"Thou inquirest," returned the man, speaking again in nasal tones, "like a foreigner unacquainted with the customs of the country and the people, to whom he speaks too freely. Know, then, that I am the collector of his worthiness Dagon, the first banker in Memphis. And if thou hast not grown pale yet, know that the worthy Dagon is the agent and the friend of the erpatr,--may he live through eternity!--and that thou hast committed violence on the lands of Prince Rameses; to this my people will testify." "Then know this," interrupted the prince; but he stopped suddenly. "By what right art thou torturing in this way one of the prince's earth-tillers?" "Because he will not pay his rent, and the treasury of the heir is in need of it." The servants of the official, in view of the catastrophe which had come on their master, dropped their victim and stood as helpless as the members of a body from which its head has been severed. The liberated man began to spit again and shake the water out of his ears, but his wife rushed up to the rescuer. "Whoever thou art," groaned she, clasping her hands before Rameses, "a god, or even a messenger of the pharaoh, listen to the tale of our sufferings. We are earth-tillers of the heir to the throne,--may he live through eternity!--and we have paid all our dues: in millet, in wheat, in flowers, and in skins of cattle. But in the last ten days this man here has come and commands us again to give seven measures of wheat to him. 'By what right?' asks my husband; 'the rents are paid, all of them.' But he throws my husband on the ground, stamps, and says, 'By this right, that the worthy Dagon has commanded.' 'Whence shall I get wheat,' asks my husband, 'when we have none and for a month past we have eaten only seeds, or roots of lotus, which are harder and harder to get, for great lords like to amuse themselves with flowers of the lotus?'" She lost breath and fell to weeping. The prince waited patiently till she calmed herself, but the man who had been plunged into the water grumbled. "This woman will bring misfortune with her talk. I have said that I do not like to see women meddle." Meanwhile the official, pushing up to the boatman, asked in an undertone, indicating Rameses,-- "Who is this?" "Ah, may thy tongue wither!" answered the boatman. "Dost thou not see that he must be a great lord: he pays well and strikes heavily." "I saw at once," answered the official, "that he must be some great person. My youth passed at feasts with noted persons." "Aha! the sauces have stuck to thy dress after those feasts," blurted out the boatman. The woman, after crying, continued,-- "To-day this scribe came with his people, and said to my husband, 'If thou hast not money, give thy two sons. The worthy Dagon will not only forgive thee the rent, but will pay thee a drachma a year for each boy.'"