Then began a gathering of men, of horses, of chariots, of asses, such as had never been seen on the earth before—as much greater than other gatherings as the Pyramids were greater than other buildings. In those mighty structures they had had an example, now for a thousand years, of the style and fashion in which should be carried out whatever Egypt undertook. Day and night were the messengers going to and fro on the bank, and on the river. Many new forges were put in blast, many new anvils set up. Never had the sound of the hammer been so much heard before, never had been seen before so many buyers and lookers-on in the armourers’ bazaars. There were canvas towns outside the gates of Thebes, of This, of Memphis, and of other great cities. Never had so many horses been seen picketed before; men wondered where they all had come from. On the river there were boats full of men, and boats full of grain, to people and to feed the canvas towns. Never had the landing-places been so crowded before. Many a river trader, in those days, had to drop away from his moorings against the bank, to make room for the grain-boats and the troop-boats of the great king. Never had the temples been so full before: never had there been so many processions, and so many offerings. The gods must be propitiated for the great expedition: it must be undertaken in their names. Mightier temples and richer offerings must be promised for the return of the king and of the host, when they shall bring back victory. Many said in those days of preparation, ‘The gods be with the king and with his armies.’ Many said in their hearts, ‘Who can tell? The gods had made Egypt great, but would they go forth from Egypt? The king was as a god, but could he do all things?’ This was an issue that could not be forecast. Such was the talk of many in the mud-built villages, as well as in hundred-gated Thebes, in old Abydos, in discrowned Memphis, and in all the cities of all the gods—for every god had his own city. Nothing else had much interest, either in the mansions of the rich, or in the hovels of the poor. The wives and daughters of the people—while in the evening they walked down to the river-side with their water-jars, or, when the sun was down, clustered together at the street-corners and at the village-gate, sitting on the ground—had never tarried before so long at those watering-places, those gates, and those street-corners. And all the while the musterings and the preparations went on like the work of a machine, for the king had the whole people well in hand, and he bent all Egypt to the work as if it had been one man.