beneath\nthe smouldering ruins of his palace. Vultures hover above the demolished\nhouses of Napata, his Capital.\n\nSesen clasped her hands upon her bosom with delight. Without replying she\ntook the jewel from Ramses\u2019 hand and bound it about her gold-filleted\nwig. Ramses smiled down upon the happy little maid, as she sank into his\narms. The great jewel seemed to glow upon her forehead, as if it pulsed\nto the rapid beating of her heart:\n\n\u201cSesen, my Lotus! I love thee, I love thee!\u201d\n\n\u201cAnd I, Ramses, my hero, feared for thee. Hathor\u2019s altar has groaned\nbeneath the burden of my offerings for thy safe return.\u201d\n\nHer words brought to Ramses\u2019 mind the command of Pharaoh. He had found\nher but to lose her.\n\n\u201cDove of Hathor, but a few short weeks and I return to claim thee for the\nLady of my House.\u201d\n\n\u201cThou returnest? Whither goest thou?\u201d\n\n\u201cAlas, my Dove! The King commands that I head the Egyptian host which now\nstands facing Kheta and her allies in Syria. By to-morrow\u2019s sunset I must\nleave to help old Noferhotep with his task. Yet, have no fear for me. The\nLittle People, I think, do but try out Noferhotep. He, poor man, grows\nweary of the task of waiting, with nothing but patrol work at best to\nbreak the monotony of his years of frontier life. Fear not for me. I have\nthy love, my Sesen! If need be, I could cut my way through Asia, with thy\nname my battle-cry. To-morrow I will see thee after the morning service.\nThe Lady Renet and her maids will come to escort thee to our house for\nthe betrothal. Breath of Ra, how happy will she be, she and Enana, my\ngrandsire. Now must I hurry to them. As thou knowest, \u2019tis a gala day\nwith my grandsire. May Hathor bless thee, my Sesen; may Aah cast her\nprotecting beams about thee.\u201d\n\nFor an instant the lovers held one another in a close embrace. The next,\nRamses had mounted his chair. As he did so, twinkling lights broke out\namong the dark patch of trees in which stood Enana\u2019s distant villa.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XIV\n\nA RASH PROMISE\n\n\nIn his wooing of the Lady Sesen, Menna, son of Menna, worked tirelessly.\nMenna had been born upon the fifth of Paophi, and who does not know that\na child born upon that auspicious day is ever successful in affairs of\nthe heart!\n\nFollowing his gift to her of Bhanar, the beautiful Syrian, each day\nbrought to Sesen bunches of grapes, bursting pomegranates or succulent\ndates from Menna\u2019s famous gardens. Frequently there were left at her\ndoor bags of powdered gold or lazuli for the floor of her rooms, or the\nchoicest of fragrant oils and perfumes for her toilet. These last were\nsealed in little jars of rich blue glass or in black obsidian vases\ncapped with gold.\n\nTo-day Sesen opened an ebony coffer richly inlaid with ivory and gold.\nEnclosed within she found a frail wooden spoon, an incense spoon, carved\nto represent a little maiden stretched at full length in the attitude of\na swimmer. The names and titles of Menna, the Overseer, appeared upon\nthis exquisite work of art, yet, if truth be told, Renny the Syrian had\nfashioned it.\n\nAs with Menna\u2019s other gifts, a closely written sheet of fine papyrus\naccompanied the gift, whereon Sesen read of Menna\u2019s passionate desire for\na meeting. Enana had advised her to fan the flame of Menna\u2019s passion for\nreasons he kept to himself. What would he say to this effusion!\n\nThe lines were written alternately in letters of red and black:\n\n    The cool zephyrs of the Northland can alone extinguish the flame of\n       my love!\n    I am become like the dried mimosa, ripe for the baker\u2019s oven,\n    The fire of her eyes hath withered it.\n    When the dove pours forth its plaintive song, Sesen appears beneath\n       the sycamore.\n    Her slender form is mirrored in the garden pool.\n    Seeing her, the Moon-goddess pines away with jealousy; the Sun-god\n       bids her shine in his stead.\n    A full moon is her gleaming face;\n    The brightness of day glows upon her forehead;\n    Her full throat gleams like the crystals which encircle it;\n    The rose of the flamingo\u2019s wing is upon her cheek;\n    Her eyes, painted with black Thinite kohl, were the gift of Hathor\n       at her birth,\n    The fires that burn within them scatter flaming darts;\n    Countless as the desert sands are the victims of those eyes!\n    Waving is her slender form, like the palm trees of Erment.\n    The dark shades of night hide in her hair, fragrant with musk and\n       myrrh.\n    A pomegranate is her mouth, her little teeth bright mother-of-pearl.\n    By day she perfumes the air with the odors of the Incense Land.\n    Her luster illuminates the darkest night!\n    Ah, deign to heed my pleading, Daughter of Hathor!\n    As apart from thee, I am as one among the Silent Ones; as one whose\n       mouth has not been opened.\n    Ask the Moon-goddess of my bitter state.\n    She will tell thee that I am indeed the ally of sorrow and anguish.\n\nWith a frown Sesen tore the note into little pieces and went on with her\ninterrupted game of draughts with Merit-aton, Pharaoh\u2019s eldest daughter.\n\nUntil Menna had stumbled upon Renny, the Syrian, hawking his despised\nfigurines in the inhospitable streets of Thinis, Beq, an Egyptian\nsculptor attached to his house, had served Menna the Overseer as\nmessenger.\n\nFor Menna, when not on duty at the Palace, was accustomed to rise late.\nMenna\u2019s mornings were spent at the bath. Indeed, it not infrequently\nhappened that the sun had begun his downward flight across the\nheavens before the lordly Overseer had succeeded in escaping from the\nministrations of his slaves.\n\nFor several hours he must perforce suffer the attentions of his\nbody-servants, his wig-keeper, sandal-bearer, perfumer, and the keeper of\nhis jewels.\n\nThus, one stalwart Ethiopian, having finished rubbing his handsome frame\nwith aromatic oils, another slipped about him the tunic and over-dress\nof the day. And what to an ordinary mortal constituted a tight tunic,\nappeared to Benkhu, the Prince\u2019s body-servant, positively loose and\nill-fitting.\n\nAnd since Menna affected extremes, his tunic fitted far more closely,\nhis voluminous and richly plaited over-dress swung out in far more ample\nfolds, than those of any other of the foppish members of the Theban Court.\n\nIndeed, Menna left Benkhu\u2019s nimble fingers dressed as few others of the\ncourtiers could be dressed.\n\nHis costuming completed, Menna listened to the reports of his farm\noverseers, and to those of his spies both of court, bazaar and temple.\nFor Menna, though outwardly faithful to Aton, still continued to hold the\nhonorific post of Scribe of the Estates of Amen.\n\nHis business attended to, Menna essayed a game of draughts with one of\nhis friends, or rowed about the lake in Thi\u2019s pleasure-barge. It was the\npolicy of Menna never to be far from Thi, the Queen-Mother.\n\nWhen Renny, the Syrian, had been enrolled among the retainers of Menna,\nthe Overseer had affected to see much of him. He went to the length of\nseparating Renny from Beq and the native Egyptian craftsmen attached to\nhis house. He even provided Renny with a studio to himself.\n\nTo this workshop Menna himself would come at times, ostensibly to seek\ninstruction in modeling, sculpture and wood-carving. As a matter of fact\nhis visits were prompted by the desire to use Renny and _his_ art as in\nformer times he had that of Beq and the native craftsmen.\n\nRenny fell in with this whim of his powerful patron. Many a minor\nornament, such as a small lotus bowl, incense-spoon or sacred image,\nhad Renny produced, without neglecting to leave some slight detail for\nthe handsome Overseer to finish. Renny\u2019s artistic productions Menna\nincontinently made his own, adding _his_ name and titles together with\nthe date of its completion.\n\nComing from the hand of such a critical student of the arts, these small,\nbut ever choice mementoes were eagerly sought at Court. No one doubted\nbut that they were the work of the gifted Overseer himself.\n\nOf late gifts and mementoes of this sort had suddenly ceased to\nmaterialize, and Menna, taxed with laziness by his friends at Court,\ngave it to be understood that a far more important undertaking now\nengaged his time. But the true reason of the present inaction of the\nOverseer was due to Renny, the Syrian.\n\nThat unhappy youth, in his constant visits to the Palace to deliver his\nmasters\u2019 gifts and notes to Sesen, had seen all too much of the beautiful\nPrincess.\n\nYet, a single visit, and that his first, had proved more than enough\nto cause the beauty-loving Renny to come beneath the spell of Sesen\u2019s\nhaunting loveliness.\n\nDo what he would to conceal his senseless passion, Renny felt that the\nfire at his heart would mount to his eyes, the surging blood, that seemed\never about to burst his heart, would flame into his cheeks.\n\nAt one moment Renny soared into the highest heavens; the next found him\nplunged into the gloomiest despair. He, an unknown sculptor, a despised\nforeigner, dared to lift his eyes to an exalted lady of the Egyptian\nCourt!\n\nKnowing too well the hopelessness of his present position, Renny sought\nto hide his passion.\n\nUnluckily for the distracted sculptor, his burning hand had come in\ncontact with the tapering fingers of the Princess.\n\nStraightway Renny had thrown himself upon his knees and poured out to her\nstartled ears the torrent of passionate words which had so long trembled\nupon his lips. Renny lost his head; his discretion vanished to the four\nwinds of Heaven.\n\nSesen gazed down at the bowed head of the young sculptor in utter\nbewilderment. She could not have said whether she was more surprised,\nangered or amused. She clapped her hands twice; she would hand him to\nthe guards. Yet, as the archers appeared from behind the columns of the\ncourtyard, she changed her mind. A sudden wave of tenderest sympathy for\nBhanar swept over the Princess. So it was not Bhanar he had sought so\neagerly. Her heart ached for the quiet little maid standing so still and\nmute behind her. She turned to Bhanar:\n\n\u201cSo this is that Renny, the Incomparable, of whom thou hast so often\nspoken, my Bhanar! Dare men so address a Princess of the Blood in thine\nown country and live? Like master, like man!\u201d\n\nRenny leaped to his feet, his face aflame with various emotions, amongst\nwhich wounded pride, perhaps was not the least.\n\n\u201cLady! Since when is it considered a deed ill-done that a man should\nspeak the love and reverence which he bears a maid? The mirror in thy\nhand should tell thee that few could look upon a face so fair, a form\nthat Hathor\u2019s self must envy, and not be stricken with that malady which\nnot even the King\u2019s physician hath power to cure! That I love thee I\ncannot help. My heart beats to thoughts of thee; thy image is stamped\nupon my very eyes!\n\n\u201cAs to my master, the Lord Menna, I serve the Prince from gratitude. He\nfound me well nigh starving in the streets of Thinis and gave me food\nand shelter. All my work he purchased and put me in the place of Beq, a\nsculptor whose work is excellent, according to your Egyptian standard.\nHis portrait of thee I myself have much admired.\n\n\u201cYet, Most Beautiful, \u2019tis not thee! \u2019Twould answer as well for any\nLady of the Court. Were _I_ to model thee, Fragrance of the Gods, thou\nshouldst see a living, breathing \u2018double\u2019 of thyself, thy very _ka_ in\nstone. This I could prove to thee as could no other.\u201d\n\nDuring this conversation Bhanar had continued to ply the ostrich-feather\nfan above her mistress\u2019s head. Anguish for Renny, pity for herself,\nshowed in her beautiful eyes.\n\nSesen\u2019s heart bled for her. Sesen knew Bhanar\u2019s history well. Bhanar\nnever tired of talking about her beloved village, of her dear Rippa,\nnestled among the distant Syrian hills.