The Pillar of Fire; or, Israel in Bondage

by J. H. Ingraham

"I feel for you, O Remeses, with all my heart," I said.

"I know you do, O prince: I am sure that you do. But let us terminate this subject. My mother's—I mean, alas! the queen's desire shall be gratified. I will, for a few days, continue as I am, but no more return to the temples. My initiation is over. Without doubt the priests of the hierarchy will seek to put me to death, when they learn that a Hebrew has been initiated into all their learning and mysteries. It will be necessary for me to leave Egypt."

"Then let Tyre, O prince, be thy asylum—thy future home!" I cried. "There the Hebrew is not in bondage, and is a Syrian among Syrians. There you shall have a palace and retinue, and be served as becomes your wisdom and greatness. My mother Epiphia will welcome you with pleasure, for she has already learned to honor you, from my letters. Our city is about to go to war with the King of Cyprus, and my mother has written, urging me to return. Twelve galleys will await me at Pelusium, in a fortnight hence, to escort my own to Tyre. Consent, O Remeses, to go with me."

"Noble prince," he exclaimed, deeply moved, "how can I thank you! It is the greatest consolation, in this my sorrow and humiliation, to know that you do not withdraw from me your friendship; that you can still esteem me as a man! Sesostris, I thank you. I will accept your offer, if my—that is, the queen, will change her mind, and permit me to address a letter, by a swift courier, to Prince Mœris. In it I will briefly say that I am informed of my true lineage, and that if he will quietly wait the succession, and be submissive to the queen, and withhold his army from Memphis, I will, within three days after obtaining his affirmative reply, leave Egypt for a foreign land. Such a course will prove the best in the end for him and Egypt, and I have no doubt he will consent to adopt it. How extraordinary that this wily man should so long have kept the secret with which he so terribly menaced my—the queen!"

I approved of the course suggested. Remeses soon afterwards sought the queen; and at the end of four hours he returned to me, looking very weary and pale, yet smiling, saying—

"It is achieved! It was a fearful struggle! The queen has consented! Indeed, she seems heart-broken, spirit-crushed! This discovery, against which her soul has so long battled, has left her prostrate, almost wrecked! For her sake I bore up and hid my own unfathomable sorrow. She has, at my solicitation, consented that I shall not only write to Prince Mœris, inserting a clause enjoining silence as to my birth, but her own courier shall be its bearer, signifying her wish for conciliation. The letter was written in her presence, the clause for silence introduced, and the courier is already gone with it."

While Remeses was speaking, a page entered and informed him that the queen wished to see him. He found her ill with a feverish pulse. She called him to her, and said—

"My son, I am about to die! This blow is too heavy for me to bear! I shall never recover! It was my wish to leave you firmly seated upon my throne; but the gods have decreed otherwise. Call a council of the hierarchy. I must not be faithless to my ancestors, and leave a vacant throne. You have advised me to adopt Prince Mœris. I can do no otherwise. For this act, assemble my councils, both of state and of the priesthood."

"I obeyed," said Remeses, when he subsequently related what passed. "The next day the councils met in one session, and the queen, supported upon her couch, presided. Briefly she announced her intention of adopting Mœris-Mento,—giving his full name,—as her son, and the next in succession to the throne, their consent being obtained. Then came up the question, 'why Prince Remeses declined?' Being present, I answered that it was my intention to retire from the court, visit foreign lands, and leave the government of Egypt in the hands of Mœris. At the earnest request of the queen I made no allusion to the secret. The united councils yielded their assent, and the royal secretary drew up the papers in due form, which the queen, supported by me, signed. A courier was then dispatched with a copy of the instrument to the prince. The cabinet was soon afterwards dismissed, and I was left alone with the queen, who soon became very ill."

Thus far, my dearest mother, had I written in this letter five days ago, when the chief chamberlain came hastening to my room, in great terror, saying that the queen was dying! I lost not a moment in following him to her apartments. Ever since the meeting of the council she had been growing worse, and all the skill of her physicians could not abate the disease, which was pronounced inflammation of the brain. She had been for two days wildly delirious, calling upon Remeses not to leave her, and accusing the gods of seeking to put upon her a stranger for her own son! At length her ravings and her fever ceased, and she rapidly failed. When I entered, I found Remeses kneeling by her side, his manly head bowed upon her couch, and tears falling upon her cold hand, held in his. Her mind was clear now, but I could see that the azure circle of death girdled her eyes, and that the light of the soul within was expiring. Her whole attention was fixed upon Remeses, to whom she kept saying, in a faint whisper, and with a smile, "My son, my son, my own son! call me mother!"