THE HEIR TO THE THRONE
Loi was not present at the sunset prayers in Karnak. An hour before he
had summoned the trustiest priest in the brotherhood of ministers to
Amen and bade him conduct the ceremonies of the evening. Then he sent
to the temple stores, put into service another boat and was ferried
over to the Libyan suburb of Thebes. He had himself borne in a litter
to the greater palace of Rameses II, and asked an audience with
Meneptah.
The king was at prayers in the temple of his father, close to the
palace, and the dusk of twilight was settling on the valley of the
Nile, before Loi was summoned to the council chamber.
The hall he entered was vast and full of deep shadows. The two windows
set in one wall, many feet above the floor, showed two spaces of
darkening sky. A single torch of aromatics flared and hissed beside
the throne dais. Tremendous wainscoting covered the base of the walls,
more than a foot above a man's height. It was massively carved with
colossal sheaves of lotus-blooms and sword-like palm-leaves. Columns
of great girth, bouquets of conventional stamens, ending in foliated
capitals, supported by the lofty ceiling. The few men gathered in
council were surrounded, over-shadowed, and dwarfed by monumental
strength and solemnity.
Behind a solid panel of carved cedar, which hedged the royal dais,
stood Meneptah. Above his head were the intricate drapings of a canopy
of gold tissue. On a level with his eyes, at his side, was the single
torch. His vision, like his father's, was defective. He was forty
years old, but appeared to be younger. His person was plump, and in
stature he was shorter than the average Egyptian. His coloring was
high and of uniform tint. The arch of the brow, and the conspicuous
distance between it and the eye below, the disdainful tension of the
nostril and the drooping corners of the mouth, gave his face the
injured expression of a spoiled child. The lips were of similar
fullness and the chin retreated. There was refinement in his face, but
no force nor modicum of perception.
Below, with the light of the torch wavering up and down his robust
figure, was Har-hat, Meneptah's greatest general and now the new
fan-bearer. In repose his face was expressive of great good-humor.
Merriment lighted his eyes and the cut of his mouth was for laughter.
But the smile seemed to be set and, furthermore, indicated that the
fan-bearer found much mirth in the discomfiture of others. Aside from
this undefined atmosphere of heartlessness, it can not be said that
there was any craft or wickedness patent on his face, for his features
were good and indicative of unusual intelligence. To the unobservant,
he seemed to be a lovable, useful, able man. However, we have seen
what Mentu thought of him, and Mentu's estimation might have
represented that of all profound thinkers. But to the latter class,
most assuredly, Meneptah did not belong.
Har-hat, taking the place of the king during the Rebu war, had
displayed such generalship that the Pharaoh had rewarded him at the
first opportunity with the highest office, except the regency, at his
command.
To the king's right, beside the dais, with a hand resting on the back
of a cathedra, or great chair, was the crown prince, Rameses. The old
courtiers of the dead grandsire, visiting the court of Meneptah, flung
up their hands and gasped when they beheld the heir to the double crown
of Egypt. They looked upon the old Pharaoh, renewed in youth and
strength. There were the same narrow temples with the sloping brow,
the same hawked nose, the same full lips, the same heavy eye with the
smoldering ember in its dusky depths. The only radical dissimilarity
was the hue of the prince's complexion. It was a strange, un-Egyptian
pallor, an opaque whiteness with dark shadows that belied the testimony
of vigor in his sinewy frame.
The old courtiers that were still attached to the court of Meneptah
watched with fascination the development of the heir's character. He
was twenty-two years old now and had proved that no alien nature had
been housed in the old Pharaoh's shape. If any pointed out the
prince's indolence as proving him unlike his grandsire the old
courtiers shook their heads and said: "He does not reign as yet and he
but saves his forces till the crown is his." So Egypt, stagnated at
the pinnacle of power by the accession of Meneptah, began to look
forward secretly to the reign of Rameses the Younger, with a hope that
was half terror.
