CHAPTER XLIII
From the moment when the troops of Lower Egypt marched out of Pi-Bast,the prophet, Mentezufis, who accompanied the prince, received and sentaway despatches daily.
One correspondence he conducted with the minister Herhor; Mentezufissent reports to Memphis touching the advance of the troops, and theactivity of the viceroy; of this activity he did not conceal hisadmiration. On his part, the worthy Herhor stated that every freedomwas to be left to the heir, and that if Rameses lost his first battle,the supreme council would not feel angry.
"A slight defeat," said Herhor, "would be a lesson in humility andcaution to the viceroy, who even now, though as yet he has donenothing, considers himself as equal to the most experienced warriors."
When Mentezufis answered that one could not easily suppose that theheir would meet defeat, Herhor let him understand that in that casethe triumph should not be over brilliant.
"The state," continued he, "will not lose in any way if the warriorsand the impulsive heir find amusement for some years along the westernborder. He will gain skill himself in warfare, while the idle warriorswill find their own proper work to do."
The other correspondence Mentezufis carried on with the holy fatherMefres and that seemed to him of more importance. Mefres, offendedformerly by the prince, had recently, in the case of Sarah's child,accused the prince directly of infanticide, committed under Kama'sinfluence.
When a week had passed, and the viceroy's innocence was manifest, thehigh priest grew still more irate, and did not cease his efforts. Theprince, he said, was capable of anything; he was hostile to thecountry's gods, he was an ally of the vile Phoenicians.
The murder of Sarah's child seemed so suspicious in the earlier days,that even the supreme council asked Mentezufis what he thought of it.
Mentezufis answered that he had watched the prince for days, and didnot think the man a murderer.
Such were the letters which, like birds of prey, whirled aroundRameses, while he was sending scouts against the enemy, consultingleaders, or urging on his warriors.
On the fourteenth day the whole army was concentrated on the south ofTerenuthis. To the great delight of the heir, Patrokles came with theGreek regiment, and with him the priest Pentuer, sent by Herhor asanother guardian near the viceroy.
The multitude of priests in the camp (for there were still others) didnot enchant Rameses. But he resolved not to turn attention to the holymen or ask advice of them.
Relations were regulated in some way, for Mentezufis, according toinstructions from Herhor, did not force himself on the prince, whilePentuer occupied himself with organizing medical aid for the wounded.
The military game began.
First of all Rameses, through his agents, had spread a report in manyboundary villages that the Libyans were pushing forward in greatmasses, and would destroy and murder. Because of this the terrifiedinhabitants fled eastward and met the Egyptian warriors. The princetook them in to carry burdens for the army, the women and children heconveyed to the interior of Egypt. Next the commander sent spies tomeet the approaching Libyans and discover their number anddisposition. These spies returned soon, bringing accurate indicationsas to where the Libyans were and very exaggerated accounts as to theirnumbers. They asserted, too, mistakenly, though in great confidence,that at the head of the Libyan columns marched Musawasa with his sonTehenna.
The princely leader was flushed with delight that in his first war hewould have such an experienced enemy as Musawasa.
He overestimated, therefore, the danger of the struggle and redoubledevery caution. To have all chances on his side he had recourse tostratagem. He sent confidential men to meet the Libyans; he commandedthem to feign that they were fugitives, to enter the enemies' camp anddraw from Musawasa his best forces, the disbanded Libyan soldiers.
"Tell them," said Rameses to his agents, "that I have axes for theinsolent, and compassion for obedience. If in the coming battle theywill throw their weapons down and leave Musawasa, I will receive themback to the army of his holiness, and command to pay all arrears, asif they had never left the service."
Patrokles and the other generals saw in this a very prudent measure;the priests were silent, Mentezufis sent a despatch to Herhor and nextday received an answer.
The neighborhood of the Soda Lakes was a valley some tens ofkilometres long, enclosed between two lines of hills, extending fromthe southeast toward the northwest. The greatest width did not exceedten kilometres; there were places narrower, almost ravines.
Throughout the whole length of that valley extended one after anotherabout ten swampy lakes filled with bitter, brackish water. Wretchedplants and bushes grew there ever coated with sand, everwithering,--plants which no beast would take to its mouth. Along bothsides were sticking up jagged limestone hills, or immense heaps ofsand in which a man might sink deeply.
The white and yellow landscape had a look of dreadful torpor, whichwas heightened by the heat, and also by the silence. No bird was everheard there, and if any sound was given forth it was from a stonerolling down along a hillside.
Toward the middle of the valley rose two groups of buildings a fewkilometres from each other; these were a fortress on the east, andglass factories on the west, to which Libyan merchants brought fuel.Both these places had been deserted because of the conflict. Tehenna'scorps was to occupy both these points, and secure the road to Egyptfor Musawasa's army forces.
The Libyans marched slowly from the town of Glaucus southward, and onthe evening of the fourteenth day of Hator, they were at the entranceto the valley of the Soda Lakes, feeling sure that they would passthrough in two days unmolested. That evening at sunset the Egyptianarmy moved toward the desert, passed over more than forty kilometresof sand in twelve hours, and next morning was on the hills between thehuts and the fortress and hid in the many ravines of that region.
