"In the thirty-third year of the reign of his holiness Mer-Amen-Rameses the Nile was late in its overflow. Earth-tillers, ascribing this misfortune to the black art of foreigners resident in the province of Hak, fell to wrecking the houses of Hittites, Jews, and Phœnicians, during which time a number of persons were slain by them. At command of his worthiness the nomarch, those guilty were brought to the court; twenty-five earth-tillers, two masons, and five sandal-makers were condemned to the quarries, one boatman was strangled--" "What is that document?" interrupted the prince. "It is the report of the court intended for the feet of his holiness." "Put it aside, and read about the income of the treasury." The assistants of the chief scribe folded the rejected document, and gave him others. Again the official began,-- "On the fifth day of the month Thoth six hundred measures of wheat were brought to the granaries of the pharaoh; for these a receipt was issued by the chief overseer. "On the seventh day of Thoth the chief scribe discovered and verified a statement that from the supply of the previous year one hundred and forty-eight measures of wheat had vanished. During the verification two laborers stole a measure of grain and hid it among bricks. When this was proven they were brought to judgment and sent to the quarries for raising their hands to the property of his holiness." "But the hundred and forty-eight measures?" asked the heir. "The mice ate them," replied the scribe, and read on. "On the eighth day of Thoth twenty cows and eighty-four sheep were sent to the slaughter; these, at command of the overseer of oxen, were issued to the Sparrow-Hawk regiment." In this manner the viceroy learned day after day how much wheat, barley, beans, and lotus seed were weighed into the granaries, how much given out to the mills, how much stolen, and how many laborers were condemned to the quarries for stealing. The report was so wearisome and chaotic that in the middle of the month Paofi the prince gave command to stop reading. "Tell me, chief scribe," said Rameses, "what dost thou understand from this? What dost thou learn from it?" "Everything which thy worthiness commands." And he began again at the beginning, but from memory,-- "On the fifth of the month Thoth they brought to the granaries of the pharaoh--" "Enough!" cried the enraged prince; and he commanded the man to depart. The scribes fell on their faces, gathered up their papyruses quickly, and bore them away in a twinkle. The prince summoned the nomarch. He came with crossed hands, but with a calm face, for he had learned from the scribes that the viceroy could understand nothing from reports, and that he did not give ear to them. "Tell me, worthiness," began the heir, "do they read reports to thee?" "Every day." "And dost thou understand them?" "Pardon, most worthy lord, but--could I manage a province if I did not understand?"