Moon of Israel | Page 8

They shall be fewer but better fed.
Now, Ana, be seated. I know you though you do not know me, and
already I have learned to love you through your writings. Tell me of
yourself."
So I told him all my simple tale, to which he listened without a word,
and then asked me why I had come to see him. I replied that it was
because he had sent for me, which he had forgotten; also because I
brought him a story that I had dared to dedicate to him. Then I laid the
roll before him on the table.

"I am honoured," he said in a pleased voice, "I am greatly honoured. If
I like it well, your story shall go to the tomb with me for my Ka to read
and re-read until the day of resurrection, though first I will study it in
the flesh. Do you know this city of Tanis, Ana?"
I answered that I knew little of it, who had spent my time here haunting
the doors of his Highness.
"Then with your leave I will be your guide through it this night, and
afterwards we will sup and talk."
I bowed and he clapped his hands, whereon a servant appeared, not
Pambasa, but another.
"Bring two cloaks," said the Prince, "I go abroad with the scribe, Ana.
Let a guard of four Nubians, no more, follow us, but at a distance and
disguised. Let them wait at the private entrance."
The man bowed and departed swiftly.
Almost immediately a black slave appeared with two long hooded
cloaks, such as camel-drivers wear, which he helped us to put on. Then,
taking a lamp, he led us from the room through a doorway opposite to
that by which I had entered, down passages and a narrow stair that
ended in a courtyard. Crossing this we came to a wall, great and thick,
in which were double doors sheathed with copper that opened
mysteriously at our approach. Outside of these doors stood four tall
men, also wrapped in cloaks, who seemed to take no note of us. Still,
looking back when we had gone a little way, I observed that they were
following us, as though by chance.
How fine a thing, thought I to myself, it is to be a Prince who by lifting
a finger can thus command service at any moment of the day or night.
Just at that moment Seti said to me:
"See, Ana, how sad a thing it is to be a Prince, who cannot even stir
abroad without notice to his household and commanding the service of

a secret guard to spy upon his every action, and doubtless to make
report thereof to the police of Pharaoh."
There are two faces to everything, thought I to myself again.

CHAPTER II
THE BREAKING OF THE CUP
We walked down a broad street bordered by trees, beyond which were
lime-washed, flat-roofed houses built of sun-dried brick, standing, each
of them, in its own garden, till at length we came to the great
market-place just as the full moon rose above the palm-trees, making
the world almost as light as day. Tanis, or Rameses as it is also called,
was a very fine city then, if only half the size of Memphis, though now
that the Court has left it I hear it is much deserted. About this
market-place stood great temples of the gods, with pylons and avenues
of sphinxes, also that wonder of the world, the colossal statue of the
second Rameses, while to the north upon a mound was the glorious
palace of Pharaoh. Other palaces there were also, inhabited by the
nobles and officers of the Court, and between them ran long streets
where dwelt the citizens, ending, some of them, on that branch of the
Nile by which the ancient city stood.
Seti halted to gaze at these wondrous buildings.
"They are very old," he said, "but most of them, like the walls and
those temples of Amon and Ptah, have been rebuilt in the time of my
grandfather or since his day by the labour of Israelitish slaves who
dwell yonder in the rich land of Goshen."
"They must have cost much gold," I answered.
"The Kings of Egypt do not pay their slaves," remarked the Prince
shortly.

Then we went on and mingled with the thousands of the people who
were wandering to and fro seeking rest after the business of the day.
Here on the frontier of Egypt were gathered folk of every race;
Bedouins from the desert, Syrians from beyond the Red Sea, merchants
from the rich Isle of Chittim, travellers from the coast, and traders from
the land of Punt and from the unknown countries of the north. All were
talking, laughing and