"I am glad, prince, that you have been so diligent," said Amense, coldly. "When will you depart?"
"Within the hour, my royal aunt. If Remeses, my warlike cousin, wishes to co-operate with me at Thebes, he will not long delay marching his army forward. I hear, by a swift galley just arrived, that the fierce Ethiopian king, Occhoris, with half his mighty host, has already dared to enter the Thinite province, and menaces Thebes!"
"There is no time for delay, then," cried Remeses, rising from the table, leaving the grapes, figs, and wheaten rolls untouched. "Farewell, my mother!" he said, embracing her. "In a few weeks I shall return to you with tidings that the scourge of your kingdom has perished with his armies!"
I will not describe the tenderness of the parting between the queen and Remeses, whom she would have held, refusing to release him, if he had not gently disengaged himself, taken up his sword and helmet, and hastened from the apartment. Prince Mœris, with a haughty bow to the queen, for whom he seems to entertain bitter dislike, had already taken his departure with his captains at his heels. I followed Remeses, and together we crossed to the shore on the side of On, and there meeting chariots, we were in a short time in the midst of the war-camp of his chariot legions. They were encamped several stadia south of On, on the plain beyond Raamses. Here, in the little Temple of Horus, on the terrace of which we held our conversation about the Hebrews as we paced its long pavement (and which I have already repeated to you), the prince with his chief captains offered libations and burned incense, invoking the favor and aid of Heaven on the expedition. He then gave his orders to his generals of division, chiefs of legions, and captains; and the whole host, forming in column of march, moved forward towards the south, with trumpets sounding and the rumbling thunder of thousands of wheels of iron. Seeing that they were all in motion—each battalion under its own head-captain—the prince took boat to cross the Nile to the plain of Memphis, in order to put in motion the army of horse and foot there encamped. On our way over, we saw the van of the fleet of the Prince of Thebes coming up the broad river in stately style, fifty abreast, propelled by innumerable oars. It was a brave and battle-like front, and what with pennons flying, spears and shields gleaming from their poop-decks and mast-towers, and the brazen or gilt insignia of hawks', eagles', lions', or ibis' heads rising upon a thousand topmasts, and all catching the sunbeams, the spectacle was singularly impressive.
"There comes a prince, my Sesostris," said Remeses to me, as he surveyed the advancing front of war, "who, if I should fall in this Ethiopian expedition, will be Pharaoh of Egypt when my mother dies."
"The gods forbid!" I exclaimed with warmth.
"He is the next of blood. It is true, my mother could, by will, alienate her crown and confer her sceptre upon any one she chose to adopt. Indeed, I now remember that, by our laws, it would be necessary for her publicly and ceremoniously adopt him as her son before he could reign—since a nephew, by the ancient Memphitic law regulating succession, cannot inherit. Mœris would, therefore, have to be adopted."
"Then he would never reign," I said.
Remeses remained silent a moment. Resuming, he said, with a tone of indignant emotion—
"Sesostris, my mother fears that evil young prince. He possesses over her an inexplicable power. To this influence he owes his elevation, from being a mere governor of Saïs, to the viceroyalty of Upper Egypt. He would not fail, should I fall, to exert his mysterious power over her mind, and his ambition would prompt him to aim at even the throne of all Egypt. But let us mount!" he added, as we touched the shore.