"What hast Thou heard in Lower Egypt?" inquired the sovereign.
"They are beating Phoenicians at all points," replied Hiram. "Our houses are wrecked, our effects stolen, and a number of tens of Phoenicians are slain."
"I have heard. This is the work of the priests," said the pharaoh.
"Say, rather, my son, that it comes of the godlessness and extortion of
Phoenicians," interrupted Queen Niort's.
"For three days the chief of police from Pi-Bast is in Memphis with two assistants, and they are on the trail of the murderer and deceiver Lykon."
"Who was hidden in Phoenician temples!" cried Niort's.
"Lykon," continued Hiram, "whom the high priest Mefres stole from the police and the courts Lykon, who in Thebes ran naked through the garden as a maniac, counterfeiting thee, holiness."
"What dost Thou tell me?" cried the pharaoh.
"Holiness, ask the most revered queen if she saw him," answered Hiram.
Ramses looked in confusion at his mother.