\n\nThe little Princess had soon perceived that Bhanar\u2019s girlish love for her\nchildhood\u2019s companion had ripened into something stronger.\n\nShe had soon noticed how artfully Bhanar managed to forestall Sesen\u2019s\nother maids whenever Renny\u2019s name was announced by the usher.\n\nRenny\u2019s joy and relief at finding her in the household of the Princess\nhad been genuine, since for a time, he had felt that he and Yakab had\nfailed her. Thereafter, at each and every visit to the Palace, he had\nquite naturally sought his beautiful countrywoman. He knew that through\nher he would the more readily reach the lady of his master\u2019s infatuation.\n\nRenny had strict orders to deliver his master\u2019s notes into the hand of\nSesen in person. This at first he could never have accomplished, had it\nnot been for Bhanar\u2019s assistance.\n\nThis insistence of Renny to reach her through Bhanar alone Sesen had\nmisinterpreted.\n\nThen came that fatal day when Bhanar listened to Renny as he poured out\nhis tale of love for her mistress. Bhanar\u2019s heart seemed to stop its\nbeating. From that moment she realized that she loved Renny with all the\nlove that he\u2014that he, alas, felt for Sesen, her mistress.\n\nAt this moment an agonizing sympathy for Renny seemed to freeze her\nheart. She knew that Renny at best did but provide distraction for the\nPrincess. And now, in this statue of which he talked, Renny held out\nstill further hopes of diversion. From her frequent visits to Enana\u2019s\nvilla, Bhanar knew that the absent Ramses was ever in Sesen\u2019s mind,\nthough never once had the little maid referred to him. In vain had she\nconfided her knowledge of the mutual love of Sesen and Ramses to the\nunheeding Renny.\n\nSesen turned from the sculptor as if to leave. At the threshold of the\nsteps she paused for a moment:\n\n\u201cSyrian, if you can indeed model such a portrait as that of which you\nspeak, gladly will I purchase it of thee, and with it thy freedom.\u201d\n\nThe overjoyed Renny kissed the hand she gave him:\n\n\u201cWithin the month, Most Beauteous One! Give me but four short weeks and\nthou shalt see thyself as no one within the confines of the four iron\npillars could ever hope to model thee. As to payment, I seek it not.\nFreedom might lead me away from thee!\u201d\n\nRenny again passionately kissed the jeweled fingers of the little\nPrincess and dashed from the Court. How he finally managed to reach his\nstudio door, he never knew.\n\nAlas, for Renny and his promise. Even as he left the outer corridor, Bar,\nchief of his master\u2019s spies, glided noiselessly from behind one of the\ngreat painted columns nearby.\n\nThereafter, Menna the Overseer saw to it that Renny sped upon no more\nmissions to the Palace. On the contrary he was sternly warned to keep\nwithin his master\u2019s villa-garden, and the little workshop which had been\nprovided for him.\n\nYet, as luck would have it, in order to keep him busily occupied, Menna\ncommanded him to model a statue of Hathor, Goddess of Beauty. This\nstatue, when completed, Menna intended to present to the late Pharaoh\u2019s\nshrine at Amada to the south. But to Renny he omitted to mention that\n_his_ name and his alone would appear upon its ivory pedestal!\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XV\n\nA STATUE OF HATHOR, GODDESS OF LOVE\n\n\nMenna the Overseer had little conception of the torture he had inflicted\nupon the mind of the youthful Renny when he forbade him his liberty.\nHollow-cheeked and well nigh mad, Renny so far disobeyed his patron\u2019s\norders that he sat for hours, nay, for days at a time, huddled like a\nbeggar at the Palace gate.\n\nNot even the gentle Bhanar could console him whenever, as so frequently\nhappened, a day went by without its being possible for the distracted\nyouth to catch a glimpse of his idol.\n\nThen, suddenly, he remembered his promise to the Princess. He sought out\nKhnum, the royal quarryman, who had but now moored to the western bank\nwith a cargo consisting in the main of the precious alabaster of Hatnub.\nHe bribed Khnum to procure him a giant block of purest alabaster, a mass\nof the creamiest material which the alabaster quarries could provide.\n\nFor days did master-quarryman Khnum seek a block of the unusual\nproportions demanded by the impatient sculptor. A week went by, an\neternity to the tortured artist.\n\nFinally, just as he was about to despatch a second expedition northward,\nand during the heat of one of the first days of the great sandstorm,\nKhnum and his sweating assistants hauled a wooden sledge before his\ndust-covered threshold. And there, high upon the friction-charred\nvehicle, stood the glossiest block of Hatnub\u2019s finest alabaster which the\ndistracted Renny had ever seen.\n\nFor many years men spoke of that never-to-be-forgotten sandstorm, a storm\nwhich ushered in days of blinding heat, days in which the flints that\nstrewed the desert plateau cracked beneath the excoriating heat; days in\nwhich the ocher-hued river banks, confining a blinding reach of sluggish\nwater, the shriveled and blasted sycamore, tamarisks and palms, nay, the\nvery capital itself, seemed to be confined within the sun-god\u2019s fiery\nfurnace.\n\nDay in, day out, those death-dealing rays shot from a changeless vault\nof steely blue. Down sank the tortured cattle; the birds gasped among\nthe shriveled leaves of the trees. The very soil, by now as hard as any\nsouthern granite, yawned with wide-thrown crevices many cubits deep. Far\nto the south the broad-winged vultures circled slowly earthward from\ntheir lofty posts, as if they too feared the darts of the outraged Amen.\n\nIt was a sudden and appalling visitation which luckily blew itself out\nwithin but four of the customary nine days of blinding wind and sand.\n\nYet, throughout those four memorable days and thereafter Renny worked as\nhe had never worked before.\n\nNow, there came a day when Menna ordered his carrying-chair and bade his\nbearers set him down before the door of Renny\u2019s workshop.\n\nAt the Overseer\u2019s repeated knocks the bolts were slowly drawn. Through\nthe barely opened door Renny, blinded by the glare, gazed unseeingly\ntoward the extended hand of his smiling patron:\n\n\u201cHow now, Syrian? Hast turned magician? Bar tells me thou must needs have\nconned the _hekau_-spell that bringeth food and drink, since all the food\nthat is brought thee stands untasted. Breath of the Goddess! Why hast\nsulked behind barred doors these weeks and more?\u201d Menna made as if to\nstep within.\n\n\u201cAh, master, most noble lord, I do beseech thee, go not within! Bethink\nthee, Splendor of Thebes, when first I came to thee, thou didst assure\nto me that privacy which, far more than thy golden _uten_, I did ask of\nthee! Continue now thy favor some little time, I pray. Thy statue of the\nGoddess Hathor is...!\u201d\n\n\u201cAmemet eat me! Days, nay weeks, have we waited for a sight of it! Now is\nour sore-tried patience at an end.\u201d\n\nWith a firmness unexpected in the customarily indolent Menna, the\nOverseer pushed the trembling Renny aside and entered the workshop.\n\nAt first, so sudden was the change from the glare of noonday to the murky\nshadows of the room, that Menna could distinguish nothing. When at last\nhis eyes grew somewhat accustomed to the gloom, he found himself staring\nat the tinted statue of a regally robed woman, a life-sized figure so\nstartlingly realistic that for a moment he instinctively drew back.\n\nUpon a pedestal festooned with drooping lotus and fragrant mimosa stood\nthe smiling figure of the Princess Sesen. So lifelike did the statue\nappear to the bewildered noble, that for a space of a full minute, he\nwaited, expecting her lips to part, her tongue to utter the customary\ngreetings.\n\nOnce his jeweled fingers had assured him that the figure was but tinted\nstone, Menna burst into voluble exclamations of wonder and delight.\n\n\u201cVerily, said I not that thou hadst learned some potent charm, some\nmighty _hekau_, known but to the blessed gods alone?\n\n\u201cBreath of Hathor! \u2019Tis the work of Ptah, nay, of Khnum himself,\nFashioner of Mankind! None but a god could thus turn stone to flesh, put\nbreath in the nostrils, life in the eye!\n\n\u201cAh Syrian! if this be Syrian art, my heated arguments were but wasted\nbreath! Compared to our Egyptian figures, shackled, mummified, as\nlifeless as the granite they are carved in, here stands grace and\nfreedom, life itself!\n\n\u201cBy the Theban Triad, the very blind would know this figure for the\nPrincess, the Lady Sesen...!\u201d\n\nMenna broke off abruptly. Sesen?\n\nSuddenly Menna\u2019s face flamed in anger. Could there indeed be something\nbetween the Princess and this slave, this nobody?\n\nNay, as far as the Princess was concerned, Menna felt sure that Bar\u2019s\nreports of Renny\u2019s heedless temerity were false. At the moment Menna felt\nsure that he had good cause to trust the Princess. He fingered a scented\nnote tucked in his jeweled belt.\n\nBut Renny...?\n\nMenna shook his perfumed wig, and turning, spoke the young man\u2019s name.\nThrice he called, then strode to the half opened door.\n\nRenny had vanished.\n\nWith a threatening imprecation the irate Overseer turned once more to the\nstatue.\n\nYes, here was Hathor, Goddess of Beauty, Goddess of Love, as none in\nEgypt had ever conceived her!\n\nMenna\u2019s brain worked fast. The statue he vowed to make his own. Bar and\nhis minions were despatched to do away with Renny!\n\nWhat a sensation would this work produce at Court, and especially upon\nthe mind of the art-loving Pharaoh! Menna allowed himself visions of a\nnaturalistic school modeled upon the Syrian, an essentially realistic\nschool which should utterly banish the hieratic canons imposed upon the\nEgyptian craftsmen by the dictates of precedent and the will of an\nall-powerful priesthood.\n\nMeantime, thought the Overseer, the statue must be kept from sight, at\nleast, until Renny was safely out of the way.\n\nHe sent off a chairman to bring clay, string and his signet ring. With\nhis own hands he covered the statue with the quarryman\u2019s mats which still\nclustered in one corner of the little chamber.\n\nIn less time than it takes to tell it the tinted figure of the little\nPrincess disappeared from sight. Menna closed the door and, slipping to\nthe bronze bolt, bound it with cord and set his scarab-seal upon a clay\npellet which he fastened thereto. This done, he hurried home. To-day was\na momentous day with Menna, Overseer of the King\u2019s Estates.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XVI\n\nTHE CURSE OF HUY, GREAT HIGH PRIEST OF AMEN\n\n\nWhat Belur the Hittite Ambassador had said, concerning the expected\noutbreak of a religious war throughout Egypt, was true. Moreover, no\none was greatly surprised at his report of the disaffection of Egypt\u2019s\nAsiatic vassals.\n\nIn his efforts to establish the cult of the Syrian sun-god, in place of\nthat of the various Egyptian deities, Pharaoh had little time to attend\nto the exacting affairs of his country\u2019s vast empire abroad.\n\nHowever, Belur\u2019s words cannot have taken him altogether by surprise,\nsince runners had brought letters daily from the few faithful\nvassal-kings along his Syrian border, letters begging help from Egypt.\n\nIndeed, of late, these hints of troubles to come had resolved themselves\ninto the most urgent appeals for troops to assist in stemming the\nadvance of the dreaded Hittites. Two messengers had Noferhotep sent from\nthe frontier on a like errand. After a protracted delay Pharaoh had\ndespatched one division of Ethiopian troops to his support.