"Did I not free thee from leading the vanguard? Did I assign to thee an office?" asked the minister. "Thou wert entirely free, just like a man who is called to important deeds. And didst thou accomplish thy task? For such an error in time of war thou shouldst suffer death surely." The ill-fated officer was pallid. "But I have a paternal heart for thee, Eunana," said Herhor, "and, remembering the great service which thou hast rendered by discovering the scarabs, I, not as a stern minister, but as a mild priest, appoint to thee a very small punishment. Thou wilt receive fifty blows of a stick on thy body." "Worthiness!" "Eunana, thou hast known how to be fortunate, now be manful and receive this slight remembrance as becomes an officer in the army of his holiness." Barely had the worthy Herhor finished when the officers oldest in rank placed Eunana in a commodious position at the side of the highroad. After that one of them sat on his neck, another on his feet, while a third and a fourth counted out fifty blows of pliant reeds on his naked body. The unterrified warrior uttered no groan; on the contrary, he hummed a soldier song, and at the end of the ceremony wished to rise. But his stiffened legs refused obedience, so he fell face downward on the sand; they had to take him to Memphis on a two-wheeled vehicle. While lying on this cart and smiling at the soldiers, Eunana considered that the wind does not change so quickly in Lower Egypt as fortune in the life of an inferior officer. When, after the brief halt, the retinue of the heir to the throne moved on its farther journey, Herhor mounted his horse and riding at the side of Nitager, spoke in an undertone about Asiatic nations and, above all, about the awakening of Assyria. Then two servants of the minister, the adjutant carrying his fan and the secretary Pentuer, began a conversation also. "What dost thou think of Eunana's adventure?" asked the adjutant. "And what thinkest thou of the slave who hanged himself?" "It seems to me that this was his best day, and the rope around his neck the softest thing that has touched him in life. I think, too, that Eunana from this time on will watch the heir to the throne very closely." "Thou art mistaken," answered Pentuer. "Eunana from this time on will never see a scarab, even though it were as large as a bullock. As to that slave, dost thou not think that in every case it must have been very evil for him--very evil in this sacred land of Egypt?" "Thou knowest not slaves, hence speakest thus--" "But who knows them better?" asked Pentuer, gloomily. "Have I not grown up among them? Have I not seen my father watering land, clearing canals, sowing, harvesting, and, above all, paying tribute? Oh, thou knowest not the lot of slaves in Egypt."