From the moment when the troops of Lower Egypt marched out of Pi-Bast,
the prophet, Mentezufis, who accompanied the prince, received and sent
away despatches daily.
One correspondence he conducted with the minister Herhor; Mentezufis
sent reports to Memphis touching the advance of the troops, and the
activity of the viceroy; of this activity he did not conceal his
admiration. On his part, the worthy Herhor stated that every freedom
was to be left to the heir, and that if Rameses lost his first battle,
the supreme council would not feel angry.
"A slight defeat," said Herhor, "would be a lesson in humility and
caution to the viceroy, who even now, though as yet he has done
nothing, considers himself as equal to the most experienced warriors."
When Mentezufis answered that one could not easily suppose that the
heir would meet defeat, Herhor let him understand that in that case
the triumph should not be over brilliant.
"The state," continued he, "will not lose in any way if the warriors
and the impulsive heir find amusement for some years along the western
border. He will gain skill himself in warfare, while the idle warriors
will find their own proper work to do."
The other correspondence Mentezufis carried on with the holy father
Mefres and that seemed to him of more importance. Mefres, offended
formerly by the prince, had recently, in the case of Sarah's child,
accused the prince directly of infanticide, committed under Kama's
influence.
When a week had passed, and the viceroy's innocence was manifest, the
high priest grew still more irate, and did not cease his efforts. The
prince, he said, was capable of anything; he was hostile to the
country's gods, he was an ally of the vile Phoenicians.
The murder of Sarah's child seemed so suspicious in the earlier days,
that even the supreme council asked Mentezufis what he thought of it.
Mentezufis answered that he had watched the prince for days, and did
not think the man a murderer.
Such were the letters which, like birds of prey, whirled around
Rameses, while he was sending scouts against the enemy, consulting
leaders, or urging on his warriors.
On the fourteenth day the whole army was concentrated on the south of
Terenuthis. To the great delight of the heir, Patrokles came with the
Greek regiment, and with him the priest Pentuer, sent by Herhor as
another guardian near the viceroy.
The multitude of priests in the camp (for there were still others) did
not enchant Rameses. But he resolved not to turn attention to the holy
men or ask advice of them.
Relations were regulated in some way, for Mentezufis, according to
instructions from Herhor, did not force himself on the prince, while
Pentuer occupied himself with organizing medical aid for the wounded.
The military game began.
First of all Rameses, through his agents, had spread a report in many
boundary villages that the Libyans were pushing forward in great
masses, and would destroy and murder. Because of this the terrified
inhabitants fled eastward and met the Egyptian warriors. The prince
took them in to carry burdens for the army, the women and children he
conveyed to the interior of Egypt. Next the commander sent spies to
meet the approaching Libyans and discover their number and
disposition. These spies returned soon, bringing accurate indications
as to where the Libyans were and very exaggerated accounts as to their
numbers. They asserted, too, mistakenly, though in great confidence,
that at the head of the Libyan columns marched Musawasa with his son
Tehenna.
The princely leader was flushed with delight that in his first war he
would have such an experienced enemy as Musawasa.
He overestimated, therefore, the danger of the struggle and redoubled
every caution. To have all chances on his side he had recourse to
stratagem. He sent confidential men to meet the Libyans; he commanded
them to feign that they were fugitives, to enter the enemies' camp and
draw from Musawasa his best forces, the disbanded Libyan soldiers.
"Tell them," said Rameses to his agents, "that I have axes for the
insolent, and compassion for obedience. If in the coming battle they
will throw their weapons down and leave Musawasa, I will receive them
back to the army of his holiness, and command to pay all arrears, as
if they had never left the service."
Patrokles and the other generals saw in this a very prudent measure;
the priests were silent, Mentezufis sent a despatch to Herhor and next
day received an answer.
The neighborhood of the Soda Lakes was a valley some tens of
kilometres long, enclosed between two lines of hills, extending from
the southeast toward the northwest. The greatest width did not exceed
ten kilometres; there were places narrower, almost ravines.
Throughout the whole length of that valley extended one after another
about ten swampy lakes filled with bitter, brackish water. Wretched
plants and bushes grew there ever coated with sand, ever
withering,--plants which no beast would take to its mouth. Along both
sides were sticking up jagged limestone hills, or immense heaps of
sand in which a man might sink deeply.
