When we had finished eating, slaves appeared bearing a wooden framework from which hung a great pair of scales.  Also there appeared officers of the King’s Treasury, carrying leather bags which they opened, breaking the seals to show that the contents were pure gold coin.  They set a number of these bags on one of the scales, and then ordered Bes to seat himself in the other.  So much heavier did he prove than they expected him to be, that they were obliged to send back to the Treasury to fetch more bags of gold, for although Bes was so short in height, his weight was that of a large man.  One of the treasurers grumbled, saying he should have been weighed before he had eaten and drunk.  But the officer to whom he spoke grinned and answered that it mattered little, since the King was heir to criminals and that these bags would soon return to the Treasury, only they would need washing first, a remark that made me wonder.

At length, when the scales were even, the six hunters whose lives I had won and who had been given to me as slaves, were brought in and ordered to shoulder the bags of gold.  I too was seized and my hands were bound behind me.  Then I was led out in charge of the eunuch Houman, who informed me with a leer that it would be his duty to attend to my comfort till the end.  With him were four black men all dressed in the same way.  These, he said, were the executioners.  Lastly came Bes watched by three of the king’s guards armed with spears, lest he should attempt to rescue me or to do anyone a mischief.

Now my heart began to sink and I asked Houman what was to happen to me.

“This, O Egyptian slayer of lions.  You will be laid upon a bed in a little boat upon the river and another boat will be placed over you, for these boats are called the Twins, Egyptian, in such a fashion that your head and your hands will project at one end and your feet at the other.  There you will be left, comfortable as a baby in its cradle, and twice every day the best of food and drink will be brought to you.  Should your appetite fail, moreover, it will be my duty to revive it by pricking your eyes with the point of a knife until it returns.  Also after each meal I shall wash your face, your hands and your feet with milk and honey, lest the flies that buzz about them should suffer hunger, and to preserve your skin from burning by the sun.  Thus slowly you will grow weaker and at length fall asleep.  The last one who went into the boat—­he, unlucky man, had by accident wandered into the court of the House of Women and seen some of the ladies there unveiled —­only lived for twelve days, but you, being so strong, may hope to last for eighteen.  Is there anything more that I can tell you?  If so, ask it quickly for we draw near to the river.”

Now when I heard this and understood all the horror of my fate, I forgot the vision of my great uncle, the holy Tanofir, and his comfortable prophecies, and my heart failed me altogether, so that I stood stock still.