"Dost Thou remember everything?"
"Yes, worthy lord."
"Thy memory is like granite on which we write history, and thy wisdom like the Nile, which covers all the country and enriches it," said Herhor. "Besides, the gods have granted thee the greatest of virtues, wise obedience."
The secretary was silent.
"Hence Thou mayest estimate more accurately than others the acts and reasons of the heir, may he live through eternity!"
The minister stopped awhile, and then added,
"It has not been his custom to speak so much. Tell me then, Pentuer, and record this: Is it proper that the heir to the throne should express his will before the army? Only a pharaoh may act thus, or a traitor, or a frivolous stripling, who with the same heedlessness will do hasty deeds or belch forth words of blasphemy."
The sun went down, and soon after a starry night appeared. Above the countless canals of Lower Egypt a silvery mist began to thicken, a mist which, borne to the desert by a gentle wind, freshened the wearied warriors, and revived vegetation which had been dying through lack of moisture.
"Or tell me, Pentuer," continued the minister, "and inquire: whence will the heir get his twenty talents to keep the promise which he made this day to the army with such improvidence? Besides, it seems to me, and certainly to thee, a dangerous step for an heir to make presents to the army, especially now, when his holiness has nothing with which to pay Nitager's regiments returning from the Orient. I do not ask what thy opinions are, for I know them, as Thou knowest my most secret thoughts. I only ask thee to the end that Thou remember what Thou hast seen, so as to tell it to the priests in council."
"Will they meet soon?" inquired Pentuer.