"Who are ye?" inquired she, alarmed. "Ye have come down from the hills, like travelers who wish bread and water, but ye speak to me as might the greatest lords. Who are ye? Thy sword," said she, turning to Ramses, "is set with emeralds, and on thy neck is a chain of such work as even our lord, the great Sesofris, has not in his treasury." "Better tell me if I please thee," insisted Ramses, pressing her hand and looking into her eyes tenderly. "Thou art beautiful, as beautiful as the angel Gabriel; but I fear thee, for I know not who Thou art." Then from beyond the hilltop was heard the sound of a trumpet. "They are calling thee!" cried Tutmosis. "And if I were as great a lord as thy Sesofris?" asked Ramses. "Then maybe" answered Sarah. "And if I carried the fan of the nomarch of Memphis?" "Thou mayest be even as great as that." Somewhere beyond the hill was heard the second trumpet. "Come, Ramses!" insisted the frightened Tutmosis. "But if I were heir to the throne, wouldst Thou come to me?" cried the prince. "O Jehovah!" exclaimed Sarah, dropping on her knees. From various points trumpets summoned, now urgently. "Let us run!" cried Tutmosis, in desperation. "Dost Thou not hear the alarm in the camp?" Ramses took the chain from his neck quickly and threw it on Sarah. "Give this to thy father. I will buy thee from him. Be in health." He kissed her lips passionately, and she embraced-his knees. He tore away, ran a couple of paces, turned again, and again fondled her beautiful face and dark hair with kisses, as if he heard not those impatient calls to the army. "In the name of his holiness the pharaoh, I summon thee, follow me!" cried Tutmosis; and he seized the prince's hand. They ran toward the trumpet-calls. Ramses tottered at moments like a drunken man, and turned his head. At last they were climbing the opposite hill. "And this man," thought Tutmosis, "wants to battle with the priesthood!" CHAPTER IV RAMSES and his comrade ran about a quarter of an hour along the rocky ridge of the hill, drawing ever nearer to the trumpets, which sounded more and more urgently. At last they reached a point where they took in at a glance the whole region. Toward the left stretched the highway; beyond that were seen clearly the city of Pi-Bailos, the regiments of the heir drawn up behind it, and an immense cloud of dust which rose above his opponent hastening forward from the east. On the right yawned a broad ravine, along the middle of which the Greek regiment was dragging military engines. Not far from the road the ravine was lost in another and a broader one which began in the depth of the desert. At this point something uncommon was happening. The Greeks stood unoccupied not far from the junction of the two ravines; but at the juncture itself, and between the highway and the staff of Ramses, marched out four dense lines of some other army, like four fences, bristling with glittering darts.