In the first rank stood workers with pickaxes, in the second those with mattocks, in the third those with shovels. The fourth rank was composed of carriers, of whom each had a pole and two buckets; the fifth was also of carriers, but with large boxes borne by two men. These last carried earth freshly dug. In front of the ranks, some yards distant, stood the overseers; each held a long stick in his hand, and either a large wooden circle or a square measure. When the prince approached them, they cried in a chorus,-- "Live thou through eternity!" and kneeling, they struck the earth with their foreheads. The heir commanded them to rise, and surveyed them again with attention. They were healthy, strong persons, not looking in the least like men who had lived two months on begging. Sofra with his retinue approached the prince. But Rameses, feigning not to see him, turned to one of the overseers,-- "Are ye earth-tillers from Sochem?" inquired he. The overseer fell at full length with his face to the earth. The prince shrugged his shoulders, and called out to the laborers,-- "Are ye from Sochem?" "We are earth-workers from Sochem," answered they, in chorus. "Have ye received pay?" "We have received pay; we are sated and happy servants of his holiness," answered the chorus, giving out each word with emphasis. "Turn around!" commanded the prince. They turned. It is true that each had frequent and deep scars from the club, but no fresh stripes on their bodies. "They are deceiving me," thought the heir. He commanded the laborers to go to their barracks, and, without greeting the nomarch or taking leave of him, he returned to the palace. "Wilt thou, too, tell me," said he to Tutmosis on the road, "that those men are laborers from Sochem?" "But they say that they are, they themselves give answer," replied the courtier. Rameses gave command to bring his horse, and he rode to the army encamped beyond the city. He reviewed the regiments all day. About noon, on the field of exercise, appeared, at command of the nomarch, some tens of carriers with food and wine, tents and furniture. But the prince sent them back to Atribis; and when the hour came for army food, he commanded to serve that to him; so he ate dried meat with oat cakes. These were the mercenary regiments of Libya. When the prince ordered them to lay aside arms in the evening, and took farewell of the men, it seemed as though the soldiers and officers had yielded to madness. Shouting "May he live through eternity!" they kissed his hands and feet, made a litter of their spears and mantles, and bore him to the city, disputing on the way with one another for the honor of carrying the heir on their shoulders. The nomarch and the officials of the province were frightened, when they saw the enthusiasm of the Libyans, and the favor which the heir showed barbarians. "Here is a ruler!" whispered the chief secretary to Sofra. "If he wished, those people would kill us and our children."