"'Stand thou on one side,' quoth the Queen, and the Dweller in the Tomb
obeyed.

"Then once more she called upon Hataska and there came a sound of
rushing wings. And behold, on the head of the statue of Osiris sat a
great bird, feathered as it were with gold. But the bird had the head of
a woman, and the face was fashioned as the face of Hataska. And thus it
spoke, that was the _Bai_:

"'What wouldest thou with me, Meriamun, who am no more of thy company?
Why dost thou draw me from the Under World, thou by whose hand my body
did perish?'

"And Meriamun said: 'This I would of thee, that thou shouldest declare
unto me the future. Speak, I command thee.'

"And the Bai said: 'Nay, Meriamun, that I cannot do. I am but the Bai
of her who was Hataska, and I fly from Death to Life and Life to Death,
till the hour of awakening is. Of the future I know naught; seek thou
that which knows.'

"'Rest thou where thou art,' quoth the Queen, and there it rested, awful
to see.

"Then once more Meriamun called upon Hataska, bidding her hear the
summons where she was.

"And behold the eyes of the Dead One that was upon the knee of Osiris
glowed, and glowed the eyes of the Dweller in the Tomb, and of the