pened to my brother in Egypt, I do not know, for he is very
reserved, and asks for no sympathy, either in joy or in sorrow; but from
words he has dropped now and then I gather that he not only bitterly
hates Mena, the charioteer--who certainly did him an injury--but has
some grudge against the king too. I spoke to him of it at once, but only
once, for his rage is unbounded when he is provoked, and after all he is
my elder brother.

"For some days they have been preparing in the camp for a decisive
battle, and it was our duty to ascertain the position and strength of
the enemy; the king gave me, and not Paaker, the commission to prepare
the report. Early yesterday morning I drew it out and wrote it; then my
brother said he would carry it to the camp, and I was to wait here. I
positively refused, as Rameses had required the report at my hands,
and not at his. Well, he raved like a madman, declared that I had taken
advantage of his absence to insinuate myself into the king's favor, and
commanded me to obey him as the head of the house, in the name of my
father.

"I was sitting irresolute, when he went out of the cavern to call his
horses; then my eyes fell on the things which the old black slave
was tying together to load on a pack-horse--among them was a roll
of writing. I fancied it was my own, and took it up to look at it,
when--what should I find? At the risk of my life I had gone among the
Cheta, and had found that the main body of their army is collected in
a cross-valley of the Orontes, quite hidden in the mountains to the
north-east of Kadesh; and in the roll it was stated, in Paaker's own
hand-writing, that that valley is clear, and the way through it open,
and well suited for the passage of the Egyptian war-chariots; various
other false details were given, and when I looked further among his
things, I found between the arrows in his quiver, on which he had
written 'death to Mena,' another little roll of writing. I tore it open,
and my blood ran cold when I saw to whom it was addressed."

"To the king of the Cheta?" cried Pentaur in excitement.

"To his chief officer, Titure," continued Horus. "I was holding both
the rolls in my hand, when Paaker came back into the cave. 'Traitor!'
I cried out to him; but he flung the lasso, with which he had been
catching the stray horses, threw it round my neck, and as I fell choking
on the ground, he and the black man, who obeys him like a dog, bound
me hand and foot; he le