"But they are traitors, traitors!" whispered the enraged prince.
"Therefore Thou wilt have no difficulty in breaking the treaty when Thou shalt inherit power after thy father, may lie live through eternity!"
Ramses thought awhile.
"It is easier," said he, "to sign a treaty than to break it." "It is easy also to break a treaty," laughed Tutmosis. "Are there not in Asia unorganized races which attack our boundaries? Does not the godlike Nitager stand on guard with his army to repulse them and carry war into their countries? Dost Thou suppose that Egypt will not find armed men and treasures for the war? We will go, all of us, for each man can gain something, and in some way make his life independent. Treasures are lying in the temples but the labyrinth."
"Who will take them from the labyrinth?" asked the prince, doubtingly.
"Who? Any nomarch, any officer, any noble will take them if he has a command from the pharaoh, and the minor priests will show the way to secret places."
"They would not dare to do so. The punishment of the gods."
Tutmosis waved his hand contemptuously.
"But are we slaves or shepherds, to fear gods whom Greeks and Phoenicians revile, and whom any mercenary warrior will insult and go unpunished?"
"The priests have invented silly tales about gods, tales to which they themselves attach no credit. Thou knowest that they recognize only the One in temples. They perform miracles, too, at which they laugh.