and pious man on the throne of the earthly vicar of Ra.  He listened to
our counsel, he gave us our due, and led back to our fields our serfs
that had been sent to the war; he overthrew the altars of the strange
gods, and drove the unclean stranger out from this holy land."

"The Regent Ani!"  exclaimed Septah.

An eager movement stirred the assembly, but Ameni went on:

"Perhaps it was not unlike him, but he certainly was the One; he had the
features of the true and legitimate descendants of Ra, to whom Rui was
faithful, in whose breast the heart of the sacred ram found a refuge.
To-morrow this pledge of the divine grace shall be shown to the people,
and another mercy will also be announced to them.  Hear and praise the
dispensations of the Most High!  An hour ago I received the news that a
new Apis, with all the sacred marks upon him, has been found in the herds
of Ani at Hermonthis."

Fresh excitement was shown by the listening conclave.  Ameni let their
astonishment express itself freely, but at last he exclaimed:

"And now to settle the last question.  The priest Pentaur, who is now
present, has been appointed speaker at the festival to-morrow.  He has
erred greatly, yet I think we need not judge him till after the holy day,
and, in consideration of his former innocence, need not deprive him of
the honorable office.  Do you share my wishes?  Is there no dissentient
voice?  Then come forward, you, the youngest of us all, who are so highly
trusted by this holy assembly."

Pentaur rose and placed himself opposite to Ameni, in order to give,
as he was required to do, a broad outline of the speech he proposed
to deliver next day to the nobles and the people.

The whole assembly, even his opponents, listened to him with approbation.
Ameni, too, praised him, but added:

"I miss only one thing on which you must dwell at greater length, and
treat with warmer feeling--I mean the miracle which has stirred our souls
to-day.  We must show that the Gods brought the sacred heart--"

"Allow me," said Pentaur, interrupting the high-priest, and looking
earnestly into those eyes which long since he had sung of--"Allow me to
entreat you not to select me to declare this new marvel to the people."

Astonishment was stamped on the face of every member of the assembly.
Each looked at his neighbor, then at Pentaur, and at last enquiringly at
Ameni.  The superior knew Pentaur, and saw that no mere whimsical fancy,
but some serious motive had given rise to this refusal.  Horror, almost
aversion, had rung in his tone as he said the words 'new marvel.'
He doubted the genuineness of this divine manifestation!

Ameni gazed long and enquiringly into Pentaur's eyes, and then said: "You
are right, my friend.  Before judgment has been passed on you, before you
are reinstated in your old position, your lips are not worthy to announce
this divine wonder to the multitude.  Look into your own soul, and teach
the devout a horror of sin, and show them the way, which you must now
tread, of purification of the heart.  I myself will announce the
miracle."

The white-robed audience hailed this decision of their master with
satisfaction.  Ameni enjoined this thing on one, on another, that;
and on all, perfect silence as to the dream which he had related to them,
and then he dissolved the meeting.  He begged only Gagabu and Pentaur to
remain.

As soon as they were alone Ameni asked the poet "Why did you refuse to
announce to the people the miracle, which has filled all the priests of
the Necropolis with joy?"

"Because thou hast taught me," replied Pentaur, "that truth is the
highest aim we can have, and that there is nothing higher."

"I tell you so again now," said Ameni.  "And as you recognize this
doctrine, I ask you, in the name of the fair daughter of Ra.  Do you
doubt the genuineness of the miracle that took place under our very
eyes?"

"I doubt it," replied Pentaur.

"Remain on the high stand-point of veracity," continued Ameni, "and tell
us further, that we may learn, what are the scruples that shake thy
faith?"

"I know," replied the poet with a dark expression, "that the heart which
the crowd will approach and bow to, before which even the Initiated
prostrate themselves as if it had been the incarnation of Ra, was torn
from the bleeding carcass of a common sheep, and smuggled into the
kanopus which contained the entrails of Rui."

