t passes and
strongholds had been conquered by his troops, he set out for Egypt
with his train and the vanquished princes. He sent two of his sons to
Bent-Anat at Megiddo, to escort her by sea to Pelusium; he knew that the
commandant of the harbor of that frontier fortress, at the easternmost
limit of his kingdom, was faithful to him, and he ordered that his
daughter should not quit the ship till he arrived, to secure her against
any attempt on the part of the Regent. A large part of the material of
war, and most of the wounded, were also sent to Egypt by sea.

CHAPTER XL.

Nearly three months had passed since the battle of Kadesh, and to-day
the king was expected, on his way home with his victorious army, at
Pelusium, the strong hold and key of Egyptian dominion in the east.
Splendid preparations had been made for his reception, and the man who
took the lead in the festive arrangements with a zeal that was doubly
effective from his composed demeanor was no less a person than the
Regent Ani.

His chariot was to be seen everywhere: now he was with the workmen,
who were to decorate triumphal arches with fresh flowers; now with the
slaves, who were hanging garlands on the wooden lions erected on the
road for this great occasion; now--and this detained him longest--he
watched the progress of the immense palace which was being rapidly
constructed of wood on the site where formerly the camp of the Hyksos
had stood, in which the actual ceremony of receiving the king was to
take place, and where the Pharaoh and his immediate followers were
to reside. It had been found possible, by employing several thousand
laborers, to erect this magnificent structure, in a few weeks, and
nothing was lacking to it that could be desired, even by a king so
accustomed as Rameses to luxury and splendor. A high exterior flight of
steps led from the garden--which had been created out of a waste--to the
vestibule, out of which the banqueting hall opened.

This was of unusual height, and had a vaulted wooden ceiling, which was
painted blue and sprinkled with stars, to represent the night heavens,
and which was supported on pillars carved, some in the form of
date-palms, and some like cedars of Lebanon; the leaves and twigs
consisted of artfully fastened and colored tissue; elegant festoons of
bluish gauze were stretched from pillar to pillar across the hall,
and in the centre of the eastern wall they were attached to a large
shell-shaped ca