Chapter 43

FROM the moment when the troops of Lower Egypt marched out of Pi-Bast, the prophet, Mentezufis, who accompanied the prince, received and sent away dispatches daily.

One correspondence he conducted with the minister Herhor; Mentezufis sent reports to Memphis touching the advance of the troops, and the activity of the viceroy; of this activity he did not conceal his admiration. On his part, the worthy Herhor stated that every freedom was to be left to the heir, and that if Ramses lost his first battle, the supreme council would not feel angry.

"A slight defeat," said Herhor, "would be a lesson in humility and caution to the viceroy, who even now, though as yet he has done nothing, considers himself as equal to the most experienced warriors."

When Mentezufis answered that one could not easily suppose that the heir would meet defeat, Herhor let him understand that in that case the triumph should not be over brilliant.

"The state," continued he, "will not lose in any way if the warriors and the impulsive heir find amusement for some years along the western border. He will gain skill himself in warfare, while the idle warriors will find their own proper work to do."

The other correspondence Mentezufis carried on with the holy father Mefres and that seemed to him of more importance. Mefres, offended formerly by the prince, had recently, in the case of Sarah's child, accused the prince directly of infanticide, committed under Kama's influence.

When a week had passed, and the viceroy's innocence was manifest, the high priest grew still more irate, and did not cease his efforts. The prince, he said, was capable of anything; he was hostile to the country's gods, he was an ally of the vile Phoenicians.

The murder of Sarah's child seemed so suspicious in the earlier days, that even the supreme council asked Mentezufis what he. thought of it.

Mentezufis answered that he had watched the prince for days, and did not think the man a murderer.

Such were the letters which, like birds of prey, whirled around Ramses, while he was sending scouts against the enemy, consulting leaders, or urging on his warriors.

On the fourteenth day the whole army was concentrated on the south of Teremethis. To the great delight of the heir,

Patrokles came with the Greek regiment, and with him the priest Pentuer, sent by Herhor as another guardian near the viceroy.

The multitude of priests in the camp (for there were still others) did not enchant Ramses. But he resolved not to turn attention to the holy men or ask advice of them.

Relations were regulated in some way, for Mentezufis, according to instructions from Herhor, did not force himself on the prince, while Pentuer occupied himself with organizing medical aid for the wounded.

The military game began.

First of all Ramses, through his agents, had spread a report in many boundary villages that the Libyans were pushing forward in great masses, and would destroy and murder. Because of this the terrified inhabitants fled eastward and met the Egyptian warriors. The prince took them in to carry burdens for the army, the women and children he conveyed to the interior of Egypt. Next the commander sent spies to meet the approaching Libyans and discover their number and disposition. These spies returned soon, bringing accurate indications as to where the Libyans were and very exaggerated accounts as to their numbers. They asserted, too, mistakenly, though in great confidence, that at the head of the Libyan columns marched Musawasa with his son Tehenna.

The princely leader was flushed with delight that in his first war he would have such an experienced enemy as Musawasa.

He overestimated, therefore, the danger of the struggle and redoubled every caution. To have all chances on his side he had recourse to stratagem. He sent confidential men to meet the Libyans; he commanded them to feign that they were fugitives, to enter the enemies' camp and draw from Musawasa his best forces, the disbanded Libyan soldiers.

"Tell them," said Ramses to his agents, "that I have axes for the insolent, and compassion for obedience. If in the coming battle they will throw their weapons down and leave Musawasa, I will receive them back to the army of his holiness, and command to pay all arrears, as if they had never left the service."

Patrokles and the other generals saw in this a very prudent measure; the priests were silent, Mentezufis sent a dispatch to Herhor and next day received an answer.

The neighborhood of the Soda Lakes was a valley some tens of kilometers long, enclosed between two lines of hills, extending from the southeast toward the northwest. The greatest width did not exceed ten kilometers; there were places narrower, almost ravines.

Throughout the whole length of that valley extended one after another about ten swampy lakes filled with bitter, brackish water. Wretched plants and bushes grew there ever coated with sand, ever withering, plants which no beast would take to its mouth. Along both sides were sticking up jagged limestone hills, or immense heaps of sand in which a man might sink deeply.

