e her better, as she wearied of
Thebes, and desired to see the other great cities of the land, to make
herself known to those who dwell in them, and in each to be proclaimed
as its future ruler. Also she wished to look upon the ocean whereof she
had heard that it was so big that all the waters of the Nile flowing
into it day and night made no difference to its volume.

Thus then began that pilgrimage which afterwards Tua recorded in the
history of her reign on the walls of the wonderful temples that she
built. Her own wish was that they should sail south to the frontiers of
Egypt, since there she hoped that she might hear some tidings of Rames
and his expedition, whereof latterly no certain word had come. This
project, however, was over-ruled because in the south there were
no great towns, also the inhabitants of the bordering desert were
turbulent, and might choose that moment to attack.

So in the end they went down and not up the Nile, tarrying for a while
at every great city, and especially at Atbu, the holy place where the
head of Osiris is buried, and tens of thousands of the great men of
Egypt have their tombs. Here Tua was crowned afresh in the very shrine
of Osiris amidst the rejoicings of the people.

Then they sailed away to On, the City of the Sun, and thence to make
offerings at the Great Pyramids which were built by some of the early
kings who had ruled Egypt, to serve them as their tombs.

Neter-Tua entered the Pyramids to look upon the bodies of these Pharaohs
who had been dead for thousands of years, and whose deeds were all
forgotten, though her father would not accompany her there because the
ways were so steep that he did not dare to tread them. Afterwards, with
Asti and a small guard of the Arab chiefs of the desert, she mounted a
dromedary and rode round them in the moonlight, hoping that she would
meet the ghosts of those kings, and that they would talk with her as the
ghost of her mother had done. But she saw no ghosts, nor would Asti try
to summon them from their sleep, although Tua prayed her to do so.

"Leave them alone," said Asti, as they paused in the shadow of the
greatest of the pyramids and stared at its shining face engraved from
base to summit with many a mystic writing.

"Leave them alone lest they should be angry as Amen was, and tell your
Majesty things which you do not wish to hear. Contemplate their mighty
works, such as no monarch can build to-day, and suffer them to rest
t