at once. Timopht brought her to the
Pharaoh.

When he perceived the vile old hag crawling towards his throne like a
crushed insect, the King remembered his promise and gave orders to open
one of the granite chambers of the treasury, and to allow her to take as
much gold as she could carry away. Timopht, whom Pharaoh trusted, and
who knew the secret of the lock, opened the stone gate.

The vast mass of gold sparkled in the sunbeams, but the brilliancy of
the metal was no brighter than the glance of the old woman. Her eyes
turned yellow and flashed strangely. After a few moments of dazzled
contemplation, she pulled up the sleeves of her patched tunic and bared
her withered arms, on which the muscles stood out like cords, and which
were deeply wrinkled above the elbow; then she opened and closed her
curved fingers, like the talons of a griffin, and sprang at the mass of
golden bars with fierce and bestial avidity. She plunged her arms amid
the ingots, moved them, stirred them round, rolled them over, threw them
up; her lips trembled, her nostrils swelled, and down her spine ran
convulsive tremors. Intoxicated, mad, shaken by trepidation and
spasmodic laughter, she cast handfuls of gold into her bag, saying,
"More! more! more!" so that soon it was full up to the mouth.

Timopht, amused at the sight, let her have her way, not dreaming that
such a skinny spectre could move so enormous a weight. But Thamar bound
the mouth of her sack with a cord, and to the great surprise of the
Egyptian, lifted it on her back. Avarice lent to that broken-down frame
unexpected strength of muscles; all the nerves and fibres of the arms,
the neck, the shoulders, strained to breaking, bore up under a mass of
metal which would have made the most robust Nahasi porter bow down. Her
brows bent, like those of an ox when the ploughshare strikes a stone,
Thamar staggered out of the palace, knocking up against the walls,
walking almost on all-fours, for every now and then she put her hands
out to save herself from being crushed under her burden. But at last she
got out, and the load of gold was her legitimate property. Breathless,
exhausted, covered with sweat, her back bruised and her fingers cut, she
sat down at the palace gate upon her beloved sack, and never did any
seat appear to her so soft. After a short time, she perceived a couple
of Israelites, passing by with a litter on which they had been bearing a
burden. She called them, and promising th