l be powerless; that he must see them starve by thousands, and part
with the last bit of his cherished riches to save his own life. No,
Isidor, your business sagacity has not been in vain, for this entire
people depend not on Hotep, but on _you_! You alone have the food to
preserve many of them alive through a famine and a pestilence whose
horrors are just beginning. Pharaoh and Zaphnath will squeeze and pinch
them, and see them die, and turn it all to their own profit; but let us
constitute ourselves a relief committee, you and I. Let us set these
Kemish rulers an example of humanity, as we know it on Earth."

CHAPTER XI

Revolutionist and Eavesdropper

In Kem, where agriculture was almost the only occupation, and where the
ox was helpful both in planting and threshing the grain, it was quite
natural that he should be revered, or at least respected as a partner in
the toil, and that a strong prejudice should prevail against his being
slaughtered for food. In fact, it was not the practice of the Kemish to
eat any large animals, but they confined themselves to fish and small
fowl for meats. Nevertheless, I urged upon Hotep the necessity of
killing some of his cattle to provide food for his miserable and
poorly-fed labourers. But he stubbornly refused to do so, saying his men
would rather eat the flesh of mules than of cattle.

Without being pressed for it, he paid me the second hundred thousand
cargoes of wheat, which he bought from the Pharaoh with gold, as he had
done before. But I divided this entire quantity of grain among Hotep's
labourers, which eked out their half-rations for almost a year. I
stipulated that none of this grain should be used for seed, for I
firmly believed it would be wasted. But Pharaoh again lent the seed for
planting a third crop, insisting that the discouraged Hotep should put
it in the ground, and reminding him that the only way he could get grain
to pay his heavy debts was to raise a crop.

Thenocris had not been long in learning the location of our house near
her favourite gate, and it was her habit to call on us every day at the
time of the noon-day meal. She always carried and caressed her white
rabbit, and they came to us like two dumb animals to be fed. Her tall,
stately figure, traversing the city on her daily journey to our house,
soon became a familiar sight; and when the people began to be oppressed
by hunger, they gradually overcame their early fear of us, and followed