The Pharaoh and the Priest. Bolesław Prus

to the throne had gone mad. His lips were contorted, his eyes were starting out of their sockets. He drew his sword, rushed to the Greeks, and cried,

      "Follow me against those who bar the road to us."

      "O heir, live forever!" cried Patrokles, who drew his sword also. "Forward, descendants of Achilles!" said he, turning to his men. "We will teach those Egyptian cowkeepers not to stop us!"

      Trumpets sounded the attack. Four short but erect Greek columns rushed forward, a cloud of dust rose, and a shout in honor of Ramses.

      After a couple of minutes the Greeks found themselves in the presence of the Egyptian regiments, and hesitated.

      "Forward!" cried the heir, rushing on, sword in hand.

      The Greeks lowered their spears. On the opposing side there was a movement, a murmur flew along the ranks, and spears also were lowered.

      "Who are ye, madmen?" asked a mighty voice.

      "The heir to the throne!" shouted Patrokles.

      A moment of silence.

      "Open ranks!" commanded the same voice, mighty as before.

      The regiments of the eastern army opened slowly, like heavy folding- doors, and the Greek division passed between them.

      Then a gray-haired warrior in golden helmet and armor approached Prince

       Ramses and said with a low obeisance,

      "Erpatr, [Heir] Thou hast conquered. Only a great warrior could free himself from difficulty in that way."

      "Thou art Nitager, the bravest of the brave!" cried the prince.

      At that moment Herhor approached. He had heard the conversation, and said abruptly,

      "Had there been on your side such an awkward leader as the erpatr, how could we have finished the maneuvers?"

      "Let the young warrior alone!" answered Nitager. "Is it not enough for thee that he has shown the iron claws, as was proper for a son of the pharaoh?"

      Tutmosis, noting the turn which the conversation had taken, asked

       Nitager,

      "Whence hast Thou come, that thy main forces are in front of our army?"

      "I knew how incompetently the division was marching from Memphis, when the heir was concentrating his regiments near Pi-Bailos, and for sport I wished to capture you young lords. To my misfortune the heir was here and spoiled my plans. Act that way always, Ramses, of course in presence of real enemies."

      "But if, as today, he meets a force three times superior?" inquired

       Herhor.

      "Daring keenness means more than strength," replied the old leader. "An elephant is fifty times stronger than a man; still he yields to him, or dies at his hands."

      Herhor listened in silence.

      The maneuvers were declared finished. Prince Ramses with the minister and commanders went to the army near Pi-Bailos. There he greeted Nitager's veterans, took farewell of his own regiments, commanded them to march eastward, and wished success to them.

      Then, surrounded by a great suite, he returned by the highway to Memphis amid crowds from the land of Goshen, who with green garlands and in holiday robes congratulated the conqueror.

      When the highway turned toward the desert, the crowd became thinner, and when they approached the place where the staff of the heir had entered the ravine because of the scarabs, there was no one.

      Ramses nodded to Tutmosis, and pointing to the naked hill, whispered,

      "Thou wilt go to Sarah."

      "I understand."

      "Tell her father that I will give him land outside Memphis."

      "I understand. Thou wilt have her to-morrow."

      After this conversation Tutmosis withdrew to the troops marching behind the suite, and vanished.

      Almost opposite the ravine along which the army had passed in the morning, some tens of steps from the road, stood a tamarind-tree which, though old, was not large. At this point a halt was mad by the guard which had preceded the suite.

      "Shall we meet scarabs again?" asked Ramses, with a laugh.

      "We shall see," answered Herhor.

      They looked; on the slender tree a naked man was hanging.

      "What does this mean?" asked the heir, with emotion.

      Adjutants ran to the tree, and saw that the hanging man was that old slave whose canal they had closed in the morning.

      "He did right to hang himself!" cried Eunana among the officers. "Could ye believe it, that wretch dared to seize the feet of his holiness the minister!"

      On hearing this, Ramses reined in his horse, dismounted, and walked up to the ominous tree.

      The slave was hanging with his head stretched forward; his mouth was opened widely, his hands turned toward the spectators, and terror was in his eyes. He looked like a man who had wished to say something, but whose voice had failed him.

      "The unfortunate!" sighed Ramses, with compassion.

      On returning to the retinue he gave command to relate to him the history of the man, and then he rode a long time in silence.

      Before his eyes was the picture of the suicide, and in his heart was the feeling that a great wrong had been done, such a wrong that even he, the son and the heir of the pharaoh, might halt in face of it.

      The heat was unendurable, the dust dried up the water and pierced the eyes of man and beast. The division was detained for a short rest, and meanwhile Nitager finished his conversation with the minister.

      "My officers," said the old commander, "never look under their feet, but always straight forward."

      "That is the reason, perhaps, why no enemy has ever surprised me."

      "Your worthiness reminds me, by these words, that I am to pay certain debts," remarked Herhor; and he commanded the officers and soldiers who were near by to assemble.

      "And now," said the minister, "summon for me Eunana."

      The officer covered with amulets was found as quickly as if he had been waiting for this summons a long time. On his countenance was depicted delight, which he restrained through humility, but with effort.

      Herhor, seeing Eunana before him, began,

      "By the will of his holiness, supreme command of the army comes into my hands again with the ending of the maneuvers."

      Those present bowed their heads.

      "It is my duty to use this power first of all in meting out justice."

      The officers looked at one another.

      "Eunana," said the minister, "I know that Thou hast always been one of the most diligent officers."

      "Truth speaks through thy lips, worthy lord," replied Eunana. "As a palm waits for dew, so do I for the commands of superiors. And when I do not receive them, I am like an orphan in the desert when looking for a pathway."

      Nitager's scar-covered officers listened with astonishment to the ready speech of Eunana, and thought, "He will be raised above others!"

      "Eunana," said the minister, "Thou art not only diligent, but pious; not only pious, but watchful as an ibis over water. The gods have poured out on thee every virtue: they have given thee serpent cunning, with the eye of a falcon."

      "Pure truth flows from thy lips, worthiness," added Eunana. "Were it not for my wonderful sight, I should not have seen the two scarabs."

      "Yes, and Thou wouldst not have saved our camp from sacrilege. For this deed, worthy of the most pious Egyptian, I give