o all sorts of things; for instance, he could walk
with me when I want to go out, he could tow me round the lake in the
boat, he could pick up my ball for me, and could feed my pets."

"When you are too lazy to feed them yourself," the priest put in.
"Very well, Mysa, we will try the experiment. Jethro shall be your
special attendant, and when you have nothing for him to do, which will
be the best part of the day, he can look after the waterfowl. Zunbo
never attends them properly. Do you understand that?" he asked Jethro.

Jethro replied by stepping forward, taking the girl's hand, and
bending over it until his forehead touched it.

"There is an answer for you, Mysa."

"You indulge the children too much, Ameres," his wife said irritably.
"I do not think in all Egypt there are any children so spoiled as
ours. Other men's sons never speak unless addressed, and do not think
of sitting down in the presence of their father. I am astonished
indeed that you, who are looked up to as one of the wisest men in
Egypt, should suffer your children to be so familiar with you."

"Perhaps, my dear," Ameres said with a placid smile, "it is because
I am one of the wisest men in Egypt. My children honor me in their
hearts as much as do those who are kept in slavelike subjection. How
is a boy's mind to expand if he does not ask questions, and who
should be so well able to answer his questions as his father? There,
children, you can go now. Take your new companions with you, and show
them the garden and your pets."

"We are fortunate, indeed, Jethro," Amuba said as they followed
Chebron and Mysa into the garden. "When we pictured to ourselves as we
lay on the sand at night during our journey hither what our life would
be, we never dreamed of anything like this. We thought of tilling the
land, of aiding to raise the great dams and embankments, of quarrying
stones for the public buildings, of a grinding and hopeless slavery,
and the only thing that ever we ventured to hope for was that we might
toil side by side, and now, see how good the gods have been to us. Not
only are we together, but we have found friends in our masters, a home
in this strange land."

"Truly it is wonderful, Amuba. This Priest Ameres is a most excellent
person, one to be loved by all who come near him. We have indeed been
most fortunate in having been chosen by him."

The brother and sister led the way through an avenue of fruit trees,
at the end of which a gate