was, I could have wept with joy at
finding him again, especially as I knew by instinct that as he loved
the Allan Quatermain of to-day, so he loved this Egyptian in a wheeled
packing-case, for I may as well say at once that such was my nationality
in the dream.

Now I looked about me and perceived that my chariot was the second of a
cavalcade. Immediately in front of it was one infinitely more gorgeous
in which stood a person who even if I had not known it, I should have
guessed to be a king, and who, as a matter of fact, was none other than
the King of kings, at that time the absolute master of most of the known
world, though what his name may have been, I have no notion. He wore a
long flowing robe of purple silk embroidered with gold and bound in at
the waist by a jewelled girdle from which hung the private, sacred
seal; the little "White Seal" that, as I learned afterwards, was famous
throughout the earth.

On his head was a stiff cloth cap, also purple in colour, round which
was fastened a fillet of light blue stuff spotted with white. The best
idea that I can give of its general appearance is to liken it to a tall
hat of fashionable shape, without a brim, slightly squashed in so that
it bulged at the top, and surrounded by a rather sporting necktie.
Really, however, it was the _kitaris_ or headdress of these monarchs
worn by them alone. If anyone else had put on that hat, even by mistake
in the dark, well, his head would have come off with it, that is all.

This king held a bow in his hand with an arrow set upon its string,
just as I did, for we were out hunting, and as I shall have to narrate
presently, lions are no respecters of persons. By his side, leaning
against the back of the chariot, was a tall, sharp-pointed wand of cedar
wood with a knob of some green precious stone, probably an emerald,
fashioned to the likeness of an apple. This was the royal sceptre.
Immediately behind the chariot walked several great nobles. One of them
carried a golden footstool, another a parasol, furled at the moment;
another a spare bow and a quiver of arrows, and another a jewelled
fly-whisk made of palm fibre.

The king, I should add, was young, handsome with a curled beard and
clear-cut, high-bred looking features; his face, however, was bad, cruel
and stamped with an air of weariness, or rather, satiety, which was
emphasized by the black circles beneath his fine dark eyes. Moreover
pride seemed to emanate from him and y