Morning Star | Page 5

side fanning
him, could see well enough by the scowl on his coarse face and the fire
in his large black eyes. Presently they felt it also, for one of them,
staring at the temples and palaces of the wonderful city made glorious
by the light of the setting sun, that city of which she had heard so often,
touched his head with the feathers of her fan. Thereon, as though glad
of an excuse to express his ill-humour, Abi sprang up and boxed her
ears so heavily that the poor girl fell to the deck.
"Awkward cat," he cried, "do that again and you shall be flogged until
your robe sticks to your back!"
"Pardon, mighty Lord," she said, beginning to weep, "it was an
accident; the wind caught my fan."
"So the rod shall catch your skin, if you are not more careful, Merytra.
Stop that snivelling and go send Kaku the Astrologer here. Go, both, I
weary of the sight of your ugly faces."
The girl rose, and with her fellow slave ran swiftly to the ladder that led
to the waist of the ship.
"He called me a cat," Merytra hissed through her white teeth to her
companion. "Well, if so, Sekhet the cat-headed is my godmother, and
she is the Lady of Vengeance."
"Yes," answered the other, "and he said that we were both ugly--we,
whom every lord who comes near the Court admires so much! Oh! I
wish a holy crocodile would eat him, black pig!"
"Then why don't they buy us? Abi would sell his daughters, much more
his fan-bearers--at a price."
"Because they hope to get us for nothing, my dear, and what is more, if
I can manage it one of them shall, for I am tired of this life. Have your
fling while you can, I say. Who knows at which corner Osiris, Lord of

Death, is waiting."
"Hush!" whispered Merytra, "there is that knave of an astrologer, and
he looks cross, too."
Then, hand in hand, they went to this lean and learned man and humbly
bowed themselves before him.
"Master of the Stars," said Merytra, "we have a message for you. No,
do not look at my cheek, please, the marks are not magical, only those
of the divine fingers of the glorious hand of the most exalted Prince
Abi, son of the Pharaoh happily ruling in Osiris, etc., etc., etc., of the
right, royal blood of Egypt--that is on one side, and on the other of a
divine lady whom Khem the Spirit, or Ptah the Creator, thought fit to
dip in a vat of black dye."
"Hem!" said Kaku glancing nervously over his shoulder. Then, seeing
that there was no one near, he added, "you had better be careful what
you say, my dear. The royal Abi does not like to hear the colour of his
late mother defined so closely. But why did he slap your face?"
She told him.
"Well," he answered, "if I had been in his place I would rather have
kissed it, for it is pretty, decidedly pretty," and this learned man forgot
himself so far as to wink at Merytra.
"There, Sister," said the girl, "I always told you that rough shells have
sweet nuts inside of them. Thank you for your compliment, Master of
learning. Will you tell us our fortune for nothing?"
"Yes, yes," he answered; "at least the fee I want will cost you nothing.
Now stop this nonsense," he added, anxiously, "I gather that /he/ is
cross."
"I never saw him crosser, Kaku. I am glad it is you who reads the stars,
not I. Listen!"

As he spoke an angry roar reached them from the high deck above.
"Where is that accursed astrologer?" said the roar.
"There, what did I tell you? Oh! never mind the rest of the papers, go at
once. Your robe is full of rolls as it is."
"Yes," answered Kaku as he ran to the ladder, "but the question is, how
will he like what is in the rolls?"
"The gods be with you!" cried one of the girls after him, "you will need
them all."
"And if you get back alive, don't forget your promise about the
fortunes," said the other.
A minute later this searcher of the heavens, a tall, hook-nosed man, was
prostrating himself before Abi in his pavilion on the upper deck, so low
that his Syrian-shaped cap fell from his bald head.
"Why were you so long in coming?" asked Abi.
"Because your slaves could not find me, royal Son of the Sun. I was at
work in my cabin."
"Indeed, I thought I heard them giggling with you down there. What
did you call me? Royal Son of the Sun? That is Pharaoh's name! Have
the