The Pharaoh And The Priest Part 2

Rameses stamped impatiently, and was silent. He was a beautiful youth, with a face almost feminine, to which anger and sunburn added charm.

He wore a close-fitting coat with blue and white stripes, a kerchief of the same color behind his helmet, a gold chain around his neck, and a costly sword beneath his left arm.

"I see," said the prince, "that thou alone, Eunana, art mindful of my honor."

The officer covered with amulets bent to the earth.

"Tutmosis is indolent," said the heir. "Return to thy place, Eunana.

Let the vanguard at least have a leader."

Then, looking at the suite which now surrounded him as if it had sprung from under the earth on a sudden, he added,--

"Bring my litter. I am as tired as a quarryman."

"Can the G.o.ds grow tired?" whispered Eunana, still standing behind him.

"Go to thy place!" said Rameses.

"But perhaps thou wilt command me, O image of the moon, to search the ravines?" asked the officer, in a low voice. "Command, I beg thee, for wherever I am my heart is chasing after thee to divine thy will and accomplish it."

"I know that thou art watchful," answered Rameses. "Go now and look after everything."

"Holy father," said Eunana, turning to the minister, "I commend my most obedient service to thy worthiness."

Barely had Eunana gone when at the end of the marching column rose a still greater tumult. They looked for the heir's litter, but it was gone. Then appeared, making his way through the Greek warriors, a youth of strange exterior. He wore a muslin tunic, a richly embroidered ap.r.o.n, and a golden scarf across his shoulder. But he was distinguished above all by an immense wig with a mult.i.tude of tresses, and an artificial beard like cats' tails.

That was Tutmosis, the first exquisite in Memphis, who dressed and perfumed himself even during marches.

"Be greeted, Rameses!" exclaimed the exquisite, pus.h.i.+ng aside officers quickly. "Imagine thy litter is lost somewhere; thou must sit in mine, which really is not fit for thee, but it is not the worst."

"Thou hast angered me," answered the prince. "Thou sleepest instead of watching the army."

The astonished exquisite stopped.

"I sleep?" cried he. "May the man's tongue wither up who invented that calumny! I, knowing that thou wouldst come, have been ready this hour past, and am preparing a bath for thee and perfumes."

"While thus engaged, the regiment is without a commander."

"Am I to command a detachment where his worthiness the minister of war is, and such a leader is present as Patrokles?"

Rameses was silent; meanwhile Tutmosis, approaching him, whispered,--

"In what a plight thou art, O son of the pharaoh! Without a wig, thy hair and dress full of dust, thy skin black and cracked, like the earth in summer. The queen, most deserving of honor, would drive me from the court were she to look at thy wretchedness."

"I am only tired."

"Then take a seat in my litter. In it are fresh garlands of roses, roast birds, and a jug of wine from Cyprus. I have kept also hidden in the camp," added he in a lower voice, "Senura."

"Is she here?" asked the prince; and his eyes, glittering a moment before, were now mist covered.

"Let the army move on," said Tutmosis; "we will wait here for her."

Rameses recovered himself.

"Leave me, tempter! The battle will come in two hours."

"What! a battle?"

"At least the decision as to my leaders.h.i.+p."

"Oh, laugh at it!" smiled the exquisite. "I would swear that the minister of war sent a report of it yesterday, and with it the pet.i.tion to give thee the corps of Memphis."

"No matter if he did. To-day I have no thought for anything but the army."

"In thee this wish for war is dreadful, war during which a man does not wash for a whole month, so as to die in-- Brr! But if thou couldst see Senura, only glance at her--"

"For that very reason I shall not glance at her," answered Rameses, decisively.

At the moment when eight men were bringing from beyond the Greek ranks the immense litter of Tutmosis for the use of Rameses, a horseman raced in from the vanguard. He dropped from his horse and ran so quickly that on his breast the images of the G.o.ds or the tablets with their names rattled loudly. This was Eunana in great excitement.

All turned to him, and this gave him pleasure apparently.

"Erpatr, the loftiest lips," cried Eunana, bending before Rameses.

"When, in accordance with thy divine command, I rode at the head of a detachment, looking carefully at all things, I noticed on the highroad two beautiful scarabs. Each of these sacred beetles was rolling an earth ball toward the sands near the roadside--"

"What of that?" interrupted Rameses.

"Of course," continued Eunana, glancing toward Herhor, "I and my people, as piety enjoins, rendered homage to the golden symbols of the sun, and halted. That augury is of such import that no man of us would make a step forward unless commanded."

"I see that thou art a pious Egyptian, though thou hast the features of a Hitt.i.te," answered the worthy Herhor; and turning to certain dignitaries standing near, he added,--

"We will not advance farther by the highway, for we might crush the sacred beetles. Pentuer, can we go around the road by that ravine on the right?"

"We can," answered the secretary. "That ravine is five miles long, and comes out again almost in front of Pi-Bailos."

"An immense loss of time!" interrupted Rameses, in anger.

"I would swear that those are not scarabs, but the spirits of my Phnician usurers," said Tutmosis the exquisite. "Not being able, because of their death, to receive money from me, they will force me now to march through the desert in punishment!"

The suite of the prince awaited the decision with fear; so Rameses turned to Herhor,--

"What dost thou think of this, holy father?"

"Look at the officers," answered the priest, "and thou wilt understand that we must go by the ravine."

Now Patrokles, leader of the Greeks, pushed forward and said to the heir,--

"If the prince permit, my regiment will advance by the highway. My soldiers have no fear of beetles!"