Ameni drew back a step, and Gagabu cried out "Who says so?  Who can prove
it?  As I grow older I hear more and more frightful things!"

"I know it," said Pentaur decidedly.  "But I can, not reveal the name of
him from whom I learned it."

"Then we may believe that you are mistaken, and that some impostor is
fooling you.  We will enquire who has devised such a trick, and he shall
be punished!  To scorn the voice of the Divinity is a sin, and he who
lends his ear to a lie is far from the truth.  Sacred and thrice sacred
is the heart, blind fool, that I purpose to-morrow to show to the people,
and before which you yourself--if not with good will, then by compulsion
--shall fall, prostrate in the dust.

"Go now, and reflect on the words with which you will stir the souls of
the people to-morrow morning; but know one thing--Truth has many forms,
and her aspects are as manifold as those of the Godhead.  As the sun does
not travel over a level plain or by a straight path--as the stars follow
a circuitous course, which we compare with the windings of the snake
Mehen,--so the elect, who look out over time and space, and on whom the
conduct of human life devolves, are not only permitted, but commanded, to
follow indirect ways in order to reach the highest aims, ways that you do
not understand, and which you may fancy deviate widely from the path of
truth.  You look only at to-day, we look forward to the morrow, and what
we announce as truth you must needs believe.  And mark my words: A lie
stains the soul, but doubt eats into it."

Ameni had spoken with strong excitement; when Pentaur had left the room,
and he was alone with Gagabu, he exclaimed:

"What things are these?  Who is ruining the innocent child-like spirit of
this highly favored youth?"

"He is ruining it himself," replied Gagabu.  "He is putting aside the old
law, for he feels a new one growing up in his own breast."

"But the laws," exclaimed Ameni, "grow and spread like shadowy woods;
they are made by no one.  I loved the poet, yet I must restrain him, else
he will break down all barriers, like the Nile when it swells too high.
And what he says of the miracle--"

"Did you devise it?"

"By the Holy One--no!"  cried Ameni.

And yet Pentaur is sincere, and inclined to faith," said the old man
doubtfully.

"I know it," returned Ameni.  "It happened as he said.  But who did it,
and who told him of the shameful deed?"

Both the priests stood thoughtfully gazing at the floor.

Ameni first broke the silence.

"Pentaur came in with Nebsecht," he exclaimed, "and they are intimate
friends.  Where was the leech while I was staying in Thebes?"

"He was taking care of the child hurt by Bent-Anat--the child of the
paraschites Pinem, and he stayed there three days," replied Gagabu.

"And it was Pinem," said Ameni, "that opened the body of Rui!  Now I
know who has dimmed Pentaur's faith.  It was that inquisitive stutterer,
and he shall be made to repent of it.  For the present let us think of
to-morrow's feast, but the day after I will examine that nice couple, and
will act with iron severity."

"First let us examine the naturalist in private," said Gagabu.  "He is an
ornament to the temple, for he has investigated many matters, and his
dexterity is wonderful."

"All that may be considered Ameni said, interrupting the old enough to
think of at present."

"And even more to consider later," retorted Gagabu.  "We have entered on
a dangerous path.  You know very well I am still hot-headed, though I am
old in years, and alas! timidity was never my weakness; but Rameses is a
powerful man, and duty compels me to ask you: Is it mere hatred for the
king that has led you to take these hasty and imprudent steps?"

"I have no hatred for Rameses," answered Ameni gravely.  "If he did not
wear the crown I could love him; I know him too, as well as if I were his
brother, and value all that is great in him; nay I will admit that he is
disfigured by no littleness.  If I did not know how strong the enemy is,
we might try to overthrow him with smaller means.  You know as well as
I do that he is our enemy.  Not yours, nor mine, nor the enemy of the
Gods; but the enemy of the old and reverend ordinances by which this
people and this country must be governed, and above all of those who are
required to protect the wisdom of the fathers, and to point out the right
way to the sovereign--I mean the priesthood, whom it is my duty to lead,
and for whose rights I will fight with every weapon of the spirit.
In this contest, as you know, all that otherwise would be falsehood,
treachery, and cunning, puts on the bright aspect of light and truth.
As the physician needs the knife and fire to heal the sick, we must do
fearful things to save the community when it is in danger.  Now you will
see me fight with every weapon, for if we remain idle, we shall soon
cease to be the leaders of the state, and become the slaves of the king."

