"How?"
"Permit us, holiness, and assist us to dig a canal which would join the
Red Sea with the Mediterranean."
"Art Thou jesting, old man?" cried the pharaoh, springing up from his seat. "Who could do such a work, and who could wish to endanger Egypt? The sea would inundate the country."
"What sea? Neither the Mediterranean nor the Red Sea would," answered Hiram calmly. "I know that Egyptian priests who are engineers have examined this work and have calculated that it would give immense profit, it is the best work on earth. But they wish to do it themselves, or rather they do not wish that the pharaoh should do it."
"Where are thy proofs?" asked Ramses.
"I have not the proofs, but I will send a priest, holiness, who will explain the whole affair to thee, with plans and estimates."
"Who is this priest?"
Hiram thought a moment and then asked,
"Have I thy promise, holiness, that no one will know of him except us? He, lord, will render more service than I. He knows many secrets and many iniquities of the priesthood."
"I promise," answered the pharaoh.