Yes, in that battle perished ten thousand of the Easterns and their mercenaries, and upon its field at dawn we crowned Peroa Pharaoh of Egypt, and he named me the chief general of his army.  There, too, fell over a thousand of my men and among them those six hunters whom I had won in the wager with the Great King and brought with me from the East.  Throughout the fray they served me as a bodyguard, fighting furiously, who knew that they could hope for no mercy from their own people.  One by one they were slain, the last two of them in the charge at sunset.  Well, they were brave and faithful to me, so peace be on their spirits.  Better to die thus than in the den of lions.

In triumph we returned to Memphis, I bringing in the rear-guard and the spoils.  Before Pharaoh and I parted a messenger brought me more good news.  Sure tidings had come that the King of kings had been driven by revolt in his dominions to embark upon a mighty war with Syria, Greece and Cyprus and other half-conquered countries, in which, doubtless by agreement, the fires of insurrection had suddenly burned up.  Also already Peroa’s messengers had departed to tell them of what was passing on the Nile.

“If this be true,” said Peroa when he had heard all, “the Great King will have no new army to spare for Egypt.”

“It is so, Pharaoh,” I answered.  “Yet I think he will conquer in this great war and that within two years you must be prepared to meet him face to face.”

“Two years are long, Shabaka, and in them, by your help, much may be done.”

But as it chanced he was destined to be robbed of that help, and this by the work of Woman the destroyer.

It happened thus.  Amidst great rejoicings Pharaoh reached Memphis and in the vast temple of Amen laid down our spoils in the presence of the god, thousands of right hands hewn from the fallen, thousands of swords and other weapons and tens of chariots, together with much treasure of which a portion was given to the god.  The high priests blessed us in the name of Amen and of the other gods; the people blessed us and threw flowers in our path; all the land rejoiced because once more it was free.

There too that day in the temple with ancient form and ceremonial Peroa was crowned Pharaoh of Egypt.  Sceptres and jewels that had been hid for generations were brought out by those who knew the secret of their hiding-places; the crowns that had been worn by old Pharaohs, were set upon his head; yes, the double crown of the Upper and the Lower Land.  Thus in a Memphis mad with joy at the casting off of the foreign yoke, he was anointed the first of a new dynasty, and with him his queen.

I too received honours, for the story of the slaying of Idernes at my hands and of how I held the pass had gone abroad, so that next to Pharaoh, I was looked upon as the greatest man in Egypt.  Nor was Bes forgotten, since many of the common people thought that he was a spirit in the form of a dwarf whom the gods had sent to aid us with his strength and cunning.  Indeed at the close of the ceremony voices cried out in the multitude of watchers, demanding that I who was to marry the Royal Lady of Egypt should be named next in succession to the throne.