Gagabu nodded assent, but Ameni went on with increasing warmth, and in
that rhythmical accent in which, when he came out of the holy of holies,
he was accustomed to declare the will of the Divinity, "You were my
teacher, and I value you, and so you now shall be told everything that
stirred my soul, and made me first resolve upon this fearful struggle.  I
was, as you know, brought up in this temple with Rameses--and it was very
wise of Seti to let his son grow up here with other boys.  At work and at
play the heir to the throne and I won every prize.  He was quite my
superior in swift apprehension--in keen perception--but I had greater
caution, and deeper purpose.  Often he laughed at my laborious efforts,
but his brilliant powers appeared to me a vain delusion.  I became one of
the initiated, he ruled the state in partnership with his father, and,
when Seti died, by himself.  We both grew older, but the foundation of
our characters remained the same.  He rushed to splendid victories,
overthrew nations, and raised the glory of the Egyptian name to a giddy
height, though stained with the blood of his people; I passed my life in
industry and labor, in teaching the young, and in guarding the laws which
regulate the intercourse of men and bind the people to the Divinity.  I
compared the present with the past: What were the priests?  How had they
come to be what they are?  What would Egypt be without them?  There is
not an art, not a science, not a faculty that is not thought out,
constructed, and practised by us.  We crown the kings, we named the Gods,
and taught the people to honor them as divine--for the crowd needs a hand
to lead it, and under which it shall tremble as under the mighty hand of
Fate.  We are the willing ministers of the divine representative of Ra on
the throne, so long as he rules in accordance with our institutions--as
the One God reigns, subject to eternal laws.  He used to choose his
counsellors from among us; we told him what would benefit the country, he
heard us willingly, and executed our plans.  The old kings were the
hands, but we, the priests, were the head.  And now, my father, what
has become of us?  We are made use of to keep the people in the faith,
for if they cease to honor the Gods how will they submit to kings?  Seti
ventured much, his son risks still more, and therefore both have required
much succor from the Immortals.  Rameses is pious, he sacrifices
frequently, and loves prayer: we are necessary to him, to waft incense,
to slaughter hecatombs, to offer prayers, and to interpret dreams--but we
are no longer his advisers.  My father, now in Osiris, a worthier high-
priest than I, was charged by the Prophets to entreat his father to give
up the guilty project of connecting the north sea by a navigable channel
with the unclean waters of the Red Sea.

[The harbors of the Red Sea were in the hands of the Phoenicians,
who sailed from thence southwards to enrich themselves with the
produce of Arabia and Ophir.  Pharaoh Necho also projected a Suez
canal, but does not appear to have carried it out, as the oracle
declared that the utility of the undertaking would be greatest to
foreigners.]

"Such things can only benefit the Asiatics.  But Seti would not listen to
our counsel.  We desired to preserve the old division of the land, but
Rameses introduced the new to the disadvantage of the priests; we warned
him against fresh wars, and the king again and again has taken the field;
we had the ancient sacred documents which exempted our peasantry from
military service, and, as you know, he outrageously defies them.  From
the most ancient times no one has been permitted to raise temples in this
land to strange Gods, and Rameses favors the son of the stranger, and,
not only in the north country, but in the reverend city of Memphis and
here in Thebes, he has raised altars and magnificent sanctuaries, in the
strangers' quarter, to the sanguinary  false Gods of the East."

[Human sacrifices, which had been introduced into Egypt by the
Phoenicians, were very early abolished.]

