olds and clay images and vessels of paint. Hanging upon pegs in the
wooden walls of his work-room were saws and the heavier drills, chisels
of bronze and mauls of tamarisk, suspended by thongs of deer-hide.

The sculptor, rapidly and without effort, worked out with his pen on a
sheet of papyrus the detail of a frieze. Tiny profile figures, quaint
borders of lotus and mystic inscriptions trailed after the swift reed
in multitudinous and bewildering succession. As he worked, a young man
entered the doorway from the court and, advancing a few steps toward
the table, watched the development of the drawings with interest.

Those were the days of early maturity and short life. The Egyptian of
the Exodus often married at sixteen, and was full of years and ready to
be gathered to Osiris at fifty-five or sixty. The great Rameses lived
to the unheard-of age of seventy-seven, having occupied the throne
since his eleventh year.

This young Egyptian, nearly eighteen, was grown and powerful with the
might of mature manhood. A glance at the pair at once established
their relationship as father and son. The features were strikingly
similar, the stature the same, though the young frame was supple and
light, not massive.

The hair was straight, abundant, brilliant black and cropped midway
down the neck and just above the brows. There was no effort at
parting. It was dressed from the crown of the head as each hair would
naturally lie and was confined by a circlet of gold, the token of the
royal blood of his mother's house. The complexion was the hue of a
healthy tan, different, however, from the brown of exposure in that it
was transparent and the red in the cheek was dusky. The face was the
classic type of the race, for be it known there were two physiognomies
characteristic of Egypt.

The forehead was broad, the brows long and delicately penciled, the
eyes softly black, very long, the lids heavy enough to suggest serenity
rather than languor. The nose was of good length, aquiline, the
nostril thin and sharply chiseled. The cut of the mouth and the warmth
of its color gave seriousness, sensitiveness and youthful tenderness to
the face.

Egypt was seldom athletic. Though running and wrestling figured much
in the pastime of youths, the nation was languid and soft. However,
Seti the Elder demanded the severest physical exercise of his sons, and
Rameses II, who succeeded him, made muscle and brawn popular by
example, du