“She says that she has received a command from her master the holy Tanofir to wait upon him forthwith, for reasons that he will explain when she arrives, or to brave his curse upon her, her children, her country and her husband, and not only his but that of the spirits who serve him.”

“The curse of the holy Tanofir is not a thing to mock at,” said Bes, “as I who revere him, know as well as any man.”

“No, Husband, and therefore I leave for Egypt as soon as may be.  It seems that my sister is dead, this year past, and the holy Tanofir has no one to hold his cup.”

“And what shall I do?” asked Bes.

“That is for you to say, Husband.  But if you will, you can stay here and guard our children, giving the command of your army to the lord Shabaka.”

Now, for we were alone, Bes twisted himself about, rolling his eyes and laughing as he used to do before he became Karoon of Ethiopia.

“O-ho-ho!  Wife,” he said, “so you are to go to Egypt, leaving me to play the nurse to babes, and my brother here is to command my armies, leaving me to look after the old men and the women.  Nay, I think otherwise.  I think that I shall come also, that is if my brother wishes it.  Did he not save my life and is it not his and with it all I have?  Oh! have done.  Once more we will stand side by side in the battle, Brother, and afterwards let Fate do as it will with us.  Tell me now, what is the tale of archers and of swordsmen with which we can march against the Great King with whom, like you, I have a score to settle?”

“Seventy and five thousand,” I answered.

“Good!  On the fifth day from now the army marches for Egypt.”

CHAPTER XVI

TANOFIR FINDS HIS BROKEN CUP

March we did, but on the fifteenth day, not the fifth, since there was much to make ready.  First the Council of the Ethiopians must be consulted and through them the people.  In the beginning there was trouble over the matter, since many were against a distant war, and this even after Bes had urged that it was better to attack than wait to be attacked.  For they answered, and justly, that here in Ethiopia distance and the desert were their shields, since the King of kings, however great his strength, would be weary and famished before he set foot within their borders.

In the end the knot was cut with a sword, for when the army came to learn of the dispute, from the generals down to the common soldiers, every man clamoured to be led to war, since, as I have said, these Ethiopians were fighters all of them, and near at hand there were none left with whom they could fight.  So when the Council came to see that they must choose between war abroad and revolt at home, they gave way, bargaining only that the children of the Karoon should not leave the land so that if aught befell him, there would be some of the true blood left to succeed.