signal to end the feast.

Thereon all the lower part of the hall went away and the little tables
at which we ate were removed by servants, leaving us only wine-cups in
our hands which a butler filled from time to time, mixing the wine with
water. This reminded me of something, and having asked leave, I beckoned
to Bes, who still lingered near the door, and took from him that
splendid, golden goblet which the Great King had given me, that by my
command he had brought wrapped up in linen and hidden beneath his robe.
Having undone the wrappings I bowed and offered it to the Prince Peroa.

"What is this wondrous thing?" asked the Prince, when all had finished
admiring its workmanship. "Is it a gift that you bring me from the King
of the East, Shabaka?"

"It is a gift from myself, O Prince, if you will be pleased to accept
it," I answered, adding, "Yet it is true that it comes from the King of
the East, since it was his own drinking-cup that he gave me in exchange
for a certain bow, though not the one he sought, after he had pledged
me."

"You seem to have found much favour in the eyes of this king, Shabaka,
which is more than most of us Egyptians do," he exclaimed, then went
on hastily, "Still, I thank you for your splendid gift, and however you
came by it, shall value it much."

"Perhaps my cousin Shabaka will tell us his story," broke in Amada, her
eyes still fixed upon the rose-hued pearls, "and of how he came to win
all the beauteous things that dazzle our eyes to-night."

Now I thought of offering her the pearls, but remembering my mother's
words, also that the Princess might not like to see another woman bear
off such a prize, did not do so. So I began to tell my story instead,
Bes seated on the ground near to me by the Prince's wish, that he might
tell his.

The tale was long for in it was much that went before the day when I saw
myself in the chariot hunting lions with the King of kings, which I, the
modern man who set down all this vision, now learned for the first time.
It told of the details of my journey to the East, of my coming to the
royal city and the rest, all of which it is needless to repeat. Then I
came to the lion hunt, to my winning of the wager, and all that happened
to me; of my being condemned to death, of the weighing of Bes against
the gold, and of how I was laid in the boat of torment, a story at which
I noticed Amada turn pale and tremble.

Here I ceased, saying that Bes knew better tha