“That was a wise thought of mine, Bes, which caused me to leave certain ornaments in the palace,” I said.  “As it is they have taken nothing.”

“Yes, Master,” he answered, “though I have taken something from them,” a saying that I did not understand at the time.  “Those Easterns whom we met by the canal told Idernes about the seal, and he ordered this to be done.  That tall man was one of the messengers who came to-night to the palace.”

“Then why did they not kill us, Bes?”

“Because murder, especially of one who holds the seal, is an ugly business, that is easily tracked down, whereas thieves are many in Memphis and who troubles about them when they have failed?  Oh! the Grasshopper, or Amen, or both, have been with us to-night.”

So I thought although I said nothing, for since we had come off scatheless, what did it matter?  Well, this.  It showed me that the signet of the Great King was indeed to be dreaded and coveted, even here in Egypt.  If Idernes could get it into his possession, what might he not do with it?  Cause himself to be proclaimed Pharaoh perhaps and become the forefather of an independent dynasty.  Why not, when the Empire of the East was taxed with a great war elsewhere?  And if this was so why should not Peroa do the same, he who had behind him all Old Egypt, maddened with its wrongs and foreign rule?

That same night before I slept, but after Bes and I had hidden away the bags of gold by burying them beneath the clay floor, I laid the whole matter before my mother who was a very wise woman.  She heard me out, answering little, then said,

“The business is very dangerous, and of its end I will not speak until I have heard the counsel of your great-uncle, the holy Tanofir.  Still, things having gone so far, it seems to me that boldness may be the best course, since the great King has his Grecian wars to deal with, and whatever he may say, cannot attack Egypt yet awhile.  Therefore if Peroa is able to overcome Idernes and his army he may cause himself to be proclaimed Pharaoh and make Egypt free if only for a time.”

“Such is my mind, Mother.”

“Not all your mind, Son, I think,” she answered smiling, “for you think more of the lovely Amada than of these high policies, at any rate to-night.  Well, marry your Amada if you can, though I misdoubt me somewhat of a woman who is so lost in learning and thinks so much about her soul.  At least if you marry her and Egypt should become free, as it was for thousands of years, you will be the next heir to the throne as husband of the Great Royal Lady.”

“How can that be, Mother, seeing that Peroa has a son?”

“A vain youth with no more in him than a child’s rattle.  If once Amada ceases to think about her soul she will begin to think about her throne, especially if she has children.  But all this is far away and for the present I am glad that neither she nor the thieves have got those pearls, though perhaps they might be safer here than where they are.  And now, my son, go rest for you need it, and dream of nothing, not even Amada, who for her part will dream of Isis, if at all.  I will wake you before the dawn.”