When two fruitless months had passed without any rising of the waters, Hotep lost courage, and was obliged to proclaim that all his men and beasts must exist upon half-rations. It was then that public suffering became general. About this time I consulted with the doctor whether to press Hotep for the second delivery of a hundred thousand cargoes of wheat.
"Certainly; demand it from him," he answered, greatly to my surprise, "especially so long as it amounts to squeezing the wheat out of the Pharaoh. It is certain he will furnish the wheat in exchange for Hotep's gold, and a few coins are really nothing to him or to you either. As long as the Pharaoh covets them, make him pay well for them."
"But I expected you would advise leniency, as you have never sympathized with my wheat speculation in the least," I replied.
"I do not share your idle dream of riches, but nevertheless I want to get as much wheat into our hands as possible, especially if it comes from the Pharaoh. You do not seem to appreciate the real reason, but blindly chase after the bauble of fortune. It was the same when I first saw you in Chicago, and now you are just as impulsive and thoughtless. I have no doubt but you have already computed a hundred times how rich you are in Earthly terms and figures."
"The time for a big value has not quite come yet, but I confess I have estimated that it will run into many millions of dollars."
"Rubbish! What is the use of such childish nonsense? Even if we had our projectile to return with, you could never take any of your riches back to Earth with you!"
"And why not?" I demanded in astonishment.
"What is your fortune? It now exists in grain at an inflated famine value. You couldn't transport the grain back to Earth, and if you could, it would shrink in value and fail to pay the freight. What can you exchange it for here? For lands, for women, for slaves, none of which have any commercial value on Earth."
"But I can sell it for money!" I put in.
"Yes, for iron money worth a few dollars a ton on Earth! Why, not even your entire fortune will buy enough iron to build a new projectile to enable us to return. You parted with the only valuable and portable form of property when you exchanged your gold. Now that is rapidly going into the Pharaoh's hands, to remain there, and you can never return to Earth as rich as you left it, though you be worth all the money and property in the land of Kem!"