ed themselves till the blood
flowed, and cried,

"Woe to Egypt! Impiety has passed its measure and the hour of judgment
is coming! O gods show your power over the insolence of injustice."

The troops bore themselves calmly, waiting till the people should break
into the temples. For an order to that effect had come from the palace;
and on the other the officers foresaw ambushes in the temples, and
preferred that men of the crowd should perish rather than warriors, who
would be sufficiently occupied in every case.

But in spite of the shouts of agitators, and wine given for nothing,
the crowd hesitated. Laborers looked at the artisans; the artisans and
all were waiting for something.

Suddenly, about one in the afternoon, from side streets a drunken band
poured forth toward the temple of Ptah; it was armed with poles and
axes and was made up of fishermen, Greek sailors, shepherds, and Libyan
vagrants, even convicts from the quarries in Turra. At the head of this
band went a laborer of gigantic stature, with a torch in his hand. He
stood before the gate of the temple and cried with an immense voice to
the people,

"Do ye know, right believers, what the high priests and the nomarchs
are preparing here? They wish to force his holiness, Ramses XIII, to
deprive laborers of a barley cake a day, and to impose new taxes on the
people, a drachma each man. I say, then, that ye are committing a low
and stupid deed by standing here with your arms crossed. We must catch
these temple rats at last and give them into the hands of our lord, the
pharaoh, against whom these godless wretches are conspiring. If our
lord yields to priests, who will take the part of honest people?"

"He speaks truth!" called out voices from the multitude.

"Our lord will command to give us the seventh day for rest."

"And will give us land."

"He had compassion always for the common people. Remember how he freed
those who, two years ago, were under judgment for attacking the house
of the Jewess."

"I myself saw him beat a scribe, when the man was dragging an unjust
tax from laborers."

"May he live through eternity, our lord, Ramses XIII, the guardian of
oppressed laborers!"

"But look!" called out some voice from afar, "the cattle are coming
from pasture, as if evening were near."

"What cattle! Go on against the priests!"

"Hei, ye!" cried the giant at the temple gate. "Open to us of your own
will, so that we may know what the high priests a