Yours sincerely, G. A. HENTY. CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. PAGE The King of the Rebu 7 CHAPTER II. The Siege of the City 26 CHAPTER III. Captive 45 CHAPTER IV. An Easy Servitude 64 CHAPTER V. In Lower Egypt 83 CHAPTER VI. Fowling and Fishing 105 CHAPTER VII. Hippopotamus and Crocodile 125 CHAPTER VIII. The Conspiracy in the Temple 147 CHAPTER IX. A Startling Event 164 CHAPTER X. The Cat of Bubastes 185 CHAPTER XI. Dangers Thicken 206 CHAPTER XII. The Death of Ameres 224 CHAPTER XIII. The Search for Mysa 245 CHAPTER XIV. A Prince of Egypt 265 CHAPTER XV. Ameres is Revenged 284 CHAPTER XVI. Up the Nile 308 CHAPTER XVII. Out of Egypt 329 CHAPTER XVIII. The Desert Journey 349 CHAPTER XIX. Home at Last 365 CHAPTER XX. The King of the Rebu 384 THE CAT OF BUBASTES. CHAPTER I. THE KING OF THE REBU. The sun was blazing down upon a city on the western shore of the Caspian. It was a primitive city, and yet its size and population rendered it worthy of the term. It consisted of a vast aggregation of buildings, which were for the most part mere huts. Among them rose, however, a few of more solid build and of higher pretensions. These were the abodes of the chiefs and great men, the temples, and places of assembly. But although larger and more solidly built, these buildings could lay no claim to architectural beauty of any kind, but were little more than magnified huts, and even the king’s palace was but a collection of such buildings closely adjoining each other. The town was surrounded by a lofty wall with battlements and loopholes, and a similar but higher wall girt in the dwellings of the king and of his principal captains. The streets were alive with the busy multitude; and it was evident that although in the arts of peace the nation had made but little progress, they had in every thing appertaining to war made great advances. Most of the men wore helmets closely fitting to the head and surmounted by a spike. These were for the most part composed of hammered brass, although some of the headpieces were made of tough hide studded with knobs of metal. All carried round shields--those of the soldiers, of leather stiffened with metal; those of the captains, of brass, worked with considerable elaboration.