priest, who began in low, almost inaudible tones:

"The son who resigns great things to remain obedient to his father will
be the most loyal of the 'good god's' servants. Go, obey the summons of
Nun. The son of the sun, the Lord of Upper and Lower Egypt, sets you
free; but through me, the slave of his master, he imposes one condition."

"What is that?" asked Hosea.

Pharaoh signed to Rui a second time and, as the monarch sank back upon
his throne, the old man, fixing his keen eyes on Hosea, replied:

"The demand which the lord of both worlds makes upon you by my lips is
easy to fulfil. You must return to be once more his servant and one of
us, as soon as your people and their leader, who have brought such
terrible woe upon this land, shall have clasped the divine hand which the
son of the sun extends to them in reconciliation, and shall have returned
to the beneficent shadow of his throne. He intends to attach them to his
person and his realm by rich tokens of his favor, as soon as they return
from the desert to which they have gone forth to sacrifice to their God.
Understand me fully! All the burdens which have oppressed the people of
your race shall be removed. The 'great god' will secure to them, by a
new law, privileges and great freedom, and whatever we promise shall be
written down and witnessed on our part and yours as a new and valid
covenant binding on our children and our children's children. When such
a compact has been made with an honest purpose on our part to keep it for
all time, and your tribes have consented to accept it, will you promise
that you will then be one of us again?"

"Accept the office of mediator, Hosea," the queen here interrupted in a