The white and yellow landscape had a look of dreadful torpor, which
was heightened by the heat, and also by the silence. No bird was ever
heard there, and if any sound was given forth it was from a stone
rolling down along a hillside.
Toward the middle of the valley rose two groups of buildings a few
kilometres from each other; these were a fortress on the east, and
glass factories on the west, to which Libyan merchants brought fuel.
Both these places had been deserted because of the conflict. Tehenna's
corps was to occupy both these points, and secure the road to Egypt
for Musawasa's army forces.
The Libyans marched slowly from the town of Glaucus southward, and on
the evening of the fourteenth day of Hator, they were at the entrance
to the valley of the Soda Lakes, feeling sure that they would pass
through in two days unmolested. That evening at sunset the Egyptian
army moved toward the desert, passed over more than forty kilometres
of sand in twelve hours, and next morning was on the hills between the
huts and the fortress and hid in the many ravines of that region.
If some man that night had told the Libyans that palm-trees and wheat
were growing in the valley of the Soda Lakes they would have been
astonished less than if he had declared that the Egyptians had barred
the way to it.
After a short rest, during which the priests had discovered and
cleared out a few wells of water somewhat endurable for drinking, the
Egyptian army began to occupy the hills extending along the northern
side of the valley.
The viceroy's plan was quite simple. He was to cut off the Libyans
from their country, and push them southward into the desert, where
heat and hunger would kill them.
With this object he disposed his army on the northern side of the
valley and divided it into three corps. The right wing, that which
extended most toward Libya, was led by Patrokles, who was to cut off
the invaders from their own town of Glaucus. The left wing, that
nearest to Egypt, commanded by Mentezufis, was to stop the Libyans
from advancing. Finally, the direction of the centre, at the glass
huts, was taken by Rameses, who had Pentuer near his person.
On the fifteenth of Hator about seven in the morning, some tens of
Libyan horsemen moved at a brisk trot through the valley. They stopped
a moment at the huts, looked around, and, seeing nothing suspicious,
rode back again.
At about ten in the forenoon in a heat which seemed to suck sweat and
draw blood from men's bodies, Pentuer said to the viceroy,--
"The Libyans have entered the valley and passed Patrokles' division.
They will be here in an hour from now."
"Whence knowest thou this?" asked the astonished prince.
"The priests know everything," replied Pentuer, smiling.
Then he ascended one of the cliffs cautiously, took from a bag a very
bright object and turning it in the direction of the holy Mentezufis
began to give certain signs with his hand.
"Mentezufis is informed already," said Pentuer.
The prince could not recover from astonishment and answered,--
"My eyes are better than thine, and my hearing is not worse, I think;
still I see nothing, I hear nothing. How, then, dost thou see the
enemy and converse with Mentezufis?"
Pentuer directed the prince to look at a distant hill, on the summit
of which was a thornbush. Rameses looked at that point and shaded his
eyes on a sudden. In the bush something flashed brightly.
"What unendurable glitter is that?" cried he. "It might blind a man."
"That is the priest who is aiding the worthy Patrokles; he is giving
us signs," replied Pentuer. "Thou seest, then, worthy lord, that we,
too, can be useful in war time."
He was silent. From the distance of the valley came a certain sound;
at first low, gradually it grew clearer. At this sound the Egyptian
soldiers hidden at the sides of the hill began to spring up, look at
their weapons, and whisper. But the sharp commands of officers quieted
them, and again the silence was deathlike along the cliffs on the
north side.
Meanwhile that distant sound in the valley increased and passed into
an uproar in which, on the bases of thousands of voices a man could
distinguish songs, sounds of flutes, squeaks of chariots, the neighing
of horses, and the cries of commanders. The prince's heart was now
beating with violence; he could not resist his curiosity, and he
clambered up to a rocky height whence a large part of the valley was
visible.
Surrounded by rolls of yellow dust the Libyan corps was approaching
deliberately, and seemed like a serpent some miles in length, with
blue, white, and red spots on its body.
