and overturned his chest and took away as many golden cups and valuables as we could carry. At dawn, a throng of Syrian merchants had gathered on the river bank to buy up the plunder and take it down the river in their ships. We sold our booty to them, receiving nearly two hundred deben in gold and silver, which we divided between us according to the weight stamped upon the metal. The price we got was but a fraction of the true value of the goods, and the gold was alloyed, but Noseless rejoiced greatly and said:
“I shall be a rich man, for in truth this trade is more profitable than staggering under burdens at the harbour or carrying water from irrigation ditches to the fields.” But I said, “A pitcher goes to the well until it breaks.” So we parted, and I returned in a merchant’s boat to the other shore and Thebes. I bought new clothes and ate and drank at a wine tavern, for the smell of the House of Death was already leaving me. But all day long there came from the City of the Dead across the river the notes of horns and the clash of arms. Chariots thundered along the paths between the tombs, and Pharaoh’s bodyguards pursued the plundering soldiers and miners with spears till their death cries could be heard in Thebes. That evening, the wall was lined with bodies hanging by their heels, and order was restored in Thebes.
7
I slept one night at an inn, and then went to what had been my house and called for Kaptah. Kaptah came limping forth, his cheeks swollen with blows. When he saw me, he wept for joy and threw himself at my feet and said, “My lord, you have come back though I believed you dead. I thought that if you were alive you would surely return for more silver and copper, for when once a man gives, he must go on giving. But you did not come, though I have stolen from my new master as much as ever I did in my life, as you may see by my cheek and by my knee which he kicked yesterday. His mother, the crocodile — may she break down to dust — threatens to sell me, and I am in great fear. Let us leave this evil house, my lord, and flee together.”
I hesitated, and he must have misunderstood my hesitation for he said, “I have indeed stolen so much that I can take care of you for a time, my lord, and when it is all gone, I can work for you if you will only take me away from the hands of this mother crocodile and his son.”
145
“I only came but to pay my debt to you, Kaptah,” I told him, and I counted gold and silver into his hand, many times the sum he had given me. “But if you like, I will buy your freedom from your master so that you may go where you will.”
Feeling the weight of gold and silver in his hands, Kaptah was overwhelmed by joy and started jumping, even if he was an old man, and did not remember to limp any more. But then he was ashamed and said, “Although I wept bitter tears when I gave my savings to you, do not think ill of me. If you free me, where shall I go since all my life I have been a slave. Without you I am a blind kitten or a lamb forsaken by the ewe. Nor should you waste good gold upon my freedom, because why pay for what is already yours.” He blinked his one eye in sly reflection. “While waiting for you, I have every day queried the schedules of the ships,” he said. “A big and stout ship is now fitting out for Zemar, and we might perhaps venture to sail in her if we first make lavish sacrifice to the gods. It is only a pity that I have not found a powerful enough god since I gave up Amun who made such mischief for me. I have industriously studied several gods, and I have also tried Pharaoh’s new god, whose temple has been reopened and visited by many to get in Pharaoh’s favour. But it is told that Pharaoh says his god lives from the truth, and therefore I am afraid that his god is a difficult god indeed, and little use to me.”
Remembering the scarab I had found, I gave it to Kaptah, saying, “Here is a god who is very powerful, though small. Guard him well, for I believe he will bring us luck for already I have gold in my purse. Clothe yourself as a Syrian, then, and escape if you must, but do not blame me if you are caught as a runaway slave. May the little god help you, and we will so save our money to pay our passage to Zemar. I can no longer look anyone in the face in Thebes or in the whole land of Egypt. That is why I have to leave, since I have to live somewhere, and I will never return to Thebes.”
146
Pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 192 193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200 201 202 203 204 205 206 207 208 209 210 211 212 213 214 215 216 217 218 219 220 221 222 223 224 225 226 227 228 229 230 231 232 233 234 235 236 237 238 239 240 241 242 243 244 245 246 247 248 249 250 251 252 253 254 255 256 257 258 259 260 261 262 263 264 265 266 267 268 269 270 271 272 273 274 275 276 277 278 279 280 281 282 283 284 285 286 287 288 289 290 291 292 293 294 295 296 297 298 299 300 301 302 303 304 305 306 307 308 309 310 311 312 313 314 315 316 317 318 319 320 321 322 323 324 325 326 327 328 329 330 331 332 333 334 335 336 337 338 339 340 341 342 343 344 345 346 347 348 349 350 351 352 353 354 355 356 357 358 359 360 361 362 363 364 365 366 367 368 369 370 371 372 373 374 375 376 377 378 379 380 381 382 383 384