ect were
the tongues of the allied troops--but all obedient to the king's word of
command.

In the midst of the royal tents was a lightly constructed temple with
the statues of the Gods of Thebes, and of the king's forefathers; clouds
of incense rose in front of it, for the priests were engaged from the
eve of the battle until it was over, in prayers, and offerings to Amon,
the king of the Gods, to Necheb, the Goddess of victory, and to Menth,
the God of war.

The keeper of the lions stood by the Pharaoh's sleeping-tent, and
the tent, which served as a council chamber, was distinguished by the
standards in front of it; but the council-tent was empty and still,
while in the kitchen-tent, as well as in the wine-store close by, all
was in a bustle. The large pavilion, in which Rameses and his suite were
taking their evening meal, was more brilliantly lighted than all the
others; it was a covered tent, a long square in shape, and all round
it were colored lamps, which made it as light as day; a body-guard of
Sardinians, Libyans, and Egyptians guarded it with drawn swords, and
seemed too wholly absorbed with the importance of their office even to
notice the dishes and wine-jars, which the king's pages--the sons of
the highest families in Egypt--took at the tent-door from the cooks and
butlers.

The walls and slanting roof of this quickly-built and movable
banqueting-hall, consisted of a strong, impenetrable carpet-stuff,
woven at Thebes, and afterwards dyed purple at Tanis by the Phoenicians.
Saitic artists had embroidered the vulture, one of the forms in which
Necheb appears, a hundred times on the costly material with threads of
silver. The cedar-wood pillars of the tent were covered with gold,
and the ropes, which secured the light erection to the tent-pegs, were
twisted of silk, and thin threads of silver. Seated round four tables,
more than a hundred men were taking their evening meal; at three of them
the generals of the army, the chief priests, and councillors, sat on
light stools; at the fourth, and at some distance from the others,
were the princes of the blood; and the king himself sat apart at a high
table, on a throne supported by gilt figures of Asiatic prisoners
in chains. His table and throne stood on a low dais covered with
panther-skin; but even without that Rameses would have towered above his
companions. His form was powerful, and there was a commanding aspect
in his bearded face, and in the high brow,