"I should be sorry," said he, "if misfortune were to meet thee on the way."
"In the worst event I shall meet death, and does not death threaten even a pharaoh. Besides, didst Thou not march to the Soda Lakes boldly, though Thou wert not sure of returning? And, lord, think not," continued the priest, "that I must pass over the same distance as other men who visit the labyrinth. I shall find nearer points, and in the course of one prayer to Osiris I can reach a place which Thou wouldst only reach after thirty prayers."
"But are there other entrances?"
"There are, most assuredly, and I must find them. I shall not enter as
Thou didst, by the main gate or in the daytime."
"How then?"
"There are external doors which I know and which the wise overseers of the labyrinth leave unguarded. In the court the watches are not numerous and they trust so much to the care of the gods, or to the fear of the people that they sleep in the night time most frequently. Besides, the priests go to pray in the temple three times between sunset and sunrise, but the guards perform their devotions in the open air. Before one prayer is finished I shall be in the edifice."
"And if Thou go astray?"
"I have a plan."
"But if the plan is imperfect?" asked the pharaoh, unable to hide his anxiety.
"But, holiness, if Thou obtain not the treasures of the labyrinth? If the Phoenicians change their minds and refuse the promised loan? If the army be hungry, and the hopes of the common people be deceived? Be pleased to believe me, lord," continued the priest, "that I amid the corridors of the labyrinth shall be safer than Thou in thy kingdom of Egypt."