icer. "My
people told me every detail. First the boy killed his dog--"

"That noble Descher?" asked the master of the hunt in a tone of regret.
"Your father was often by my side with that dog at a boar-hunt."

Paaker bowed his head; but the officer of the watch, secure in his
position and dignity, and taking no notice of the glow of anger which
flushed Paaker's face, began again:

"When the hound lay on the ground, the foolhardy boy struck your dagger
out of your hand."

"And did this squabble lead to any disturbance?" asked Ameni earnestly.

"No," replied the officer. "The feast has passed off to-day with unusual
quiet. If the unlucky interruption to the procession by that crazy
paraschites had not occurred, we should have nothing but praise for the
populace. Besides the fighting priest, whom we have handed over to you,
only a few thieves have been apprehended, and they belong exclusively to
the caste,

[According to Diodorous (I. 80) there was a cast of thieves in
Thebes. All citizens were obliged to enter their names in a
register, and state where they lived, and the thieves did the same.
The names were enrolled by the "chief of the thieves," and all
stolen goods had to be given up to him. The person robbed had to
give a written description of the object he had lost, and a
declaration as to when and where he had lost it. The stolen
property was then easily recovered, and restored to the owner on
the payment of one fourth of its value, which was given to the
thief. A similar state of things existed at Cairo within a
comparatively short time.]

so we simply take their booty from them, and let them go. But say,
Paaker, what devil of amiability took possession of you down by the
river, that you let the rascal escape unpunished."

"Did you do that?" exclaimed Gagabu. "Revenge is usually your--"

Ameni threw so warning a glance at the old man, that he suddenly broke
off, and then asked the pioneer: "How did the struggle begin, and who
was the fellow?"

"Some insolent people," said Paaker, "wanted to push in front of the
boat that was waiting for my mother, and I asserted my rights. The
rascal fell upon me, and killed my dog and--by my Osirian father!--the
crocodiles would long since have eaten him if a woman had not come
between us, and made herself known to me as Bent-Anat, the daughter of
Rameses. It was she herself, and the rascal was the young prince Rameri,
who was yesterd