ng I saw in that tent was the beautiful
face of Karema smiling at me. This I took to be a good omen, since I
knew that it was the heart of the holy Tanofir which smiled, and that
her eyes were but its mirror.

Already my thirty thousand archers were marshalling, and having made
sure that there was ample store of arrows and that all their gourds
were filled with water, I set myself at their head while in front of me
walked the two veiled guides. I looked upon them doubtfully, since it
seemed dangerous to trust an army to unknown men who for aught I knew,
might lead us into the midst of our foes. Then I remembered that they
were vouched for by the holy Tanofir, my own great-uncle whom I trusted
above any man on earth, and took heart again.

How had he come into our tent, I wondered, and how, blind as he was,
would he get back into Amada with Karema, if he took her? Well, who
could account for the goings or the comings of the holy Tanofir, who was
more of a spirit than a man? Perhaps it was not really he whom we had
seen, but what we Egyptians called his _Ka_ or Double which can pass
to and fro at will. Only do _Kas_ eat? Of this matter I knew only that
offerings of food and drink are made to them in tombs. So leaving the
holy Tanofir to guard himself, I turned my mind to our own business,
which was to surprise the army of the Great King.

Skirting the swamp we came to rough and higher ground and though I could
see little in that darkness, I knew that we were walking up a hill.
Presently we crossed its crest and descending for three bowshots or so,
I felt that my feet were on a road. Now the guides turned to the left
and after them in a long line came my army of thirty thousand archers.
In utter silence we went since we had no beasts with us and our
sandalled feet made little noise; moreover orders had been passed down
the line that the man who made a sound should die.

For two hours or more we marched thus, then bore to the left again and
climbed a slope, by which time I judged we must be well past the town
of Amada. Here suddenly the guides halted and we after them at whispered
words of command. One of them took me by the cloak, led me forward a
little way to the crest of the ridge, and pointed with his white-sleeved
arm. I looked and there beneath me, well within bowshot, were thousands
of the watchfires of the King's army, flaring, some of them, in the
strong wind. For a full league those fires burned and we were op