the powerless sport of every wind."

"And yet you hoped for great things from him!"

"Not from him, but through him--with us for his guides," replied Ameni in
a low voice but with emphasis. "It is his own fault that I have
abandoned his cause. Our first wish--to spare the poet Pentaur--he would
not respect, and he did not hesitate to break his oath, to betray us, and
to sacrifice one of the noblest of God's creatures, as the poet was, to
gratify a petty grudge. It is harder to fight against cunning weakness
than against honest enmity. Shall we reward the man who has deprived the
world of Pentaur by giving him a crown? It is hard to quit the trodden
way, and seek a better--to give up a half-executed plan and take a more
promising one; it is hard, I say, for the individual man, and makes him
seem fickle in the eyes of others; but we cannot see to the right hand
and the left, and if we pursue a great end we cannot remain within the
narrow limits which are set by law and custom to the actions of private
individuals. We draw back just as we seem to have reached the goal, we
let him fall whom we had raised, and lift him, whom we had stricken to
the earth, to the pinnacle of glory, in short we profess--and for
thousands of years have professed--the doctrine that every path is a
right one that leads to the great end of securing to the priesthood the
supreme power in the land. Rameses, saved by a miracle, vowing temples
to the Gods, will for the future exhaust his restless spirit not in
battle as a warrior, but in building as an architect. He will make use
of us, and we can always lead the man who needs us. So I now hail the
son of Seti with sincere joy."

Ameni was still speaking when the flags were hoisted on the standards by
the triumphal arches, clouds of dust rolled up on the farther shore of