gs and fly. He would have swum or have flown willingly to death if
circumstances had not set a limit to his zeal and energy.

Bathed in sweat and coated with dust, he at last reached the gay tent
in the stranger's quarter, where the sorceress Hekt was accustomed to
alight when she came over to Thebes.

He was considering far-reaching projects, dreaming of possibilities,
devising subtle plans--rejecting them as too subtle, and supplying
their place with others more feasible and less dangerous; altogether
the little diplomatist had no mind for the motley tribes which here
surrounded him. He had passed the temple in which the people of Kaft
adored their goddess Astarte, and the sanctuary of Seth, where they
sacrificed to Baal, without letting himself be disturbed by the dancing
devotees or the noise of cymbals and music which issued from their
enclosures. The tents and slightly-built wooden houses of the dancing
girls did not tempt him. Besides their inhabitants, who in the evening
tricked themselves out in tinsel finery to lure the youth of Thebes into
extravagance and folly, and spent their days in sleeping till sun-down,
only the gambling booths drove a brisk business; and the guard of police
had much trouble to restrain the soldier, who had staked and lost all
his prize money, or the sailor, who thought himself cheated, from such
outbreaks of rage and despair as must end in bloodshed. Drunken men
lay in front of the taverns, and others were doing their utmost, by
repeatedly draining their beakers, to follow their example.

Nothing was yet to be seen of the various musicians, jugglers,
fire-eaters, serpent-charmers, and conjurers, who in the evening
displayed their skill in this part of the town, which at all times had
the aspect of a never ceasing fair. But these delights, which Nemu had
passed a thousand times, had never had any temptation for him. Women and
gambling were not to his taste; that which could be had simply for the
taking, without trouble or exertion, offered no charms to his fancy,
he had no fear of the ridicule of the dancing-women, and their
associates--indeed, he occasionally sought them, for he enjoyed a war
of words, and he was of opinion that no one in Thebes could beat him at
having the last word. Other people, indeed, shared this opinion, and not
long before Paaker's steward had said of Nemu:

"Our tongues are cudgels, but the little one's is a dagger."

The destination of the dwarf was a ver