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Updated: May 24, 2025
See that you guard her as you should, and when the journey is done, return and make report to me. Farewell." Then, lifting his staff, without speaking another word to Tua or to Asti, Kepher strode away from amongst them, walking through the ranks of the Desert men who forced their camels to kneel and saluted him as he passed.
And each time the echo of her cry came back louder and still more loud, till it seemed as though earth and heaven were filled with the sound of the name of Kepher. It was the afternoon of the third day.
"Received by Kepher the Wanderer in payment of the above house and land and goods, three pearls and one full meal of meat and dates." Then followed the seal of Kepher in wax, a finely cut scarabæus holding the symbol of the sun between its two front feet. "A proud seal for a tattered wanderer, though it is but his name writ in wax," said Tua.
While they still gazed upon its glories in the red light of the rising sun the captain of the desert men appeared, and bowed before them. "Divine Lady," he said, "woman or goddess, whichever you may be, we have fulfilled the command given to us by Kepher, the ancient King of the Wilderness.
He snatched out his sword, and for a moment stayed irresolute, while the great men ringed him round and waited, their eyes fixed on Kepher's face. "Spare him, Father, if it may be so," said Tua, "since love has made him mad." "Too late!" answered Kepher solemnly. "Those who will not accept the warning of the gods must suffer the vengeance of the gods.
Kepher looked up at the name, then turned to Tua and said: "Daughter, your face is fair, and your heart is perfect, since otherwise you would not have dealt with me as you have done. Still, it seems that you lack one thing undoubting faith in the goodness of the gods. Though, surely," he added in a slow voice, "those who have passed yonder lion-haunted forest without hurt should not lack faith.
In the morning, after Tua and Asti had put on the clean robes that lay to their hands, and eaten, suddenly they looked up and perceived that Kepher, the ancient beggar of the desert, was in the room with them, though neither of them had heard or seen him enter. "You come silently, Friend," said Asti, looking at him with a curious eye.
"And what if I mock at the command of this King?" asked Janees. "Mock not," replied Kepher. "Bethink you of a certain picture that the lady Asti showed you in the water, and mock not." "It was but an Egyptian trick, Wizard, and one in which I see you had a hand. Begone, I defy you and your sorceries, and your King. To-night that maid shall be my wife."
Take the harp, go to the window-place, and call as the beggar-man bade you do in your need." So Tua went to the window-place and looked down on the great courtyard beneath that was lit with the light of the moon. Then she struck on the harp, and thrice she cried aloud: "Kepher! Kepher! Kepher!"
"Drag this madman forth," he shouted at length, "and cut out his insolent tongue." Again the guards sprang forward, but before ever they reached him Kepher was speaking in a new voice, a voice so terrible that at the sound of it they stopped, leaving him untouched. "Beware how you lay a finger on me, you men of Tat," he cried, "for how know you who dwells within these rags?
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