t, my son?" he asked as the scribe bent over him.

"Aye, holy Father; this message to the taskmaster over Pa-Ramesu."

"Ah," the old man said. "Is that not yet gone?"

"Nay, the Pharaoh asks that thou insert the name of him whom thou didst
recommend for Atsu's place. The Son of Ptah had forgotten him."

The old man pushed several scrolls aside and prepared to make the
addition..

"But thou art weary, holy Father; let me do it," Hotep protested gently.

"Nay, nay, I can do it," the old man insisted. "See!" drawing forth a
scroll unaddressed, "I have written all this in an hour. O aye, I can
write with the young men yet." He made the interlineation, rolled the
scroll and sealed it. "I am sturdy, still." At that moment, he dropped
his pen on the floor and bent to pick it up, but was forestalled by
Hotep. Then he addressed the scrolls, carefully dried the ink with a
sprinkling of sand and delivered one to Hotep, the other to Kenkenes.
"This to the king, and that to Snofru. The gods give thee safe journey,"
he continued to Kenkenes. "Who art thou, my son?"

"I am the son of Mentu, holy Father. My name is Kenkenes," the young man
answered.

"Mentu, the royal sculptor?"

Kenkenes bowed.

"Nay, but I am glad. I knew thy father, and since thou art of his blood,
thou art faithful. Let neither death nor fear overtake thee, for thou
hast the peace of Egypt in thy very hands. Fail not, I charge thee!"

After a reverent farewell, the two young men went forth.

A slender Egyptian youth went with them to the wharves and awakened the
sleeping crew of a bari.

Hotep they carried across and set ashore on the western side.

"May the same favoring god that brought thee hither, grant thee a safe
journey home, my friend. The court comes to Memphis shortly. Till then,
farewell," said Hotep.

"All Memphis will hail her illustrious son, O Hotep. Farewell."

It was not long until the sculptor was drifting down toward Memphis under
a starry sky--the shadowy temples of Thebes hidden by the sudden
closing-in of the river-hills about her.

[1] Set--the war-god.

[2] Athor--the Egyptian Venus; the feminine love-deity.

CHAPTER VII

ATHOR, THE GOLDEN

At sunrise the morning after his return from On, Kenkenes appeared at
the Nile, attended by a burden-bearing slave.

The first lean, brown boatman who touched his knee and offered his bari
for hire, Kenkenes patronized. The slave had eased his load in