“A sphinx,” said Rameri laughing, it has the body of a lion, and the head of a man,

   [There were no female sphinxes in Egypt.  The sphinx was called Neb,
   i. e., the lord.  The lion-couchant had either a man’s or a rams
   head.]

and my uncle has a peaceful priest’s robe, and on his head the helmet of a warrior.”

“If the king were here, the distributor of life,” said Nefert, “you would not be missing from among his supporters.”

“No indeed!” replied the prince, “and the whole thing is altogether different when my father is here.  His heroic form is splendid on his golden throne; the statues of Truth and justice spread their wings behind him as if to protect him; his mighty representative in fight, the lion, lies peacefully before him, and over him spreads the canopy with the Urmus snake at the top.  There is hardly any end to the haruspices, the pastophori with the standards, the images of the Gods, and the flocks and herds for sacrifice.  Only think, even the North has sent representatives to the feast, as if my father were here.  I know all the different signs on the standards.  Do you recognize the images of the king’s ancestors, Nefert?  No? no more do I; but it seemed to me that Ahmes I., who expelled the Hyksos—­from whom our grandmother was descended—­headed the procession, and not my grandfather Seti, as he should have done.  Here come the soldiers; they are the legions which Ani equipped, and who returned victorious from Ethiopia only last night.  How the people cheer them! and indeed they have behaved valiantly.  Only think, Bent-Anat and Nefert, what it will be when my father comes home, with a hundred captive princes, who will humbly follow his chariot, which your Mena will drive, with our brothers and all the nobles of the land, and the guards in their splendid chariots.”

“They do not think of returning yet!” sighed Nefert.  While more and more troops of the Regent’s soldiers, more companies of musicians, and rare animals, followed in procession, the festal bark of Amon started from the shore.

It was a large and gorgeous barge of wood, polished all over and overlaid with gold, and its edge was decorated with glittering glass-beads, which imitated rubies and emeralds; the masts and yards were gilt, and purple sails floated from them.  The seats for the priests were of ivory, and garlands of lilies and roses hung round the vessel, from its masts and ropes.

The Regent’s Nile-boat was not less splendid; the wood-work shone with gilding, the cabin was furnished with gay Babylonian carpets; a lion’s-head formed the prow, as formerly in Hatasu’s sea-going vessels, and two large rubies shone in it, for eyes.  After the priests had embarked, and the sacred barge had reached the opposite shore, the people pressed into the boats, which, filled almost to sinking, soon so covered the whole breadth of the river that there was hardly a spot where the sun was mirrored in the yellow waters.