An unbroken shout from the rest of the assembly supported the blessing of the highest dignitary. The priests were the better satisfied, since alarm had hung over them lest Pentuer might refer to the scribes a second time. But the sage knew how to restrain himself: he indicated the internal wound of the state, but he did not inflame it, and therefore his triumph was perfect.
Prince Ramses did not thank Pentuer, he only dropped his head to his own bosom. No one doubted, however, that the discourse of the prophet had shaken the soul of the heir, and that it was a seed from which prosperity and glory might spring up for Egypt.
Next morning Pentuer, without taking farewell of any, left the temple at sunrise and journeyed away in the direction of Memphis.
For a number of days Prince Ramses held converse with no man, he meditated; he sat in his cell, or walked up and down the shady corridors. Work in his soul was progressing.
In reality Pentuer had declared no new truth; all had been complaining of the decrease of laud and people in Egypt, of the misery of workmen, the abuses of scribes, and the extortion of Phoenicians. But the discourse of the prophet had given them tangible forms, and illustrated facts very clearly.
The Phoenicians terrified the prince; he had not estimated till that time the enormity of the misfortunes brought on people of Egypt by those merchants. His horror was all the more vivid, since he had rented out his own subjects to Dagon, and was himself witness of the way in which the banker collected his dues from them.
But his entanglement in the business of Phoenicians produced strange results in Ramses. He did not wish to think of Phoenicians, and whenever anger flamed up in his mind against those strangers the feeling of shame was destroyed in him. He was in a certain sense their confederate. Meanwhile he understood perfectly how serious the decrease was in land and in people, and on this he placed the main emphasis in his lonely meditation.
"If we had," said he to himself, "those two millions of people lost by Egypt, we might through help from them win back those fertile lands from the desert, we might even extend those lands. And then in spite of Phoenicians our laborers would be in a better condition, and there would be also increase in the income of Egypt. But where can we find men?"
Chance gave the answer.
On a certain evening the prince, while walking through the gardens of the temple, met a crowd of captives whom Nitager had seized on the eastern boundary and sent to the goddess Hator. Those people were perfectly built, they did more work than Egyptians, and they did it because they were properly nourished, hence even satisfied with their position.