call him steward," said he.

"Good," muttered the old woman. "The ostrich puts his head under his
feathers when he does not want to be seen."

"Was the young prince long with Uarda yesterday?"

"No, you fool," laughed the witch, "the children play together. Rameri
is a kid without horns, but who fancies he knows where they ought to
grow. Pentaur is a more dangerous rival with the red-headed girl. Make
haste, now; these stewards must not be kept waiting!"

The old woman gave the dwarf a push, and he hurried back to Ani, while
she carried the child, tied to his board, into the cave, and threw the
sack over him.

A few minutes later the Regent stood before her. She bowed before him
with a demeanor that was more like the singer Beki than the sorceress
Hekt, and begged him to take the only seat she possessed.

When, with a wave of his hand, he declined to sit down, she said:

"Yes--yes--be seated! then thou wilt not be seen from the valley, but be
screened by the rocks close by. Why hast thou chosen this hour for thy
visit?"

"Because the matter presses of which I wish to speak," answered Ani;
"and in the evening I might easily be challenged by the watch. My
disguise is good. Under this robe I wear my usual dress. From this I
shall go to the tomb of my father, where I shall take off this coarse
thing, and these other disfigurements, and shall wait for my chariot,
which is already ordered. I shall tell people I had made a vow to visit
the grave humbly, and on foot, which I have now fulfilled."

"Well planned," muttered the old woman.

Ani pointed to the dwarf, and said politely: "Your pupil."

Since her narrative the sorceress was no longer a mere witch in his
eyes. The old woman understood this, and saluted him with a curtsey of
such courtly formality, that a tame raven at her feet opened his black
beak wide, and uttered a loud scream. She threw a bit of cheese within
the cave, and the bird hopped after it, flapping his clipped wings, and
was silent.

"I have to speak to you about Pentaur," said Ani. The old woman's eyes
flashed, and she eagerly asked, "What of him?"

"I have reasons," answered the Regent, "for regarding him as dangerous
to me. He stands in my way. He has committed many crimes, even murder;
but he is in favor at the House of Seti, and they would willingly let
him go unpunished. They have the right of sitting in judgment on each
other, and I cannot interfere with their decisions; the day before