To-night he stood in semi-dusk robed in festal attire, for somewhere a
rout awaited him. And of the groups of power and rank about him, none
seemed to fit that majestic council chamber so well as he. It was not
the robe of costly stuffs he wore, nor the trappings of jewels, which
if he moved never so slightly emitted a shower of frosty sparks--but a
peculiar emanation of magnetism that at once repelled and attracted,
and made him master over the monarch himself. He had never met repulse
or defeat; he had never entered the presence of his peer; he had never
loved, he had never prayed. He was a solitary power, who admitted
death as his only equal, and defied even him.
The other counselors were minor members of the cabinet, who had been
summoned, but expected only to hear and keep silence while the great
powers--the king, the prince, the priest and the fan-bearer--conferred.
Loi entered, bowing and walking with palsied step. At one time the
three central figures of the hall had been his pupils. He had taught
them from the simplest hieratic catechism to the initiation into the
mysteries. As novices they had kissed his hand and borne him
reverence. Now as the initiated, exalted through the acquisition of
power, it lay with them to reverse conditions if they pleased. But as
the old prelate prepared to do obeisance before Meneptah, he was stayed
with a gesture, and after a word of greeting was dismissed to his
place. Rameses saluted him with a motion of his hand and Har-hat bowed
reverently. The pontiff backed away to the great council table set
opposite the throne and was met there by a courtier with a chair.
At a sign from the king, who had already sunk into his throne, the old
man sat.
"Thou bringest us tidings, holy Father?"
"Even so, O Son of Ptah."
"Say on."
The priest moved a little uncomfortably and glanced at the ministers
grouped in the shadows.
"Save for the worthy Har-hat and our prince, O my King, thou hast no
need of great council," he said.
Meneptah raised his hand and the supernumerary ministers left the
chamber. When they were gone, Loi unwrapped the roll Kenkenes had
brought and began to read:
"To Loi, the most high Servant of Amen, Lord of Tape, the Servant of
Ra, at On, sends greeting:
"The gods lend me composure to speak calmly with thee, O Brother. And
let the dismay which is mine explain the lack of ceremony in this
writing.
"It is not likely that thou hast forgotten the good Queen Neferari
Thermuthis' foster-son--the Hebrew Mesu, whom she found adrift in a
basket on Nilus. But lest the years have driven the memory of his
misdeeds from thy mind, I tell again the story. Thou knowest he was
initiated a priest of Isis, and scarce had the last of the mysteries
been disclosed to him, ere it was seen that the brotherhood had taken
an apostate unto itself.
"By the grace of the gods, he interfered in a brawl at Pithom and
killed an Egyptian. Before he could be taken he fled into Midian, and
the secrets of our order were safe, for a time.
"One by one our fellows have entered Osiris. The young who knew not
have filled their places. Thou and I, only, are left--and the Hebrew!
"He hath returned!
"The gods make strong our hands against him! He went away as a menace,
but he returneth as a pestilence. The demons of Amend are with him,
and his hour is most propitious. He hath sunk himself in the
Israelitish pool here in the north, and he will breathe therefrom such
vapors as may destroy Egypt--faith--state--all!
"The bond-people are already in ferment. There was mutiny at Pa-Ramesu
recently, when three hundred were chosen to work the quarries.
Moreover, the taskmasters are corrupt. The commander, one Atsu by
name, appointed when the chief Merenra became nomarch over Bubastis,
hath disarmed the under-drivers, removed the women from toil and
restored many privileges which are ruinous to law and order. The whole
Delta is in commotion. The nomad tribes near the Goshen country are
agitated; communities of Egyptian shepherds have been won over to the
Hebrew's cause, and now the Israelitish renegade needs but to betray
the secrets to bring such calamity upon Egypt as never befell a nation.
"But, Brother, he is within reach of an avenging hand! Commission us,
I pray thee, to protect the mysteries after any manner that to us
seemeth good.
"Despatch is urgent. He may fly again. Give us thine answer as we
have sent this to thee--by a nobleman--a swift and trusty one, and the
blessings of the Radiant Three be upon thy head.