"You speak like a Seer," cried old Gagabu, "and what you say is perfectly
true.  We are still called priests, but alas! our counsel is little
asked.  'You have to prepare men for a happy lot in the other world,'
Rameses once said; 'I alone can guide their destinies in this.'"

"He did say so," answered Ameni, "and if he had said no more than that he
would have been doomed.  He and his house are the enemies of our rights
and of our noble country.  Need I tell you from whom the race of the
Pharaoh is descended?  Formerly the hosts who came from the east, and
fell on our land like swarms of locusts, robbing and destroying it, were
spoken of as 'a curse' and a 'pest.'  Rameses' father was of that race.
When Ani's ancestors expelled the Hyksos, the bold chief, whose children
now govern Egypt, obtained the favor of being allowed to remain on the
banks of the Nile; they served in the armies, they distinguished
themselves, and, at last, the first Rameses succeeded in gaining the
troops over to himself, and in pushing the old race of the legitimate
sons of Ra, weakened as they were by heresy, from the throne.  I must
confess, however unwillingly, that some priests of the true faith--among
them your grandfather, and mine--supported the daring usurper who clung
faithfully to the old traditions.  Not less than a hundred generations of
my ancestors, and of yours, and of many other priestly families, have
lived and died here by the banks of the Nile--of Rameses race we have
seen ten, and only know of them that they descend from strangers, from
the caste of Amu!  He is like all the Semitic race; they love to wander,
they call us ploughmen,--[The word Fellah (pl. Fellahin) means ploughman]
--and laugh to scorn the sober regularity with which we, tilling the dark
soil, live through our lives to a tardy death, in honest labor both of
mind and body.  They sweep round on foraying excursions, ride the salt
waves in ships, and know no loved and fixed home; they settle down
wherever they are tempted by rapine, and when there is nothing more to be
got they build a house in another spot.  Such was Seti, such is Rameses!
For a year he will stop in Thebes, then he must set out for wars in
strange lands.  He does not know how to yield piously, or to take advice
of wise counsellors, and he will not learn.  And such as the father is,
so are the children!  Think of the criminal behavior of Bent-Anat!"

"I said the kings liked foreigners.  Have you duly considered the
importance of that to us?  We strive for high and noble aims, and have
wrenched off the shackles of the flesh in order to guard our souls.  The
poorest man lives secure under the shelter of the law, and through us
participates in the gifts of the spirit; to the rich are offered the
priceless treasures of art and learning.  Now look abroad: east and west
wandering tribes roam over the desert with wretched tents; in the south a
debased populace prays to feathers, and to abject idols, who are beaten
if the worshipper is not satisfied.  In the north certainly there are
well regulated states, but the best part of the arts and sciences which
they possess they owe to us, and their altars still reek with the
loathsome sacrifice of human blood.  Only backsliding from the right is
possible under the stranger, and therefore it is prudent to withdraw from
him; therefore he is hateful to our Gods.  And Rameses, the king,
is a stranger, by blood and by nature, in his affections, and in his
appearance; his thoughts are always abroad--this country is too small for
him--and he will never perceive what is really best for him, clear as his
intellect is.  He will listen to no guidance, he does mischief to Egypt,
and therefore I say: Down with him from the throne!"

"Down with him!"--Gagabu eagerly echoed the words.  Ameni gave the old
man his hand, which trembled with excitement, and went on more calmly.

"The Regent Ani is a legitimate child of the soil, by his father and
mother both.  I know him well, and I am sure that though he is cunning
indeed, he is full of true veneration, and will righteously establish us
in the rights which we have inherited.  The choice is easy: I have
chosen, and I always carry through what I have once begun!  Now you know
all, and you will second me."

"With body and soul!"  cried Gagabu.

"Strengthen the hearts of the brethren,"  said Ameni, preparing to go.
"The initiated may all guess what is going on, but it must never be
spoken of."




CHAPTER XXVII.

