m;"
and so saying I mounted the mule, and assured the chief driver I would
express my thanks in person to the great Hotep.

He conducted me to the opposite side of the city, and, as we crossed a
height near its centre, he pointed out to me the long fields of his
master lining the left bank of the river. There were miles of waving
grain just beginning to turn from a luxuriant green to the lighter
yellow tints of harvest. Presently we approached a large palace, which I
had often before seen from afar against the distant wall of the city,
but had never known. Upon entering, I observed every sign of the same
idle luxury which marked the Pharaoh's dwelling, but none of that regal
disdain or imperial haughtiness which separated every one but his
favourite women from the immediate presence of the monarch.

I was graciously received in a large, lighted chamber, where Hotep
reclined lazily upon a billowy heap of downy cushions, surrounded by
many women. He only arose from his elbow to a sitting posture when I
saluted him. Without saying a word to him, I approached, and, loosening
my belt from about my waist, I unbuckled its mouth and poured out upon
a large cushion by his side my three hundred shining golden eagles. The
effect was electrical, for they were twice the size and three times as
many as the coins I had given the Pharaoh. It must have seemed
impossible to him that I could possess larger coins, and more of them,
than he had seen upon the monarch's favourites. He was simply delighted
with the mere view, and his women crowded around or ran out in haste to
bring in their absent sisters to behold a marvel of riches such as Kem
had never seen. But though they wondered and gloated over the sight,
none of them touched a coin until I spoke.

"I pray thee, most gracious Hotep, examine all these coins, and pass
them among thy women to see if they be pleased with them. Observe their
regularity of form and beauty of design, and test the music they give
forth when cast upon thy floor of stone. Mayhap, thou wouldst rather own
all these than to be cumbered with so much grain."

Thereupon Hotep seized a heaping handful, which he poured jingling from
one palm to the other, and all the women delved their pretty fingers
into the shining heap and passed the coins to their admiring sisters,
until not one was left upon the cushion.

"Thy Chief of Harvests hath made known to me, O Hotep, that thou still
hast the full crops of two years.