"I know thy anxiety and I bless thee. The court will not free the
prisoners. But the case will drop, and they may return to their houses
if the overseer of thy land does not support the complaint of attack."

"Then did my overseer make the charge?" asked the astonished prince.

"Thou hast spoken truth. He made the charge in thy name. But if he does
not go to the court, there will be no injured person; and there is no
offence if there is no injured person."

The thicket rustled.

"Stop!" cried Ramses; "who art thou?"

No one gave answer. But it seemed to the prince that in a streak of
light from a torch burning on the lower floor a naked head was visible
for an instant, and also a panther skin.

"A priest," whispered the heir. "Why does he hide himself?"

But at that moment it occurred to him that the priest might answer
grievously for giving counsel which stopped the dispensation of
justice.

CHAPTER XII

RAMSES passed most of the night in feverish imaginings. Once the vision
of the state appeared to him as an immense labyrinth with strong walls
through which no one could force a way, then again he saw the shadow of
a priest who with one wise opinion had indicated to him the method of
escape from that labyrinth. And now appeared unexpectedly before him
two powers, the interest of the state, which he had not felt thus far,
though he was heir to the throne; and the priesthood, which he wished
to debase and then make his servant.

That was a burdensome night. The prince turned on his bed repeatedly,
and asked himself whether he had not been blind, and if he had not
received sight that day for the first time in order to convince himself
of his folly and nothingness. How differently during those night hours
did the warnings of his mother appear to him, and the restraint of his
father in enouncing the supreme will, and even the stern conduct of the
minister, Herhor.

"The state and the priesthood!" repeated the prince, half asleep, and
covered with cold perspiration.

The heavenly deities alone know what would have happened had there been
time to develop and ripen those thoughts which were circling that night
in the soul of Ramses. Perhaps if he had become pharaoh he would have
been one of the most fortunate and longest-lived rulers. Perhaps his
name, carved in temples above ground and underground, would have come
down to posterity surrounded with the highest glory. Perhaps he and his
dynasty would not h