The white and yellow landscape had a look of dreadful torpor, which was heightened by the heat, and also by the silence. No bird was ever heard there, and if any sound was given forth it was from a stone rolling down along a hillside.

Toward the middle of the valley rose two groups of buildings a few kilometers from each other; these were a 'fortress on the east, and glass factories on the west, to which Libyan merchants brought fuel. Both these places had been deserted because of the conflict. Tehenna's corps was to occupy both these points, and secure the road to Egypt for Musawasa's army forces.

The Libyans marched slowly from the town of Glaucus southward, and on the evening of the fourteenth day of Hator, they were at the entrance to the valley of the Soda Lakes, feeling sure that they would pass through in two days unmolested. That evening at sunset the Egyptian army moved toward the desert, passed over more than forty kilometers of sand in twelve hours, and next morning was on the hills between the huts and the fortress and hid in the many ravines of that region.

If some man that night had told the Libyans that palm-trees and wheat were growing in the valley of the Soda Lakes they would have been astonished less than if he had declared that the Egyptians had barred the way to it.

After a short rest, during which the priests had discovered and cleared out a few wells of water somewhat endurable for drinking, the Egyptian army began to occupy the hills extending along the northern side of the valley.

The viceroy's plan was quite simple. He was to cut off the Libyans from their country, and push them southward into the desert, where heat and hunger would kill them.

With this object he disposed his army on the northern side of the valley and divided it into three corps. The right wing, that which extended most toward Libya, was led by Patrokles, who was to cut off the invaders from their own town of Glaucus. The left wing, that nearest to Egypt, commanded by Mentezufis, was to stop the Libyans from advancing. Finally, the direction of the centre, at the glass huts, was taken by Ramses, who had Pentuer near his person.

On the fifteenth of Hator about seven in the morning, some tens of Libyan horsemen moved at a brisk trot through the valley. They stopped a moment at the huts, looked around, and, seeing nothing suspicious, rode back again.

At about ten in the forenoon in a heat which seemed to suck sweat and draw blood from men's bodies, Pentuer said to the viceroy,

"The Libyans have entered the valley and passed Patrokles' division. They will be here in an hour from now."

"Whence knowest Thou this?" asked the astonished prince.

"The priests know everything," replied Pentuer, smiling.

Then he ascended one of the cliffs cautiously, took from a bag a very bright object and turning it in the direction of the holy Mentezufis began to give certain signs with his hand.

"Mentezufis is informed already," said Pentuer.

The prince could not recover from astonishment and answered,

"My eyes are better than thine, and my hearing is not worse, I think; still I see nothing, I hear nothing. How, then, dost Thou see the enemy and converse with Mentezufis?"

Pentuer directed the prince to look at a distant hill, on the summit of which was a thorn bush. Ramses looked at that point and shaded his eyes on a sudden. In the bush something flashed brightly.

"What unendurable glitter is that?" cried he. "It might blind a man."

"That is the priest who is aiding the worthy Patrokles; he is giving us signs," replied Pentuer. "Thou seest, then, worthy lord, that we, too, can be useful in war time."

He was silent. From the distance of the valley came a certain sound; at first low, gradually it grew clearer. At this sound the Egyptian soldiers hidden at the sides of the hill began to spring up, look at their weapons, and whisper. But the sharp commands of officers quieted them, and again the silence was deathlike along the cliffs on the north side.

Meanwhile that distant sound in the valley increased and passed into an uproar in which, on the bases of thousands of voices a man could distinguish songs, sounds of flutes, squeaks of chariots, the neighing of horses, and the cries of commanders. The prince's heart was now beating with violence; he could not resist his curiosity, and he clambered up to a rocky height whence a large part of the valley was visible.

Surrounded by rolls of yellow dust the Libyan corps was approaching deliberately, and seemed like a serpent some miles in length, with blue, white, and red spots on its body.

