"He told what he saw. But did it not surprise him that no mother whose children they burned was weeping?"
"He was astonished, indeed, at such indifference in women, since they are always ready to shed tears even over a dead hen. But it shows great cruelty in your people."
The old Phoenician nodded.
"Was that long ago?" asked he.
"A few years."
"Well," said Hiram, deliberately, "shouldst Thou wish to visit Tyre some day, I shall have the honor to show thee a solemnity like that one."
"I have no wish to see it."
"After the ceremony we shall go to another court of the temple, where the prince will see a very fine school, and in it, healthy and gladsome, those very same boys who were burnt a few years ago."
"How is that?" exclaimed Ramses; "then did they not perish?"
"They are living, and growing up to be sturdy mariners. When Thou shalt be pharaoh, mayst Thou live through eternity! perhaps more than one of them will be sailing thy ships."