Shortly after his victory, after all the important passes and strongholds
had been conquered by his troops, he set out for Egypt with his train and
the vanquished princes. He sent two of his sons to Bent-Anat at Megiddo,
to escort her by sea to Pelusium; he knew that the commandant of the
harbor of that frontier fortress, at the easternmost limit of his
kingdom, was faithful to him, and he ordered that his daughter should not
quit the ship till he arrived, to secure her against any attempt on the
part of the Regent. A large part of the material of war, and most of the
wounded, were also sent to Egypt by sea.



CHAPTER XL.

Nearly three months had passed since the battle of Kadesh, and to-day the
king was expected, on his way home with his victorious army, at Pelusium,
the strong hold and key of Egyptian dominion in the east. Splendid
preparations had been made for his reception, and the man who took the
lead in the festive arrangements with a zeal that was doubly effective
from his composed demeanor was no less a person than the Regent Ani.

His chariot was to be seen everywhere: now he was with the workmen, who
were to decorate triumphal arches with fresh flowers; now with the
slaves, who were hanging garlands on the wooden lions erected on the road
for this great occasion; now--and this detained him longest--he watched
the progress of the immense palace which was being rapidly constructed of
wood on the site where formerly the camp of the Hyksos had stood, in
which the actual ceremony of receiving the king was to take place, and
where the Pharaoh and his immediate followers were to reside. It had