He spoke as he
felt--intensely.
"Nay; it is thou who shalt tell me, O my King. I know thee, even as
all Egypt knows thee. There is no power in thee for great evil, but
behold to what depths of misery is Egypt sunk! Through thee? Aye, if
we charge the mouth for the word the mind willed it to say. Have the
gods afflicted thee with madness, or have they given thee into the
compelling hands of a knave? Say, who is it, thou or another, who
playeth a perilous game with Israel, this day, when its God hath
already rent Egypt and consumed her in wrath? Like a wise man thou
admittest thine error and biddest thy scourge depart, and lo! ere thy
words are cold thou dost arise and recall them and invite the descent
of new and hideous affliction upon thine empire! Behold the winnings
of thy play, thus far! From Pelusium to Syene, a waste, full of
famine, mourners and dead men, and among these last--thy Rameses!--"
Meneptah did not permit him to finish. Purple with an engorgement of
grief and fury, the monarch broke in, flailing the air with his arms.
"Har-hat!" he cried. "Not I! Har-hat, who cozened me!"
The voice rang through the royal inclosure, and the ministers came
running.
Foremost was Har-hat.
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