"Whence does he know," thought the prince, meanwhile, "that I asked the scribes and nomarchs? Aha! Mefres and Mentezufis told him. For that matter, they know everything." "Listen," continued Pentuer, "and I will discover to thee, with permission of these dignitaries, what Egypt was four hundred years ago in the reign of the most glorious and pious nineteenth Theban dynasty, and what it is at present. "When the first pharaoh of that dynasty, Ramen-Pehuti-Ramessu, assumed power over the country, the income of the treasury in wheat, cattle, beer, skins, vessels, and various articles rose to a hundred and thirty thousand talents. If a people had existed who could exchange gold for all these goods, the pharaoh would have had yearly one hundred and thirty-three thousand minas of gold. [Mina equals one and a half kilograms.] And since one warrior can carry on his shoulders the weight of twenty-six minas, about five thousand warriors would have been needed to carry that treasure." The priests whispered to one another without hiding their wonder. Even the prince forgot the man tortured to death beneath the pavement. "Today," said Pentuer, "the yearly income of his holiness for all products of his land is worth only ninety-eight thousand talents. For these it would be possible to obtain as much gold as four thousand warriors could carry." "That the income of the state has decreased greatly, I know," said Ramses, "but what is the cause of this?" "Be patient, O servant of the gods," replied Pentuer. "It is not the income of his holiness alone that is subject to decrease. During the nineteenth dynasty Egypt had under arms one hundred and eighty thousand warriors. If by the action of the gods every soldier of that time had been turned into a pebble the size of a grape." "That cannot be!" said Ramses. "The gods can do anything," answered Mefres, the high priest, severely. "But better," continued Pentuer, "if each soldier were to place on the ground one pebble, there would be one hundred and eighty thousand pebbles; and, look, worthy fathers, these pebbles would occupy so much space." He pointed to a quadrangle of reddish color to the court. "In this figure the pebbles deposited by warriors of the time of Ramses I. would find their places. This figure is nine yards long and about five wide. This figure is ruddy; it has the color of Egyptian bodies, for in those days all our warriors were Egyptian exclusively." The priests began to whisper a second time. The prince frowned, for that seemed to him a reprimand, since he loved foreign soldiers.