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During this narrative, which was heard with much approval for no one is more secure of his result than he who can tell of the downfall of a man who is disliked for his arrogance the Regent and the high-priest had been eagerly whispering to each other. "There can be no doubt," said Ameni, that Bent-Anat did actually come to the festival."
The Regent stood opposite the high-priest, motionless as an image cast in bronze, and remained silent; but Ameni lowered his staff before him as before a god, and then went into the fore part of the hall. When Ani followed him, a soft smile played as usual upon his countenance, and full of dignity he took his seat on the throne.
Ameni, he says, is not amiably disposed towards me, because I infringed the ordinance which he values above all others. I must submit to double severity, he says, because the people look first to those of the highest rank; and if I went unpunished for contempt of the sacred institutions there might be imitators among the crowd.
Gagabu eagerly echoed the words. Ameni gave the old man his hand, which trembled with excitement, and went on more calmly. "The Regent Ani is a legitimate child of the soil, by his father and mother both. I know him well, and I am sure that though he is cunning indeed, he is full of true veneration, and will righteously establish us in the rights which we have inherited.
The Regent looked gloomily at the floor and nodded that he had. But Katuti cried out; "Fool that I am! the dwarf is right! I saw how she blushed when her brother told her how the boys had rebelled on his account against Ameni. It is Pentaur and none other!" "Good!" said Ani, "we will see."
"And he will have nothing to fear from Ani; he is a feeble reed, the powerless sport of every wind." "And yet you hoped for great things from him!" "Not from him, but through him with us for his guides," replied Ameni in a low voice but with emphasis. "It is his own fault that I have abandoned his cause.
"You speak like a Seer," cried old Gagabu, "and what you say is perfectly true. We are still called priests, but alas! our counsel is little asked. 'You have to prepare men for a happy lot in the other world, Rameses once said; 'I alone can guide their destinies in this." "He did say so," answered Ameni, "and if he had said no more than that he would have been doomed.
The struggle did not last long, for Paaker seemed to shrink up, and lost his human form, and fell at the poet's feet not my son, but a shapeless lump of clay such as the potter uses to make jars of." "A strange dream!" exclaimed Ameni, not without agitation. "A very strange dream, but it bodes you good. Clay, Setchem, is yielding, and clearly indicates that which the Gods prepare for you.
His father had never failed to attend this entertainment when he was in Thebes, but he himself had to-day for the first time received the much- coveted honor of an invitation, which Ameni told him when he gave it he entirely owed to the Regent.
When at last they reached the landing-place, the procession had already passed on to the temple of Seti; Ameni had met it with his chorus of singers, and had received the God on the shore of the Nile; the prophets of the Necropolis had with their own hands placed him in the sacred Sam-bark of the House of Seti, which was artistically constructed of cedar wood and electrum set with jewels; thirty pastophori took the precious burden on their shoulders, and bore it up the avenue of Sphinxes which led from the river to the temple into the sanctuary of Seti, where Amon remained while the emissaries from the different provinces deposited their offerings in the forecourt.
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