The sun was up on the twenty-ninth morning of the second month of the
over-flow of the Nile,

[The 29th Phaophi.  The Egyptians divided the year into three
seasons of four months each.  Flood-time, seed-time and Harvest.
(Scha, per and schemu.)  The 29th Phaophi corresponds to the 8th
November.]

and citizens and their wives, old men and children, freemen and slaves,
led by priests, did homage to the rising day-star before the door of the
temple to which the quarter of the town belonged where each one dwelt.

The Thebans stood together like Huge families before the pylons, waiting
for the processions of priests, which they intended to join in order to
march in their train round the great temple of the city, and thence to
cross with the festal barks to the Necropolis.

To-day was the Feast of the Valley, and Anion, the great God of Thebes,
was carried over in solemn pomp to the City of the Dead, in order that
he--as the priests said--might sacrifice to his fathers in the other
world.  The train marched westward; for there, where the earthly remains
of man also found rest, the millions of suns had disappeared, each of
which was succeeded daily by a new one, born of the night.  The young
luminary, the priests said, did not forget those that had been
extinguished, and from whom he was descended; and Anion paid them this
mark of respect to warn the devout not to forget those who were passed
away, and to whom they owed their existence.

"Bring offerings," says a pious text, "to thy father and thy mother who
rest in the valley of the tombs; for such gifts are pleasing to the Gods,
who will receive them as if brought to themselves.  Often visit thy dead,
so that what thou dost for them, thy son may do for thee."

The Feast of the Valley was a feast of the dead; but it was not a
melancholy solemnity, observed with lamentation and wailing; on the
contrary, it was a cheerful festival, devoted to pious and sentimental
memories of those whom we cease not to love after death, whom we esteem
happy and blest, and of whom we think with affection; to whom too the
throng from Thebes brought offerings, forming groups in the chapel-like
tombs, or in front of the graves, to eat and drink.

Father, mother and children clung together; the house-slaves followed
with provisions, and with torches, which would light up the darkness of
the tomb and show the way home at night.

Even the poorest had taken care to secure beforehand a place in one of
the large boats which conveyed the people across the stream; the barges
of the rich, dressed in the gayest colors, awaited their owners with
their households, and the children had dreamed all night of the sacred
bark of Anion, whose splendor, as their mothers told them, was hardly
less than that of the golden boat in which the Sun-God and his companions
make their daily voyage across the ocean of heaven.  The broad landing
place of the temple of Anion was already crowded with priests, the shore
with citizens, and the river with boats; already loud music drowned the
din of the crowds, who thronged and pushed, enveloped in clouds of dust,
to reach the boats; the houses and hovels of Thebes were all empty, and
the advent of the God through the temple-gates was eagerly expected; but
still the members of the royal family had not appeared, who were wont on
this solemn day to go on foot to the great temple of Anion; and, in the
crowd, many a one asked his neighbor why Bent-Anat, the fair daughter of
Rameses, lingered so long, and delayed the starting of the procession.

The priests had begun their chant within the walls, which debarred the
outer world from any glimpse into the bright precincts of the temple; the
Regent with his brilliant train had entered the sanctuary; the gates were
thrown open; the youths in their short-aprons, who threw flowers in the
path of the God, had come out; clouds of incense announced the approach
of Anion--and still the daughter of Rameses appeared not.

Many rumors were afloat, most of them contradictory; but one was
accurate, and confirmed by the temple servants, to the great regret of
the crowd--Bent-Anat was excluded from the Feast of the Valley.

She stood on her balcony with her brother Rameri and her friend Nefert,
and looked down on the river, and on the approaching God.

Early in the previous morning Bek-en-Chunsu, the old high-priest of the
temple of Anion had pronounced her clean, but in the evening he had come
to communicate to her the intelligence that Ameni prohibited her entering
the Necropolis before she had obtained the forgiveness of the Gods of the
West for her offence.