\n\nYet, not until this moment, when a swift cedar boat was carrying\nBelur and his suite northward, did Pharaoh appreciate to the full the\nsignificance of those despairing cries for aid. As he now saw it, Belur\nhad come as spokesman for a combined array of Egypt\u2019s Asiatic foes, the\nvery mention of whose names froze the blood in Pharaoh\u2019s veins.\n\nThereafter Pharaoh\u2019s spies were very active, along the border.\n\nTime went by, yet nothing happened. Perhaps the boastful words of the\nHittite were but intended to intimidate him. Or could it have been that\nthe bold front which he had assumed had in turn deceived the Hittite?\n\nHearing nothing further of Rimur of Charchemish, or of the kings of\nKadesh and Megiddo, Pharaoh again took up the work so near his heart. All\nhis best efforts were now centered upon the establishment of the Syrian\nsolar-cult throughout Egypt.\n\nTo this drastic move Pharaoh was incited by Yakab and by his mother, Thi,\nnot so much on account of any real love they had for Aton, the Syrian\ndeity, but mainly as a means of ridding themselves of the obstructive\ninfluence of Huy, Enana and the powerful priesthood of Amen in Karnak.\n\nRealizing that the vast buildings of Amen\u2019s temples in Karnak could never\nbe moved, Thi pointed out to Pharaoh how comparatively easy it would be\nfor him to forsake Thebes and the Palace of Amenhotep, his father, and to\nerect a new palace, a new city, elsewhere.\n\nTo this end Thi had urged Pharaoh to abandon Thebes and had prevailed\nupon him to erect a new capital, the City of the Sun, far to the north.\n\nIt was to raise this new capital, together with all the houses and\nvillas surrounding it, that thousands of captive slaves were now put to\nwork deep within the quarries of Hatnub, quarries famed alike on account\nof the superb quality of their fine white limestone and the translucency\nof their striated alabasters.\n\nIn building Pharaoh\u2019s new city gigantic blocks in both of these rich\nmaterials were brought down from the hills along a specially leveled\ncauseway. Each giant block had been secured upon great wooden sleds of\nhardened sycamore, and hauled to the new site by the concerted efforts of\nsweating oxen and groaning sleds.\n\nOverseers were told of to prod the oxen; others to lash the scarred backs\nof the unhappy Asiatic slaves. The chief of each section occupied himself\nin pouring water upon the ground to prevent the sled from taking fire by\nfriction, or oil to facilitate the movement of the sled.\n\nWhen not so engaged the chief sang a love-song in time to the thwack of\nthe overseers\u2019 staves, as they further lacerated the bloody backs of the\nstaggering captives. It was commonly said of a chief of a quarry-gang\nthat he needed but _three_ canopic jars at _his_ entombment, since he\nlacked\u2014a heart.\n\nAt the site of the new city other dull-eyed Asiatics, similarly flogged\ninto line, worked waist-deep in sandy pits or muddy ditches. Day in, day\nout, the heavy wooden brick-carriers bit into the cracked and blistered\nshoulders of emasculated Amu.\n\nIndeed, long before the quickening rays of Aton had mounted above the\nlow hills which shut in the City of the Sun to the east, sweat, mud and\nblood had baked upon the naked backs of Ethiopian, Libyan, Canaanite and\nKheftiu alike. Nay, Egyptians themselves, the down-trodden herdsmen,\nwere as like as not torn from their ripening fields to toil perhaps at\npressing bricks for Pharaoh\u2019s palace, library and villa, or, cursed,\ncuffed and beaten by the shrieking taskmasters, to crack their thews at\nthe well-nigh smoking ropes which encircle some colossal shaft, shrine or\nstatue intended for the great temple of the sun-god Aton.\n\nFrom their lofty posts above the valley watchful vultures craned their\nnecks, as they slowly circled earthward. Such a stupendous undertaking\nexacted a heavy toll of death.\n\nBut what of deserted Thebes, of Huy and the priests of Amen?\n\nEver since the theft of the cultus-statue of the temple by the Atonites\nthe priests at Karnak had shut themselves up behind the great walls of\nthe Temple of Amen. Behind those massive walls they had continued to\nintone the ritual of Amen to an empty shrine and the Theban Recention of\nthe Book of the Dead to deserted courts and forgotten offering-tables.\nAton and its ritual they anathematized, though an Aton shrine had, for a\ntime, been forced upon them.\n\nIn their present extremity Huy, the great High Priest of Amen, relied\nfor support upon the people, as did indeed his brother hierophants of\nMemphis, Thinis and Abydos.\n\nYet, no help came from the priests of Ptah, of Atum, of Osiris. The\nstarving and plague-stricken peasants in whom they trusted failed to\nassist them.\n\nFor their part the peasants well knew that no matter which of the\nopposing factions gained the upper hand, _their_ present state of utter\nwretchedness would remain unchanged.\n\nWhat cared they for Amen, Ptah or Aton, when the Nile-god failed them,\nwhen Hapi neglected to pour his life-giving waters over their parched and\nstricken fields!\n\nWhat was Amen or Aton to them, as they watched their ashen, granite-hard\nsoil crack beneath the pitiless shafts of a ruthless sun-god! \u2019Twas an\nill time to pray to him under any one of his three hundred names.\n\nAnd so it happened that, at Pharaoh\u2019s command, an Atonite force attacked\nthe battlemented walls of Amen\u2019s temple in Karnak.\n\nAs a result, the ancient temple of Sesostris was utterly destroyed.\nOldest of all the temples within the encircling walls, its cedar columns,\nits silver floors, its walls of gold inlaid with malachite and lazuli,\ntogether with its hundreds of gold and silver statues of the kings of\nold, all were lost in a conflagration started by the overturning of a\ncolossal incense-bowl which stood in front of the shadow of the god Min,\noutlined in silver in the panels of the sanctuary door.\n\nThat night Huy, great High Priest of Amen, lay dead, the poisoned cup\nclenched in his hand.\n\nYet, before he went forth upon his last long journey across the rocky\nheights of Duat and the demon-haunted valleys of the Underworld, Huy had\narrayed himself in full regalia and taken his stand before the yellow\ncurtain which screened the now empty shrine of the great god Amen.\n\nAloud he cried, \u201cO Ancient One, Primordial God! By the power of thy\nHidden Name, by the Heads of the Demigods that surround thee, hear the\nprayer of Huy, thy servant!\n\n\u201cGrant that the line of Ahmes be broken! Grant that no child of Pharaoh\nsit upon thy golden throne!\n\n\u201cLet Pharaoh\u2019s name be blotted from remembrance! Let Pharaoh\u2019s _ka_ be\nforced to wander among the dunghills of forgotten cities!\u201d\n\nSlowly Huy raised the poisoned cup: \u201cAnd now, O nameless One, before I go\nforth upon the way of trial, a token that thou dost grant my prayer. Give\nme a sign, O Holy One, a sign, O Amen, Lord of Lords!\u201d\n\nAs if in answer to the High Priest\u2019s cry, there came a sound as of\nthe shaking of distant sistra and silver cymbals. There followed the\nthrumming of many harps and the sound of reed pipes. Suddenly, through\nthe yellow curtain, there was seen a light which slowly increased in\nbrightness.\n\nIn terror the awe-struck priests surrounding Huy hid their eyes. When\nagain they dared to open them, they saw that the great curtain had been\nrent in two and, below it, stretched at full length, lay the white-robed\nfigure of Huy, their leader.\n\nIn sorrow, Antefy, his successor, commanded his bearers to carry him to\nthe chariot of Mei, the Atonite, where seven and seventy times seven at\nthe feet of Pharaoh\u2019s victorious representative, in words at least, he\nfell.\n\nThe other disheartened ministers of Amen nominally embraced the Aton\ncreed then and there, or, with Antefy, their new leader, retired to a\nself-imposed exile among the arid sands of Nubia far to the south.\n\nThe fall of Huy and the priests of Amen, seeming to prove the strength\nand determination of Pharaoh, Memphis, Thinis and Abydos, and thereafter,\nnearly every local shrine throughout Egypt, at once raised altars to\nAton, the Syrian sun-god.\n\nOnce again fortune favored the Atonites!\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XVII\n\nWHY MENNA\u2019S CHAIRBEARER STAKED HIS ALL\n\n\nMenna, Overseer of the King\u2019s Estates, was known to the Court as a\nhard and self-seeking man, and this in spite of his sleekness of skin,\nhis luxurious habits and his untiring efforts to outshine the other\n\u201cfollowers of the king\u201d both in beauty of person, knowledge of literature\nand the arts, indeed, in all those visible evidences of culture which\ndistinguished the Egyptian court.\n\nIn spite of this outward display and ostentation Menna, son of Menna, was\nappreciated at his full value by courtier, priest and peasant alike. Well\nthey knew that but a tithe of the fat revenues which Menna collected for\nthe king or had formerly collected for the unhappy Huy, Great High Priest\nof Amen, went to swell the royal \u201ctreasuries of gold and silver\u201d or the\n\u201ctreasure of the god.\u201d As yet, however, through fear of the Overseer\u2019s\n\u201ceyes and ears\u201d\u2014spies, native and foreign\u2014no one had dared to inform upon\nhim at the Palace.\n\nIn spite of all Menna could do to ingratiate himself with her, the Lady\nSesen ever sought to avoid him. Yet Menna never despaired. His attentions\nwere pressed upon her, in spite of all she could do to prevent. Recently\nthe fringed Asiatic garments of his servants, an affectation of the\nmuch-traveled Prince, were seldom absent from her sight.\n\nYet to-day something had happened which might bring it well within the\nrealms of possibility that she might break with the persistent Overseer\nonce and for all.\n\nDuring the course of one of her visits to the home of Ramses\u2019\ngrandparents Enana had confided to her a secret which appeared to her\nastonished ears well-nigh incredible. For from him she learned the\nastounding news that Hanit, her former beloved mistress, Queen Hanit\nwhom she had but yesterday it seemed, seen laid to rest yonder in the\nValley of the Tombs, was alive, alive!\n\nRendered fairly dumb at once with amazement and joy, Sesen sat at\nEnana\u2019s knees as if fascinated, her cheeks aglow, her eyes dancing with\nexcitement, her lips parted as if she would drink in his every word.\n\nThis, then, was the reason of Enana\u2019s feverish restlessness of late.\nQueen Thi herself, whom nothing escaped, had remarked it, had even\ncommented upon it to Sesen.\n\nNaturally, Sesen at the time could give no adequate explanation of the\nunusual behavior, the ill-restrained excitement, which seemed to agitate\nthe wizened body of the old magician. And Queen Thi finally set it down\nas being due to loss of favor at court.\n\nIn fact, Enana had suddenly withdrawn entirely from all court functions.\nA faithful adherent of the great god, Amen of Thebes, and a brother of\nHuy, late High Priest of Amen, Enana could not but see in Thi and Pharaoh\nthe murderers of Huy, his brother, and the implacable foes of Amen whom\nhe loved and served.\n\nSo the shriveled body which Kathi had sworn was that of Hanit had been\nanother\u2019s. Sesen recalled that Enana had often remarked the striking\nresemblance which existed between the ex-Queen Hanit and the Lady Meryt.\n\nIt was Meryt\u2019s body then which lay in its rock-hewn tomb back yonder\nswathed in yards of milk-white linens, encased in a triple cedar coffin\nglowing with gold and gem-incrustations! It was Meryt\u2019s body which now\nrested in its huge granite sarcophagus, deep beneath the crumbling\nWestern Hills! It was Meryt\u2019s mummified form upon which she herself had\nplaced that last sad offering, a chaplet of flowers, berries and leaves!\nHanit, her beloved mistress, still lived!\n\nSesen could hardly follow Enana through the astounding threads of his\nstory. She gathered that the ruse by which her mistress had been saved\nfrom certain death at Queen Thi\u2019s hands had been Enana\u2019s own, though its\nsuccessful accomplishment had been due to the faithful Kathi.