ry red temple praising Ra, their great God, whose dwelling is the
Sun. The Wanderer, too, praised his own Gods, and gave thanks to Apollo,
and to Helios Hyperion, and to Aphrodite. And in the end the pilot
brought the ship to the quay of a great city, and there a crew of
oarsmen was hired, and they sped rejoicing in the sunlight, through a
canal dug by the hands of men, to Tanis and the Sanctuary of Heracles,
the Safety of Strangers. There the ship was moored, there the Wanderer
rested, having a good welcome from the shaven priests of the temple.

V

MERIAMUN THE QUEEN

Strange news flies fast. It was not long before the Pharaoh, who then
was with his Court in Tanis, the newly rebuilded city, heard how there
had come to Khem a man like a god, wearing golden armour, and cruising
alone in a ship of the dead. In these years the white barbarians of the
sea and of the isles were wont to land in Egypt, to ravage the fields,
carry women captive, and fly again in their ships. But not one of them
had dared to sail in the armour of the Aquaiusha, as the Egyptians
named the Achaeans, right up the river to the city of Pharaoh. The King,
therefore, was amazed at the story, and when he heard that the stranger
had taken sanctuary in the Temple of Heracles, he sent instantly for his
chief counsellor. This was his Master Builder, who bore a high title in
the land, an ancient priest named Rei. He had served through the long
reign of the King's father, the divine Rameses the Second, and he was
beloved both of Meneptah and of Meriamun his Queen. Him the King charged
to visit the Sanctuary and bring the stranger before him. So Rei called
for his mule, and rode down to the Temple of Heracles beyond the walls.

When Rei came thither, a priest went before him and led him to the
chamber where the warrior chanced to be eating the lily bread of the
land, and drinking the wine of the Delta. He rose as Rei entered, and he
was still clad in his golden armour, for as yet he had not any change
of raiment. Beside him, on a bronze tripod, lay his helmet, the Achaean
helmet, with its two horns and with the bronze spear-point still fast in
the gold.

The eyes of Rei the Priest fell on the helmet, and he gazed so strangely
at it that he scarcely heard the Wanderer's salutation. At length he
answered, courteously, but always his eyes wandered back to the broken
spear-point.

"Is this thine, my son?" he asked, taking it in his hand, while his
voic