as he was yawning and spoke to one of his councillors,
bidding him send to the House of Women that they might make ready to
receive him there, you came, and the rest you know."

Now I looked at Bes and said,

"May the blessing of all the gods of all the lands be on your head,
since had it not been for you I should now lie in torment in that boat.
Hearken, friend: If ever we reach Egypt again, you will set foot on it,
not as a slave but as a free man. You will be rich also, Bes, that is,
if we can take the gold I won with us, since half of it is yours."

Bes squatted down upon the floor and looked up at me with a strange
smile on his ugly face.

"You have given me three things, Master," he said. "Gold, which I do
not want at present; freedom, which I do not want at present and mayhap,
never shall while you live and love me; and the title of friend. This
I do want, though why I should care to hear it from your lips I am not
sure, seeing that for a long while I have known that it was spoken in
your heart. Since you have said it, however, I will tell you something
which hitherto I have hid even from you. I have a right to that name,
for if your blood is high, O Shabaka, so is mine. Know that this poor
dwarf whom you took captive and saved long years ago was more than the
petty chief which he declared himself to be. He was and is by right the
King of the Ethiopians and that throne with all its wealth and power he
could claim to-morrow if he would."

"The King of the Ethiopians!" I said. "Oh! friend Bes, I pray you to
remember that we no longer stand in yonder court lying for our lives."

"I speak no lie, O Shabaka, I before you am King of the Ethiopians.
Moreover, I laid that kingship down of my own will and should I so
desire, can take it up again when I will, since the Ethiopians are
faithful to their kings."

"Why?" I asked, astonished.

"Master, for so I will still call you who am not yet upon the land
of Egypt where you have promised me freedom, do you remember anything
strange about the people of that tribe from among whom you and the
Egyptian soldiers captured me by surprise, because they wished to drive
you and your following from their country?"

Now I thought and answered,

"Yes, one thing. I saw no women in their camp, nor any sign of children.
This I know because I gave orders that such were to be spared and it was
reported to me that there were none, so I supposed that they had fled
away."

"There