h good humor with himself.
"In truth he said the choice should be thine whether thou wilt or not.
He would not insist that a nobleman become his minstrel. But more of
this later; the gods go with thee."

Kenkenes bowed and escaped.

In his room a few moments later, he lighted his lamp of scented oils
and contemplated the comforts about him. His conscience pointed a
condemning finger at him. Here was luxury to the point of uselessness
for himself; across the Nile was the desolate quarry-camp for his love.
In Memphis he had robed himself in fine linen and reveled, had eaten
with princes and slept sumptuously--in his strength and his manhood and
unearned idleness. And she, but a tender girl, had toiled for the
quarry-workers and fasted and now faced death in the hideous
extermination purposed for her race.

He ground his teeth and prayed for the dawn.

He forgot that he had come away from the Arabian hills because she
repelled him; he remembered his scruples concerning their social
inequality, only to revile himself; Hotep's caution was more than ever
a waste of words to him. He forgot everything except that he was here
in comfort, she, there in want and in peril, and he had not rescued her.

He did not sleep. He tossed and counted the hours.

"Sing for the Pharaoh!" he exclaimed, "aye, I will sing till the throat
of me cracks--not for the reward of his good will alone, but for
Rachel's liberty. That first, and the unraveling of this puzzle
thereafter."

CHAPTER XVIII

AT MASAARAH

Since the day Kenkenes had wounded her hand with the knife, Rachel had
seen him but twice in many weeks.

One mid-morning, the oxen were unyoked from the water-cart and led
ambling up to the pit where a monolith, too huge to be moved by men
alone, had been taken forth and was to be transferred to the Nile. The
bearers carried water directly from the river during this time, and it
was given Rachel to govern them in the departure from the routine.

Suddenly she became aware that some one approached through the grain,
and when she raised her head, she looked up into the face of Kenkenes.
It was Kenkenes, indeed, but Kenkenes in robes of rustling linen and
trappings of gold. Never had she seen so stately an Egyptian, nor any
so entitled to the name of nobleman. In quick succession she
experienced the moving sensations of surprise, pride in him, and
depression. The last fell on her with the instant recollection of
duty