While still under the ban of uncleanness she had visited the temple of
Hathor, and had defiled it by her presence; and the stern Superior of the
City of the Dead was in the right--that Bek-en-Chunsu himself admitted--
in closing the western shore against her.  Bent-Anat then had recourse to
Ani; but, though he promised to mediate for her, he came late in the
evening to tell her that Ameni was inexorable.  The Regent at the same
time, with every appearance of regret, advised her to avoid an open
quarrel, and not to defy Ameni's lofty severity, but to remain absent
from the festival.

Katuti at the same time sent the dwarf to Nefert, to desire her to join
her mother, in taking part in the procession, and in sacrificing in her
father's tomb; but Nefert replied that she neither could nor would leave
her royal friend and mistress.

Bent-Anat had given leave of absence to the highest members of her
household, and had prayed them to think of her at the splendid solemnity.

When, from her balcony, she saw the mob of people and the crowd of boats,
she went back into her room, called Rameri, who was angrily declaiming at
what he called Ameni's insolence, took his hands in hers, and said:

"We have both done wrong, brother; let us patiently submit to the
consequences of our faults, and conduct ourselves as if our father were
with us."

"He would tear the panther-skin from the haughty priest's shoulders,"
cried Rameri, "if he dared to humiliate you so in his presence;" and
tears of rage ran down his smooth cheeks as he spoke.

"Put anger aside," said Bent-Anat.  "You were still quite little the last
time my father took part in this festival."

"Oh!  I remember that morning well," exclaimed Rameri, "and shall never
forget it."

"So I should think," said the princess.  "Do not leave us, Nefert--you
are now my sister.  It was a glorious morning; we children were collected
in the great hall of the King, all in festival dresses; he had us called
into this room, which had been inhabited by my mother, who then had been
dead only a few months.  He took each of us by the hand, and said he
forgave us everything we might have done wrong if only we were sincerely
penitent, and gave us each a kiss on our forehead.  Then he beckoned us
all to him, and said, as humbly as if he were one of us instead of the
great king, 'Perhaps I may have done one of you some injustice, or have
kept you out of some right; I am not conscious of such a thing, but if it
has occurred I am very sorry'--we all rushed upon him, and wanted to kiss
him, but he put us aside smiling, and said, 'Each of you has enjoyed an
equal share of one thing, that you may be sure--I mean your father's
love; and I see now that you return what I have given you.'  Then he
spoke of our mother, and said that even the tenderest father could not
fill the place of a mother.  He drew a lovely picture of the unselfish
devotion of the dead mother, and desired us to pray and to sacrifice with
him at her resting-place, and to resolve to be worthy of her; not only in
great things but in trifles too, for they make up the sum of life, as
hours make the days, and the years.  We elder ones clasped each other's
hands, and I never felt happier than in that moment, and afterwards by my
mother's grave."  Nefert raised her eyes that were wet with tears.

"With such a father it must be easy to be good," she said.

"Did your mother never speak good words that went to your heart on the
morning of this festival?"  asked Bent-Anat.

Nefert colored, and answered: "We were always late in dressing, and then
had to hurry to be at the temple in time."

"Then let me be your mother to-day," cried the princess, "and yours too,
Rameri.  Do you not remember how my father offered forgiveness to the
officers of the court, and to all the servants, and how he enjoined us to
root out every grudge from our hearts on this day?  'Only stainless
garments,' he said, 'befit this feast; only hearts without spot.'  So,
brother, I will not hear an evil word about Ameni, who is most likely
forced to be severe by the law; my father will enquire into it all and
decide.  My heart is so full, it must overflow.  Come, Nefert, give me a
kiss, and you too, Rameri.  Now I will go into my little temple, in which
the images of our ancestors stand, and think of my mother and the blessed
spirits of those loved ones to whom I may not sacrifice to-day."

"I will go with you," said Rameri.

"You, Nefert--stay here," said Bent-Anat, "and cut as many flowers as you
like; take the best and finest, and make a wreath, and when it is ready
we will send a messenger across to lay it, with other gifts, on the grave
of your Mena's mother."