At its head marched from ten to twenty horsemen, one of whom, wearing
a white mantle, was sitting on his horse as on a bench, both his legs
on the left side of the animal. Behind the horsemen marched a crowd of
slingers in gray shirts, then some dignitary in a litter, over whom a
large parasol was carried. Farther was a division of spearmen in blue
and red shirts, then a great band of men almost naked, armed with
clubs, again slingers and spearmen, behind them a red division with
scythes and axes. They came on more or less in ranks of four; but in
spite of shouts of officers, that order was interrupted, and each four
treading on others, broke ranks continually.
Singing and talking loudly, the Libyan serpent crawled out into the
broadest part of the valley, opposite the huts and the Soda Lakes.
Order was disturbed now more considerably. Those marching in advance
stopped, for it had been said that there would be a halt at that
point; the columns behind hurried so as to reach the halt and rest all
the earlier. Some ran out of the ranks, and laying down their weapons,
rushed into the lake, or took up in their palms its malodorous water;
others, sitting on the ground, took dates from bags, or drank vinegar
and water from their bottles.
High above the camp floated a number of vultures.
Unspeakable sadness and terror seized Rameses at this spectacle.
Before his eyes flies began to circle; for the twinkle of an eye he
lost consciousness; it seemed to him that he would have yielded his
throne not to be at that place, and not to see what was going to
happen. He hurried down from the cliff looking with wandering eyes
straight out in front of him.
At that moment Pentuer approached and pulled him by the arm
vigorously.
"Recover, leader," said he; "Patrokles is waiting for orders."
"Patrokles?" repeated the prince, and he looked around quickly.
Before him stood Pentuer, deathly pale, but collected. A couple of
steps farther on was Tutmosis, also pale; in his trembling hand was an
officer's whistle. From behind the hill bent forth soldiers, on whose
faces deep emotion was evident.
"Rameses," repeated Pentuer, "the army is waiting."
The prince looked at the priest with desperate decision.
"Begin!" said he in a stifled whisper.
Pentuer raised his glittering talisman, and made some signs in the air
with it. Tutmosis gave a low whistle; that whistle was repeated in
distant ravines on the right and the left. Egyptian slingers began to
climb up the hillsides.
It was about midday.
Rameses recovered gradually from his first impressions and looked
around carefully. He saw his staff, a division of spearmen and axemen
under veteran officers, finally slingers, advancing along the cliff
leisurely. And he was convinced that not one of those men had the wish
to die or even to fight and move around in that heat, which was
terrible.
All at once, from the height of some hill was heard a mighty voice,
louder than the roar of a lion,--
"Soldiers of the pharaoh, slay those Libyan dogs! The gods are with
you."
To this unearthly voice answered two voices no less powerful: the
prolonged shout of the Egyptian army, and the immense outcry of the
Libyans.
The prince had no need to conceal himself longer, and ascended an
eminence whence he could see the hostile forces distinctly. Before him
stretched a long line of Egyptian slingers who seemed as if they had
grown up from the earth, and a couple of hundred yards distant the
Libyan column moving forward in dust clouds. The trumpets, the
whistles, the curses of barbarian officers were heard calling to
order. Those who were sitting sprang up; those who were drinking
snatched their weapons and ran to their places; chaotic throngs
developed into ranks, and all this took place amid outcries and
tumult. Meanwhile the Egyptian slingers cast a number of missiles each
minute. They were as calm and well ordered as at a manoeuvre. The
decurions indicated to their men the hostile crowds against which they
must strike, and in the course of some minutes they covered them with
a shower of stones and leaden bullets. The prince saw that after every
such shower a Libyan crowd scattered and very often one man remained
on the earth behind the others.
Still the Libyan ranks formed and withdrew outside the reach of
missiles, then their slingers pushed forward and with equal swiftness
and coolness replied to the Egyptians. At times there were bursts of
laughter in their ranks and shouts of delight at the fall of some
Egyptian slinger.
Soon above the heads of the prince and his retinue stones began to
whizz and whistle. One, cast adroitly, struck the arm of an adjutant,
and broke the bone in it; another knocked the helmet from a second
adjutant; a third, falling at the prince's feet, was broken against
the cliff and struck the leader's face with fragments as hot as
boiling water.
The Libyans laughed loudly and shouted out something: apparently they
were abusing the viceroy.
Fear and, above all, compassion and pity left the soul of Rameses in
an instant. He saw before him no longer people threatened by death and
anguish, but lines of savage beasts which he had to kill or deprive of
weapons. Mechanically he reached for his sword to lead on the spearmen
awaiting command, but he was restrained by contempt of the enemy. Was
he to stain himself with the blood of that rabble? Warriors were
there for that purpose.
