“Good again,” said the holy Tanofir. “But still many on both fronts will be left, for this army of Easterns is very vast. And how will you deal with these, O Karema?”
“On these I would have Pharaoh with all his remaining strength pour from the northern and the southern gates of Amada, for so shall they be caught like wounded lions between two wild bulls and torn and trampled and utterly destroyed. Only I know not how to tell Pharaoh what he must do, and when.”
“Good again,” said the holy Tanofir, “very good. And as for the telling of Pharaoh, well, I shall see him presently. It is strange, my chipped Cup which I had almost thrown away as useless, that although broken, you still hold so much wisdom. For know, wonderful though it may seem, that just such plans as you have spoken have grown up in my own mind, only I wished to learn if you thought them wise.”
Then he laughed a little and Karema stretched her arms as one does who awakes from sleep, rubbed her eyes and asked if he would not eat more food.
In an instant Tanofir was speaking again in a quick, clear voice.
“Bes, or King,” he said, “doubtless you will do your wife’s will. Therefore let the host be aroused and stand to its arms. As it chances I have four men without who can be trusted. Two of these will guide the five thousand to the ford and across it; also down upon the ships. The other two will guide Shabaka and the archers along the road which Karema remembers so well; perhaps she trod it as a child. For my part I return to Amada to make sure that Pharaoh does his share and at the right time. For mark, unless all this is carried through to-night Amada will fall to-morrow, a certain priestess will die, and you, Bes, and your soldiers will never look on Ethiopia again. Is it agreed?”
I nodded who did not wish to waste time in words, and Bes rolled his eyes and answered,
“When one can think of nothing, it is best to follow the counsel of those who can think of something; also to hunt rather than to be hunted. Especially is this so if that something comes from the holy Tanofir or his broken Cup. Generals, you have heard. Rouse the host and bid them stand to their arms company by company!”
The generals leapt away into the darkness like arrows from a bow, and presently we heard the noise of gathering men.
“Where are these guides of yours, holy Tanofir?” asked Bes.
Tanofir beckoned over his shoulder, and out of the gloom, one by one, four men stole into the tent. They were strange, quiet men, but I can say no more of them since their faces were veiled, nor as it chances, did I ever see any of them after the battle, in which I suppose that they were killed. Or perhaps they appeared after — well, never mind!
“You have heard,” said Tanofir, whereupon all four of them bowed their mysterious veiled heads.
“Now, my Brother,” whispered Bes into my ear, “tell me, I pray you, how did four men who were not in the tent, hear what was said in this tent, and how did they come through the guards who have orders to kill anyone who does not know the countersign, especially men whose faces are wrapped in napkins?”
“I do not know,” I answered, whereon Bes groaned, only Karema smiled a little as though to herself.
“Then, having heard, obey,” said the holy Tanofir, whereon the four veiled ones bowed again.
“Will you not give them their orders, O most Venerable?” inquired Bes doubtfully.
“I think it is needless,” said Tanofir in a dry voice. “Why try to teach those who know?”
“Will you not offer them something to eat, since they also must be hungry?” I asked of Karema.
“Fool, be silent,” she replied, looking on me with contempt. “Do the — friends — of Tanofir need to eat?”
“I should have thought so after being beleaguered for a month in a starving town. If the master wants to eat, why should not his men?” I murmured.
Then a thought struck me and I was silent.
A general returned and reported that the orders had been executed and that all the army was afoot.
“Good,” said Bes. “Then start forthwith with five thousand men, and burn those ships, according to the plan laid down by the Queen Karema, which you heard her speak but now,” and he named certain regiments that he should take with him, those of the general’s own command, adding: “Save some of the ships if you can, and afterwards cross the Nile in them with your men, and join yourself either to my force or to that of the lord Shabaka, according to what you see. May the Grasshopper give you victory and wisdom.”
The general saluted and asked,
“Who guides us to and across the ford of the great river?”
Two of the veiled men stepped forward whereon the general muttered into my ear,
“I like not the look of them. I pray the Grasshopper they do not guide us across the River of Death.”
“Have no fear, General,” said the holy Tanofir from the other end of the tent. “If you and your men play their parts as well as the guides will play theirs, the ships are already burned together with their companies. Only take fire with you.”
So that general departed with the two guides, looking somewhat frightened, and soon was marching up Nile at the head of five thousand swordsmen.
Now Bes looked at me and said,
“It seems that you had better be gone also, my Brother, with the archers. Perchance the holy Tanofir will show you whither.”
“No, no,” answered Tanofir, “my guides will show him. Look not so doubtful, Shabaka. Did I fail you when you were in the grip of the King of kings in the East, and only your own life and that of Bes were at stake?”
“I do not know,” I answered.
“You do not know, but I know, as I think do Bes and Karema, since the one received the messages which the other sent. Well, if I did not fail you then, shall I fail you now when Egypt is at stake? Follow these guides I give you, and—” here he took hold of the quiver of arrows that lay beside me on the ground, and as certainly as though he could see it with his blind eyes, touched one of them, on the shaft of which were two black and a white feather, “remember my words after you have loosed this arrow from your great black bow and noted where it strikes.”
Then I turned to Bes and asked,
“Where do we meet again?”
“I cannot say, Brother,” he answered. “In Amada if that may be. If not, at the Table of Osiris, or in the fields of the Grasshopper, or in the blackness which swallows all, gods and men together.”
“Does Karema come with me or bide with you?” I asked again.
“She does neither,” interrupted Tanofir, “she accompanies me to Amada, where I have need of her and she will be more safe. Oh! fear nothing, for every hermit however poor, still carries his staff and his cup, even if it be cracked.”
Then I shook Bes by the hand and went my way, wondering if I were awake or dreaming, and the last thing I saw in that tent was the beautiful face of Karema smiling at me. This I took to be a good omen, since I knew that it was the heart of the holy Tanofir which smiled, and that her eyes were but its mirror.
Already my thirty thousand archers were marshalling, and having made sure that there was ample store of arrows and that all their gourds were filled with water, I set myself at their head while in front of me walked the two veiled guides. I looked upon them doubtfully, since it seemed dangerous to trust an army to unknown men who for aught I knew, might lead us into the midst of our foes. Then I remembered that they were vouched for by the holy Tanofir, my own great-uncle whom I trusted above any man on earth, and took heart again.
How had he come into our tent, I wondered, and how, blind as he was, would he get back into Amada with Karema, if he took her? Well, who could account for the goings or the comings of the holy Tanofir, who was more of a spirit than a man? Perhaps it was not really he whom we had seen, but what we Egyptians called his Ka or Double which can pass to and fro at will. Only do Kas eat? Of this matter I knew only that offerings of food and drink are made to them in tombs. So leaving the holy Tanofir to guard himself, I turned my mind to our own business, which was to surprise the army of the Great King.