\n\nSesen begged to be allowed to visit Hanit, but Enana restrained her.\nHe spoke of the terrible change in the demeanor of the once gentle and\nstudious Queen. He spoke of her vindictive hatred of Pharaoh, of Thi and,\nmore than these perhaps, of Menna, son of Menna, whom she considered the\nmurderer of the prince, her son.\n\nSince her escape from the Temple all her time had been spent in study,\nand that with but one end in view. Vengeance upon the trio whom she had\nsuch cause to hate had become with her an obsession.\n\nIt appeared that in the realms of black art Hanit had become the equal\nof Enana himself. Day and night had she pored over the lector\u2019s rolls of\npapyrus, until each and every one of their incantations had become hers.\nShe knew all the hidden spells of the Conjurers of Amen. She could part\nthe waters at a word. Her ebony wand could cause grass to grow where no\nvegetation had lived before. Behead a bird or animal and, at a word from\nHanit, it would spring to its feet alive and whole. Even the secrets of\nthe masons and royal architects were hers. She knew the secret blocks of\nstone which, touched by even the weakest hand, opened or closed many a\nponderous granite door of tomb or shrine.\n\nYes! She would have vengeance upon Pharaoh, upon Thi, upon Menna...!\n\nAt the mention of Menna\u2019s name Sesen thoughtfully drew from the folds of\nher robe a small roll of papyrus, delicately scented and inscribed in\nblack and red with another effusive expression of the Overseer\u2019s undying\npassion and his plea for a tryst. Enana read it twice, then carefully\nrolled it up and placed it securely beneath his leather girdle, saying as\nhe did so:\n\n\u201cHere may be found the bait to lure Prince Menna to his bitter doom! It\nreaches Hanit\u2019s hands this very night! Verily, what said that sage of\nold, Imhotep? \u2018Love is the greatest ally of the gods!\u2019\u201d\n\nTrembling with suppressed excitement the old magician rose. He placed a\ncaressing hand upon the head of the little Princess and departed somewhat\nabruptly, leaving her to marvel at the miraculous escape of her former\nmistress and to speculate as to the nature of Hanit\u2019s vengeance upon\nMenna.\n\nAnd Menna? Not long after Enana had left the little Princess the\noverjoyed Menna felt that he could, at last, afford to ignore the\nreports brought in by Bar and his other spies. Menna no longer feared\nthe existence of an understanding between Renny and the little Princess.\nA note from Sesen, a note most tenderly inscribed, rested at the moment\nbetween Menna\u2019s thumb and forefinger. He smiled as he placed the note\nto his lips. He inhaled the perfume of myrrh-paste, where Sesen\u2019s\nfingers had touched the smooth papyrus. Sesen the Haughty, Sesen the\nUnapproachable, Sesen whom the great Ramses loved, had yielded to his\nattentions and passionate appeals. It had been a far longer siege than\nusually fell to the lot of the Overseer, but, at last, the usual stream\nof presents, poems, and entreaties had done its work. Sesen had agreed to\nmeet him amidst the ruins near Mentuhotep\u2019s shrine!\n\n\u201cMentuhotep\u2019s shrine? That forgotten ruin! An extraordinary place,\u201d mused\nthe Prince. For a moment he doubted the missive; a hint of suspicion\nclouded the gleam of triumph which glowed in his eyes.\n\nSomewhat thoughtfully he reread the note. The next he had stretched his\njeweled hand toward a little bronze mirror which rested upon an ivory\nrack at his elbow. It was a small mirror, its handle a maiden standing\nwith arms outstretched as if to support the disk above.\n\nBut half conscious of what he was doing, Menna gazed at his handsome\nfeatures as reflected in the burnished oval of the mirror. Slowly his\nfeatures relaxed. He smiled, and, laying down the mirror, clapped his\nhands. He gave direction to the obsequious Syrian who immediately\nappeared, that Bentu, chief of his chair-bearers, be sent to him\nimmediately.\n\nSoon after, Bentu left his master\u2019s presence, his face, wreathed\nin smiles, his ivory teeth flashing. Bentu walked on air, he could\nhardly refrain from snapping his fingers and dancing his joy like \u201cthe\ncurly-headed ones,\u201d as he hurried down the quiet corridors. An excursion\nsuch as his master planned for the morrow customarily ended well for\nBentu, chief of the carriers.\n\nThroughout the long night following, while Menna tossed upon his\nivory-footed couch, Bentu gambled away his last worldly possessions.\n\nAt first Bentu lost three heifers at a throw. Then seven sheep went to\nBeq, the sculptor. Quickly followed the loss of thirty geese, the two\ngold _uten_ which encircled his wrist, his hound Antef, and finally, most\nprized possession of all, his bright blue scarab-seal. All passed to Beq,\nthe sculptor.\n\nBut what cared Bentu, the Carrier! In his master\u2019s explicit directions\nas to clothes for the carriers, as to food and drink, Bentu scented an\nassignation. The new hood was to be put on the carrying-chair. It was a\nbeautiful hood, made of the finest linen, in stripes of green and gold. A\nlove affair without a doubt! There was a woman in it, and women\u2014as Bentu\nknew full well\u2014women paid well for messengers and\u2014carriers!\n\nBentu curled himself up in a corner of Beq\u2019s studio and went promptly to\nsleep. He feared to go home; his wife might ask questions, and Bentu was\nin mortal dread of Sebekmeryt his Nubian wife.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XVIII\n\nWHAT HAPPENED WHEN MENNA, SON OF MENNA, WENT A-WOOING\n\n\nThe ruined Shrine of Mentuhotep lay somewhat to the north of the great\nsandstone mortuary-temple of Amenhotep III.\n\nFronting it stood a dwarf pyramid surrounded by brightly-painted columned\nporticos. Far to the south stretched Queen Thi\u2019s beautiful \u201cpleasure\nlake,\u201d which seemed, at this distance, a veritable bowl of gold rimmed\nwith emeralds. The glowing walls and avenues of stately trees which\nmarked Queen Hatshepsut\u2019s terraced temple, shut it in toward the north.\nHigh above, and seemingly ever in danger of crashing down upon it,\ntowered the precipitous and ever crumbling masses of the purple Libyan\nHills.\n\nThe way thither led along the Necropolis Route, a high-banked road which\npassed immediately in front of the obelisks and twin statues fronting\nthe granite threshold of Amenhotep\u2019s stupendous mortuary-temple.\n\nAt this season of the year the wayfarer might appreciate the full height\nof the waters of the inundation, since their turgid reaches now swirled\nabout the walls of the Royal Palace to the south, and lapped the high\nwalls of Amenhotep\u2019s mortuary temple itself, though the latter\u2019s massive\nwalls and pylons stood well back upon the edge of that crescent-shaped\nstrip of land whose upper reaches had been set apart by the Thebans from\ntime immemorial, as their place of burial.\n\nThis late afternoon the waters flashed like streams of fire as the sun\nsank ever lower, ever more rapidly it seemed, toward the low blue line\nof the southern hills which sheltered Erment, city of the falcon-headed\nWargod.\n\nThe arid sand-drifts, which stretched along the lower slopes of the\nTheban hills, seemed composed rather of snow than sand, so brilliant was\nthe glare, so clear the atmosphere.\n\nMost welcome to the eye were the villa-gardens of the nobles, with their\ndeep green groves of date palm, sycamore and acacia. Many resembled\nlittle islands that seemed to float upon the flashing waters.\n\nBut neither desert glare nor flashing water could detain Prince Menna.\nWithin the hour Atum, the evening sun, would sink below the southern\nhills; the cool north breeze would spring up, as was its custom.\n\nMenna\u2019s chair-bearers had stood before his villa door an hour ahead of\ntime. Bentu, their chief, placed his hands upon his heart and gazed\nheavenward, simulating the ardent lover. Another love-affair, without a\ndoubt.\n\nSuch missions meant _uten_, necklaces or rings; a spree at Hentiu\u2019s at\nany rate, and Bentu loved the very sight of a bursting wine-skin!\n\nBentu\u2019s speculations were interrupted by the sudden appearance of the\ndoorkeeper. With a knowing wink at Bentu the latter obsequiously bowed,\nas Menna strode through the curtained door.\n\nAnother moment and Menna, Superintendent of the King\u2019s estates, high\nabove the shoulders of six stalwart Nubians, was borne swiftly along the\nhighway which led to the northern end of the curving Theban Plain.\n\nTaking his cue from the gorgeous costume scarcely concealed beneath his\nmaster\u2019s fringed and brightly colored Syrian cloak, Bentu launched into\none of Ata\u2019s love-songs. His grinning comrades punctuated each verse with\na staccato \u201cha-ha, o-ay!\u201d\n\nMenna sank back against his cushions; he smiled. It pleased him that this\nblack shadow of his had divined his mission. Nay, Menna felt himself so\nat peace with the world that he gave command to allow a peasant\u2019s all\ntoo-heavily laden donkey to pass unchallenged, an unheard of proceeding\non the part of a Theban noble!\n\nBentu\u2019s hopes rose. Under such circumstances all things were possible. He\nmight receive a jeweled necklace, golden bars; a small farm, perhaps.\n\nIndeed, Bentu\u2019s expectations assumed so rosy an aspect, that he broke\ninto a dance, clapping his hands or snapping his fingers in time to\nhis leapings and posturings, quite in the manner of the Nubians, the\ncurly-headed people to the south.\n\nWith the sudden disappearance of the swollen sun-disk behind the deep\nblue hills of Erment, song and dance abruptly ceased. Menna indicated\nthat he would descend from his chair, and all, master and men together,\naddressed a short prayer for the success of the Sun-god in his ceaseless\nconflict with Apep, Fiend of Darkness.\n\nPiety was a habit with Menna, as with Bentu and the rest.\n\nThis done, once more Menna\u2019s chair swung along the high embankment. Once\nagain the warning shouts or blows from the forked staff of Bentu kept the\nnarrow way free.\n\nArrived before the tree-set entrance to the Temple of Thothmes, Menna\nleft his servants and continued westward, past Amenhotep the Second\u2019s\ntemple, on foot. Soon his tall figure was lost among the groves of\ncedars, karobs and acacias with which the tomb precincts of the nobles\nSenmut, Ra, and Rekmara, were thickly planted.\n\nPassing the great monument of the architect Senmut, from which vantage\npoint the great cedar which marked the tomb precinct of his father\nand mother was visible, Menna turned towards the yellow terraces of\nHatshepsut\u2019s ivory-columned temple. To the left, he could already\ndistinguish the little pyramid and the terraced colonades of the\nMentuhotep Shrine, near which was the spot he sought. A few minutes more\nand he had crossed the ruined forecourt of that ancient king\u2019s memorial\nshrine.\n\nFor a moment Menna looked about him. He consulted a memorandum which he\ntook from his jeweled belt. Then again, with an anticipatory smile, he\nascended to the highest terrace and suddenly vanished into a dark opening\nwhich seemed to lead into the very face of the stupendous cliffs which\ntowered above.\n\nMenna was soon in total darkness. He felt himself descending a long,\nnarrow passage-way pitched at a very steep incline. He must have gone\nsome two hundred paces when he felt, rather than saw the glow of a light.\nSoon he could distinguish the polished surface of the granite slabs with\nwhich the narrow walls were faced.\n\nAll was well! The Princess awaited him!\n\nStanding in the opening of the doorway, Menna softly spoke her name.