"Why?" asked the King amazed.

"Because they are brave men, O King, and I would not see the bones of
such cracked by tame beasts in a cage."

"Is my judgment registered?" asked the King.

"Not yet, O King," answered the head scribe.

"Then it has no weight and can be suspended without the breaking of
the law. Shabaka, thus stands our wager. If I kill more lions than you
do this day, or, should but two be slain, I kill the first, or should
none be slain, I plant more arrows in their bodies, I take your slave,
Bes the dwarf, to be my slave. But should you have the better of me in
any of these ways, then I give to you this girdle of rose pearls and
the weight of the dwarf Bes in gold and the six hunters free of harm,
to do with what you will. Let it be recorded, and to the hunt."



Soon Bes and I were in our chariot which by command took place in line
with that of the King, but at a distance of some thirty steps. Bending
over the dwarf who drove, I spoke with him, saying,

"Our luck is ill to-day, Bes, seeing that before the end of it we may
well be parted."

"Not so, Master, our luck is good to-day seeing that before the end of
it you will be the richer by the finest pearls in the whole world, by
my weight in pure gold (and Master, I am twice as heavy as the king