Return to Tanis with all speed and take the treasure with thee. Then
only will the intent rest against thee--"
"Not so," Seti interrupted harshly. "Wilt thou rob me of the one balm
to my humiliation? Wilt thou defeat me also in the one good deed I
would do? Take thou the treasure and be glad that it fell not into the
hands of the wanton. Let me depart."
But Aaron was planted in his way.
"Knowest thou not what they will do with thee? Thou wouldst have given
aid to the enemy of Egypt. Thou knowest the penalty. Sooner would
Israel make it a garment of sackcloth and feed upon alms, than yield
thee up to thine enemies for thy gold's sake--"
But Seti would not hear him. "I care not what they do with me," he
said. "The gods grant they lay upon me the extreme weight of the law.
I go back to Tanis as one returneth to his beloved."
He shook off the Israelite's hands and ran into the open. There, he
ordered the black to give the treasure over to the Hebrew, and flinging
himself upon his horse, galloped furiously toward Tanis.
Of the remainder of the day Seti had little memory. Once or twice as
he proceeded headlong through hamlets, he caught from the lips of
natives a denunciation of Siptah, a vicious epithet applied to Ta-user,
or, like a fresh thrust in an old wound, a pitying groan for himself.
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