ked the prince, doubtingly.

"Who? Any nomarch, any officer, any noble will take them if he has a
command from the pharaoh, and the minor priests will show the way to
secret places."

"They would not dare to do so. The punishment of the gods."

Tutmosis waved his hand contemptuously.

"But are we slaves or shepherds, to fear gods whom Greeks and
Phoenicians revile, and whom any mercenary warrior will insult and go
unpunished?"

"The priests have invented silly tales about gods, tales to which they
themselves attach no credit. Thou knowest that they recognize only the
One in temples. They perform miracles, too, at which they laugh.

"Only the lowest people strike the earth with their foreheads before
statues in the old way. Even working women have doubts now about the
all-might of Osiris, Set, and Horus; the scribes cheat the gods in
accounts, and the priests use them as a lock and chain to secure their
treasures."

"Oho!" continued Tutmosis; "the clays have passed when all Egypt
believed in everything announced from temples. At present we insult the
Phoenician gods, the Phoenicians insult our gods, and no thunderbolt
strikes any man of us."

The viceroy looked carefully at Tutmosis.

"How did such thoughts come to thy head?" inquired he. "But it is not
so long ago that Thou wouldst pale at the very mention of the
priesthood."

"Yes, because I felt alone. But today, after I have seen that all the
nobles understand as I, I feel encouraged."

"But who told thee and the nobles of that treaty with Assyria?"

"Dagon and other Phoenicians," answered Tutmosis. "They even said that
when the time came they would rouse Asiatic races to rebellion, so that
our troops might have a pretext to cross the boundaries, and when once
on the road to Nineveh, the Phoenicians and their allies would join us.
And thy army would be larger than that which Ramses the Great had
behind him,"

This zeal of the Phoenicians did not please the heir, but he was silent
on that subject.

"But what will happen if the priests learn of your conversations?"
inquired he. "None of you will escape death, be sure of that."

"They will learn nothing," replied Tutmosis, joyfully. "They trust too
much in their power, they pay their spies badly, and have disgusted all
Egypt with their pride and rapacity. Moreover, the aristocracy, the
army, the scribes, the laborers, even the minor priests are only
waiting for the signal to attack the temples, take