At its head marched from ten to twenty horsemen, one of whom, wearing a white mantle, was sitting on his horse as on a bench, both his legs on the left side of the animal. Behind the horsemen marched a crowd of slingers in gray shirts, then some dignitary in a litter, over whom a large parasol was carried. Farther was a division of spearmen in blue and red shirts, then a great band of men almost naked, armed with clubs, again slingers and spearmen, behind them a red division with scythes and axes. They came on more or less in ranks of four; but in spite of shouts of officers, that order was interrupted, and each four treading on others, broke ranks continually.

Singing and talking loudly, the Libyan serpent crawled out into the broadest part of the valley, opposite the huts and the Soda Lakes. Order was disturbed now more considerably. Those marching in advance stopped, for it had been said that there would be a halt at that point; the columns behind hurried so as to reach the halt and rest all the earlier. Some ran out of the ranks, and laying down their weapons, rushed into the lake, or took up in their palms its malodorous water; others, sitting on the ground, took dates from bags, or drank vinegar and water from their bottles.

High above the camp floated a number of vultures.

Unspeakable sadness and terror seized Ramses at this spectacle. Before his eyes flies began to circle; for the twinkle of an eye he lost consciousness; it seemed to him that he would have yielded his throne not to be at that place, and not to see what was going to happen. He hurried down from the cliff looking with wandering eyes straight out in front of him.

At that moment Pentuer approached and pulled him by the arm vigorously.

"Recover, leader," said he; "Patrokles is waiting for orders."

"Patrokles?" repeated the prince, and he looked around quickly.

Before him stood Pentuer, deathly pale, but collected. A couple of steps farther on was Tutmosis, also pale; in his trembling hand was an officer's whistle. From behind the hill bent forth soldiers, on whose faces deep emotion was evident.

"Ramses," repeated Pentuer, "the army is waiting."

The prince looked at the priest with desperate decision.

"Begin!" said he in a stifled whisper.

Pentuer raised his glittering talisman, and made some signs in the air with it. Tutmosis gave a low whistle; that whistle was repeated in distant ravines on the right and the left. Egyptian slingers began to climb up the hillsides.

It was about midday.

Ramses recovered gradually from his first impressions and looked around carefully. He saw his staff, a division of spearmen and axemen under veteran officers, finally slingers, advancing along the cliff leisurely. And he was convinced that not one of those men had the wish to die or even to fight and move around in that heat, which was terrible.

All at once from the height of some hill was heard a mighty voice, louder than the roar of a lion,

"Soldiers of the pharaoh, slay those Libyan dogs! The gods are with you."

To this unearthly voice answered two voices no less powerful: the prolonged shout of the Egyptian army, and the immense outcry of the Libyans.

The prince had no need to conceal himself longer, and ascended an eminence whence he could see the hostile forces distinctly. Before him stretched a long line of Egyptian slingers who seemed as if they had grown up from the earth, and a couple of hundred yards distant the Libyan column moving forward in dust clouds. The trumpets, the whistles, the curses of barbarian officers were heard calling to order. Those who were sitting sprang up; those who were drinking snatched their weapons and ran to their places; chaotic throngs developed into ranks, and all this took place amid outcries and tumult. Meanwhile the Egyptian slingers cast a number of missiles each minute. They were as calm and well ordered as at a maneuver. The decurions indicated to their men the hostile crowds against which they must strike, and in the course of some minutes they covered them with a shower of stones and leaden bullets. The prince saw that after every such shower a Libyan crowd scattered and very often one man remained on the earth behind the others.

Still the Libyan ranks formed and withdrew outside the reach of missiles, then their slingers pushed forward and with equal swiftness and coolness replied to the Egyptians. At times there were bursts of laughter in their ranks and shouts of delight at the fall of some Egyptian slinger.

Soon above the heads of the prince and his retinue stones began to whizz and whistle. One, cast adroitly, struck the arm of an adjutant, and broke the bone in it; another knocked the helmet from a second adjutant; a third, falling at the prince's feet, was broken against the cliff and struck the leader's face with fragments as hot as boiling water.

The Libyans laughed loudly and shouted out something: apparently they were abusing the viceroy.

Fear and, above all, compassion and pity left the soul of Ramses in an instant. He saw before him no longer people threatened by death and anguish, but lines of savage beasts which he had to kill or deprive of weapons. Mechanically he reached for his sword to lead on the spearmen awaiting command, but he was restrained by contempt of the enemy. Was he to stain himself with the blood of that rabble? Warriors were there for that purpose.