When, half-an-hour later, the brother and sister returned to the young
wife, two graceful garlands hung in Nefert's bands, one for the grave of
the dead queen, and one for Mena's mother.

"I will carry over the wreaths, and lay them in the tombs," cried the
prince.

"Ani thought it would be better that we should not show ourselves to the
people," said his sister.  "They will scarcely notice that you are not
among the school-boys, but--"

"But I will not go over as the king's son, but as a gardener's boy--"
interrupted the prince.  "Listen to the flourish of trumpets! the God
has now passed through the gates."

Rameri stepped out into the balcony, and the two women followed him, and
looked down on the scene of the embarkation which they could easily see
with their sharp young eyes.

"It will be a thinner and poorer procession without either my father or
us, that is one comfort," said Rameri.  "The chorus is magnificent; here
come the plume-bearers and singers; there is the chief prophet at the
great temple, old Bek-en-Chunsu.  How dignified he looks, but he will not
like going.  Now the God is coming, for I, smell the incense."

With these words the prince fell on his knees, and the women followed his
example--when they saw first a noble bull in whose shining skin the sun
was reflected, and who bore between his horns a golden disk, above which
stood white ostrich-feathers; and then, divided from the bull only by a
few fan-bearers, the God himself, sometimes visible, but more often
hidden from sight by great semi-circular screens of black and white
ostrich-feathers, which were fixed on long poles, and with which the
priests shaded the God.

His mode of progress was as mysterious as his name, for he seemed to
float slowly on his gorgeous throne from the temple-gates towards the
stream.  His seat was placed on a platform, magnificently decorated with
bunches and garlands of flowers, and covered with hangings of purple and
gold brocade, which concealed the priests who bore it along with a slow
and even pace.

As soon as the God had been placed on board his barge, Bent-Anat and her
companions rose from their knees.

Then came some priests, who carried a box with the sacred evergreen tree
of Amon; and when a fresh outburst of music fell on her ear, and a cloud
of incense was wafted up to her, Bent-Anat said: "Now my father should be
coming."

"And you," cried Rameri, "and close behind, Nefert's husband, Mena, with
the guards.  Uncle Ani comes on foot.  How strangely he has dressed
himself like a sphinx hind-part before!"

"How so?"  asked Nefert.

"A sphinx," said Rameri laughing, it has the body of a lion, and the head
of a man,

[There were no female sphinxes in Egypt.  The sphinx was called Neb,
i. e., the lord.  The lion-couchant had either a man's or a rams
head.]

and my uncle has a peaceful priest's robe, and on his head the helmet of
a warrior."

"If the king were here, the distributor of life," said Nefert, "you would
not be missing from among his supporters."

"No indeed!"  replied the prince, "and the whole thing is altogether
different when my father is here.  His heroic form is splendid on his
golden throne; the statues of Truth and justice spread their wings behind
him as if to protect him; his mighty representative in fight, the lion,
lies peacefully before him, and over him spreads the canopy with the
Urmus snake at the top.  There is hardly any end to the haruspices, the
pastophori with the standards, the images of the Gods, and the flocks and
herds for sacrifice.  Only think, even the North has sent representatives
to the feast, as if my father were here.  I know all the different signs
on the standards.  Do you recognize the images of the king's ancestors,
Nefert?  No? no more do I; but it seemed to me that Ahmes I., who
expelled the Hyksos--from whom our grandmother was descended--headed the
procession, and not my grandfather Seti, as he should have done.  Here
come the soldiers; they are the legions which Ani equipped, and who
returned victorious from Ethiopia only last night.  How the people cheer
them! and indeed they have behaved valiantly.  Only think, Bent-Anat and
Nefert, what it will be when my father comes home, with a hundred captive
princes, who will humbly follow his chariot, which your Mena will drive,
with our brothers and all the nobles of the land, and the guards in their
splendid chariots."

"They do not think of returning yet!"  sighed Nefert.  While more and
more troops of the Regent's soldiers, more companies of musicians, and
rare animals, followed in procession, the festal bark of Amon started
from the shore.

