"Thou speakest truth, holiness."
"But who will convince you, its guardians, that those days have come when they are really present?"
"To do that it would be necessary to call an extraordinary assembly of Egyptians, an assembly made up of the pharaoh, thirteen priests of the highest degree, thirteen nomarchs, thirteen nobles, thirteen officers, and thirteen of each of the following: merchants, artisans, and earth- tillers."
"Then ye would give to such an assembly the treasures?" asked the pharaoh.
"We would give the necessary sum if the whole assembly, as one man, decided that Egypt was in danger, and."
"And what?"
"If the statue of Amon in Thebes confirmed that decision."
Ramses dropped his head as if to hide his great satisfaction.
He had a plan ready.
"I shall be able to collect such an assembly and incline it to unanimity," thought the pharaoh. "Also it seems to me the divine statue of Amon will confirm the decision if I put my Asiatics around it."