"I joined it," answered the crushed heir; "but Herhor commanded to march around two beetles."
"Dost Thou wish that a priest should make light of religion in the presence of the army?"
"My father," whispered Ramses, with quivering voice, "to avoid spoiling the journey of the beetles a canal was destroyed, and a man was killed."
"That man raised his own hands on himself."
"But that was the fault of Herhor."
"In the regiments which them didst concentrate near Pi-Bailos thirty men died from over-exertion, and several hundred are sick."
The prince dropped his head.
"Ramses," continued the pharaoh, "through thy lips is speaking not a dignitary of the state who is thinking of the soundness of canals and the lives of laborers, but an angry person. Anger does not accord with justice any more than a falcon with a dove."
"Oh, my father," burst out the heir, "if anger carries me away, it is because I feel the ill-will of the priests and of Herhor."
"But Thou art thyself the grandson of a high priest; the priests taught thee. Thou hast learned more of their secrets than any other prince ever has."