So the pilot murmured, and his tale was none of the shortest; but even
as he spoke the darkness grew less dark and the cloud lifted a little
so that the shores of the river might be seen in a green light like the
light of Hades, and presently the night was rolled up like a veil, and
it was living noonday in the land of Khem. Then all the noise of
life broke forth in one moment, the kine lowing, the wind swaying the
feathery palms, the fish splashing in the stream, men crying to each
other from the river banks, and the voice of multitudes of people in
every red temple praising Ra, their great God, whose dwelling is the
Sun. The Wanderer, too, praised his own Gods, and gave thanks to Apollo,
and to Helios Hyperion, and to Aphrodite. And in the end the pilot
brought the ship to the quay of a great city, and there a crew of
oarsmen was hired, and they sped rejoicing in the sunlight, through a
canal dug by the hands of men, to Tanis and the Sanctuary of Heracles,
the Safety of Strangers. There the ship was moored, there the Wanderer
rested, having a good welcome from the shaven priests of the temple.



V

MERIAMUN THE QUEEN

Strange news flies fast. It was not long before the Pharaoh, who then
was with his Court in Tanis, the newly rebuilded city, heard how there
had come to Khem a man like a god, wearing golden armour, and cruising
alone in a ship of the dead. In these years the white barbarians of the
sea and of the isles were wont to land in Egypt, to ravage the fields,
carry women captive, and fly again in their ships. But not one of them