om forced
labor, have never borne arms. And you know the people. They will kiss
the feet of the conqueror if they have to wade up to there through the
blood of their children. Besides--as it happens--the hawk which old Hekt
keeps as representing me is to-day pining and sick--"

"It will be all the prouder and brighter to-morrow if you are a man!"
exclaimed Katuti, and her eyes sparkled with scorn. "You cannot now
retreat. Here in Pelusium you welcome Rameses as if he were a God,
and he accepts the honor. I know the king, he is too proud to be
distrustful, and so conceited that he can never believe himself deceived
in any man, either friend or foe. The man whom he appointed to be his
Regent, whom he designated as the worthiest in the land, he will most
unwillingly condemn. Today you still have the car of the king; to-morrow
he will listen to your enemies, and too much has occurred in Thebes to
be blotted out. You are in the position of a lion who has his keeper on
one side, and the bars of his cage on the other. If you let the moment
pass without striking you will remain in the cage; but if you act and
show yourself a lion your keepers are done for!"

"You urge me on and on," said Ani. "But supposing your plan were to
fail, as Paaker's well considered plot failed?"

"Then you are no worse off than you are now," answered Katuti. "The
Gods rule the elements, not men. Is it likely that you should finish so
beautiful a structure with such care only to destroy it? And we have no
accomplices, and need none."

"But who shall set the brand to the room which Nemu and the slave have
filled with straw and pitch?" asked Ani.

"I," said Katuti decidedly. "And one who has nothing to look for from
Rameses."

"Who is that?"

"Paaker."

"Is the Mohar here?" asked the Regent surprised.

"You yourself have seen him."

"You are mistaken," said Ani. "I should--"

"Do you recollect the one-eyed, grey-haired, blackman, who yesterday
brought me a letter? That was my sister's son."

The Regent struck his forehead--"Poor wretch" he muttered.

"He is frightfully altered," said Katuti. "He need not have blackened
his face, for his own mother would not know him again: He lost an eye in
his fight with Mena, who also wounded him in the lungs with a thrust
of his sword, so that he breathes and speaks with difficulty, his broad
shoulders have lost their flesh, and the fine legs he swaggered about on
have shrunk as thin as a negro's. I l