I remember seeing him there on hands and knees, and then the liquor I
had had would not be denied. In vain I drew my hands across my drooping
eyelids, in vain I tried to master my knees that knocked together.
The spell of the love-drink that Heru, blushing, had held to my lips
was on me. Its soft, overwhelming influence rose like a prismatic fog
between me and my enemy, everything again became hazy and dreamlike, and
feebly calling on Heru, my chin dropped upon my chest, my limbs relaxed,
and I slipped down in drowsy oblivion before my rival.




CHAPTER VIII

They must have carried me, still under the influence of wine fumes,
to the chamber where I slept that night, for when I woke the following
morning my surroundings were familiar enough, though a glorious maze of
uncertainties rocked to and fro in my mind.

Was it a real feast we had shared in overnight, or only a quaint dream?
Was Heru real or only a lovely fancy? And those hairy ruffians of whom
a horrible vision danced before my waking eyes, were they fancy too?
No, my wrists still ached with the strain of the tussle, the quaint,
sad wine taste was still on my lips--it was all real enough, I decided,
starting up in bed; and if it was real where was the little princess?
What had they done with her? Surely they had not given her to the
ape-men--cowards though they were they could not have been cowards enough
for that. And as I wondered a keen, bright picture of the hapless maid as
I saw her last blossomed before my mind's eye, the ambassadors on either