"Thy servant, the Servant of Ra,
"Snofru."
When the priest finished, the king was sitting upright, his face
flushed with feeling.
"Sedition!" he exclaimed; "organized rebellion in the very heart of my
realm!"
He paused for a space and thrust back the heavy fringes of his cowl
with a gesture of peevish impatience.
"What evil humor possesses Egypt?" he burst forth irritably. "Hardly
have I overthrown an invader before my people break out. I quiet them
in one place and they revolt in another. Must I turn a spear upon mine
own?"
"Well," he cried, stamping his foot, when the three before him kept
silence, "have ye no word to say?"
His eyes rested on Har-hat, with an imperious expectation in them. The
fan-bearer bent low before he answered.
"With thy gracious permission, O Son of Ptah," he said, "I would
suggest that it were wise to cool an insurrection in the simmering.
The disaffection seems to be of great extent. But the Rameside army
assembled on the ground might check an open insurrection. Furthermore,
thou hast seen the salutary effect of thy visit to Tape when she forgot
her duty to her sovereign. Thy presence in the Delta would undoubtedly
expedite the suppression of the rebellion likewise."
"O, aye," Meneptah declared. "I must go to Tanis. It seems that I
must hasten hither and thither over Egypt pursuing sedition like a
scent-hunting jackal. Mayhap if I were divided like Osiris[1] and a
bit of me scattered in each nome, I might preserve peace. But it goes
sore against me to drag the army with me. Hast thou any simpler plan
to offer, holy Father?"
The old priest shifted a little before he answered.
"The mysteries of the faith are in possession of Mesu," he began at
last. "The writing saith he hath exerted great influence over the
bond-people--in truth he hath entered a peaceful land and stirred it
up--and time is but needed to bring the unrest to open warfare. Thou,
O Meneptah, and thou, O Rameses, and thou, O Har-hat, each being of the
brotherhood--ye know that we hold the faith by scant tenure in the
respect of the people. Ye know the perversity of humanity. Obedience
and piety are not in them. Though they never knew a faith save the
faith of their fathers, we must pursue them with a gad, tickle them
with processions and awe them with manifestations. So if it were to
come over the spirit of this Hebrew to betray the mysteries, to scout
the faith and overturn the gods, he would have rabble Egypt following
at his heels.
"As the writing saith, he hath the destruction of the state in mind,
and his own aggrandizement. He but beginneth on the faith because he
seeth in that a rift wherein to put the lever that shall pry the whole
state asunder. So with two and a half millions of Hebrews and a horde
of renegade Egyptians to combat, I fear the Rameside army might spill
more good blood than is worth wasting on a mongrel multitude. The
rabble without a leader is harmless. Cut off the head of the monster,
and there is neither might nor danger in the trunk. Put away Mesu, and
the insurrection will subside utterly."
The priest paused and Meneptah stroked the polished coping of the panel
before him with a nervous hand. There was complete silence for a
moment, broken at last by the king.
"Mesu, though a Hebrew, an infidel and a malefactor, is a prince of the
realm, my foster-brother--Neferari's favorite son. I can not rid
myself of him on provocation as yet misty and indirect."
"Nay," he added after another pause, "he shall not die by hand of
mine." The prelate raised his head and met the eyes of the king.
After he read what lay therein, the dissatisfaction that had begun to
show on his ancient face faded.
The Pharaoh settled back into his seat and his brow cleared as if the
problem had been settled. But suddenly he sat up.
"What have I profited by this council? Shall I take the army or leave
it distributed over Egypt?" He stopped abruptly and turned to the
crown prince. "Help us, my Rameses," he said in a softer tone. "We
had well-nigh forgotten thee."
Rameses raised himself from the back of his cathedra, against which he
lounged, and moved a step forward.
