“That was good work,” said Peroa to me afterwards when we were alone, “for now yonder knave is frightened and will frighten his master.”

“Yes,” I answered, “you played that pipe well, Prince.  Still, there is no time to lose, since before another moon this will all be reported in the East, whence a new light may arise and perchance a new signet.”

“You say you stole the White Seal?” he asked.

“Nay, Prince, the truth is that Bes bought it—­in a certain fashion—­ and I used it.  Perhaps it is well that you should know no more at present.”

“Perhaps,” he answered, and we parted, for he had much to do.

That afternoon the Council met again.  At it I gave over the gold and by help of it all was arranged.  Within a week ten thousand armed men would be in Memphis and a hundred ships with their crews upon the Nile; also a great army would be gathering in Upper Egypt, officered for the most part by Greeks skilled in war.  The Greek cities too at the mouths of the Nile would be ready to revolt, or so some of their citizens declared, for they hated the Great King bitterly and longed to cast off his yoke.

For my part, I received the command of the bodyguard of Peroa in which were many Greeks, and a generalship in the army; while to Bes, at my prayer, was given the freedom of the land which he accepted with a smile, he who was a king in his own country.

At length all was finished and I went out into the palace garden to rest myself before I rode into the desert to see my great uncle, the holy Tanofir.  I was alone, for Bes had gone to bring our horses on which we were to ride, and sat myself down beneath a palm-tree, thinking of the great adventure on which we had entered with a merry heart, for I loved adventures.

Next I thought of Amada and was less merry.  Then I looked up and lo! she stood before me, unaccompanied and wearing the dress, not of a priestess, but of an Egyptian lady with the little circlet of her rank upon her hair.  I rose and bowed to her and we began to walk together beneath the palms, my heart beating hard within me, for I knew that my hour had come to speak.

Yet it was she who spoke the first, saying,

“I hear that you have been playing a high part, Shabaka, and doing great things for Egypt.”

“For Egypt and for you who are Egypt,” I answered.

“So I should have been called in the old days, Cousin, because of my blood and the rank it gives, though now I am but as any other lady of the land.”

“And so you shall be called in days to come, Amada, if my sword and wit can win their way.”

“How so, Cousin, seeing that you have promised certain things to my uncle Peroa and his son?”

“I have promised those things, Amada, and I will abide by my promise; but the gods are above all, and who knows what they may decree?”

“Yes, Cousin, the gods are above all, and in their hands we will let these matters rest, provoking them in no manner and least of all by treachery to our oaths.”