s a feeble
reed, the powerless sport of every wind."

"And yet you hoped for great things from him!"

"Not from him, but through him--with us for his guides," replied Ameni
in a low voice but with emphasis. "It is his own fault that I have
abandoned his cause. Our first wish--to spare the poet Pentaur--he would
not respect, and he did not hesitate to break his oath, to betray us,
and to sacrifice one of the noblest of God's creatures, as the poet
was, to gratify a petty grudge. It is harder to fight against cunning
weakness than against honest enmity. Shall we reward the man who has
deprived the world of Pentaur by giving him a crown? It is hard to quit
the trodden way, and seek a better--to give up a half-executed plan and
take a more promising one; it is hard, I say, for the individual man,
and makes him seem fickle in the eyes of others; but we cannot see to
the right hand and the left, and if we pursue a great end we cannot
remain within the narrow limits which are set by law and custom to the
actions of private individuals. We draw back just as we seem to have
reached the goal, we let him fall whom we had raised, and lift him,
whom we had stricken to the earth, to the pinnacle of glory, in short
we profess--and for thousands of years have professed--the doctrine that
every path is a right one that leads to the great end of securing to the
priesthood the supreme power in the land. Rameses, saved by a miracle,
vowing temples to the Gods, will for the future exhaust his restless
spirit not in battle as a warrior, but in building as an architect. He
will make use of us, and we can always lead the man who needs us. So I
now hail the son of Seti with sincere joy."

Ameni was still speaking when the flags were hoisted on the standards by
the triumphal arches, clouds of dust rolled up on the farther shore of
the Nile, and the blare of trumpets was heard.

First came the horses which had carried Rameses through the fight, with
the king himself, who drove them. His eyes sparkled with joyful triumph
as the people on the farther side of the bridge received him with shouts
of joy, and the vast multitude hailed him with wild enthusiasm and tears
of emotion, strewing in his path the spoils of their gardens-flowers,
garlands, and palm-branches.

Ani marched at the head of the procession that went forth to meet
him; he humbly threw himself in the dust before the horses, kissed
the ground, and then presented to the king the sce