"Despatch is urgent. He may fly again. Give us thine answer as we
have sent this to thee--by a nobleman--a swift and trusty one, and the
blessings of the Radiant Three be upon thy head.

"Thy servant, the Servant of Ra,

"Snofru."

When the priest finished, the king was sitting upright, his face
flushed with feeling.

"Sedition!" he exclaimed; "organized rebellion in the very heart of my
realm!"

He paused for a space and thrust back the heavy fringes of his cowl
with a gesture of peevish impatience.

"What evil humor possesses Egypt?" he burst forth irritably. "Hardly
have I overthrown an invader before my people break out. I quiet them
in one place and they revolt in another. Must I turn a spear upon mine
own?"

"Well," he cried, stamping his foot, when the three before him kept
silence, "have ye no word to say?"

His eyes rested on Har-hat, with an imperious expectation in them. The
fan-bearer bent low before he answered.

"With thy gracious permission, O Son of Ptah," he said, "I would
suggest that it were wise to cool an insurrection in the simmering.
The disaffection seems to be of great extent. But the Rameside army
assembled on the ground might check an open insurrection. Furthermore,
thou hast seen the salutary effect of thy visit to Tape when she forgot
her duty to her sovereign. Thy presence in the Delta would undoubtedly
expedite the suppression of the rebellion likewise."

"O, aye," Meneptah declared. "I must go to Tanis. It seems that I
must hasten hither and thither over Egypt pursuing sedition like a
scent-hunting jackal. Mayhap if I were divided like Osiris[1] and a
bit of me scattered in each nome, I might preserve peace. But it goes
sore against me to drag the army with me. Hast thou any simpler plan
to offer, holy Father?"

The old priest shifted a little before he answered.

"The mysteries of the faith are in possession of Mesu," he began at
last. "The writing saith he hath exerted great influence over the
bond-people--in truth he hath entered a peaceful land and stirred it
up--and time is but needed to bring the unrest to open warfare. Thou,
O Meneptah, and thou, O Rameses, and thou, O Har-hat, each being of the
brotherhood--ye know that we hold the faith by scant tenure in the
respect of the people. Ye know the perversity of humanity. Obedience
and piety are not in them. Though they never knew a faith save the
faith of their fathers, we must pursue them with