ngue with a gag, strip his armour from him, and
bind him with fetters of bronze, and make him fast to the dungeon walls
with great chains of bronze. There shall he bide till Pharaoh come
again; for against Pharaoh's honour he hath sinned and shamefully broken
that oath he swore to him, and therefore shall Pharaoh make him die in
such fashion as seems good to him."

Now when Kurri heard these words, and saw the Wanderer's sorry plight,
he bent over him and said:

"It was I, Kurri the Sidonian, who cut the cord of thy great bow,
Eperitus; with the spear-point that thou gavest back to me I cut it, I,
whose folk thou didst slay and madest me a slave. And I will crave this
boon of Pharaoh, that mine shall be the hand to torment thee night and
day till at last thou diest, cursing the day that thou wast born."

The Wanderer looked upon him and answered: "There thou liest, thou
Sidonian dog, for this is written in thy face, that thou thyself shalt
die within an hour and that strangely."

Then Kurri shrank back scowling. But no more words might Odysseus speak,
for at once they forced his jaws apart and gagged him with a gag of
iron; and thereafter, stripping his harness from him, they bound him
with fetters as the Queen had commanded.

Now while they dealt thus with the Wanderer, Meriamun passed into
another chamber and swiftly threw robes upon her to hide her disarray,
clasping them round her with the golden girdle which now she must always
wear. But her long hair she left unbound, nor did she wash the stain of
tears from her face, for she was minded to seem shamed and woe-begone in
the eyes of all men till Pharaoh came again.

Rei and the Golden Helen passed through the streets of the city till
they came to the Palace gates. And here they must wait till the dawn,
for Rei, thinking to come thither with the Wanderer, who was Captain of
the Guard, had not learned the word of entry.

"Easy would it be for me to win my way through those great gates," said
the Helen to Rei at her side, "but it is my counsel that we wait awhile.
Perchance he whom we seek will come forth."

So they entered the porch of the Temple of Osiris that looked towards
the gates, and there they waited till the dawn gathered in the eastern
sky. The Helen spoke no word, but Rei, watching her, knew that she was
troubled at heart, though he might not see her face because of the veil
she wore; for from time to time she sighed and the Red Star rose and
f