\nThe Princess did not answer, but stood well back within the shadows of\nan alabaster naos, a shrine which, centuries before, had held a statue\nof the deified king, Mentuhotep. At the right he saw a dark and narrow\ndoorway in which were visible a few ascending steps cut in the rock.\n\nThe slim figure of the Princess was concealed beneath a long Memphite\ncloak. She appeared not to have heard his greeting.\n\nAgain Menna softly called her name: \u201cSesen! My Lily, My Lotus! Behold thy\nlover, O Daughter of Hathor!\u201d\n\nStill the figure was silent. Smilingly Menna drew near; he understood.\nWith a wealth of flattering phrases on his lips, he sought to catch her\nto him. As he did so, the figure turned, and revealed to his astounded\ngaze the burning eyes of Hanit, of Hanit the former Queen!\n\nYet, Hanit was dead! He had seen her embalmed body laid away in her\nrock-hewn tomb!\n\nWith a hoarse and inarticulate cry Menna turned and fled. \u2019Twas the\nvisible _ka_ of the outraged queen, \u2019twas Hanit\u2019s vindictive _double_!\nNay, it \u2019twas Hanit herself, whose mummified form he himself had seen,\nwhat time Huy, the Great High Priest, had performed the last rites, with\nthe ceremonial opening of the eyes, the ears, the mouth! Had not he\nhimself placed a wreath upon her well-swathed form, and thereafter seen\nthe coffin lowered in her rock-hewn tomb?\n\nAs Menna stumbled up the steep incline of the rock-hewn passage, black\nhorror seized upon him; a paralyzing terror rose from his throbbing heart\nand mounted to his numbed brain. He tore the heavy gold chains and the\njeweled _wesekh_ from his throat. He felt that he was choking.\n\n\u201cBreath of Ra! The doorway, air, light, the blessed daylight!\u201d\n\nAs Menna groped his way up the passage he heard in front of him, a dull\nthud as of some heavy falling body. For a moment his headlong flight was\narrested. The solid rock beneath his feet seemed to tremble. He rushed up\nthe last few yards of the narrow corridor and came suddenly in violent\ncontact with an immovable block of polished granite.\n\nA cold perspiration burst out upon his forehead; his knees trembled\nbeneath him. He was trapped.\n\nThe overseer made a last attempt to think clearly. For a few moments he\nsucceeded in stifling the terror that gripped his heart.\n\nMenna carefully felt the walls over and over again to left, to right,\nin front! Not a crack nor a crevice. Always that granite door! In an\nagony of fear Menna hurled himself against it. He shrieked, he raved, he\ncursed.\n\nFinally the Overseer, no longer human, turned and crept back along the\ngranite passage-way. The dust of centuries rose into his throat and\nfilled his lungs. Its fine, impalpable particles got into his eyes. The\ndroppings of innumerable bats covered his robes; his scented wig had\nfallen from his head.\n\nSlowly Menna scrambled down the passage, now in a crouching position, now\non all fours. His blood-red eyes gleamed in the gloomy obscurity like\nthose of a savage panther of the south. Blood trickled slowly from his\ninflamed nostrils; his lips were drawn far back upon the gums, as if he\nsnarled.\n\nMenna stood again in the shrine-chamber. The light still flickered\nalong its granite sides, upon the ivory-toned naos and the figures and\nhieroglyphs with which it was decorated. The prince gazed wildly about\nhim. Even the ponderous inner door had now swung into place.\n\nStretching out his bleeding hands he approached the huge shrine. He would\ncast himself upon the mercy of Hanit\u2019s vengeful spirit, for by now Menna\nwas long past fear of _bas_ or _kas_, of \u201c_ghosts_\u201d or \u201c_doubles_!\u201d He\ncalled her name as, with outstretched hands he shuffled hesitatingly\ntowards the shrine.\n\nHanit had vanished!\n\nWith a low moan Menna crumpled up and pitched headlong at the foot of the\nshrine. Above his head the light brightened for an instant, then slowly\nsank and, suddenly, vanished. Once again the painted forms of gods and\ndemons alone reigned supreme amidst the fetid heat and darkness.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XIX\n\nTHE HITTITES ADVANCE\n\n\nPharaoh\u2019s recently completed City of the Sun stretched at some length\nalong both sides of the Nile, about sixty miles north of the ancient city\nof Siut, sacred to the Wolf-god.\n\nTo-day, fronting its white quay, a fleet of barges swung idly at anchor.\nFrom the high poop of one, a large temple-barge by its decoration,\nMerira, High Priest of Aton, was about to disembark. At the landward end\nof its gangplank, which had been stretched to the well-built limestone\nwall of the quay, a knot of white-robed priests of Aton bowed a fawning\nwelcome to their portly brother hierophant. Sixteen stalwart lay-brothers\nstood expectantly beside the dignitary\u2019s hooded-chair. Soon, Merira, High\nPriest of Aton, high above the gleaming heads of his chanting followers,\nvanished down the avenue of criosphinxes which led toward the massive\npylons of the imposing Aton Temple.\n\nParallel with the well-planted gardens and vineyards of the Temple of\nthe Sun ran the northern wall of Pharaoh\u2019s new palace. The southern wall\ndivided it from the gardens which hedged in the home of the General\nMei, a favorite of Pharaoh. Both the grounds about the Aton Temple, the\npalace, villa, and library of Pharaoh and the house of Mei, ran backward\nfrom the Nile bank to the first rise of the low hills to the east.\n\nPharaoh\u2019s gardens, both of villa, library and palace, were already\nthickly planted with the rarest of native trees and vines, but myrrh,\nsandalwood, d\u00f4m-palm and young Lebanus cedar from the terraces, might be\nseen both in the gardens of the monarch and in those of his favorites.\n\nAt this moment the huge limestone palace glowed in the heat of\nmidafternoon like a piece of painted ivory. The sun\u2019s rays turned to\nfire the gold caps of the lofty cedar flag-posts which towered above the\nwalls.\n\nAt the end of a long avenue of young acacias one could distinguish the\narchers-of-the-guard, as they paced to and fro before the palace gates. A\npair of Syrian horses, harnessed to a light chariot, pawed the sandstone\nflagging before the entrance-pylon, or reared high in air, did the\niron-wristed _katana_ show the least sign of relaxing his grip upon the\ngilded reins.\n\nQueen Noferith was about to visit the hillset tomb of one of her\ndaughters, who had died shortly after the royal family had taken up its\nresidence in the new city. The royal-nurse, Thuya, and the three sisters\nof the dead Princess, were already well on their way to the tomb, bearing\nofferings of food, flowers and cosmetics for the use of the _ka_.\n\nWithin the interior of the palace, Pharaoh was busily engaged with that\ncorpulent official, the chief-scribe, Enei. At the moment Enei was\nsquatting cross-legged among the reeds and water-fowl painted upon the\nstucco floor of the room. Upon his kilted knees lay the open sheet of a\nlong leather-roll already closely written in red and black with lines of\ndeftly inscribed hieratic.\n\nEnei held a long reed pen in one hand; two others stuck out behind his\nelephantine ears. He had been occupied all morning transcribing from\nPharaoh\u2019s own lips the \u201cHymn to Aton,\u201d which for weeks had engrossed his\nfanatical master.\n\nFamine and pestilence at home, revolt in Nubia, new mutterings of trouble\nalong the Asiatic frontier, one and all had to give place now to the\ncompletion of this Sun-hymn, and the ritual of the Aton cult.\n\nThe ritual had already been chanted in the Temple of the Sun. Indeed, it\nhad been intoned for the first time in a little chapel erected among the\nnow well-nigh deserted temples of Amen at Karnak. Here was bitter hearing\nfor the exiled priest of Amen!\n\nPharaoh was extremely anxious to hear the High Priest Merira chant his\n\u201cHymn to the Sun,\u201d a composition which Pharaoh had written for the\nexpress use of the Priests of the Temple of Aton. In order to finish\nthe hymn Pharaoh had shut himself up in his library with orders that on\nno account should he be disturbed. Ambassadors, envoys, nobles of the\nempire, spies and messengers, all must wait who sought an audience of the\nengrossed monarch.\n\nBut a few moments before, Pentu, Chief Court Physician, had backed from\nhis master\u2019s presence, loaded down with chains and bracelets of gold.\n\nPentu had gained some real or fancied ascendancy over Enei the Scribe\nin a heated argument as to a probable connection between the sun-god\nRa of Heliopolis, Aton, and Adon, the Syrian God of Fertility. Pentu\u2019s\nbald head glistened like the mirror clasped in the hand of his waiting\ndaughter. Pentu\u2019s broad smile widened, if indeed that might be, as his\nwaiting servants hurled themselves into the dust at sight of his gleaming\ndecorations, those \u201cgifts which the king bestows.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhat stiff campaign hath earned such rich rewards?\u201d asks the\ntravel-worn Rabba, messenger of Ribaddi, one of Egypt\u2019s vassals in Asia.\n\n\u201cPeace, peace, soldier! Hold thy tongue, fit but to frighten lousy\nSand-dwellers! Hast thou not heard? Egypt hath done with war! Corn grows\nupon our spearshafts, boys swim in our shields; our curved swords cut\nwheat and spelt, our slings kill reed-birds. The \u2018gifts of Majesty\u2019 now\nreach priests, poets and potters. Breath of Ra\u2014ahem\u2014Aton, I should have\nsaid, a soldier now must stand aside that shaven-headed sucklings from\nthe new religious school may pass! Amemet seize me! Five hours\u2019 waiting\nis enough for me! Honors to thy son\u2019s son,\u201d and the officer passes out.\n\nSome three hours later, Ribaddi\u2019s urgent call for assistance, that small\nclay tablet upon whose safe and speedy deliverance into the hands of the\nEgyptian king hung the fate of Syria, Ribaddi\u2019s last despairing cry for\nhelp, still rested in its metal tube about the impatient Rabba\u2019s neck.\n\nTired of his long vigil, Rabba had addressed a few somewhat pointed\nremarks in the direction of the painted ceiling, but intended for the\nlarge ears of Seneb the Court Usher. As a not unnatural sequel, another\nmoment found him on the wrong side of the palace door.\n\nFrom the threshold of the courtyard two giggling pages made the\ninfuriated Rabba mock bows and salutations in the Syrian manner.\n\nThereafter, Rabba wandered aimlessly about and finally disappeared behind\nthe deep red curtains which blew in and out of Thethi\u2019s tavern-door.\n\nThe following morning, Rabba awoke to find himself seated upon the edge\nof a wine-stained couch. In one hand he clasped a faded spray of mimosa.\nHe pulled a chaplet of dried and blackened lotus-flowers from his aching\nhead. Not a bar remained about his arms, not a strand of beads flashed\nupon his massive chest. Neith, a full-lipped Theban dancer, had them all!\n\nRabba\u2019s hand went to his throat hesitatingly, despairingly. The case that\nhad held his master\u2019s message, his credentials and his master\u2019s seal,\nall had vanished with that velvet-eyed traitress.\n\nTen days ago should the precious letter have been added to the thousands\nof clay tablets which lined the alcoves of Pharaoh\u2019s library and\nregistry. Ten days ago, Rabba the Messenger should have been well on his\nway back to Gebal, his hillset station, with Pharaoh\u2019s reply.\n\nAlas! At the moment, Ribaddi\u2019s devoted city lay a mass of smouldering\nruins, in the midst of which were scattered the ashes of Ribaddi,\nPharaoh\u2019s most loyal vassal, his family, and those of the entire squadron\nof Baal, to which the unhappy Rabba himself belonged. Feeling that the\nEgyptian monarch had lulled himself into a sense of security, the hosts\nof the Khabiri and Hittites, headed by Rimur of Charchemish and the\nkings of Kadesh and Megiddo, had suddenly swooped upon the territory of\nPharaoh\u2019s Syrian vassal, Ribaddi the Loyal.