Meanwhile the battle continued, and the brave Libyan slingers, while
shouting and even singing, began to press forward. From both sides
missiles whizzed like beetles, buzzed like bees, sometimes they struck
one another in the air with a crack, and every minute or two on this
side or that some warrior went to the rear groaning, or fell dead
immediately. But this did not spoil the humor of others: they fought
with malicious delight, which gradually changed to rage and
self-oblivion.
Then from afar on the right wing were heard sounds of trumpets, and
shouts repeated frequently. That was the unterrified Patrokles; drunk
since daylight, he was attacking the rear guard of Libya.
"Charge!" said the prince.
Immediately that order was repeated by one, two, ten trumpets, and
after a moment the Egyptian companies pushed out from all the ravines.
The slingers disposed on the hilltops redoubled their efforts, while
in the valley, without haste, but also without disorder, the Egyptian
spearmen and axemen arranged in four columns moved forward gradually.
"Strengthen the centre," said the prince.
A trumpet repeated the command. Behind two columns of the first line
two new columns were placed. Before the Egyptians had finished that
manoeuvre, under a storm of missiles, the Libyans, following their
example, had arranged themselves in eight columns against the main
corps of Egypt.
"Forward, reserves!" shouted the prince. "See," said he, turning to
one of the adjutants, "whether the left wing is ready."
To see the valley at a glance, and more accurately, the adjutant
rushed in among the slingers, and fell immediately, but beckoned with
his hand. Another rushed to replace him and returned quickly to state
that both wings of the prince's division were drawn up in order.
From the division commanded by Patrokles came an increasing uproar,
and higher than the hill dense rolls of dark smoke were rising.
An officer from Pentuer ran to the prince reporting that the Libyan
camp had been fired by the Greek regiments.
"Force the centre!" cried Rameses.
Trumpet after trumpet sounded the attack, and when they had ceased the
command was heard in the central column, and then followed the
rhythmic roll of drums and the beat of the infantry step, marching
slowly and in time: one--two! one--two! one--two! The command was
repeated on the right and on the left wing; again drums rolled and the
wing columns moved forward: one--two! one--two!
The Libyan slingers began to withdraw, showering stones on the
marching Egyptians. But though one warrior fell after another, the
columns moved on without stopping; they marched slowly, regularly,
one--two! one--two! one--two!
The yellow cloud, growing ever denser, indicated the march of the
Egyptian battalions. The slingers could hurl stones no longer, and
there came a comparative quiet in the midst of which were heard sobs
and groans from wounded warriors.
"It is rare that they march on review so well," cried Rameses to the
staff officers.
"They are not afraid of sticks this time," grumbled a veteran officer.
The space between the dust cloud around the Egyptians and that on the
Libyan side decreased every minute, but the barbarians, halting, stood
motionless, and behind their line a second cloud made its appearance.
Evidently some reserve was strengthening the central column, which was
threatened by the wildest of onsets.
The heir ran down from his eminence and mounted; the last Egyptian
reserves poured out of the ravines, fixed themselves in ranks, and
waited for the order. Behind the infantry pushed out some hundreds of
Asiatic horsemen on small but enduring horses.
The prince hurried after the columns advancing to attack, and when he
had gone a hundred yards he found a new eminence, not high, but from
which he could see the whole field of battle. The retinue, the Asiatic
cavalry, and the reserve column hurried after him.
The prince looked impatiently toward the left wing whence Mentezufis
had to come, but he was not coming. The Libyans stood immovable, the
situation seemed more and more serious.
The viceroy's division was the stronger, but against it were arrayed
almost all the Libyan forces. The two sides were equal as to numbers;
the prince had no doubt of victory, but he dreaded the immense loss
since his opponent was so manful.
Besides, battle has caprices.
Over men who have gone to attack, the leader's influence has ceased,
he controls them no longer; Rameses has only a regiment of reserves,
and a handful of cavalry. If one of the Egyptian columns is beaten, or
if reinforcements come to the foe unexpectedly!
The prince rubbed his forehead at this thought. He felt all the
responsibility of a leader. He was like a dice thrower who has staked
all he owns, cast his dice, and asks, "How will they come out?"
