and pulling his robe, said "Finer fellows than your son have never been
seen in Thebes. Let your youngest starve, or beat him to a cripple,
else he also will be dragged off to Syria; for Rameses needs much good
Egyptian meat for the Syrian vultures."

The old man, who had hitherto stood there in silent despair, clenched
his fist. The dwarf pointed to the Regent, and said: "If he there
wielded the sceptre, there would be fewer orphans and beggars by the
Nile. To-day its sacred waters are still sweet, but soon it will taste
as salt as the north sea with all the tears that have been shed on its
banks."

It almost seemed as if the Regent had heard these words, for he rose
from his seat and lifted his hands like a man who is lamenting.

Many of the bystanders observed this action; and loud cries of anguish
filled the wide courtyard, which was soon cleared by soldiers to make
room for other troops of people who were thronging in.

While these gathered round the scribes, the Regent Ani sat with quiet
dignity on the throne, surrounded by his suite and his secretaries, and
held audiences.

He was a man at the close of his fortieth year and the favorite cousin
of the king.

Rameses I., the grandfather of the reigning monarch, had deposed the
legitimate royal family, and usurped the sceptre of the Pharaohs. He
descended from a Semitic race who had remained in Egypt at the time of
the expulsion of the Hyksos,

[These were an eastern race who migrated from Asia into Egypt,
conquered the lower Nile-valley, and ruled over it for nearly 500
years, till they were driven out by the successors of the old
legitimate Pharaohs, whose dominion had been confined to upper
Egypt.]

and had distinguished itself by warlike talents under Thotmes and
Amenophis. After his death he was succeeded by his son Seti, who
sought to earn a legitimate claim to the throne by marrying Tuaa, the
grand-daughter of Amenophis III. She presented him with an only son,
whom he named after his father Rameses. This prince might lay claim to
perfect legitimacy through his mother, who descended directly from the
old house of sovereigns; for in Egypt a noble family--even that of the
Pharaohs--might be perpetuated through women.

Seti proclaimed Rameses partner of his throne, so as to remove all doubt
as to the validity of his position. The young nephew of his wife Tuaa,
the Regent Ani, who was a few years younger than Rameses, he caused to
be br