of the brave!" cried the prince.

At that moment Herhor approached. He had heard the conversation, and
said abruptly,

"Had there been on your side such an awkward leader as the erpatr, how
could we have finished the maneuvers?"

"Let the young warrior alone!" answered Nitager. "Is it not enough for
thee that he has shown the iron claws, as was proper for a son of the
pharaoh?"

Tutmosis, noting the turn which the conversation had taken, asked
Nitager,

"Whence hast Thou come, that thy main forces are in front of our army?"

"I knew how incompetently the division was marching from Memphis, when
the heir was concentrating his regiments near Pi-Bailos, and for sport
I wished to capture you young lords. To my misfortune the heir was here
and spoiled my plans. Act that way always, Ramses, of course in
presence of real enemies."

"But if, as today, he meets a force three times superior?" inquired
Herhor.

"Daring keenness means more than strength," replied the old leader. "An
elephant is fifty times stronger than a man; still he yields to him, or
dies at his hands."

Herhor listened in silence.

The maneuvers were declared finished. Prince Ramses with the minister
and commanders went to the army near Pi-Bailos. There he greeted
Nitager's veterans, took farewell of his own regiments, commanded them
to march eastward, and wished success to them.

Then, surrounded by a great suite, he returned by the highway to
Memphis amid crowds from the land of Goshen, who with green garlands
and in holiday robes congratulated the conqueror.

When the highway turned toward the desert, the crowd became thinner,
and when they approached the place where the staff of the heir had
entered the ravine because of the scarabs, there was no one.

Ramses nodded to Tutmosis, and pointing to the naked hill, whispered,

"Thou wilt go to Sarah."

"I understand."

"Tell her father that I will give him land outside Memphis."

"I understand. Thou wilt have her to-morrow."

After this conversation Tutmosis withdrew to the troops marching behind
the suite, and vanished.

Almost opposite the ravine along which the army had passed in the
morning, some tens of steps from the road, stood a tamarind-tree which,
though old, was not large. At this point a halt was mad by the guard
which had preceded the suite.

"Shall we meet scarabs again?" asked Ramses, with a laugh.

"We shall see," answered Herhor.

They looked; on the slender tree a