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XX\n\nHOW BAR AND RENNY MEET FOR THE LAST TIME\n\n\nReflected in the quiet reaches of the Nile, a brilliant planet hung, like\na silver ball, in the green and gold of Egypt\u2019s long-continued afterglow.\nBelow it Aah, the pale young moon, seemed as if it sought to catch that\nscintillating jewel in the hollow of its crescent cup.\n\nThe evening\u2019s stillness was broken at intervals by the snarls of\nmarauding hyenas, the barks of jackals and the hooting of the little\ngolden-brown owls which haunted the over-hanging eaves of the massive\nTemple of Khonsu.\n\nDusky forms stole stealthily along the narrow alleys of the half-deserted\ncity of Thebes. As they hurried past, the paling afterglow reflected upon\nthe low white walls caused their nodding shadows to appear unnaturally\nenlarged, menacing, terrifying.\n\nWithin Renny\u2019s workshop the more immediate shadows were at times revealed\nby the light from a deep bronze bowl, a brazier filled with glowing\nincense-wood. The bowl stood upon a low stand immediately in front of\nRenny\u2019s statue of the Princess Sesen.\n\nOnce again relieved of its encircling ropes and mattings, the beautiful\nstatue of the Princess stood revealed in all its grace and freedom.\nFollowing Menna\u2019s sudden and mysterious disappearance Renny had come\nagain to his workshop to claim the statue which was his. The little\ncrocodile amulet at his throat had, indeed, saved him from Bar\u2019s\nmurderous attack. Bar himself felt this to be a fact.\n\nIn the center of the room stood the Princess herself. Her gaze was fixed\nupon the statue with a mingled expression of awe, pride and delight. At\nher feet knelt Renny the sculptor, his upturned face transfigured.\n\nBhanar, trembling with fear, frequently opened the door and gazed\nanxiously, impatiently it seemed, down the length of the garden path. As\nshe slipped to the lock the broken seals tapped softly against the wooden\npanels.\n\nWhy so impatient, Bhanar? Why that gleam of hatred in those eyes, ever so\ngentle, ever so beautiful, as they rest upon the figure of thy mistress?\n\nTo account for Bhanar\u2019s attitude, we must revert once more to Bar,\nservant to Menna. All unwitting of his master\u2019s horrible fate, Bar had\nset spies about the Princess. He engaged a servant attached to the\nvilla to report day by day the doings of the little Princess, hoping to\nsurprise her in some unguarded evidence of affection for the infatuated\nRenny. He himself sought and gained the confidence of the jealous Bhanar.\n\nThe beautiful slave-girl, now envenomed by a sudden jealousy of her\nmistress, confided to the sympathetic Bar a note which Renny had bribed\nBaquit, the Gate-Keeper, to deliver to the Princess. Bhanar, after many\na vain attempt, had managed to abstract it from her mistress\u2019s ebony\njewel-box.\n\nIn return for this, the overjoyed Bar had promised her that this very\nnight should see Sesen and Renny parted forever.\n\nThus it happened, that when, towards sun-down, Sesen commanded Bhanar to\nget her long Memphite cloak for an outing in the gardens, Bhanar trembled\nwith anticipation. She barely glanced at the ducks, the gazelle\u2019s hearts,\nthe Delta wine and the lotus-seed bread, which composed the evening meal.\nThe meal being over and the low tabourets removed, Prince Wozer, Sesen\u2019s\nfather, was carried off upon the shoulders of six chair-bearers in the\ndirection of the Theban cemetery. It was the anniversary of the death of\na life-long friend and, as had been his habit, he himself would light\nthe first torch preparatory to the service held in the dead man\u2019s honor,\nhe with his own hands would place the gifts of food and drink upon the\noffering-table of the dead noble\u2019s tomb. For the last five years Prince\nWozer had thus acted the part of _ka_-servant to Surera the Justified.\n\nWhen once the long procession of offering-bearers which regularly\naccompanied her father on such occasions was well on its way, Sesen and\nBhanar descended into the palace gardens.\n\nArrived at a little postern gate which connected with the villa-garden\nof Thi\u2019s favorite, the unhappy Menna, the Princess pushed back the\nbarlock, and both passed through. Another moment and they had entered the\ndimly-lit room of Renny\u2019s former workshop.\n\nAll unsuspecting of Bhanar\u2019s treachery, Sesen had placed the little slave\nat the door to watch. Bhanar\u2019s heart beat so violently that it well-nigh\nsuffocated her. A glimpse of her mistress reaching out her fingers toward\nthe statue, her mistress\u2019 other self, struck suddenly a tardy repentance\ninto the very soul of the despairing slave-girl.\n\nSuddenly Bhanar started. Three figures had turned into the narrow\ngarden-path and were rapidly approaching. In the foremost of the three\nBhanar recognized Bar the Memphite. Menna\u2019s former spy was speaking in\nloud tones and violently gesticulating as he hurried the others up the\npath. Two archers of Prince Wozer\u2019s guard strode behind him.\n\nForgetful of herself, her jealousy and treachery, Bhanar shrieked aloud;\n\u201cRenny! My Renny! Bar is here, Menna\u2019s spy! Fly, while there is yet time!\u201d\n\nAt her first words, Renny leaped to the door. A glance showed him his old\nenemy. Who could have betrayed them?\n\nHardly knowing what he would do, he drew the Princess down behind the\nfestooned pedestal, covering her at the same time with its heavy wreaths\nand flowers.\n\nEven as he paused, rapidly scanning the effect, the outer door was burst\nviolently open and the giant Bar pushed headlong into the room.\n\nIn the doorway, looming large against the afterglow, Renny beheld the\nsturdy forms of the two archers.\n\nBar shot a hasty glance at the statue, then ripped out an oath: \u201cDog, son\nof a dog, the Princess. Where is she?\u201d\n\nWith a smile upon his pale face, Renny slowly raised his hand and pointed\nto the statue. Then suddenly as Bar turned, he sprang straight at the\nMemphite and struck, alas, in vain, for his dagger broke short off\nagainst Bar\u2019s hidden leather corslet.\n\nRealizing that his last moment had come, Renny slowly drew his long\nAsiatic sleeve across his bowed head. Motionless, he anticipated the\narrow that trembled between the thumb and forefinger of one of the\nguardsmen who, at his sudden attack upon the Memphite, had moved up into\nthe room.\n\nThe twang of the bow thrummed in his ears, and, with it, a choking sob\nand the thud of a falling body.\n\nQuickly Renny threw aside the light covering from his face, dreading\nwhat his trembling heart too truly warned him he should see. With a cry\nof agony he dropped beside the limp body of the dead Bhanar. Gently he\nlifted her head, scanned her face, breathed her name. In vain! Too well\nhad Wenamon\u2019s arrow done its work! A few red feathers and an inch of\nreed showed just above the white robe of his little countrywoman. The\nrest of the long shaft was buried in her breast.\n\nRenny rose slowly to his feet. His gaze swept the terrified archers\nto the threshold of the door. With a roar like that of some southern\npanther maddened with its wounds, once more he hurled himself upon the\ntreacherous Bar.\n\nHis onslaught hurled the dagger from the nerveless hand of the\nhorror-struck Memphite. For that worthy stood gazing, as if fascinated,\nat the upturned face of the dead Bhanar.\n\nThey grappled, tripped and fell, rolling over and over, now one seeming\nto gain the mastery, now the other. Above their writhing forms the\narchers awaited their opportunity.\n\nKneeling at the base of the pedestal the terrified little Princess alone\nmade outcry, sending out upon the still evening air shriek upon shriek,\nintermingled with peals of frenzied laughter.\n\nA slight lessening of the grip and Renny\u2019s powerful hand stole towards\nBar\u2019s jeweled throat. A snap, a quiver of the big limbs and the Memphite\nlay motionless.\n\nRenny staggered like a drunken man to his feet. Stealthily Wenamon the\narcher approached, with somewhat of the caution with which one might\nbeard a wounded lion in its den. His bow had been cast aside. A dagger\ngleamed in his raised hand.\n\nRenny\u2019s swaying figure lurched heavily towards the statue of the\nPrincess, to the base of which the Princess herself still clung. As his\nfingers gripped its flower-festooned base, Wenamon\u2019s dagger flashed.\n\nRenny suddenly straightened himself. His bloodshot eyes sought those of\nthe Princess, who stood rooted to the spot.\n\n\u201cSesen! Sesen,\u201d he cried, and fell dead at her feet.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXI\n\nOF THE CAPTURE OF BELUR, THE HITTITE\n\n\nThe city of Kadesh lay gleaming in the evening sunlight at the upper end\nof that vast plain which stretched northward to the Lake Country. As\nviewed from Shabtuna, where the Egyptian army was now encamped, it seemed\na veritable city of towers.\n\nAlong the eastern front of this Asiatic city the waters of the Orontes\nglittered like a straight Hittite sword. The high, machicolated\ngate-towers, on the eastern side, were approached by a causeway and a\nbroad flight of stone steps. Protected by a white wall on either side,\nthese steps rose from the very waters of the turgid Orontes itself.\n\nThe city towers were black with people, frenzied women for the most part.\nTheir piercing shrieks, now of exultation, now of despair, floated out\nupon the flashing waters of the broad river. The sounds reached the ears\nof Ramses, the Egyptian general, where he stood.\n\nAlong the city walls youths and old men peered anxiously southward,\nacross the level plain. Men, women and children stood with faces glued to\nthe openings which capped the city walls.\n\nThe eyes of the people of Kadesh were riveted upon the ebb and flow of\na gigantic conflict, which had raged throughout the day back and forth\nacross the broad reaches of the plain below.\n\nThe mighty hosts of the Hittites, led by Rimur of Charchemish in person,\nhad struggled since daybreak with the forces of Egypt.\n\nThe battle had opened auspiciously for the Hittites, though the ninth\nof Khoiak was a favorable day alike to Egyptian and Hittite. To the\nEgyptians it meant that the very gods would lend their aid in the\nconflict, for was not this the day in which the god Thoth gained his\nmemorable victory over Set!\n\nYet, so far, matters had gone badly for the Egyptians. The Division\nof Sutekh, led by old Noferhotep, had been surprised at the ford near\nShabtuna, and cut to pieces. Noferhotep himself had been drowned in the\nblood-red waters and his body had not been recovered.\n\nAlas, O Noferhotep, the harpers will not sing before thy silent form;\n\u201cthe feathered dancers\u201d will not join thy funeral dance!\n\nIt appeared that the spies sent out by the Egyptians had been deceived as\nto the numerical superiority of the Hittite host. An unknown force of the\nenemy had been enabled to steal up on Noferhotep\u2019s infantry as it crossed\nthe ford.\n\nA few wounded stragglers from this unequal action had managed to reach\nthe main Egyptian camp, where their distorted accounts of the recent\ndisaster well-nigh caused a panic. However, at this juncture the arrival\nof Yankhamu with a division of Ethiopian troops, had put new heart into\nthe Egyptian host.\n\nThus, then, it had been since daybreak. The tide of battle had leaned now\ntoward the Hittite, now toward Egypt.\n\nThe main affray had resolved itself into a frontal attack, which extended\nright across the plain to the very foothills.\n\nThe Egyptian chariots had endeavored to cut around the right flank of the\nenemy, hoping to drive them into a swamp which lay to the south-west.\n\nAcross the broad plains serried ranks of infantry pressed to the attack.\nThe reserves of both armies were now brought into action. Thus commenced\nthe final stage of the conflict, a last desperate onslaught which should,\nonce and for all, decide the fate of one of the two opposing armies.