“Then you can put Memphis into a state of defence.  Then too when Idernes comes I will meet him and, as the bearer of the seal, command him under the seal to retreat and disperse his army.”

“But if he does, Shabaka, it will only be until he has received fresh orders from the Great King, whereon he will advance again.”

“No, Prince, he will not advance, or that army either.  For when they are in retreat we will fall on them and destroy them, and declare you, O Prince, Pharaoh of Egypt, though what will happen afterwards I do not know.”

When they heard this all gasped.  Only Amada whispered,

“Well said!” and Bes clapped his big hands softly in the Ethiopian fashion.

“A bold counsel,” said Peroa, “and one on which I must have the night to think.  Return here, Shabaka, an hour after sunrise to-morrow, by which time I can gather all the wisest men in Memphis, and we will discuss this matter.  Ah! here is the impress.  Now let the seal be tried.”

A box was brought and opened.  In it was a slab of wood on which was an impress of the King’s seal in wax, surrounded by those of other seals certifying that it was genuine.  Also there was a writing describing the appearance of the seal.  I handed the signet to Peroa who, having compared it with the description in the writing, fitted it to the impress on the wax.

“It is the same,” he said.  “See, all of you.”

They looked and nodded.  Then he would have given it back to me but I refused to take it, saying,

“It is not well that this mighty symbol should hang about the neck of a private man whence it might be stolen or lost.”

“Or who might be murdered for its sake,” interrupted Peroa.

“Yes, Prince.  Therefore take it and hide it in the safest and most secret place in the palace, and with it these pearls that are too priceless to be flaunted about the streets of Memphis at night, unless indeed——­” and I turned to look for Amada, but she was gone.

So the seal and the pearls were taken and locked in the box with the impress and borne away.  Nor was I sorry to see the last of them, wisely as it happened.  Then I bade the Prince and his company good night, and presently was driving homeward with Bes in the chariot.

Our way led us past some large houses once occupied by officers of the Court of Pharaoh, but now that there was no Court, fallen into ruins.  Suddenly from out of these houses sprang a band of men disguised as common robbers, whose faces were hidden by cloths with eye-holes cut in them.  They seized the horses by the bridles, and before we could do anything, leapt upon us and held us fast.  Then a tall man speaking with a foreign accent, said,

“Search that officer and the dwarf.  Take from them the seal upon a gold chain and a rope of rose-hued pearls which they have stolen.  But do them no harm.”

So they searched us, the tall man himself helping and, aided by others, holding Bes who struggled with them, and searched the chariot also, by the light of the moon, but found nothing.  The tall man muttered that I must be the wrong officer, and at a sign they left us and ran away.