"Give it me," Klea requested. "This blade is sharp and bright, and as
soon as I saw it I felt as if it bid me take it with me. Very likely I
may have to come through the desert alone at night."

"Aye," said the smith, "and even the weakest feels stronger when he has a
weapon. Hide the knife somewhere about you, my child, only take care not
to hurt yourself with it. Now let me take your arm, and on we will go--
but not quite so fast."

Klea led the smith to the door he indicated, and saw with admiration how
unfailingly the bolt sprang forward when one half of the door closed upon
the other, and how easily the key pushed it back again; then, after
conducting Krates back to the Sphinx near which she had met him, she went
on her way at her quickest pace, for the sun was already very low, and it
seemed scarcely possible to reach Memphis before it should set.

As she approached a tavern where soldiers and low people were accustomed
to resort, she was met by a drunken slave. She went on and past him
without any fear, for the knife in her girdle, and on which she kept her
hand, kept up her courage, and she felt as if she had thus acquired a
third hand which was more powerful and less timid than her own. A
company of soldiers had encamped in front of the tavern, and the wine of
Kbakem, which was grown close by, on the eastern declivity of the Libyan
range, had an excellent savor. The men were in capital spirits, for at
noon today--after they had been quartered here for months as guards of
the tombs of Apis and of the temples of the Necropolis--a commanding
officer of the Diadoches had arrived at Memphis, who had ordered them to
break up at once, and to withdraw into the capital before nightfall.
They were not to be relieved by other mercenaries till the next morning.