? Was he the victim
of a delusion? or was his preserver a man of flesh and blood, who had
come home from the battle-field among the wounded!

The man who stood by his side, and held the reins, could have informed
him, for Ani had recognized Pentaur, and in his horror had given the
reins a perilous jerk.

CHAPTER XLI.

The king did not return to the great pavilion till after sun-down; the
banqueting hall, illuminated with a thousand lamps, was now filled with
the gay crowd of guests who awaited the arrival of the king. All bowed
before him, as he entered, more or less low, each according to his rank;
he immediately seated himself on his throne, surrounded by his children
in a wide semicircle, and his officers and retainers all passed before
him; for each he had a kindly word or glance, winning respect from all,
and filling every one with joy and hope.

"The only really divine attribute of my royal condition," said he
to himself, "is that it is so easy to a king to make men happy.
My predecessors chose the poisonous Uraeus as the emblem of their
authority, for we can cause death as quickly and certainly as the
venomous snake; but the power of giving happiness dwells on our own
lips, and in our own eyes, and we need some instrument when we decree
death."

"Take the Uraeus crown from my head," he continued aloud, as he seated
himself at the feast. "Today I will wear a wreath of flowers."

During the ceremony of bowing to the king, two men had quitted the
hall--the Regent Ani, and the high-priest Ameni.

Ani ordered a small party of the watch to go and seek out the priest
Pentaur in the tents of the wounded by the harbor, to bring the poet
quietly to his tent, and to guard him there till his return. He still
had in his possession the maddening potion, which he was to have given
to the captain of the transport-boat, and it was open to him still to
receive Pentaur either as a guest or as a prisoner. Pentaur might injure
him, whether Katuti's project failed or succeeded.

Ameni left the pavilion to go to see old Gagabu, who had stood so long
in the heat of the sun during the ceremony of receiving the conqueror,
that he had been at last carried fainting to the tent which he shared
with the high-priest, and which was not far from that of the Regent. He
found the old man much revived, and was preparing to mount his chariot
to go to the banquet, when the Regent's myrmidons led Pentaur past in
front of him. Ameni loo