"He hath made way with the sacrilege himself," he said with relief in his voice; "I had not credited him with so much foresight. Nay, now, if the runaway will but come home, we will forgive him." Mentu said nothing. Indeed, since Hotep had told him of the recent doings of Kenkenes, the murket had had little to say. He had felt in his lifetime most of the sorrows that can overtake a man of his position and attainments--but he had never known the chagrin of a wayward child. The fear that he was to know that humiliation, now, made his heart heavy beyond words. As they turned away the sound of voices smote upon their ears. "Near this spot, it must be, my Lord," one said. "Find the sacrilege, lout. We seek not the neighborhood of it." Hotep caught the murket's arm and drew him out of the aisle into hiding behind another great stone. "This is the place; this is the place," the first voice declared, and his statement was seconded by another and as positive a voice. There was the sound of the new-comers emerging into the aisle, and immediately the first speaker exclaimed in a tone full of astonishment and disappointment: "O, aye; I see!" the master assented with an irritating laugh. "Har-hat!" Hotep whispered. Another of the party broke in impatiently: "Make an end to this chase. Saw you any sacrilege, or was it a phantom of your stupid dreams?" "Asar-Mut," Mentu said under his breath. The first voice and its second protested in chorus. "As the gods hear me, I saw it!" the first went on. "It was a statue most sacrilegiously wrought and the man stood before it. It was cunningly hidden between two walls, and there is no spot on the desert that looks so much like the place as this. And yet, no wall--no statue--no sign of--" "How did you find it yesterday?" the fan-bearer asked. "We followed the hag, and she, the girl. The pair of them were in sight of each other, as they ran." "How did they find it?" "Magic! Magic!" "There were three of you and one man overthrew you all?" the high priest commented suspiciously. "Holy Father!" the servant protested wildly, "he was a giant--a monster for bigness. Besides, there were but two of us, after he had all but throttled me." Har-hat laughed again. "Aye, and after he pitched Nak over the cliff, there was but one. But tell me this: was he noble or a churl?" "He wore the circlet." Mentu's long fingers bent as if he longed for a throat between them. "The craven invented his giant to salve his valor," the priest said. "It may be," the fan-bearer replied musingly, "but thy nephew, holy Father, is conspicuously tall and well-muscled. Likewise, he is a sculptor. Furthermore, the two slaves came home badly abused. Unas has some proof for his tale--" "Kenkenes is the soul of fidelity," the high priest retorted warmly. "He has had unnumbered opportunities to betray the gods and he has ever been steadfast."