nth man.
Every tenth man was clubbed, and I got the most, for I am big and have
three mouths to feed, my own, my wife's, and my daughter's. When I was
clubbed I broke away from them to fall down, O lord, in thy presence,
and tell thee our sorrows. Beat us if we are guilty, but let the
scribes give us that which is due, for we are dying of hunger, we, our
wives, and our children."

"This man is possessed!" exclaimed Sofra. "Be pleased, lord, to see the
damage he has wrought here. I would not take ten talents for those
dishes, pitchers, and tables."

Among the guests, who now were recovering their senses, a muttering
began.

"This is a bandit!" said they. "Look at him, really a Hyksos. Boiling
up in him is the cursed blood of his ancestors, the men who invaded and
ruined Egypt. Such costly furniture, such splendid vessels, broken into
fragments!"

"The loss caused the state by one rebellion of unpaid laborers is
greater than the value of these vessels," said Ramses.

"Sacred words! They should be written on monuments," said some among
the guests. "Rebellion takes people from their labor and grieves the
heart of his holiness. It is not proper that laborers should be unpaid
for two months in succession."

The prince looked with contempt on those courtiers, changeable as
clouds; he turned then to the nomarch.

"I give thee," said he, threateningly, "this punished man. I am certain
that a hair of his head will not fall from him. Tomorrow morning I wish
to see the regiment to which he belongs and learn whether he speaks
truth or falsehood."

After these words Ramses went out, leaving the nomarch and the guests
in vexation.

Next morning the prince, while dressing with the aid of Tutmosis, asked
him,

"Have the laborers come?"

"They have, lord; they have been waiting for thy commands since
daybreak."

"And is that man Bakura among them?"

Tutmosis made a wry face and answered,

"A marvelous thing has happened. The worthy Sofra gave command to shut
the fellow up in an empty cellar of the palace. Well, the disorderly
rascal, a very strong man, broke the door to another place where there
is wine; he overturned a number of pots of very costly wine, and got so
drunk that."

"That what?" asked the prince.

"That he perished."

The prince sprang up from his chair.

"And dost them believe that he drank himself to death?"

"I must believe, for I have no proof that they killed him."

"But if I look for proo