The Pharaoh And The Priest Part 7

"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 ca.n.a.l 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, Rameses 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 Rameses, with compa.s.sion.

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 a.s.semble.

"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 manuvres."

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 G.o.ds 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 thee--"

Here the minister took a gold ring from his finger.

"I give thee this ring with the name of the G.o.ddess Mut, whose favor and prudence will accompany thee to the end of thy worldly wandering, if thou deserve it."

His worthiness delivered the ring to Eunana, and those present uttered a great shout in honor of the pharaoh, and rattled their weapons.

As Herhor did not move, Eunana stood and looked him in the eyes, like a faithful dog which having received one morsel from his master is wagging his tail and waiting.

"And now," continued the minister, "confess, Eunana, why thou didst not tell whither the heir to the throne went when the army was marching along the ravine with such difficulty. Thou didst an evil deed, for we had to sound the alarm in the neighborhood of the enemy."

"The G.o.ds are my witnesses that I know nothing of the most worthy prince," replied the astonished Eunana.

Herhor shook his head.

"It cannot be that a man gifted with such sight, a man who at some tens of yards away sees sacred scarabs in the sand, should not see so great a personage as the heir to the throne is."

"Indeed I did not see him!" explained Eunana, beating his breast.

"Moreover no one commanded me to watch Rameses."

"Did I not free thee from leading the vanguard? Did I a.s.sign to thee an office?" asked the minister. "Thou wert entirely free, just like a man who is called to important deeds. And didst thou accomplish thy task? For such an error in time of war thou shouldst suffer death surely."

The ill-fated officer was pallid.

"But I have a paternal heart for thee, Eunana," said Herhor, "and, remembering the great service which thou hast rendered by discovering the scarabs, I, not as a stern minister, but as a mild priest, appoint to thee a very small punishment. Thou wilt receive fifty blows of a stick on thy body."

"Worthiness!"

"Eunana, thou hast known how to be fortunate, now be manful and receive this slight remembrance as becomes an officer in the army of his holiness."

Barely had the worthy Herhor finished when the officers oldest in rank placed Eunana in a commodious position at the side of the highroad.

After that one of them sat on his neck, another on his feet, while a third and a fourth counted out fifty blows of pliant reeds on his naked body.

The unterrified warrior uttered no groan; on the contrary, he hummed a soldier song, and at the end of the ceremony wished to rise. But his stiffened legs refused obedience, so he fell face downward on the sand; they had to take him to Memphis on a two-wheeled vehicle. While lying on this cart and smiling at the soldiers, Eunana considered that the wind does not change so quickly in Lower Egypt as fortune in the life of an inferior officer.

When, after the brief halt, the retinue of the heir to the throne moved on its farther journey, Herhor mounted his horse and riding at the side of Nitager, spoke in an undertone about Asiatic nations and, above all, about the awakening of a.s.syria.

Then two servants of the minister, the adjutant carrying his fan and the secretary Pentuer, began a conversation also.

"What dost thou think of Eunana's adventure?" asked the adjutant.

"And what thinkest thou of the slave who hanged himself?"

"It seems to me that this was his best day, and the rope around his neck the softest thing that has touched him in life. I think, too, that Eunana from this time on will watch the heir to the throne very closely."

"Thou art mistaken," answered Pentuer. "Eunana from this time on will never see a scarab, even though it were as large as a bullock. As to that slave, dost thou not think that in every case it must have been very evil for him--very evil in this sacred land of Egypt?"

"Thou knowest not slaves, hence speakest thus--"