THE PETITION
Some time later the bar rattled down again, and the jailer stood
without, a scribe at his side. At a sign from the jailer, the latter
made as though to enter, but Kenkenes stopped him.
"I have need of your materials only," he said, "but the fee shall be
yours nevertheless." The man set his case on the floor and Kenkenes
put a ring of silver in the outstretched palm.
"Fail me not in a faithful messenger," the prisoner repeated to the
jailer. The official nodded, and the door was closed again.
Kenkenes sat on the floor beside the case, laid the cover back and
taking out materials, wrote thus:
"To my friend, the noble Hotep, greeting:
"This from Kenkenes, whom ill-fortune can not wholly possess, while he
may call thee his friend.
"I speak to thee out of the prison at Tape, where I am held for
stealing a bondmaiden and for executing a statue against the canons of
the sculptor's ritual. The accumulated penalty for these offenses is
great--my plight is most serious.
"The pitying gods have left me one chance for escape. If I fail I
shall molder here, for my counsel is mine and the demons of Amenti
shall not rend it from me.
"The tale is short and miserable. But for the necessity I would not
repeat it, for it publishes the humiliation of sweet innocence.
"Suffice it to say that the offended is she of whom we talked one day
on the hill back of Masaarah; the offender is Har-hat who hath buried
me here in Tape.
"One morning he saw her at the quarries and, taken with her beauty,
asked her at the hands of the Pharaoh, for the hatefullest bondage pure
maidenhood ever knew.
"She fled from the minions he sent to take her, and came to me in that
spot on the hillside where thou and I did talk.
"There the minions found us, and by the evidence they looked upon, I am
further charged with sacrilege.
"Thou dost remember the all-powerful signet, which my father had from
the Incomparable Pharaoh. He lost it in the tomb of the king, three
years ago, abandoning the search for it before I was assured that it
was not to be found.
"So strong was my faith that the signet was in the tomb, that when this
disaster overtook her, I came to Tape at once to look again for the
treasure. I found it.
"But by some unknowable mischance mine enemy discovered my whereabouts
and a third minion, who escaped my wrath before the statue that
morning, appeared in the city and caused me to be delivered up to the
authorities on the charges already named.
"She is hidden, and I have provided for her protection, as well as I
may, against the wishes of the strongest man in the land. For her
immediate welfare I am not greatly troubled. But, alas! I would be
with her--thou knowest, O my Hotep, the hunger and heartache of such
separation.
"If the Pharaoh honor not the signet herein inclosed, tell my father of
my plight, let me know the decision of the king, and then I shall trust
to the Hathors for liberty.
"Of this contingency, I would not speak at length. It may be tempting
the caprice of the Seven Sisters to presuppose such misfortune.
"Let not my father intervene for me. He shall not endanger himself
further than I have already asked of him.
"But remember thou this injunction, most surely. That it shall be last
and therefore freshest in thy memory, I put this at the end of the
letter.
"Put the petition herein inclosed into the Pharaoh's hands! For my
life's sake let it not come into the possession of any other.
"I shall write no more. My scant eloquence must be saved for the king.
"Gods! but it is good to have faith in a friend. I salute thee.
"KENKENES."
The letter to Hotep complete, Kenkenes took up another roll and wrote
thus to Meneptah:
"To Meneptah, Beloved of Ptah, Ambassador of Amen, Vicar of Ra, Lord
over Upper and Lower Egypt, greeting:"
At this point he paused. His power of expression, aghast at the
magnitude of the stake laid on its successful use, became
panic-stricken and fled from him. He feared that words could not be
chosen which would justify his sacrilege or prove his claims to Rachel
greater than Har-hat's. Meneptah would be hedged about with prejudice
against his first cause, and deterred by the prior right of Har-hat, in
the second. The last man that talked with the king molded him.
Flattery alone might prevail against coercion. It was the one hope.
Kenkenes seized his pen and wrote:
"This from thy subject, Kenkenes, the son of Mentu, thy murket.
"I give thee a true story, O Defender of Women.
"There is a maiden whose kinsmen died of hard labor in the service of
Egypt. Not one was left to care for her. Of all her house, she alone
remains. They died in ignominy. Shall the last remnant of the unhappy
family be stamped out in dishonor?
"If one came before thee seeking to insult innocence, and another
begging leave to protect it, thou wouldst choose for him who would keep
pure the undefiled. Have I not said, O my King?
"Before thee, even now is such a choice.
"Already thou hast given over the mastership of Rachel, daughter of
Maai the Israelite, to thy fan-bearer, Har-hat. By the lips of his own
servants, I am informed that he would have put her in his harem.
"She fled from him and I hid her away, for I could not bear to deliver
her up to the despoiler.
"I love her--she loveth me. Wilt thou not give her to me to wife?
"Thine illustrious sire bespeaketh thy favor, out of Amenti. Behold
his signet and its injunction.
"Furthermore, I confess to sacrilege against Athor, in carving a statue
which ignored the sculptor's ritual. For this, and for hiding the
Israelite, am I imprisoned in the city stronghold of Tape.
"I would be free to return to my love and comfort her, but if it shall
overtax thy generosity to release me, I pray thee announce my sentence
and let me begin to count the hours till I shall come forth again.
"The Israelite hath a nurse, a feeble and sick old woman, Deborah by
name, whom the minions of Har-hat abused. She can be of no further use
in servitude, and I would have thee set her free to bear company to her
love, the white-souled Rachel.
"But if these last prayers imperil the first by strain upon thy
indulgence, O Beloved of Ptah, do thou set them aside, and grant only
the safety of the oppressed maiden.
"These to thy hand, by the hand of the scribe, Hotep.
"KENKENES."
The letter complete, he summoned the messenger.
"How swift art thou?" he asked.
"So swift that my service is desired beyond mine opportunities to
accept," was the answer.
"How is it that thou art ready to serve me? Thou seest my plight."
"The jailer spoke of thee as petitioning the Pharaoh. The king is in
the north where I have not been in all the reign of Meneptah. Thou
offerest me a pleasure and the fee shall be in proportion to the length
of the journey."
"Nay, but thou art a genius. Thou dost move me to imitate the Hathors,
since they add fortune to the already fortunate. Mark me. I will give
thee thy fee now. If thou dost return me a letter showing that thou
hast carried the message with all faith and speed, I shall give thee
another fee on thy home-coming. What thinkest thou?"
The man smiled and nodded. "Naught but the darts of Amenti shall delay
me."
Kenkenes gave him the message, and a handful of rings. The man
expressed his thanks, after which he went forth, and the door was
barred.
Kenkenes stood for a while, motionless before the tightly fitted portal
of stone. Then through the high crevice that was his window the sounds
of life outside smote upon his ear. The noise of the city seemed to
become all revel. Some one under the walls laughed--the hearty,
raucous laugh of the care-free boor.
He turned about and flung himself face down in the straw of his pallet.
He had begun to wait.