f?" burst out the prince.

He ran through the room, and snorted like an angry lion. When he was
somewhat quieted, Tutmosis added,

"Seek not for proof where it is not to be discovered, for Thou wilt not
find even witnesses. If any man strangled that laborer at command of
the nomarch, he will not confess; the laborer himself is dead, and will
not say anything; besides, what would his complaint against the nomarch
amount to? In these conditions no court would begin to investigate."

"But if I command?" asked the viceroy.

"In that case they will investigate and prove the innocence of Sofra.
Then Thou wilt be put to shame, and all the nomarchs with their
relatives and servants will become thy enemies."

The prince stood in the middle of the chamber and pondered.

"Finally," said Tutmosis, "everything seems to show this, that the
unfortunate Bakura was a drunkard or a maniac, and, above all, a man of
foreign blood. If a genuine Egyptian in his senses were to go without
pay for a year, and be clubbed twice as much as this man, would he dare
to break into the palace of the nomarch and appeal to thee with such an
outcry?"

Ramses bent his head, and seeing that there were nobles in the next
chamber, he said in a voice somewhat lowered,

"Knowest thou, Tutmosis, since I set out on this journey Egypt begins
to appear somehow strange to me? At times I ask my own self if I am not
in some foreign region. Then again my heart is disturbed, as if I had a
curtain before me, behind which all kinds of villainy are practiced,
but which I myself cannot see with my own eyes."

"Then do not look at them; for if Thou do, it will seem at last to thee
that we should all be sent to the quarries," said Tutmosis, smiling.
"Remember that the nomarchs and officials are the shepherds of thy
flock. If one of them takes a measure of milk for himself, or kills a
little sheep, of course Thou wilt not kill him or drive the man away.
Thou hast many sheep, and it is not easy to find shepherds."

The viceroy, now dressed, passed into the hall of waiting, where his
suite stood assembled, priests, officers, and officials. Then he left
the palace with them, and went to the outer courtyard.

That was a broad space, planted with acacias, under the shade of which
the laborers were waiting for the viceroy. At the sound of a trumpet
the whole crowd sprang up, and stood in five ranks before him.

Ramses, attended by a glittering retinue of dignitaries, ha