Meanwhile the battle continued, and the brave Libyan slingers, while shouting and even singing, began to press forward. From both sides missiles whizzed like beetles, buzzed like bees, sometimes they struck one another in the air with a crack, and every minute or two on this side or that some warrior went to the rear groaning, or fell dead immediately. But this did not spoil the humor of others: they fought with malicious delight, which gradually changed to rage and self oblivion.

Then from afar on the right wing were heard sounds of trumpets, and shouts repeated frequently. That was the unterrified Patrokles; drunk since daylight, he was attacking the rear guard of Libya.

"Charge!" said the prince.

Immediately that order was repeated by one, two, ten trumpets, and after a moment the Egyptian companies pushed out from all the ravines. The slingers disposed on the hilltops redoubled their efforts, while in the valley, without haste, but also without disorder, the Egyptian spearmen and axemen arranged in four columns moved forward gradually.

"Strengthen the centre," said the prince.

A trumpet repeated the command. Behind two columns of the first line two new columns were placed. Before the Egyptians had finished that maneuver, under a storm of missiles, the Libyans, following their example, had arranged themselves in eight columns against the main corps of Egypt.

"Forward, reserves!" shouted the prince. "See," said he, turning to one of the adjutants, "whether the left wing is ready."

To see the valley at a glance, and more accurately, the adjutant rushed in among the slingers, and fell immediately, but beckoned with his hand. Another rushed to replace him and returned quickly to state that both wings of the prince's division were drawn up in order.

From the division commanded by Patrokles came an increasing uproar, and higher than the hill dense rolls of dark smoke were rising.

An officer from Pentuer ran to the prince reporting that the Libyan camp had been fired by the Greek regiments.

"Force the centre!" cried Ramses.

Trumpet after trumpet sounded the attack, and when they had ceased the command was heard in the central column, and then followed the rhythmic roll of drums and the beat of the infantry step, marching slowly and in time: one two! one two! one two! The command was repeated on the right and on the left wing; again drums rolled and the wing columns moved forward: one two! one two!

The Libyan slingers began to withdraw, showering stones on the marching Egyptians. But though one warrior fell after another, the columns moved on without stopping; they marched slowly, regularly, one two! one two! one two!

The yellow cloud, growing ever denser, indicated the march of the Egyptian battalions. The slingers could hurl stones no longer, and there came a comparative quiet in the midst of which were heard sobs and groans from wounded warriors.

"It is rare that they march on review so well," cried Ramses to the staff officers.

"They are not afraid of sticks this time," grumbled a veteran officer.

The space between the dust cloud around the Egyptians and that on the Libyan side decreased every minute, but the barbarians, halting, stood motionless, and behind their line a second cloud made its appearance. Evidently some reserve was strengthening the central column, which was threatened by the wildest of onsets.

The heir ran down from his eminence and mounted; the last Egyptian reserves poured out of the ravines, fixed themselves in ranks, and waited for the order. Behind the infantry pushed out some hundreds of Asiatic horsemen on small but enduring horses.

The prince hurried after the columns advancing to attack, and when he had gone a hundred yards he found a new eminence, not high, but from which he could see the whole field of battle. The retinue, the Asiatic cavalry, and the reserve column hurried after him.

The prince looked impatiently toward the left wing whence

Mentezufis had to come, but he was not coming. The Libyans stood immovable, the situation seemed more and more serious.

The viceroy's division was the stronger, but against it were arrayed almost all the Libyan forces. The two sides were equal as to numbers; the prince had no doubt of victory, but he dreaded the immense loss since his opponent was so manful.

Besides, battle has caprices.

Over men who have gone to attack, the leader's influence has ceased, he controls them no longer; Ramses has only a regiment of reserves, and a handful of cavalry. If one of the Egyptian columns is beaten, or if reinforcements come to the foe unexpectedly!

The prince rubbed his forehead at this thought. He felt all the responsibility of a leader. He was like a dice thrower who has staked all he owns, cast his dice, and asks, "How will they come out?"

