med to select the victim
which it was about to bite.

The officers and servants ranged around the throne remained motionless
and mute with terror at the sight of this prodigy; the bravest half drew
their swords.

But the Pharaoh was in no wise moved. A disdainful smile flitted over
his lips, and he said,--

"Is that all you can do? The miracle is slight, and the prodigy poor.
Send for my wise men, my sorcerers and my magicians."

They came. They were men of venerable and mystic appearance, with shaven
heads, wearing sandals of byblos, dressed in long linen robes, holding
in their hands wands on which were engraved hieroglyphs. They were
yellow and dried up like mummies by night watches, study, and austerity;
the fatigue entailed by successive initiations could be read upon their
faces, in which their eyes alone seemed to retain life.

They drew up in a line before the throne of the Pharaoh without paying
the least attention to the serpent, which wriggled, crawled, and
hissed.

"Can you," said the King, "change your wands into reptiles as Aharon has
done?"

"O King, is it for such child's play," said the oldest of the band,
"that you have sent for us from the recesses of the secret chambers
where under the starry ceilings, by the light of the lamps, we are
meditating, bending over undecipherable papyri, kneeling before the
hieroglyphic stelae with their mysterious, deep meanings, forcing the
secrets of nature, calculating the power of numbers, bearing our
trembling hand to the border of the veil of the great Isis? Let us go
back, for life is short, and the wise man has scarce time to tell to
another the word which he has learned. Let us go back to our
laboratories. The merest juggler, the first charmer of serpents who
plays the flute on the public squares, will suffice to satisfy you."

"Ennana, do what I wish," said the Pharaoh to the chief of the wise men
and the magicians.

Old Ennana turned towards the band of sages, who remained standing
motionless, their minds already lost again in deep meditations.

"Cast down every man your rod as you whisper the magic word."

The rods fell together with a sharp sound upon the stone slabs, and the
wise men resumed their perpendicular attitude like the statues placed
against the pillars of the tombs. They did not even deign to look at
their feet to see if the miracle were being wrought, so sure were they
of the power of their formula.

And then was seen a strange a