guests turned on Paaker, who looked round for a
seat, and when no one beckoned him to one he felt his blood begin to
boil. He would have liked to leave the banqueting hall at once with a
swingeing curse. He had indeed turned towards the door, when the Regent,
who had exchanged a few whispered words with Ameni, called to him,
requested him to take the place that had been reserved for him, and
pointed to the seat by his side, which had in fact been intended for the
high-priest of the temple of Amon.

Paaker bowed low, and took the place of honor, hardly daring to look
round the table, lest he should encounter looks of surprise or of
mockery. And yet he had pictured to himself his grandfather Assa, and
his father, as somewhere near this place of honor, which had actually
often enough been given up to them. And was he not their descendant and
heir? Was not his mother Setchem of royal race? Was not the temple of
Seti more indebted to him than to any one?

A servant laid a garland of flowers round his shoulders, and another
handed him wine and food. Then he raised his eyes, and met the bright
and sparkling glance of Gagabu; he looked quickly down again at the
table.

Then the Regent spoke to him, and turning to the other guests mentioned
that Paaker was on the point of starting next day for Syria, and
resuming his arduous labors as Mohar. It seemed to Paaker that the
Regent was excusing himself for having given him so high a place of
honor.

Presently Ani raised his wine-cup, and drank to the happy issue of his
reconnoitring-expedition, and a victorious conclusion to every struggle
in which the Mohar might engage. The high-priest then pledged him, and
thanked him emphatically in the name of the brethren of the temple, for
the noble tract of arable land which he had that morning given them as
a votive offering. A murmur of approbation ran round the tables, and
Paaker's timidity began to diminish.

He had kept the wrappings that his mother had applied round his still
aching hand.

"Are you wounded?" asked the Regent.

"Nothing of importance," answered the pioneer. "I was helping my mother
into the boat, and it happened--"

"It happened," interrupted an old school-fellow of the Mohar's,
who himself held a high appointment as officer of the city-watch of
Thebes--"It happened that an oar or a stake fell on his fingers."

"Is it possible!" cried the Regent.

"And quite a youngster laid hands on him," continued the off