And what if I and mayhap another die while you are
taking counsel,Prophet?
I ask no better fate, muttered Ru as he
obeyed.
My Lord awaits me,she fell back and
died.
CHAPTER IVTHE TEMPLE OF THE SPHINXFor day after day
the ship of Tau journeyed on down Nile.
Yet be swift, for this strength of mineis but as
the brightness of a dying lamp. There are a number of calves forward there, bred
bythe best southern bulls. Well, already I feel as though I were dead andburied.
Moreover, never did they seem to take payment for the foodthey brought. Nay, let the
Lady Kemmah, who is learned,read. Nor would she speak much to Taubecause, as she
declared, she trusted no man any more. Then I awoke, happy for the first time since
Ru bore the body of KingKheperra out of the battle.
But come and lookat the women, if you will; come
and look at them.
Well, we seek two women and a child, so perhaps we
hadbetter see them.
But who can put faithin such visions of the
night?
They would rivet a yoke uponthe neck of Egypt; we
would loose that yoke and not by the sword.
Babylon is faroff and all the lands between are
ablaze with war.
Then I awoke, happy for the first time since Ru
bore the body of KingKheperra out of the battle.
There you will find a woman, anurse of kings in
whom my blood runs. I, too, have my secrets, and I tell you thatOsiris will not take
you yet. Herethey disembarked, all of them, under shelter of the darkness and of
abed of reeds.
I am not sure, for true service is its own end. But
tell me, where andto what is your spirit leading you?
Infancy passed by and there came childhood. Where
she goes, there you go;when she sleeps your bed is without her door.
He is so strong that he can carry a third man inhis
teeth.
You are a gallant man and a true-hearted. I know
it, Ru; yet sometimes folly betrays as well as craft. Thosethings will happen which
must happen and there is no more to be said. Here isFate itself, and what can man do
in the face of Fate?
Then if so, Holy Prophet, why do you not sit at
Tanis openly, insteadof in secret in these tombs? Three minutes later that ship was
gliding down the Nile before thestrong south wind. At this moment the first rays of
the rising sun shot like arrowsthrough the window-place. Then if so, Holy Prophet,
why do you not sit at Tanis openly, insteadof in secret in these tombs? Then if so,
Holy Prophet, why do you not sit at Tanis openly, insteadof in secret in these
tombs? Kinswoman, bring me the child, said the Prophet. Where she goes, there you
go;when she sleeps your bed is without her door. There are a number of calves
forward there, bred bythe best southern bulls. Now, Captain, who is this giant and
what are you doing with himon board your trading boat? Well, we seek two women and a
child, so perhaps we hadbetter see them. I, too, have my secrets, and I tell you
thatOsiris will not take you yet.