At length a ray of light dispels the darkness for an instant. ‘It came to pass,’ says an ancient papyrus, ‘that the land of Khemi belonged to the enemy. No one was sovereign lord in the day when that happened. The King Sekenen-Ra ruled in the south, but the enemy ruled in the district of the Amu, and Apepi, their king, was in the city of Avaris; the whole land did him homage with the best of its handiwork. King Apepi took unto him Sutech for lord, refusing to serve any other god in the whole land, and he built for him a temple of enduring workmanship. King Apepi appointed festival days for making sacrifice to Sutech, as in the temple of Ra-harmakhu.’ Here there is a break, after which the manuscript goes on to tell how King Apepi, by the advice of his learned councillors, sent an embassy to the ruler of the south (the tributary native prince, Sekenen-Ra). ‘The ruler of the south said to the messenger, “Who sent thee hither? Why art thou come? Is it to spy out the land?”’ So far as we can gather from the text (which is here again interrupted) the messenger’s reply related merely to the construction of a certain well for cattle, although he adds that ‘sleep had not come to him by day or by night until he had delivered his message.’ ‘The ruler of the south was amazed, and knew not how to reply to the messenger of King Apepi.’ Here another vexatious break occurs in the story. It is more than likely that a spirit of independence was awakening in the south, under the brave Sekenen-Ra, and even that certain secret preparations for an uprising might have been afoot; so that the Hyksos messenger may, after all, have been neither more nor less than a spy, although apparently charged with nothing but an innocent message concerning a tank. It is at any rate clear that Sekenen-Ra’s heart misgave him. His answer indeed is missing, but we read that ‘the messenger of King Apepi rose to depart to where his royal master was,’ and that the Egyptian chief, who evidently felt that the die was cast, forthwith ‘bade summon his mighty chiefs, his captains and expert guides.’ He repeated to them the whole story of the ‘words King Apepi had sent concerning them. But they were silent, all of them in great dismay, and wist not what to answer him, good or bad.’ Here the papyrus breaks off suddenly, and darkness closes in again. We are left to guess the sequel, but it seems as though we can see how the prince of the south cast off his allegiance and defied the Hyksos sovereign.