"They are the golden-bays of my breed," said Mena, and the veins started
angrily in his forehead. "My stud-master tells me that Katuti sent them
to him before his departure. They were intended for Nefert's chariot,
and he drives them to-day to defy and spite me."

"You have the wife--let the horses go," said Rameses soothingly.

Suddenly a blast of trumpets rang through the morning air; whence it
came could not be seen, and yet it sounded close at hand.

Rameses started up and took his battle-axe from his girdle, the horses
pricked their ears, and Mena exclaimed:

"Those are the trumpets of the Cheta! I know the sound."

A closed wagon with four wheels in which the king's lions were conveyed,
followed the royal chariot. "Let loose the lions!" cried the king, who
heard an echoing war cry, and soon after saw the vanguard which had
preceded him, and which was broken up by the chariots of the enemy,
flying towards him down the valley again.

The wild beasts shook their manes and sprang in front of their master's
chariot with loud roars. Mena lashed his whip, the horses started
forward and rushed with frantic plunges towards the fugitives, who
however could not be brought to a standstill, or rallied by the king's
voice--the enemy were close upon them, cutting them down.

"Where is Paaker?" asked the king. But the pioneer had vanished as
completely as if the earth had swallowed him and his chariot.

The flying Egyptians and the death-dealing chariots of the enemy came
nearer and nearer, the ground trembled, the tramp of hoofs and the
roar of wheels sounded louder and louder, like the roll of a rapidly
approaching storm.

Then Rameses gave out a war cry, that rang back from the cliffs on
the right hand and on the left like the blast of a trumpet; his
chariot-guard joined in the shout--for an instant the flying Egyptians
paused, but only to rush on again with double haste, in hope of escape
and safety: suddenly the war-cry of the enemy was heard behind the
king, mingling with the trumpet-call of the Cheta, and out from a cross
valley, which the king had passed unheeded by--and into which Paaker had
disappeared--came an innumerable host of chariots which, before the king
could retreat, had broken through the Egyptian ranks, and cut him off
from the body of his army. Behind him he could hear the roar and shock
of the battle, in front of him he saw the fugitives, the fallen, and the
enemy growing each instant in numbe