The Egyptians are a few tens of yards from the Libyan columns. The command, the trumpets, the drums sound hurriedly, and the troops move at a run: one two three! one two three! But on the side of the enemy also a trumpet is heard, two ranks of spears are lowered, drums beat. At a run! New rolls of dust rise, then they unite in one immense cloud. The roar of human voices, the rattle of spears, the biting of scythes, then a shrill groan which is soon lost in one general uproar.

Along the whole line of battle neither men, nor weapons, nor even columns are visible, nothing but a line of yellow, dust stretching along like a giant serpent. The denser cloud signifies places where the columns are struggling; the thinner, where there are breaks in the columns.

After some minutes of satanic uproar the heir sees that the dust on his left wing is bending back very slowly.

"Strengthen the left wing!" shouts Ramses.

One half of the reserve runs to the place pointed out, and disappears in the sand cloud; the left wing straightens itself, the right goes forward slowly always in one direction.

"Strengthen the centre!" cries Ramses.

The second half of the reserve advances and vanishes in the sand cloud. The shout increased for a moment, but no forward movement is visible.

"Those wretches fight desperately," said an old officer of the suite to Ramses. "It is high time that Mentezufis were here."

The prince summoned the leader of the Asiatic cavalry.

"But look to the right," said he; "there must be a bend there."

"Go cautiously so as not to trample our warriors and attack those dogs in their central column, on the flank."

"They must be chained, for somehow they stand too long," replied the Asiatic, smiling.

The prince has now about two hundred of his own cavalry, and these advance, with the others, at a trot, crying,

"May our chief live forever!"

The heat passes description. The prince strains eyes and ears to see through the sand cloud. He waits and waits. All at once he shouts with delight. The centre of the cloud quivers and moves forward slightly.

Again it stops, again it moves forward slowly, very slowly, but still it moves forward.

The din is so tremendous that no one can decide what it means: rage, defeat, or victory.

Now the right wing begins to bend outward and withdraw in a strange manner. In the rear of the wing appears a new dust cloud. At the same moment Pentuer races up, dismounts, and shouts,

"Patrokles is engaging the rear of the Libyans!"

The confusion on the right wing increases, and is passing to the centre. It is clear that the Libyans are beginning to withdraw, and that panic is seizing even their main column.

The whole staff of the prince, roused to the uttermost, follows the movements of the yellow dust, feverishly. In a few minutes alarm appears on the left wing. The Libyans have begun to flee in that quarter.

"May I never see another sun, if this is not a victory!" cried a veteran officer.

A courier rushes in from the priests, who from the highest hill had followed the course of the battle, and reports that on the left wing the troops of Mentezufis are visible, and that the Libyans are surrounded on three sides.

"They would fly like deer if the sand did not hinder them."

"Victory! May our chief live forever!" cried Pentuer.

It was only two hours after midday.

The Asiatic cavalry sing loudly, and send arrows into the air in honor of Ramses. The staff officers discount, and rush to kiss the hands and feet of the viceroy; at last they take him from the saddle, raise him in the air, shouting,

"Here is a mighty leader! He has trampled the enemies of Egypt! Amon is on his right, and on his left, who can oppose him?"

Meanwhile the Libyans, pushing back all the time, had ascended the sandy hills on the south, and after them Egyptians. From out the cloud came horsemen every minute and rushed to Ramses.

"Mentezufis has taken them in the rear!" cried one.

"Two hundred have surrendered!" cried another.

"Patrokles has taken them in the rear!"

"Three Libyan standards are captured: the ram, the lion, and the sparrow-hawk!"

More and more men gathered round the staff: it was surrounded by warriors who were bloody and dust-covered.

"May he live through eternity! May he live through eternity, our leader!"

The prince was so excited, that he laughed and cried in turn and said to his retinue,

"The gods have been compassionate. I feared that we had lost. Evil is the plight of a leader; without drawing a sword and even without seeing, he must answer for everything!"

"Live thou, O conquering commander, live through eternity!" cried the warriors.

"A fine victory for me!" laughed Ramses. "I do not know even how they won it."

"He wins a victory, and wonders how it came!" cried some one in the retinue.

