"Ah! the lady Amada. The mother waits that the son may stop to greet
the lady Amada!"

"But /why/ did you wait, my mother? Who but a spirit or a bird of the
air could have told you that I was coming, seeing that I sent no
messenger before me?"

"You must have done so, Shabaka, since yesterday one came from the
holy Tanofir, our relative who dwells in the desert in the burial-
ground of Sekera. He bore a message from Tanofir to me, telling me to
make ready since before sundown to-night you, my son, would be with
me, having escaped great dangers, accompanied by the dwarf Bes, your
servant, and six strange Eastern men. So I made ready and waited; also
I prepared lodging for the six strange men in the outbuildings behind
the house and sent a thank offering to the temple. For know, my son, I
have suffered much fear for you."

"And not without cause, as you will say when I tell you all," I
answered laughing. "But how Tanofir knew that I was coming is more
than I can guess. Come, my mother, greet Bes here, for had it not been
for him, never should I have lived to hold your hand again."

So she greeted him and thanked him, whereon Bes rolled his eyes and
muttered something about the holy Tanofir, after which we entered the
house. Thence I despatched a messenger to the Prince Peroa saying that
if it were his pleasure I would wait on him at once, seeing that I had
much to tell him. This done I bathed and caused my hair and beard to
be trimmed and, discarding the Eastern garments, clothed myself in
those of Egypt, and so felt that I was my own man again. Then I came
out refreshed and drank a cup of Syrian wine and the night having