"But are not Patrokles, Tutmosis, and finally Mentezufis, here? For what purpose am I commander if I cannot hunt the enemy? They are a few hundred yards from us and have tired horses." "We will come back in an hour with him. He is only an arm's length from us!" whispered some Asiatic. "Patrokles, Tutmosis, I leave the army to you!" cried the heir. "Rest. I will come back immediately." He put spurs to his horse and advanced at a trot, sinking in the sand, and behind him about twenty horsemen, with Pentuer. "Why art thou here, O prophet?" asked Rameses. "Better sleep--to-day thou hast rendered good service." "I may be of use yet," added Pentuer. "But remain--I command thee--" "The supreme council commands me not to go one step from thee, worthiness." Rameses shook himself angrily. "But if we fall into an ambush?" "I will not leave thee in ambush," answered the priest. CHAPTER XLIV There was in his voice so much kindliness that the astonished prince was silent and let him go. They were in the desert; a couple of hundred yards behind them was an army; in front were fugitives several hundred yards in advance. But though they beat and urged on their horses, the fleeing, as well as the pursuers, advanced with great difficulty. The sun poured from above dreadful heat on them, the fine but sharp dust pushed itself into their mouths, into their nostrils, into their eyes above all; under their horses' feet the burning sand gave way at every step. In the air reigned a deathlike silence. "But it will not continue like this," said Rameses. "It will be worse and worse," answered Pentuer. "Dost thou see, worthiness,"--he indicated the fugitives,--"their horses are in sand to their knees?" The prince laughed, for at that moment they came out on ground which was firmer, and trotted about a hundred yards. But soon their road was confronted by a sea of sand, and again they advanced step by step slowly. Sweat poured from the men, there was foam on the horses. "It is hot!" whispered the heir. "Listen, lord," said Pentuer, "this is not a good day for hunting in the desert. This morning the sacred insects showed great disquiet, then dropped into lethargy. Also my knife of a priest went down very little in the earthen scabbard, which means intense heat. Both these phenomena--the heat, and the lethargy of insects--may announce a tempest. Let us return, for not only have we lost sight of the camp, but even sounds from there do not reach to us." Rameses looked at the priest almost contemptuously. "And dost thou think, O prophet," said he, "that I, having once commanded the capture of Musawasa, can return empty-handed because I fear heat and a tempest?" They went on without stopping. At one place there was hard ground again, thanks to which they approached the fugitives to within the distance of a sling cast. "Hei, ye there!" cried the heir, "yield."