stood before him. Then Pharaoh lifted from his head the
double crown he wore and for a moment set it on the brow of Amenmeses,
saying as he replaced it on his own head:

"By this act and token do I name and constitute you, Amenmeses, to
be Royal Prince of Egypt in place of my son, Prince Seti, deposed.
Withdraw, Royal Prince of Egypt. I have spoken."

"Life! Blood! Strength!" cried all the company bowing before Pharaoh,
all save the Prince Seti who neither bowed nor stirred. Only he cried:

"And I have heard. Will Pharaoh be pleased to declare whether with
my royal heritage he takes my life? If so, let it be here and now. My
cousin Amenmeses wears a sword."

"Nay, Son," answered Meneptah sadly, "your life is left to you and with
it all your private rank and your possessions whatsoever and wherever
they may be."

"Let Pharaoh's will be done," replied Seti indifferently, "in this as
in all things. Pharaoh spares my life until such time as Amenmeses his
successor shall fill his place, when it shall be taken."

Meneptah started; this thought was new to him.

"Stand forth, Amenmeses," he cried, "and swear now the threefold oath
that may not be broken. Swear by Amon, by Ptah, and by Osiris, god of
death, that never will you attempt to harm the Prince Seti, your cousin,
either in body or in such state and prerogative as remain to him. Let
Roi, the head-priest of Amon, administer the oath now before us all."

So Roi spoke the oath in the ancient form, which was terrible even to
hear, and Amenmeses, unwillingly enough as I thought, repeated it after
him, adding however these words at the end, "All these things I swear
and all these penalties in this world and the world to be I invoke upon
my head, provided only that when the time comes the Prince Seti leaves
me in peace upon the throne to which it has pleased Pharaoh to decree to
me."

Now some there murmured that this was not enough, since in their hearts
there were few who did not love Seti and grieve to see him thus stripped
of his royal heritage because his judgment differed from that of
Pharaoh over a matter of State policy. But Seti only laughed and said
scornfully:

"Let be, for of what value are such oaths? Pharaoh on the throne is
above all oaths who must make answer to the gods only and from the
hearts of some the gods are far away. Let Amenmeses not fear that I
shall quarrel with him over this matter of a crown, I who in truth have
never longed for the pom