"A word, my father," he said calmly. "Thy perplexity hath not been
untangled for thee, nor even a thread pulled which shall start it
raveling. The priesthood can kill Mesu," he said to Loi, "and it will
do them no hurt. And thou, my father, canst countenance it and seem no
worse than any other monarch that loved his throne. Thus ye will
decapitate the monster. But there be creatures in the desert which,
losing one head, grow another. Mesu is not of such exalted or
supernatural villainy that they can not fill his place. Wilt thou
execute Israel one by one as it raises up a leader against thee? Nay;
and wilt thou play the barbarian and put two and a half million at once
to the sword?"
The trio looked uncomfortable, none more so than the Pharaoh. The
prince went on mercilessly.
"Are the Hebrews warriors? Wouldst thou go against a host of
trowel-wielding slaves with an army that levels lances only against
free-born men? And yet, wilt thou wait till all Israel shall crowd
into thy presence and defy thee before thou actest? And again, wilt
thou descend on them with arms now when they may with Justice cry 'What
have we done to thee?' Thou art beset, my father."
The Pharaoh opened his lips as if to answer, but the level eye of the
prince silenced him.
"Thou hast not fathomed the Hebrew's capabilities, my father," Rameses
continued. "In him is a wealth, a power, a magnificence that thy
fathers and mine built up for thee, and the time is ripe for the
garnering of thy profit. What monarch of the sister nations hath two
and a half millions of hereditary slaves--not tributary folk nor
prisoners of war--but slaves that are his as his cattle and his flocks
are his? What monarch before thee had them? None anywhere, at any
time. Thou art rich in bond-people beyond any monarch since the gods
reigned."
The chagrin died on the Pharaoh's face and he wore an expectant look.
The prince continued in even tones.
"By use, they have fitted themselves to the limits laid upon them by
the great Rameses. The feeble have died and the frames of the sturdy
have become like brass. They have bred like beetles in the Nile mud
for numbers. Ignorant of their value, thou hast been indifferent to
their existence. Forgetting them was pampering them. They have lived
on the bounty of Egypt for four hundred years and, save for the wise
inflictions of a year or two by the older Pharaohs, they have
flourished unmolested. How they repay thee, thou seest by this
writing. Now, by the gods, turn the face of a master upon them.
Remove the soft driver, Atsu, and put one in his stead who is worthy
the office. Tickle them to alacrity and obedience with the lash--yoke
them--load them--fill thy canals, thy quarries, thy mines with them--"
He broke off and moved forward a step squarely facing the Pharaoh.
"Thou hast thine artist--that demi-god Mentu, in whom there is
supernatural genius for architecture as well as sculpture. Make him
thy murket[2] as well, and with him dost thou know what thou canst do
with these slaves? Thou canst rear Karnak in every herdsman's village;
thou canst carve the twin of Ipsambul in every rock-front that faces
the Nile; thou canst erect a pyramid tomb for thee that shall make an
infant of Khufu; thou canst build a highway from Syene to Tanis and
line it with sisters of the Sphinx; thou canst write the name of
Meneptah above every other name on the world's monuments and it shall
endure as long as stone and bronze shall last and tradition go on from
lip to lip!"
The prince paused abruptly. Meneptah was on his feet, almost in tears
at the contemplation of his pictured greatness.
"Mark ye!" the prince began again. His arm shot out and fell and the
flash of its jewels made it look like a bolt of lightning. "I would
not fall heir to Israel--and if these things are done in thy lifetime I
must build my monuments with prisoners of war!"
The old hierarch, who had been nervously rubbing the arm of his chair
during the last of the prince's speech, broke the dead silence with an
awed whisper.
"Ah, then spake the Incomparable Pharaoh!"
Meneptah put out his hand, smiling.
"No more. The way is shown, I follow, O my Rameses!"
[1] Osiris--the great god of Egypt, was overcome by Set, his body
divided and scattered over the valley of the Nile. Isis, wife of
Osiris, gathered up the remains and buried them at This or Abydos.
[2] Murket--the royal architect, an exalted office usually held by
princes of the realm.