w a
magic spell. [_He begins to chant_] Back, son of Sitou! Dare not! Seize
not! Open not thy jaws! Let the water become a sheet of flame before
thee! The spell of thirty-seven gods is in thine eye. Thou art bound,
thou art bound! Stay, son of Sitou! Ammon, spouse of thy mother, protect
her!

SOKITI [_without surprise_] It is gone.

PAKH [_without surprise_] It could not do otherwise.

_Bitiou, now close to the statue, touches it furtively with
a finger tip, then runs, falls, and picks himself up. He
comes up to Pakh and Sokiti._

SOKITI [_pointing to the statue_] She is dry now, perhaps?

PAKH. Yes, come.

SOKITI. I am afraid still.

PAKH. So am I, but come and help me.

_They replace the statue on its pedestal, then step back to
look at it._

SOKITI. She has done us no harm.

PAKH. No.

SOKITI. Ha! ha!

PAKH. Ha! ha! ha! ha! [_Bitiou laughs with them. A distant sound of
trumpets is heard. Sokiti and Pakh go to the terrace to look_] It is the
chief of the Nome. They are bearing him to the city of the dead. At this
moment his soul is before the tribunal, where Osiris sits with the two
and forty judges.

SOKITI. May they render unto him all the evil he has done!...

PAKH. The evil he has done will be rendered unto him a thousand fold....
He will pass first into the lake of fire.

SOKITI [_laughing_] Pakh! Pakh! picture him in Amenti--in the hidden
place--

PAKH. I see him ... the pivot of the gate of Amenti set upon his eye,
turns upon his right eye, and turns on that eye whether in opening or in
shutting, and his mouth utters loud cries.

SOKITI [_doubling up with delight_] And he who ate so much!... He who
ate so much! He will have his food, bread and water, hung above his
head, and he will leap to get it down, whilst others will dig holes
beneath his feet to prevent his touching it.

PAKH. Because his crimes are found to outnumber his merits....

SOKITI. And we--we--say--what will happen to us?

PAKH. We shall be found innocent by the two and forty judges.

SOKITI. And after?--after?

PAKH. We shall go to the island of the souls--in Amenti--

SOKITI. Yes, where there will be.... Speak. What shall we have in the
island of the souls?

PAKH. Baths of clear water....

SOKITI [_with loud laughter_] What else ... what else?

PAKH. Ears of corn of two arms' length.... [_Laughing_].

SOKITI [_laughing_] Yes, ears of corn, of two arms' length.

PAKH. And bread of