The Egyptians are a few tens of yards from the Libyan columns. The
command, the trumpets, the drums sound hurriedly, and the troops move
at a run: one--two--three! one--two--three! But on the side of the
enemy also a trumpet is heard, two ranks of spears are lowered, drums
beat. At a run! New rolls of dust rise, then they unite in one immense
cloud. The roar of human voices, the rattle of spears, the biting of
scythes, then a shrill groan which is soon lost in one general uproar.
Along the whole line of battle neither men, nor weapons, nor even
columns are visible, nothing but a line of yellow dust stretching
along like a giant serpent. The denser cloud signifies places where
the columns are struggling; the thinner, where there are breaks in the
columns.
After some minutes of satanic uproar the heir sees that the dust on
his left wing is bending back very slowly.
"Strengthen the left wing!" shouts Rameses.
One half of the reserve runs to the place pointed out, and disappears
in the sand cloud; the left wing straightens itself, the right goes
forward slowly always in one direction.
"Strengthen the centre!" cries Rameses.
The second half of the reserve advances and vanishes in the sand
cloud. The shout increased for a moment, but no forward movement is
visible.
"Those wretches fight desperately," said an old officer of the suite
to Rameses. "It is high time that Mentezufis were here."
The prince summoned the leader of the Asiatic cavalry.
"But look to the right," said he; "there must be a bend there."
"Go cautiously so as not to trample our warriors and attack those dogs
in their central column, on the flank."
"They must be chained, for somehow they stand too long," replied the
Asiatic, smiling.
The prince has now about two hundred of his own cavalry, and these
advance, with the others, at a trot, crying,--
"May our chief live forever!"
The heat passes description. The prince strains eyes and ears to see
through the sand cloud. He waits--and waits. All at once he shouts
with delight. The centre of the cloud quivers and moves forward
slightly.
Again it stops, again it moves forward--slowly, very slowly, but still
it moves forward.
The din is so tremendous that no one can decide what it means: rage,
defeat, or victory.
Now the right wing begins to bend outward and withdraw in a strange
manner. In the rear of the wing appears a new dust cloud. At the same
moment Pentuer races up, dismounts, and shouts,--
"Patrokles is engaging the rear of the Libyans!"
The confusion on the right wing increases, and is passing to the
centre. It is clear that the Libyans are beginning to withdraw, and
that panic is seizing even their main column.
The whole staff of the prince, roused to the uttermost, follows the
movements of the yellow dust, feverishly. In a few minutes alarm
appears on the left wing. The Libyans have begun to flee in that
quarter.
"May I never see another sun, if this is not a victory!" cried a
veteran officer.
A courier rushes in from the priests, who from the highest hill had
followed the course of the battle, and reports that on the left wing
the troops of Mentezufis are visible, and that the Libyans are
surrounded on three sides.
"They would fly like deer if the sand did not hinder them."
"Victory! May our chief live forever!" cried Pentuer.
It was only two hours after midday.
The Asiatic cavalry sing loudly, and send arrows into the air in honor
of Rameses. The staff officers dismount, and rush to kiss the hands
and feet of the viceroy; at last they take him from the saddle, raise
him in the air, shouting,--
"Here is a mighty leader! He has trampled the enemies of Egypt! Amon
is on his right, and on his left, who can oppose him?"
Meanwhile the Libyans, pushing back all the time, had ascended the
sandy hills on the south, and after them Egyptians. From out the cloud
came horsemen every minute and rushed to Rameses.
"Mentezufis has taken them in the rear!" cried one.
"Two hundred have surrendered!" cried another.
"Patrokles has taken them in the rear!"
"Three Libyan standards are captured: the ram, the lion, and the
sparrow-hawk!"
More and more men gathered round the staff: it was surrounded by
warriors who were bloody and dust-covered.
"May he live through eternity! May he live through eternity, our
leader!"
The prince was so excited, that he laughed and cried in turn and said
to his retinue,--
"The gods have been compassionate. I feared that we had lost. Evil is
the plight of a leader; without drawing a sword and even without
seeing, he must answer for everything!"
"Live thou, O conquering commander, live through eternity!" cried the
warriors.
"A fine victory for me!" laughed Rameses. "I do not know even how they
won it."
"He wins a victory, and wonders how it came!" cried some one in the
retinue.
