The noise was loud and distracting, and when its violence diminished, and
the work-people went back to their business, the east wind brought the
echo of the cries of the dwellers in the Necropolis, perhaps too, those
of the citizens of Thebes itself.

"Bad news," said the inspector of the victims, cannot fail to reach us
soon from the king and the army; he will regret the death of the ram
which we called by his name more than that of Apis. It is a bad--a very
bad omen."

"My lost husband Rui, who rests in Osiris, foresaw it all," said the
widow. "If only I dared to speak I could tell a good deal that many
might find unpleasant."

The inspector of sacrifices smiled, for he knew that the late superior of
the temple of Hatasu had been an adherent of the old royal family, and he
replied:

"The Sun of Rameses may be for a time covered with clouds, but neither
those who fear it nor those who desire it will live to see its setting."

The priest coldly saluted the lady, and went into the house of a weaver
in which he had business, and the widow got into her litter which was
waiting at the gate.

The old paraschites Pinem had joined with his fellows in the lamentation
for the sacred beasts, and was now sitting on the hard pavement of the
dissecting room to eat his morsel of food--for it was noon.

The stone room in which he was eating his meal was badly lighted; the