"I say that I saw not the face of the battle," explained the prince.

"Be at rest, our commander," said Pentuer. "Thou didst dispose the army so wisely that the enemy had to be beaten. And in what way? Just as if that did not belong to thee, but the regiments."

"I did not even draw a sword. I do not see one Libyan," complained the prince.

On the southern heights there was a struggling and a seething, but in the valley the dust had begun to settle here and there, and a crowd of Egyptian soldiers were visible as through a mist, their spears pointed upward.

Ramses turned his horse in that direction and rode out to the deserted field of battle, where just recently had been the struggle of the central column. It was a place some hundreds of yards in width, with deep furrows filled with bodies of the dead and wounded. On the side along which the prince was approaching, Egyptians and Libyans lay intermixed, in a long line, still farther on there were almost none except Libyans.

In places bodies lay close to bodies; sometimes on one spot three or four were piled one on another. The sand was stained with brownish blood patches; the wounds were ghastly. Both hands were cut from one man, another had his head split to the body, from a third man, the entrails were dropping. Some were howling in convulsions, and from their mouths, filled with sand, came forth curses, or prayers imploring some one to slay them.

Ramses passed along hastily, not looking around, though some of the wounded men shouted feebly in his honor.

Not far from that place he met the first crowd of prisoners. They fell on their faces before him and begged for compassion.

"Proclaim pardon to the conquered and the obedient," said he to his staff.

A number of horsemen rushed off in various directions. Soon a trumpet was heard, and after it a piercing voice,

"By the order of his worthiness the prince in command, prisoners and wounded are not to be slain!"

In answer came wild shouts, evidently from prisoners.

"At command of the prince," a second voice cried in singing tones in another direction, "prisoners and wounded are not to be slain!"

Meanwhile on the southern heights the battle ceased and two of the largest Libyan divisions laid down their arms before the Greek regiments.

The valiant Patrokles, in consequence of the heat, as he said himself of ardent drink, as thought others barely held himself in the saddle. He rubbed his tearful eyes, and turned to the prisoners.

"Mangy dogs!" cried he, "who raise sinful hands on the army of his holiness (may the worms devour you)! Ye will perish like lice under the nail of a pious Egyptian, if ye do not tell this minute where your leader is, may leprosy eat off his nose and drink his blear eyes out!"

At that moment the prince appeared. The general greeted him with respect, but did not stop his investigation.

"I will have belts cut from your bodies! I will impale you on stakes, if I do not learn this minute where that poisonous reptile is, that son of a wild boar."

"Ei! where our leader is?" cried one of the Libyans, pointing to a little crowd on horseback which was advancing slowly in the depth of the desert.

"What is that?" inquired the prince.

"The wretch Musawasa is fleeing!" said Patrokles, and he almost fell to the ground.

The blood rushed to Ramses' head.

Then Musawasa was here and escaped?

"Hei! whoso has the best horse, follow me!"

"Well," said Patrokles, laughing, "that sheep-stealer himself will bleat now!"

Pentuer stopped the way to the prince.

"It is not for thee to hunt fugitives, worthiness."

"What?" cried the heir. "During this whole battle I did not raise a hand on any man, and now I am to give up the Libyan leader? What would be said by the warriors whom I have sent out under spears and axes?"

"The army cannot remain without a leader."

"But are not Patrokles, Tutmosis, and finally Mentezufis, here? For what purpose am I commander if I cannot hunt the enemy? They are a few hundred yards from us and have tired horses."

"We will come back in an hour with him. He is only an arm's length from us!" whispered some Asiatic.

"Patrokles, Tutmosis, I leave the army to you!" cried the heir. "Rest. I will come back immediately."

He put spurs to his horse and advanced at a trot, sinking in the sand, and behind him about twenty horsemen, with Pentuer.

"Why art Thou here, O prophet?" asked Ramses. "Better sleep today Thou hast rendered good service."

"I may be of use yet," added Pentuer.

"But remain I command thee!"

"The supreme council commands me not to go one step from thee, worthiness."

Ramses shook himself angrily.

"But if we fall into an ambush?"

"I will not leave thee in ambush," answered the priest.