It was a large and gorgeous barge of wood, polished all over and overlaid
with gold, and its edge was decorated with glittering glass-beads, which
imitated rubies and emeralds; the masts and yards were gilt, and purple
sails floated from them.  The seats for the priests were of ivory, and
garlands of lilies and roses hung round the vessel, from its masts and
ropes.

The Regent's Nile-boat was not less splendid; the wood-work shone with
gilding, the cabin was furnished with gay Babylonian carpets; a lion's-
head formed the prow, as formerly in Hatasu's sea-going vessels, and two
large rubies shone in it, for eyes.  After the priests had embarked, and
the sacred barge had reached the opposite shore, the people pressed into
the boats, which, filled almost to sinking, soon so covered the whole
breadth of the river that there was hardly a spot where the sun was
mirrored in the yellow waters.

"Now I will put on the dress of a gardener," cried Rameri, "and cross
over with the wreaths."

"You will leave us alone?" asked Bent-Anat.

"Do not make me anxious," said Rameri.

"Go then," said the princess.  "If my father were here how willingly I
would go too."

"Come with me," cried the boy.  "We can easily find a disguise for you
too."

"Folly!"  said Bent-Anat; but she looked enquiringly at Nefert, who
shrugged her shoulders, as much as to say: "Your will is my law."

Rameri was too sharp for the glances of the friends to have escaped him,
and he exclaimed eagerly:

"You will come with me, I see you will!  Every beggar to-day flings his
flower into the common grave, which contains the black mummy of his
father--and shall the daughter of Rameses, and the wife of the chief
charioteer, be excluded from bringing garlands to their dead?"

"I shall defile the tomb by my presence," said Bent-Anat coloring.

"You--you!"  exclaimed Rameri, throwing his arms round his sister's neck,
and kissing her.  "You, a noble generous creature, who live only to ease
sorrow and to wipe away tears; you, the very image of my father--unclean!
sooner would I believe that the swans down there are as black as crows,
and the rose-wreaths on the balcony rank hemlock branches.  Bek-en-Chunsu
pronounced you clean, and if Ameni--"

"Ameni only exercises his rights," said Bent-Anat gently, "and you know
what we have resolved.  I will not hear one hard word about him to-day."

"Very well!  he has graciously and mercifully kept us from the feast,"
said Rameri ironically, and he bowed low in the direction of the
Necropolis, "and you are unclean.  Do not enter the tombs and the temples
on my account; let us stay outside among the people.  The roads over
there are not so very sensitive; paraschites and other unclean folks pass
over them every day.  Be sensible, Bent-Anat, and come.  We will disguise
ourselves; I will conduct you; I will lay the garlands in the tombs, we
will pray together outside, we will see the sacred procession and the
feats of the magicians, and hear the festive discourse.  Only think!
Pentaur, in spite of all they have said against him, is to deliver it.
The temple of Seti wants to do its best to-day, and Ameni knows very well
that Pentaur, when he opens his mouth, stirs the hearts of the people
more than all the sages together if they were to sing in chorus!  Come
with me, sister."

"So be it then," said Bent-Anat with sudden decision.

Rameri was surprised at this quick resolve, at which however he was
delighted; but Nefert looked anxiously at her friend.  In a moment her
eyes fell; she knew now who it was that her friend loved, and the fearful
thought--"How will it end?"  flashed through her mind.




CHAPTER XXVIII.

An hour later a tall, plainly dressed woman crossed the Nile, with a
dark-skinned boy and a slender youth by her side.  The wrinkles on her
brow and cheeks agreed little with her youthful features; but it would
have been difficult to recognize in these three the proud princess, the
fair young prince, and the graceful Nefert, who looked as charming as
ever in the long white robe of a temple-student.

They were followed by two faithful and sturdy head-servants from among
the litter-bearers of the princess, who were however commanded to appear
as though they were not in any way connected with their mistress and her