inviting them to call and visit her and inspect the cat. Although, as
a rule, the competitors for the post of sacred cat of Bubastes were
brought in baskets by their owners for inspection, the priests were
willing enough to pay a visit in person to the wife of so important a
man as the high priest of Osiris.

Amense received them with much honor, presented Mysa to them as the
owner of the cat, and herself accompanied the priests in their visit
to the home of Mysa's pets. Their report was most favorable. They had,
since they left Bubastes, seen no cat approaching Paucis in size and
beauty, and although her markings were not precisely correct, they yet
approximated very closely to the standard. They could say no more than
this, because the decision could not be made until the return of all
the parties of searchers to Bubastes. Their reports would then be
compared, and unless any one animal appeared exactly to suit all
requirements, a visit would be made by the high priest of the temple
himself to three or four of the cats most highly reported upon. If he
found one of them worthy of the honor, it would be selected for the
vacant position.

If none of them came up to the lofty standard the post would remain
unfilled for a year or two, when it might be hoped that among the
rising generation of cats a worthy successor to the departed one might
be found. For themselves, they must continue their search in Thebes
and its neighborhood, as all claimants must be examined; but they
assured Amense that they thought it most improbable that a cat equal
to Paucis would be found.

Some months had passed, and it was not until a week after the funeral
of Neco that a message arrived, saying that the report concerning
Paucis by the priests who had visited Thebes was so much more
favorable than that given by any of the other searchers of the animals
they had seen, that it had been decided by the high priest that it
alone was worthy of the honor.

The messenger stated that in the course of a fortnight a deputation
consisting of the high priest and several leading functionaries of the
temple, with a retinue of the lower clergy and attendants, would set
out from Bubastes by water in order to receive the sacred cat, and to
conduct her with all due ceremony to the shrine of Bubastes. Mysa was
delighted at the honor which had befallen her cat. Privately she was
less fond of Paucis than of some of the less stately cats; for Paucis,
from the t