chose, but he also controlled the
welfare of their immortal souls; for, being a god, he had dominion over
the realms of the dead. To be censured by the Pharaoh was to be
excommunicated from the pleasures of this earth and outlawed from the
fair estate of heaven. A well-known Egyptian noble named Sinuhe, the
hero of a fine tale of adventure, describes himself as petrified with
terror when he entered the audience-chamber. "I stretched myself on my
stomach," he writes, "and became unconscious before him (the Pharaoh).
This god addressed me kindly, but I was as a man overtaken by the
twilight: my soul departed, my flesh trembled; my heart was no more in
my body that I should know life from death."[1] Similarly another
personage writes: "Remember the day of bringing the tribute, when thou
passest into the Presence under the window, the nobles on each side
before his Majesty, the nobles and ambassadors (?) of all countries.
They stand and gaze at the tribute, while thou fearest and shrinkest
back, and thy hand is weak, and thou knowest not whether it is death or
life that is before thee; and thou art brave (only) in praying to thy
gods: 'Save me, prosper me this one time.'"[2]

[Footnote 1: Sinuhe, 254-256.]

[Footnote 2: Papyrus Koller, 5, 1-4.]

Of the Pharaoh it is written--

"Thine eye is clearer than the stars of heaven;
Thou seest farther than the sun.
If I speak afar off, thine ear hears;
If I do a hidden deed, thine eye sees it."[1]

[Footnote 1: Anastasi Papyri, 4, 5, 6 ff.]

Or again--

"The god of taste is in thy mouth,
The god of knowledge is in thy heart;
Thy tongue is enthroned in the temple of truth;
God is seated upon thy lips."[2]

[Footnote 2: Kubban stela.]

To meet face to face this all-knowing, all-seeing, celestial creature,
from whom there could be no secrets hid nor any guilt concealed, was an
ordeal to which a man might well look forward with utter horror. It was
this terrible dread that, in the tale with which we are now concerned,
held the captain of this Nubian vessel in agony upon his couch.

As he lay there, biting his finger-nails, one of the ship's officers,
himself a former leader of expeditions, entered the cabin to announce
their arrival at the Shallal docks.

"Good news, prince," said he cheerfully to his writhing master. "Look,
we have reached home. They have taken the mallet and driven in the
mooring-post; the ship's c