\n\nThe non-combatants high upon the battlemented walls of Kadesh broke into\nWild shouts of triumph, as the right wing of the Egyptian army was seen\nto bend, to break and, finally, to rush, in wildest disorder, towards a\nslight curve in the Orontes river eastward. A mass of the howling sons of\nKheta pressed hard upon its heels.\n\nThe people of the city could contain themselves no longer. For them\nthe battle was as good as won. The youths flew down to the great gates\nwhich opened as if by magic, and in another moment hot-footed youth,\nhalting old-age, women and little children could be seen spreading in a\nfan-shaped wave across the dusty expanse which separated the contending\nforces from the city walls.\n\nSuddenly, from behind a low ridge to the westward, there appeared a long\nline of two-horse chariots. In the center, easily recognized by his\nbright red leather doublet and gilded warbonnet, stood the young Egyptian\ngeneral, Ramses. A huge Ethiopian _katana_, leaning well out over the\nleather body of the chariot, urged on Ramses\u2019 horses by word of mouth and\nlash of whip. At the right of the chariot bounded a lean Nubian panther.\n\nThe onrushing chariots aligned themselves upon that of their young and\nimpetuous leader. With ever quickening pace the long line swept across\nthe well-nigh deserted right flank, turned, and hurled a devastating\navalanche of arrows into the wavering center of the enemy\u2019s line.\n\nWithout pausing an instant the gleaming line crashed into the very heart\nof the Hittite army. Thereafter Charchemish, Kadesh, Megiddo, On, Thebes\nand Napata, were mingled in an indescribable whirl of choking yellow\ndust, rearing and screaming horses, yelling and cursing men, and flashing\nweapons.\n\nThe right flank of the Egyptian army, which had feinted at retreat, now\nturned upon its pursuers. Many they hurled into the river; many they\nslew out of hand. The majority, panic-stricken, took to flight in the\ndirection of the city.\n\nScenting disaster, Rimur, King of Charchemish, fled headlong from the\nstricken field. The King of Kadesh hurled his wounded companion, Belur\nthe Hittite, from his chariot, and urged his tired horses toward the\nsouthern gate.\n\nSeeing their King take to flight, the forces of Kadesh broke. One and all\nfollowed their royal master as fast as chariot, horse or limbs could\ncarry them.\n\nIn a moment the fleeing soldiers had burst into the densely-massed body\ncomposed of their distracted wives, mothers, grandsires and wailing\nchildren. These likewise attempted now to turn and again to seek shelter\nwithin the city walls.\n\nThere ensued a state of indescribable confusion in which terror reigned\nsupreme. And this state of utter panic was not confined to those\nunfortunates upon the plain, but communicated itself to the few people\nwho still remained within the city. Fearing the fury of the Egyptian\nsoldiers, these now shut and barred the ponderous city gates.\n\nThere followed such a slaughter of the miserable sons of Kheta as had not\nbeen witnessed in the Orontes Valley since the day Great Thothmes had\nfirst taken Kadesh by assault.\n\nFifteen full days was Pahura the Scribe occupied in listing the spoils of\ngilded chariots, jeweled breast-plates, gold and silver temple-vessels,\nand the treasure of Belil, King of Kadesh.\n\nAs to Belil himself, his obese form was ignominiously pierced by an\narrow, as he dangled at the end of a rope half-way up the city walls.\n\nOnce the Ethiopian division had burst in the city gate, those who had\nattempted to save their King, and others who had been driven to the\nbattlements surrounding the palace, were hurled over its parapet and met\ntheir death either upon the flagging of the court or in the waters of the\nmoat which surround it.\n\nRimur, King of Charchemish, fled night and day by means of relays. Not\na night did he rest until he found himself once again behind the giant\nwalls of his capital.\n\nBelur, his brother, badly wounded on the field, was brought, a pale and\nsullen captive, to the chariot of the victorious Ramses. At the present\nplight of the once haughty ambassador to Egypt Ramses allowed the\nfaintest indication of a sneer to break the stony indifference of his\nglance.\n\nFollowing his commands the Prince of Kheta was led away that his wounds\nmight be attended to. Belur was reserved for a fate far worse than\ndeath. Indeed, death would come as a welcome relief to the indignities\nand tortures that would presently be meted out to him. He was destined\nto swing from the prow of Ramses\u2019 galley head down, where he would be\nlightly fed, yet, were it possible, not allowed to die, until Pharaoh\nhimself should despatch him.\n\nAccording to custom, a captive chief must be presented to the great god\nAmen of Thebes. Established precedent required that he be killed before\nthe temple portals of the god himself. Whether Aton would scorn such a\nblood-thirsty offering, Ramses did not pause to think.\n\nThe irruption of the victorious Egyptian army into Kadesh was followed\nby wholesale loot, division of the women among the soldiery, riotous\ndrunkenness, child-murder and the apportioning of the manhood of\nthe vanquished among the temples of Egypt. There followed the utter\nobliteration of the conquered city in a holocaust of fire.\n\nWithin twenty days from the time Pahura had commenced to list the first\ngolden ewer, the once famous city of Kadesh with its gilded towers and\nblue-glazed walls, its palace ablaze with lazuli, silver and ivory, and\nthe great temple to the Sun-god, a veritable treasure-house of richly\ncolored tiles and bricks, gold, turquoise, silver, ebony, Lebanus\ncedar and sweet-smelling woods from the Incense Country, lay a mass\nof smouldering ruins, encircled during the day by a veritable ring of\nvultures, throughout the night by droves of snarling and quarreling\nhyenas.\n\nBut, by this time, the victorious host of Egypt was well on its way\nup the straight highroad to the frontier, where it was hailed by the\nacclaiming vanguard of the overjoyed Egyptian populace.\n\nAt the first Egyptian city, Suan-of-the-North, it was rumored that the\naged Magician Enana, Ramses\u2019 grandsire, together with two unknown and\nmysterious personages, had been seen to enter Ramses\u2019 tent. Thereafter\nthey accompanied him.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXII\n\nTHE \u201cDOUBLE\u201d OF HANIT\n\n\nA feeling, closely akin to panic, had settled upon the Egyptian Court.\nIts members, of whom by far the greater number were, outwardly at least,\nfirm adherents of Aton, had now received a second violent shock to their\nalready perplexed minds.\n\nFollowing her safe return from one of her periodic visits to Pharaoh\u2019s\nnew capital to the north, Thi the Queen-Mother, had suddenly and most\nmysteriously vanished.\n\nThe Women\u2019s Quarter of the palace was in an uproar. Consternation and,\nwithal a nameless dread, was stamped upon the faces of courtier and\nservant alike. The remembrance of Menna\u2019s unaccountable, and still\nunsolved disappearance, was still fresh in their minds.\n\nUpon the evening in which the Queen-Mother had so suddenly vanished, the\nPrincess Bekit-aton had left her side for a few moments in order to warm,\nwith her own hands, a cup of old Thinite wine. When the little Princess\nreturned it was to find the Queen-Mother gone.\n\nShe chanced to look out of the window and was astonished to see Queen\nThi, in company with another lady of the court, the Lady Renenet she\nthought, about to round the bend of the road which led to the Temple of\nSekhmet. It was the first time in her experience that the Queen-Mother\nhad gone out so little attended.\n\nBekit-aton returned to the harem. She did not suspect that anything\nwas amiss until darkness descended upon the palace. Then and not\nuntil then, according to the rigid court etiquette, she again entered\nthe Queen-Mother\u2019s room\u2014upon this occasion accompanied by the other\nladies-in-waiting\u2014in order to assist the Queen-Mother to the Banquet\nHall. Among the ladies she was surprised to see the Lady Renenet. Upon\ninquiry she found that Renenet had not left the Women\u2019s Quarters that\nday. And it was the same with respect to the other ladies. Not one had\nleft the Palace walls during the entire day.\n\nYet, one lady asserted that she had seen Queen Thi enter the palace\nwithin the hour. Somewhat relieved by this, the Princess Bekit-aton\nsought the Queen-Mother in each and every room of the Women\u2019s Quarter.\nYet this search, similarly, proved unsuccessful.\n\nOnce again she entered the Queen\u2019s robing-room. She found no sign of\ndisorder. Queen Thi had apparently left of her own free will. The\nmystified little Princess called to her assistance Queen Noferit and\nother ladies of the harem.\n\nAgain the rooms were searched. Led by the Princess the searchers\ndescended into the gardens. They entered the quarters of the cooks and\nbutlers. They explored the dark shadows of the various columned courts\nand the murkier gloom of the side aisles, together with their innumerable\nstorerooms.\n\nFinally, when panic seized upon them, they called to their assistance\nthe Steward of the Palace. At the news Soken\u2019s changed expression did\nlittle to allay their fears. With a gesture he swept them all back in the\ndirection of the harem.\n\nIn turn the Palace Steward and the other eunuchs once again carefully\nsearched palace, court, garden and lakeside. Darkness descended upon a\nhouse filled with grief and consternation on the part of the women, and\ndeadly fear on the part of Soken and the other eunuchs of the palace.\n\nThe fate of Prince Menna, Pharaoh\u2019s Overseer, was still upon the lips of\npalace-servant, priest and peasant alike. Menna\u2019s enemies were many. It\nmight well be that someone whom Menna had misused or wronged had at last\nstruck back and that successfully.\n\nBut the sudden disappearance of the Queen-Mother from the midst of\nher ladies, from a mighty building guarded within and without, caused\na thrill of horror and a nameless fear to run through palace and\ncountryside alike. It was inexplicable.\n\nThe Temple of Sekhmet, the lake, the palace and the palace-gardens, were\nsearched and researched again and again. Not a spot was overlooked. When\nat last it became necessary to send the evil tidings to the new capital,\nthe City of the Sun, Pharaoh himself came hurriedly back to Thebes.\n\nAs, day after day, the searching parties returned empty-handed, Pharaoh\nlost patience. Hundreds were slain. Soken and many of the palace eunuchs\nmet their death at the strangler\u2019s hands. Men soon went to the task of\nsearching for the lost Queen as criminals already condemned to death.\n\nFor a full week the search was renewed. Fresh men were called up for the\ntask. Finally, the soldiers of the Divisions of Khonsu, Ptah and Sutekh\nwere pressed into service. All in vain.\n\nOne remarkable circumstance was discovered, following the disappearance\nof the Queen-Mother, and that by the Princess Bekit-aton. The portrait\nof the Ex-Queen Hanit, which had been painted on a column in the Audience\nHall of the late Pharaoh, had been carefully and completely obliterated.\nThis had been done just prior to or immediately following the\nQueen-Mother\u2019s disappearance. Nothing remained, where once the portrait\nstood, but six words written in red in roughly drawn hieratic: \u201cBy the\nPower of the Book of Thoth.\u201d\n\nNo one could explain this desecration of the former Queen\u2019s portrait.\nMention of the magic Book of Thoth struck terror into every heart, not\nexcepting that of Pharaoh himself.\n\nThenceforth Pharaoh\u2019s fanatical zeal in the interest of Aton, his Syrian\nsun-cult, slowly waned and finally ceased. The innumerable gifts to\nthe many new Aton shrines throughout Egypt\u2014one had been set up against\nthe very walls of the Temple of Amen in the Apt\u2014the gorgeous religious\nprocessions, the ceaseless theological studies and debates, all were\nsuddenly abandoned.