temple of Anion, whom he had found in the house of the weaver, and the
chief of the kolchytes.

"Show me the heart," said the superintendent of the sacrifices as he
approached the vase. "I can decide in the dark if you have seen rightly.
I examine a hundred animals every day. Give it here!--By all the Gods of
Heaven and Hell that is the heart of a ram!"

"It was found in the breast of Rui," said one of the taricheutes
decisively. "It was opened yesterday in the presence of us all by this
old paraschites."

"It is extraordinary," said the priest of Anion. "And incredible. But
perhaps an exchange was effected.--Did you slaughter any victims here
yesterday or--?"

"We are purifying ourselves," the chief of the kolchytes interrupted,
for the great festival of the valley, and for ten days no beast can have
been killed here for food; besides, the stables and slaughterhouses are
a long way from this, on the other side of the linen-factories."

"It is strange!" replied the priest. "Preserve this heart carefully,
kolchytes: or, better still, let it be enclosed in a case. We will take
it over to the chief prophet of Anion. It would seem that some miracle
has happened."

"The heart belongs to the Necropolis," answered the chief kolchytes, "and
it would therefore be more fitting if we took it to the chief priest of
the temple of Seti, Ameni."