ken by Kenkenes when he
discovered it. A wall built between it and the north would bar the
sand and form a nook, wholly closed on two sides and partly closed at
each end by stones. All this made itself plain to the mind of the
young sculptor at once. With a laugh of sheer content, he turned to
retrace his steps and began to sing.

Then was the harsh desolation of the hills startled, the immediate
echoes given unaccustomed sound to undulate in diminishing volume from
one to another. He sang absently, but his preoccupation did not make
his tones indifferent. For his voice was soft, full, organ-like,
flexible, easy with illimitable lung-power and ineffable grace. When
he ceased the silence fell, empty and barren, after that song's
unaudienced splendor.

[1] Set--the war-god.

[2] Thebes.

[3] Amenti--The realm of Death.

[4] Tuat--The Egyptian Hades.

[5] Nomarch--governor of a civil division called a nome. A high office.

[6] Ma--The goddess of truth.

CHAPTER III

THE MESSENGER

Mentu returned from the session at the palace, uncommunicative and
moody. When, after the evening meal, Kenkenes crossed the court to
talk with him, he found the elder sculptor feeding a greedy flame in a
brazier with the careful plans for the new temple to Set. Kenkenes
retired noiselessly and saw his father no more that night.

The next day Mentu was bending over fresh sheets of papyrus, and when
his son entered and stood beside him he raised his head defiantly.

"I have another royal obelisk to decorate," he said, fixing the young
man with a steady eye, "of a surety,--without doubt,--inevitably,--for
the thing is all but ready to be set up at On."

"I am glad of that," Kenkenes replied gravely. "Let me make clean
copies of these which are complete."

He gathered up the sheets and took his place at the opposite table.
Then ensued a long silence, broken only by the loud and restless
investigations of the omnipresent and unabashed ape.

At last the elder sculptor spoke.

"The eye of heaven must be unblinkingly upon the divine Meneptah," he
observed, as though he had but thought aloud.

Kenkenes gazed at his father with the inquiry on his face that he did
not voice. The sculptor had risen from his bench and was searching a
chest of rolled plans near him. He caught his son's look and closed
his mouth on an all but spoken expression. Kenkenes continued to gaze
at him in some astonishment, and the elder man