s a giant--a monster
for bigness. Besides, there were but two of us, after he had all but
throttled me."

Har-hat laughed again. "Aye, and after he pitched Nak over the cliff,
there was but one. But tell me this: was he noble or a churl?"

"He wore the circlet."

Mentu's long fingers bent as if he longed for a throat between them.

"The craven invented his giant to salve his valor," the priest said.

"It may be," the fan-bearer replied musingly, "but thy nephew, holy
Father, is conspicuously tall and well-muscled. Likewise, he is a
sculptor. Furthermore, the two slaves came home badly abused. Unas
has some proof for his tale--"

"Kenkenes is the soul of fidelity," the high priest retorted warmly.
"He has had unnumbered opportunities to betray the gods and he has ever
been steadfast."

"Nay, I did not impugn him. The similarity merely appealed to me. Let
us get down into the valley and question that villain Atsu. I would
know what became of the girl."

"Mine interests are solely with the ecclesiastical features of the
offense, my Lord," Asar-Mut replied. "I would get back to Memphis."

"Bear us company a little longer, holy Father. The taskmaster may tell
us somewhat of this blaspheming sculptor-giant."

When the last sound of the departing men died away, Mentu turned across
the hill toward the Nile-front of the cliff.

"Nay, I will go back to Memphis first," he said grimly. "Mayhap
Kenkenes hath returned. If Asar-Mut should question him, he would not
evade nor equivocate, so I shall send him away that he may not meet his
uncle. I would not have him lie, but he shall not accomplish his own
undoing."

But days of seeking followed, growing frantic as time went on, and
there was no trace of the lost artist. Even his pet ape did not
return. Asar-Mut questioned Mentu closely concerning the fidelity of
Kenkenes to the faith and the ritual.

"I ask after his soul," he explained. But he gained no evidence from
Mentu.

On the fourteenth day after the disappearance of the young sculptor,
Sepet, the boatman that had hired his bari to Kenkenes, found the boat
among the wharf piling. It was overturned, its bottom ripped out, one
side crushed as if a river-horse had played with it. In the small
compartment at the tiller were provisions for a light lunch; a wallet,
empty; a rope and a plummet of bronze used to moor a boat in midstream
while the sportsman fished; the light woolen mantle worn as often