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The eyes of the woman met those of the Egyptian and lighted with recognition. She lowered her arms and crossed the left to the shoulder of the right. It was the old attitude of deference from Israel to Atsu. A dusky red dyed the man's cheeks and he touched his knee in response. The litter of Miriam passed. The next was a light frame of jungle bamboo, borne by a pair of young men.
When Atsu emerged from the mouth of the little valley into the quarries some time after the midday meal, he was confronted by the murket and the royal scribe. Neither of the men was unknown to him. Hotep halted him. "Was there a guest with the fair-haired Israelite maiden last night?" the scribe asked. Atsu's face, pinched and darker than usual, blazed wrathfully.
She filled all his needs as Israel failed to supply them, and he missed neither friend nor neighbor when she was near. Rachel knew wherein she was more fortunate than other women and her content and her devotion were beyond measure. So Kenkenes and Rachel were lovers all the days of their lives. If ever they grew reminiscent there was one name spoken more tenderly than any other the name of Atsu.
She went to the amphora and poured water into the laver, drew forth from the box a horn comb and a vial of powdered soda from the Natron Lakes, and proceeded with her toilet. "Came some one, of a truth?" she asked presently. Deborah pointed to the smoking bowl. Rachel inspected the fowl. "Marsh-hen!" she cried in surprise. "Atsu brought it." "Atsu?" "Even so.
An armed watchman stood before the tightly closed front of the lapidary's booth, above the portal of which a flaring torch was stuck in a sconce. "The house of Atsu?" the watchman repeated after Kenkenes. "Atsu is no longer a householder in Memphis." "When did he depart?" "Eight or nine months ago, at the persuasion of the Pharaoh."
The mention of the taskmaster's name brought forward the probability of a rival. "I can take thee back to Atsu," he said slowly. "These menials will not remain in the hills after sunset, and under cover of night I can slip thee, by strategy, past any sentries they may have set and get thee to Atsu.
She sat up and put the hair back from her face. "Thou good Atsu," she said in a voice subdued with much weeping, "Wilt thou add more to mine already hopeless indebtedness to thee? Art thou blind to the ill-use thou invitest upon thine own head in thy care for me? Let me imperil thee no more. Is there no other way?" He shook his head.
Thus he insured the safety and preservation of the bones of Atsu, and in the eye of the average Egyptian he had served the soldier well. But Kenkenes was not satisfied. As he left the shrine he muttered with trembling lips: "Bless him! The fate is not kind which yields to such goodness no reward save gratitude.
The shrine was empty, and none of the villagers was near. He lifted the dead man from the horse and bore the body into the sanctuary. Before the image of Athor was a long table overlaid with a slab of red sandstone. Here the offerings were left and here Kenkenes laid Atsu, a true sacrifice to the love deity. Reverently the young man closed the eyes and straightened the chilling limbs.
"Now, if I might dye my hair or stain my face " Rachel began after a pause. "Thou foolish child! It would not wear, nor hide thy charm at all!" "But I dread the quarries for thee, Deborah. If only we might be hidden here, somewhere." "Come, dost thou want to marry Atsu?" the old woman demanded harshly. The girl turned toward her, her face flushed with resentment. "Nay! And that thou knowest.
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