"I say that I saw not the face of the battle," explained the prince.
"Be at rest, our commander," said Pentuer. "Thou didst dispose the
army so wisely that the enemy had to be beaten. And in what way? Just
as if that did not belong to thee, but the regiments."
"I did not even draw a sword. I do not see one Libyan," complained the
prince.
On the southern heights there was a struggling and a seething, but in
the valley the dust had begun to settle here and there, and a crowd of
Egyptian soldiers were visible as through a mist, their spears pointed
upward.
Rameses turned his horse in that direction and rode out to the
deserted field of battle, where just recently had been, the struggle
of the central column. It was a place some hundreds of yards in width,
with deep furrows filled with bodies of the dead and wounded. On the
side along which the prince was approaching, Egyptians and Libyans lay
intermixed, in a long line, still farther on there were almost none
except Libyans.
In places bodies lay close to bodies; sometimes on one spot three or
four were piled one on another. The sand was stained with brownish
blood patches; the wounds were ghastly. Both hands were cut from one
man, another had his head split to the body, from a third man, the
entrails were dropping. Some were howling in convulsions, and from
their mouths, filled with sand, came forth curses, or prayers
imploring some one to slay them.
Rameses passed along hastily, not looking around, though some of the
wounded men shouted feebly in his honor.
Not far from that place he met the first crowd of prisoners. They fell
on their faces before him and begged for compassion.
"Proclaim pardon to the conquered and the obedient," said he to his
staff.
A number of horsemen rushed off in various directions. Soon a trumpet
was heard, and after it a piercing voice,--
"By the order of his worthiness the prince in command, prisoners and
wounded are not to be slain!"
In answer came wild shouts, evidently from prisoners.
"At command of the prince," a second voice cried in singing tones in
another direction, "prisoners and wounded are not to be slain!"
Meanwhile on the southern heights the battle ceased and two of the
largest Libyan divisions laid down their arms before the Greek
regiments.
The valiant Patrokles, in consequence of the heat, as he said
himself--of ardent drink, as thought others--barely held himself in
the saddle. He rubbed his tearful eyes, and turned to the prisoners.
"Mangy dogs!" cried he, "who raise sinful hands on the army of his
holiness (may the worms devour you)! Ye will perish like lice under
the nail of a pious Egyptian, if ye do not tell this minute where your
leader is,--may leprosy eat off his nose and drink his blear eyes
out!"
At that moment the prince appeared. The general greeted him with
respect, but did not stop his investigation.
"I will have belts cut from your bodies! I will impale you on stakes,
if I do not learn this minute where that poisonous reptile is, that
son of a wild boar."
"Ei! where our leader is?" cried one of the Libyans, pointing to a
little crowd on horseback which was advancing slowly in the depth of
the desert.
"What is that?" inquired the prince.
"The wretch Musawasa is fleeing!" said Patrokles, and he almost fell
to the ground.
The blood rushed to Rameses' head.
Then Musawasa was here and escaped?
"Hei! whoso has the best horse, follow me!"
"Well," said Patrokles, laughing, "that sheep-stealer himself will
bleat now!"
Pentuer stopped the way to the prince.
"It is not for thee to hunt fugitives, worthiness."
"What?" cried the heir. "During this whole battle I did not raise a
hand on any man, and now I am to give up the Libyan leader? What would
be said by the warriors whom I have sent out under spears and axes?"
"The army cannot remain without a leader."
"But are not Patrokles, Tutmosis, and finally Mentezufis, here? For
what purpose am I commander if I cannot hunt the enemy? They are a few
hundred yards from us and have tired horses."
"We will come back in an hour with him. He is only an arm's length
from us!" whispered some Asiatic.
"Patrokles, Tutmosis, I leave the army to you!" cried the heir. "Rest.
I will come back immediately."
He put spurs to his horse and advanced at a trot, sinking in the sand,
and behind him about twenty horsemen, with Pentuer.
"Why art thou here, O prophet?" asked Rameses. "Better sleep--to-day
thou hast rendered good service."
"I may be of use yet," added Pentuer.
"But remain--I command thee--"
"The supreme council commands me not to go one step from thee,
worthiness."
Rameses shook himself angrily.
"But if we fall into an ambush?"
"I will not leave thee in ambush," answered the priest.