"Tomorrow, if Thou permit, holiness, I will send specimens of the works of these people."
"Thou art narrating wonders, Hiram. But I do not see the connection between those things and the canal which Thou wishest to dig."
"I will tell in brief," replied the Phoenician. "When there is a canal all the Phoenician and Egyptian fleets will sail on the Red Sea and beyond it; in the course of a couple of months they will reach those rich countries which by land are almost inaccessible.
"But dost Thou not see, holiness," continued he, with gleaming eyes, "the treasures which we shall find there? Gold, precious stones, grain, woods? I swear to thee, lord," added he with enthusiasm, "that gold will be cheaper than copper is now, wood will be cheaper than straw, and a slave cheaper than a cow. Only let us, lord, dig the canal, and hire fifty thousand of thy warriors."
Ramses, too, was excited.
"Fifty thousand warriors," repeated he. "But what will ye give me for this?"
"I have said already, holiness. One thousand talents yearly for the right to work, and five thousand for the workmen, to whom we will give food and wages."
"But ye will kill them with work?"
"May the gods forbid! There is no profit when workmen perish. Thy warriors, holiness, will not work more at the canal than today on roads and at fortresses but what glory for thee, lord! what income for the treasury, what profit for Egypt! The poorest earth-tiller will have a wooden cottage, some cattle, tools, and furniture, and as I live, a slave. No pharaoh has ever raised the state to such a height or carried out such a work.
"What will dead and useless pyramids be in comparison with a canal to facilitate the passage of treasures to the whole world?"