\n\nWith the change Pharaoh himself seemed to fade. Little nourishment passed\nhis lips. Within the dim shadows of his private chapel, hour after hour\nthe hollow-eyed monarch stood in prayer before the gold and gem-encrusted\nstatue of Aton, the sun-god. At times the statue appeared to his\ndistracted mind to mock him with a smile half-pitying, half-contemptuous!\n\nVerily, the curse of Huy, High Priest of Amen was upon him! Noferith, his\nwife, had borne him no heir, no son to follow him upon the gold Horus\nThrone of Egypt! The scepter must go to others, to that hollow cousin of\nhis, whom Thi had been wont to call _the mirage_.\n\nAs for old Ay, another distant relative and possible claimant to the\nThrone, Pharaoh suspected that Ay was even now in secret correspondence\nwith the exiled priests of Amen, whose influence was again making itself\nfelt, not alone in Thebes, but as far north as the new capital, the City\nof the Sun itself.\n\nTo whom then could he turn? Among the courtiers about him there was not\none in whom he could trust. Not one could help him. Alas, too late, he\nbethought him of the exiled Ramses!\n\nIn the midst of a rising on the part of his famine-stricken people in the\nsouth, an insurrection started by the exiled priests of Amen, Pharaoh\ntook to his ivory couch.\n\nThereafter few saw him. He held no more audiences. Dedu, Keeper of the\nRobes, alone attended him. Even Pentu, his physician, was dismissed\nand shortly after strangled, together with Mei, Chief of the Military\nForces in the new capital. Mei and Pentu had both been found in secret\ncorrespondence with the priests of Amen in distant Nubia.\n\nDedu, Keeper of the Robes, entered his royal master\u2019s apartment late one\nmorning to find him sitting bolt upright, his prominent eyes fixed in a\nhorrified stare upon the curtain which screened the door. A single word\nfell from Pharaoh\u2019s trembling lips as he sank back fainting in Dedu\u2019s\noutstretched arms. That single word the wondering Dedu swore was ...\n_Hanit!_\n\nThereafter, Pharaoh in terror bade his guards drive all visitors,\npetitioners and beggars from the palace gates. Pharaoh shut himself up\nwithin its brightly painted courts and allowed things without to take\ntheir course.\n\nThe silver-embossed doors remained fast closed. No watchman paced the\nbattlemented walls and pylons. No plumed Syrian horses pawed the flagging\nbefore the outer gates. The gay bannerettes no longer rose upon the\ngold-tipped poles fronting the main entrance to the palace forecourt.\nHushed were the voices of the guards and other palace servants. Even\nthe birds which flitted back and forth among the trees seemed to have\nforgotten their cheerful songs.\n\nFinally, one memorable evening, when the dying Pharaoh lay propped up\nhigh upon his couch, he beckoned to Prince Antef, Lord of Thebes, who\nstood in the center of the awe-struck group before him.\n\nDropping the hairless lids of a pair of vulture-like eyes, eyes filled at\nthe moment with a joy which the Prince tried in vain to conceal, Antef\nfell upon his knees beside the dying Pharaoh\u2019s couch. He already felt the\ngold diadem of kings about his wig, the royal asps about his forehead.\n\nSilence descended upon the little room. Silence seemed to fall upon\nthe entire building, both within and without. The wails of the women\nceased, the chanting of the priests and the sobs and cries of the palace\nservants, all abruptly stopped.\n\nSo long continued was the sudden hush that the expectant Antef slowly\nraised his head.\n\nAs his questioning eyes met those of his royal master, Antef there beheld\nsuch a look of terror, a look reflected he saw upon the faces of the\nnobles behind the dying monarch, that the astounded Theban himself felt\nsomewhat of the chill that seemed to have changed his master and his\nfriends to stone.\n\nHe caught the whispered sound of a once familiar name. It seemed to be on\neveryone\u2019s lips: Hanit! Hanit! Hanit!\n\nAntef turned himself about. At once that same nameless terror held him\nalso in its grip.\n\nIn the doorway stood Queen Hanit, Hanit upon whose mummified form he\nhimself had placed a wreath of flowers! Antef stumbled to his feet and\nthere remained, his eyes fixed upon this apparition of the Ex-Queen, as\nif he likewise had been turned to stone.\n\nA richly plaited robe covered Queen Hanit\u2019s form. About her head was set\nthe vulture diadem, that circlet of gold which queens of the royal blood\nalone may wear. Her throat was hidden by a necklace of bright blue beads.\nUpon one finger she wore a blue glazed ring, a ring such as is worn by\nthe dead alone! Before her she held a Book which seemed to glow, as if by\nsome preternatural light.\n\nBy now Antef and the horrified nobles had backed to the furthest corner\nof the room, whence they continued to gaze at this apparition of the\nformer Queen, believing it to be in very fact the visible \u201cdouble\u201d of\nThi\u2019s murdered rival.\n\nHanit\u2019s black eyes glittered like those of some poisonous snake. She\nfixed them threateningly upon the shrunken features of the terrified\nmonarch:\n\n\u201cDost know me, son of Thi?\u201d\n\nThe trembling monarch tried in vain to speak.\n\n\u201cDost know me, Syrian?\u201d\n\nAgain Pharaoh essayed to find his nerveless tongue. At last, in a hoarse\nand breathless whisper, he managed to articulate the one word ... Hanit!\n\nAgain the soft and unearthly voice of Hanit thrilled their ears:\n\n\u201cSon of Thi, thou that art about to wander forth upon the steep and stony\nhills of Duat, hearken unto the utterance of Amen, king of gods! By the\npower of this Magic Book, thy Hidden Names are revealed to me! Known to\nme are the Mystic Names of the Genii that protect thee! By the Power of\nthe Book, thy _ka_ hath been destroyed! Thy soul is destroyed!\n\n\u201cAwake, awake! Pass not forth until I have shown thee a marvel, saith\nAmen, king of gods! Stand forth, Son of Amen! Receive the Scepter of\nAmen which is thine!\u201d\n\nWith this the apparition slowly moved back, and there before them,\narrayed in the full regalia of kings, the curved sword of Amen clasped in\nhis hand, stood Ramses, the conqueror of Rimur and the Hittites.\n\nThe seeming \u201cdouble\u201d of the dead Queen raised the Luminous Book high\nabove her head:\n\n\u201cHearken, Egyptians! Hearken to the words of Amen, king of gods! With\nthis sword divine hath Ramses, my son, hurled back the Hittites from your\nborders! With this sword divine hath he won a glorious victory! Rimur\ngrovels in the dust before him; Belur awaits his bitter doom! Of a truth\nis this my son, born of my will, essence of my essence, saith Amen, king\nof gods! Salute your king! Salute him, Electrum of Kings, Essence of a\nGod!\u201d\n\nShe ceased, and vanished as abruptly as she had appeared. In her place\nstood a figure arrayed in the regalia of the great god Amen. In his hand\nhe held the Double Crown of Egypt.\n\nAs if overcome at this manifestation of the power of the great God Amen,\nMei-amen, new leader of the Prophets of Amen, slowly and reverently\nadvanced and, falling at Ramses\u2019 knees, kissed the hem of his garment. As\nhe rose, few noted the look that passed between them.\n\nThereafter, the dead Pharaoh was forgotten. Indeed, as the cries of\nthe palace-women broke out once more, the assembled nobles burst into\na shout, new to those resplendent walls, a shout which brought the\nterrified servants to the door:\n\n\u201cHail to thee, Ramses, chosen of Amen! Life, Satisfaction and Health to\nPharaoh, our lord, forever and ever!\u201d\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n\u201cLet me see, how do the Egyptians express it? O, I remember! Now of the\ncoming to the throne of Ramses, of his marriage to the Princess Sesen, of\nthe cutting out of the hated name of Aton from temple, tomb and dwelling,\nis it not written in letters of red and black upon a leather scroll and\nstored within the Temple of Amen in the Apt unto this day!\n\n\u201cYou know this to be true, Clem! But do you know that Seneb, the mason,\nwas sent to cut out all mention of Menna upon the walls of his tomb!\nMenna, son of Menna, never reached the Blessed fields of Aaru, of that\nyou may be sure.\n\n\u201cYes, I know what your next question will be! The Luminous Book!\n\n\u201cListen! What I am going to tell you is interesting and true. I can vouch\nfor the story, as I had it from the lips of Enana himself.\n\n\u201cEnana placed the Magic Book in a cauldron of boiling water drawn from\nthe Sacred Lake by a virgin of the Temple of the Mother-goddess. Thus the\nmystic powers with which the Book had been imbued became incorporated in\nthe holy water.\n\n\u201cA draught of this enchanted water Queen Hanit drank and, drinking,\ndied. The remainder, according to her wish, was sprinkled over her body,\nimmediately following the placing of her mummy in the tomb.\n\n\u201cThereafter Enana \u2018said that which he said,\u2019 Enana \u2018intoned that which he\nintoned,\u2019 and the immutable curse of the Conjurers of Amen was repeated\nbefore the door of her tomb:\n\n\u201c\u2018Behold! As Ra, the Sun-god, liveth! Whosoever seeketh to desecrate this\ntomb dieth! Whosoever toucheth this body to remove it dieth! On earth\ndeath is his portion! In the underworld annihilation is his destiny! In\nthe Hidden Name of Amen, king of gods, this curse remaineth, yea, so long\nas Ra, the Sun-god, endureth!\u2019\n\n\u201cYou see, Clem! It is not to be wondered at that those men died so\nsuddenly, or that the curator, who likewise handled mummy No. 49, himself\nsuccumbed. It proves, without the shadow of a doubt, that the curse of\nthe Conjurers of Amen _did_ endure. Sesen can tell you....\u201d\n\n\u201cSteven, please lie down and stop talking. Don\u2019t worry about things. Try\nto compose yourself.\u201d\n\nAs I sank dutifully back upon the pillows, I was aware of a soft and\ndeliciously cool hand which gently pressed my throbbing head. A smiling\nface bent over me.\n\nMy bewildered eyes wandered from a trim little white cap to a spotless\nwhite dress and shoes, White canvas shoes!\n\n\u201cWhere are her pretty gilded sandals?\u201d thought I.\n\nI tried to speak to her. I even made an effort to catch the soothing hand\nat my forehead.\n\nAt this the white figure vanished, and in its place, stood Braintree, the\nSeaforth\u2019s doctor.\n\n\u201cGreat Scott, I have it. I am in the hospital! That was Susan....\u201d\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s just where you are, Steven. And I must ask you not to excite\nyourself about it. Here you are and here you have been for some time.\nTribe, Dunn and I have slaved over you and won out, at last.\n\n\u201cBut who, may I ask, is Menna! No friend of yours, I\u2019d swear! Susan is\nequally interested in some lady friend of your acquaintance, Sesen I\nthink her name was! Well, never mind that now. Turn over and rest.\u201d\n\nThen it was a dream; the vision of a fevered brain! Enana, Hanit, Sesen,\nMenna, and Renny\u2014could I have been Renny\u2014all were dreams! Hanit! Why such\na person never existed. And Ramses! As yet he wasn\u2019t born!\n\nI tried to smile at the busy little figure in white. I recognized her\nnow. It was Susan Braintree, my Susan!\n\nI caught myself repeatedly murmuring: \u201cSusan the Lily, Sesen the Lotus,\none and the same name, one and the same person perhaps. Ah, my Beautiful\nPrincess! I can smell the sweet unguents which Bhanar has sprinkled upon\nyour dainty Wig, the myrrh upon your supple hands...!\u201d\n\nSusan presses a little phial to my nostrils. A few short breaths and\u2014I\nsleep.","title":"Hanit the Enchantress","tradition":"myth-cosmogony","translated_text":null,"word_count":46438}