“Prince Peroa and Egyptians, you have conveyed to me certain commands sealed with the Signet of signets, which I think was stolen by yonder Shabaka.  Now hearken; until this matter is made clear I will obey those commands thus far.  I will return with my army to Sais and there wait until I have received the orders of the Great King, after report made to him.  If so much as an arrow is shot at us on our march, it will be open rebellion, as the price of which Egypt shall be crushed as she was never crushed before, and every one of you here present shall lose his head, save only the lady Amada who is the property of the Great King.  Now I thank you for your hospitality and demand that you escort me and those with me back to my camp, since it seems that here we are in the midst of enemies.”

“Before you go, Idernes,” I shouted, “know that you and your lying captain shall pay with your lives for your slander on me.”

“Many will pay with their lives for this night’s work, O thief of pearls and seals,” answered the Satrap, and turning, left the hall with his company.

Now I searched for Amada, but she also had gone with the ladies of Peroa’s household who feared lest the feast should end in blows and bloodshed, also lest she should be snatched away.  Indeed of all the women in the hall, only my mother remained.

“Search out the lady Amada,” I said to her, “and tell her the truth.”

“Yes, my son,” she answered thoughtfully; “but what is the truth?  I understood it was Bes who first gave the name of the lady Amada to the Great King.  Now we learn from your own lips that it was you.  Wise would you have been, my son, if you had bitten out your tongue before you said it, since this is a matter that any woman may well misunderstand.”

“Her name was surprised out of me, Mother.  It was Bes who spoke to the King of the beauty of a certain lady of Egypt.”

“And I think, my son, it was Bes who told Peroa and his guests that he and not you had given the King her name, which you do not seem to have denied.  Well, doubtless both of you are to blame for foolishness, no more, since well I know that you would have died ten times over rather than buy your life at the price of the honour of the Lady of Egypt.  This I will say to her as soon as I may, praying that it may not be too late, and afterwards you shall tell me everything, which you would have done well to do at first, if Bes, as I think, had not been over cunning after the fashion of black people, and counselled you otherwise.  See, Peroa calls you and I must go, for there are greater matters afoot than that of who let slip the name of the lady Amada to the King of kings.”

So she went and there followed a swift council of war, the question being whether we were to strike at the Satrap’s army or to allow it to retreat to Sais.  In my turn I was asked for my judgment of the issue, and answered,

“Strike and at once, since we cannot hope to storm Sais, which is far away.  Moreover such strength as we have is now gathered and if it is idle and perhaps unpaid, will disperse again.  But if we can destroy Idernes and his army, it will be long before the King of kings, who is sending all his multitudes against the Greeks, can gather another, and during this time Egypt may again become a nation and able to protect herself under Peroa her own Pharaoh.”