all my property, I cast a glance at the darkness, saying, “If the darkness increaseth I will transfer the god to the ship also, and not permit any other eye whatsoever to look upon him.”  Then the superintendent of the harbour came unto me, saying, “Tarry thou here until to-morrow morning, according to the orders of the governor.”  And I said unto him, “Art not thou thyself he who hath passed his days in coming to me daily and saying, ‘Get thee gone out of my harbour?’ Dost thou not say, ‘Tarry here,’ so that I may let the ship which I have found [bound for Egypt] depart, when thou wilt again come and say, ’Haste thee to be gone’?”

[Footnote 1:  i.e. the figure of Amen-ta-mat.]

And the superintendent of the harbour turned away and departed, and told the governor what I had said.  And the governor sent a message to the captain of the ship bound for Egypt, saying, “Tarry till the morning; these are the orders of the governor.”  And when the morning had come, the governor sent a messenger, who took me to the place where offerings were being made to the god in the fortress wherein the governor lived on the sea coast.  And I found him seated in his upper chamber, and he was reclining with his back towards an opening in the wall, and the waves of the great Syrian sea were rolling in from seawards and breaking on the shore behind him.  And I said unto him, “The grace of Amen [be with thee]!” And he said unto me, “Including this day, how long is it since thou camest from the place where Amen is?” And I said unto him, “Five months and one day, including to-day.”  And he said unto me, “Verily if that which thou sayest is true, where are the letters of Amen which ought to be in thy hand?  Where are the letters of the high priest of Amen which ought to be in thy hand?”

And I said unto him, “I gave them to Nessubanebtet and Thent-Amen.”  Then was he very angry indeed, and he said unto me, “Verily, there are neither letters nor writings in thy hands for us!  Where is the ship made of acacia wood which Nessubanebtet gave unto thee?  Where are his Syrian sailors?  Did he not hand thee over to the captain of the ship so that after thou hadst started on thy journey they might kill thee and cast thee into the sea?  Whose permission did they seek to attack the god?  And indeed whose permission were they seeking before they attacked thee?” This is what he said unto me.

And I said unto him, “The ship [wherein I sailed] was in very truth an Egyptian ship, and it had a crew of Egyptian sailors who sailed it on behalf of Nessubanebtet.  There were no Syrian sailors placed on board of it by him.”  He said unto me, “I swear that there are twenty ships lying in my harbour, the captains of which are in partnership with Nessubanebtet.  And as for the city of Sidon, whereto thou wishest to travel, I swear that there are there ten thousand other ships, the captains of which are in partnership with Uarkathar, and they are sailed for the benefit