THE NINTH PAPYRUS

Now it seemed to me, when I pondered the thing, that it was a misfortune. For, when a wily stranger desires to pass through a foreign country for a certain secret purpose, it is but prudent for him to refrain from marking his road with homicides. Even my victory over Pyrrhos, though the Pharoah would pension me for slaying his enemies, gave me notoriety instead of the oblivion which I preferred. But the matter of the face-marred negro was indeed grave: for he was an officer of the Pharoah. For which cause, I perceived that the blessed gods would have me in Tanis without delay, that I might find my friend there and perform my business in seclusion. For a man may seclude himself far more easily in a city (excepting in a certain city) than in the open country. So, for three days, I sailed in peace, resting my body, but contriving many new wiles.

But the possession of the barge and of the two slaves weighed upon me. For, having considered that I was going to a strange place, in search of one of whose existence in the flesh I had no actual knowledge, I determined that it is well (in all warfare) to provide a base for operations, and one which can be moved upon occasion. And it seemed to me that the barge and the slaves were precisely what I wanted. Yet I did not know whether they would serve me willingly at the end of the voyage for which they had been engaged; and, in a delicate matter, I will have none but willing and (indeed) devoted assistants. With these notions in my mind, therefore, I used winged words, questioning Nesamun and Yokkho while they piously shaved each other’s heads. And I elicited that, when Nesamun’s sister married the Argive bargeman at Thebes, the two mariners joined together in partnership, Nesamun being owner of the barge which I had on hire, and the three barges which we had left at Thebes being the property of his brother-in-law. Also, I learned that Yokkho was the son of another sister of Nesamun, both his parents being some time guests of the Divine Osiris in Amentet. Moreover, I learned that both were perfectly free to dispose of themselves as they pleased, and that on reaching Tanis nothing remained expected but that I should dismiss the youth and the boy with a gift, for they refused to take hire from a god: they, then, in the ordinary way, would convey another passenger upstream, returning to Thebes while I went back to heaven to attend to my godly affairs.

But, after I had heard all these things, and while I was weighing them in my mind, Nesamun and Yokkho crept nearer, laying themselves out at length on their faces very straight at my feet, and begging me not to send them away. And I, having considered their intelligence and fidelity not less than their agility and strength and quite singular comeliness, did not peremptorily deny them. For, in fact, the Nesamunity of Nesamun and the Yokkhoism of Yokkho were far from displeasing me.⁠[30] Moreover, the words which Yokkho had intoned, when he looked into the palm-mirror, suddenly climbed out of my memory and buzzed at me. He, indeed, had chaunted: “The silver god, pointing at the galley, slays:” and undoubtedly I (not old but silver-haired, and a god as they called me) had slain Pyrrhos and certain few on a galley, pointing my death-spitter at his eye. But that was only one of the things which the clear-seeing slave had predicted, being the first of his utterances; and, perchance, the others also would be fulfilled in their order. And I became sorrowful because I had smacked the clear-seer nor paid due heed to his sayings. But, calling on Memory for a really violent effort, I recollected the seven predictions, each in its turn, writing them in my hand-book; and I perceived that, next, the silver god would take a singing bow in a temple. Now, supposing myself to be the silver god, it was quite certain that I was about to visit a temple, seeking Amenemhat; and I opined that, there, I should engage in some adventure of a singing bow at the pleasure of the gods. Which adventure I began very eagerly to anticipate. But, meanwhile, Nesamun and Yokkho lay stretched at length before me in supplication.

And I determined that it would be greatly to my advantage to have the commodious barge at hand, as a base of operations, as a retreat, or as a means of retirement, should such be desirable. And I also determined that good slaves, who are willing slaves, are very hard to find, and (when found) ought to be cherished and used rather than rejected and wasted. And, lastly, I determined that these two, being well-made in mind and body, were very proper subjects for my magic arts, and likely to be of inestimable value. For which causes, I granted their petition. And, having bought their persons from themselves, paying two gold quarter-ounces to Nesamun for himself and one to Yokkho for himself, I bought also the barge and its apparatus from Nesamun for another gold quarter-ounce, all in the coinage of Victory queen of the stalwart stately Anglicans. And so we came nearer to Tanis.

But, during the last hour of my journey, I cut (from one of the Rhodian javelins) the little wooden emblem which none know save only the priests of Isis, without which none may penetrate the sanctuaries of temples. And I added it to the implements which I was to take with me on my quest of Amenemhat. And, having concealed all my other gear beneath the floor of my cabin in the presence of my slaves, in their view also (using my magic staff) I summoned the sons of slime, committing the charge of my goods to Nesamun and Yokkho, with a crowd of inchanted crocodiles for witnesses, whom anon I dismissed with the Word.

Thus we came to the last reach leading to Tanis which sits on both hythes of the river. But, skimming onward, we passed the little fane of Pasht, marking the site of the old city-wall which the hordes of Okhos had destroyed in the days when Nekt-Nebf was the Pharoah. And we found a small quay below the city, secluded and abandoned, very suitable for a voyager desirous of privacy. But here my journey ended.

And, as soon as the barge was anchored, I sent Nesamun girded into the city to buy a length of fine linen, and to replenish my store of victuals and drink. Furthermore, I bade him to buy for me a necklace of heliotrope stones and a posy of fresh marigolds, for a new wile which I had invented. And, when the slave returned, I made a priest’s surplice of fine linen, wherewith I vested my body, placing beneath it various convenient matters. But, when I appeared as a priest to them, I bade the slaves to clean the barge, and to pitch it within and without with pitch of Zakynthos (which pitch is the best), and also to keep it ready to start on a new voyage at a moment’s notice either by day or by night.

Thus I spoke; and instantly I stepped ashore. But, when the two slaves popped their heads above the bulwark to observe my going, then, indeed, I rubbed the marigolds in my hand against the necklace of bloodstones which I wore, moistening the beads with the flower-juice; and, having made the proper Act of Will, I forthwith vanished away, simply becoming invisible at two paces’ distance, and all in broad daylight. And this I did as very becoming to a god, and also to confirm them in fidelity, for a slave will not play his lord falsely when he has no certainty whether his said lord is here, or there.

In this manner, I came to Tanis.

FOOTNOTES: