Mentu said nothing. Indeed, since Hotep had told him of the recent doings of Kenkenes, the murket had had little to say. He had felt in his lifetime most of the sorrows that can overtake a man of his position and attainments—but he had never known the chagrin of a wayward child. The fear that he was to know that humiliation, now, made his heart heavy beyond words.
As they turned away the sound of voices smote upon their ears.
"Near this spot, it must be, my Lord," one said.
"Find the sacrilege, lout. We seek not the neighborhood of it."
Hotep caught the murket's arm and drew him out of the aisle into hiding behind another great stone.
"This is the place; this is the place," the first voice declared, and his statement was seconded by another and as positive a voice.
There was the sound of the new-comers emerging into the aisle, and immediately the first speaker exclaimed in a tone full of astonishment and disappointment:
"O, aye; I see!" the master assented with an irritating laugh.
"Har-hat!" Hotep whispered.
Another of the party broke in impatiently: "Make an end to this chase.
Saw you any sacrilege, or was it a phantom of your stupid dreams?"