“Come, Lady, Flower of Love, to me your lord, to whom the bearer of this will guide you safely. Come at once, for I am in great danger, as you are, and together only can we be safe.”
“Ana, what means this?” asked the Prince in a terrible voice. “If you have betrayed me and her——”
“By the gods,” I began angrily, “am I a man that I should live to hear even your Highness speak thus to me, or am I but a dog of the desert?”
I ceased, for at that moment Bakenkhonsu began to laugh.
“Look at the letter!” he laughed. “Look at the letter.”
We looked, and as we looked, behold the writing on it turned first to the colour of blood and then faded away, till presently there was nothing in my hand but a blank sheet of papyrus.
“Oho-ho!” laughed Bakenkhonsu. “Truly, friend Ki, you are the first of magicians, save those prophets of the Israelites who have brought you—Whither have they brought you, friend Ki?”
Then for the first time the painted smile left the face of Ki, and it became like a block of stone in which were set two angry jewels that were his eyes.
“Continue, Lady,” said the Prince.
“I obeyed the letter. I fled away with the man who said he had a chariot waiting. We passed out by the little gate.