"Our fields are arranged in just such figures, and the geometers of the state study them at school."
"We know not what to admire most in this priest, his wisdom or his humility," said Mefres. "Since we have such a man, the gods have not forgotten us."
At that moment the guard watching on the pylons of the temple summoned those present to prayer.
"In the evening I will finish the explanations," said Pentuer; "now I will say a few words in addition.
"Ye inquire, worthy fathers, why I use beans for these pictures. I do so because a grain put in the ground brings a harvest to the husbandmen yearly; so a man brings tribute every year to the treasury.
"If in any province two million less beans are sown than in past years, the following harvest will be notably less, and the earth-tillers will have a poorer income. In the state also, when two millions of population are gone, the inflow of taxes must diminish."
Ramses listened with attention, and walked away in silence.
CHAPTER XXVIII
WHEN the priests and the heir to the throne returned to the courtyard in the evening, several hundred torches were gleaming so brightly that it was as clear there as in the daytime.
At a sign from Mefres there came out again a procession of musicians, dancers, and minor priests carrying a statue of the cow-headed Hator; and when they had driven away evil sprits, Pentuer began to explain again.