g to him. "My Majesty," says the little eight-year-old Pharaoh,
"wisheth to see this pigmy more than all the tribute of Punt. And if
thou comest to Court having this pigmy with thee sound and whole, My
Majesty will do for thee more than King Assa did for the Chancellor
Baurded." (This was the man who had brought back the other dwarf in
earlier days.) Little King Pepy then gives careful directions that
Herkhuf is to provide proper people to see that the precious dwarf does
not fall into the Nile on his way down the river; and these guards are
to watch behind the place where he sleeps, and look into his bed ten
times each night, that they may be sure that nothing has gone wrong.

The poor little dwarf must have had rather an uncomfortable time of it,
one fancies, if his sleep was to be broken so often. Perhaps there was
more danger of killing him with kindness and care, than if they had left
him more to himself; but Pepy's anxiety was very like a boy. However,
Herkhuf evidently succeeded in bringing his dwarf safe and sound to the
King's Court, and no doubt the quaint little savage proved a splendid
toy for the young King. One wonders what he thought of the great cities
and the magnificent Court of Egypt, and whether his heart did not weary
sometimes for the wild freedom of his lost home.

Herkhuf was so proud of the King's letter that he caused it to be
engraved, word for word, on the walls of the tomb which he hewed out for
himself at Elephantine, and there to this day the words can be read
which tell us how old is the story of African exploration, and how a boy
was always just a boy, even though he lived five thousand years ago, and
reigned over a great kingdom.

CHAPTER X

A VOYAGE OF DISCOVERY

About 3,500 years ago, there reigned a great Queen in Egypt. It was not
usual for the Egyptian throne to be occupied by a woman, though great
respect was always shown to women in Egypt, and the rank of a King's
mother was considered quite as important as that of his father. But once
at least in her history Egypt had a great Queen, whose fame deserves to
be remembered, and who takes honourable rank among the great women, like
Queen Elizabeth and Queen Victoria, who have ruled kingdoms.

During part of her life Queen Hatshepsut was only joint sovereign along
with her husband, and in the latter part of her reign she was joint
sovereign with her half-brother or nephew, who succeeded her; but for at
least twenty years