If some man that night had told the Libyans that palm-trees and wheatwere growing in the valley of the Soda Lakes they would have beenastonished less than if he had declared that the Egyptians had barredthe way to it.
After a short rest, during which the priests had discovered andcleared out a few wells of water somewhat endurable for drinking, theEgyptian army began to occupy the hills extending along the northernside of the valley.
The viceroy's plan was quite simple. He was to cut off the Libyansfrom their country, and push them southward into the desert, whereheat and hunger would kill them.
With this object he disposed his army on the northern side of thevalley and divided it into three corps. The right wing, that whichextended most toward Libya, was led by Patrokles, who was to cut offthe invaders from their own town of Glaucus. The left wing, thatnearest to Egypt, commanded by Mentezufis, was to stop the Libyansfrom advancing. Finally, the direction of the centre, at the glasshuts, was taken by Rameses, who had Pentuer near his person.
On the fifteenth of Hator about seven in the morning, some tens ofLibyan horsemen moved at a brisk trot through the valley. They stoppeda moment at the huts, looked around, and, seeing nothing suspicious,rode back again.
At about ten in the forenoon in a heat which seemed to suck sweat anddraw blood from men's bodies, Pentuer said to the viceroy,--
"The Libyans have entered the valley and passed Patrokles' division.They will be here in an hour from now."
"Whence knowest thou this?" asked the astonished prince.
"The priests know everything," replied Pentuer, smiling.
Then he ascended one of the cliffs cautiously, took from a bag a verybright object and turning it in the direction of the holy Mentezufisbegan to give certain signs with his hand.
"Mentezufis is informed already," said Pentuer.
The prince could not recover from astonishment and answered,--
"My eyes are better than thine, and my hearing is not worse, I think;still I see nothing, I hear nothing. How, then, dost thou see theenemy and converse with Mentezufis?"
Pentuer directed the prince to look at a dis
tant hill, on the summitof which was a thornbush. Rameses looked at that point and shaded hiseyes on a sudden. In the bush something flashed brightly.
"What unendurable glitter is that?" cried he. "It might blind a man."
"That is the priest who is aiding the worthy Patrokles; he is givingus signs," replied Pentuer. "Thou seest, then, worthy lord, that we,too, can be useful in war time."
He was silent. From the distance of the valley came a certain sound;at first low, gradually it grew clearer. At this sound the Egyptiansoldiers hidden at the sides of the hill began to spring up, look attheir weapons, and whisper. But the sharp commands of officers quietedthem, and again the silence was deathlike along the cliffs on thenorth side.
Meanwhile that distant sound in the valley increased and passed intoan uproar in which, on the bases of thousands of voices a man coulddistinguish songs, sounds of flutes, squeaks of chariots, the neighingof horses, and the cries of commanders. The prince's heart was nowbeating with violence; he could not resist his curiosity, and heclambered up to a rocky height whence a large part of the valley wasvisible.
Surrounded by rolls of yellow dust the Libyan corps was approachingdeliberately, and seemed like a serpent some miles in length, withblue, white, and red spots on its body.
At its head marched from ten to twenty horsemen, one of whom, wearinga white mantle, was sitting on his horse as on a bench, both his legson the left side of the animal. Behind the horsemen marched a crowd ofslingers in gray shirts, then some dignitary in a litter, over whom alarge parasol was carried. Farther was a division of spearmen in blueand red shirts, then a great band of men almost naked, armed withclubs, again slingers and spearmen, behind them a red division withscythes and axes. They came on more or less in ranks of four; but inspite of shouts of officers, that order was interrupted, and each fourtreading on others, broke ranks continually.
Singing and talking loudly, the Libyan serpent crawled out into thebroadest part of the valley, opposite the huts and the Soda Lakes.Order was disturbed now more considerably. Those marching in advancestopped, for it had been said that there would be a halt at thatpoint; the columns behind hurried so as to reach the halt and rest allthe earlier. Some ran out of the ranks, and laying down their weapons,rushed into the lake, or took up in their palms its malodorous water;others, sitting on the ground, took dates from bags, or drank vinegarand water from their bottles.
High above the camp floated a number of vultures.
Unspeakable sadness and terror seized Rameses at this spectacle.Before his eyes flies began to circle; for the twinkle of an eye helost consciousness; it seemed to him that he would have yielded histhrone not to be at that place, and not to see what was going tohappen. He hurried down from the cliff looking with wandering eyesstraight out in front of him.
At that moment Pentuer approached and pulled him by the armvigorously.
"Recover, leader," said he; "Patrokles is waiting for orders."
"Patrokles?" repeated the prince, and he looked around quickly.
Before him stood Pentuer, deathly pale, but collected. A couple ofsteps farther on was Tutmosis, also pale; in his trembling hand was anofficer's whistle. From behind the hill bent forth soldiers, on whosefaces deep emotion was evident.
"Rameses," repeated Pentuer, "the army is waiting."
The prince looked at the priest with desperate decision.
"Begin!" said he in a stifled whisper.
Pentuer raised his glittering talisman, and made some signs in the airwith it. Tutmosis gave a low whistle; that whistle was repeated indistant ravines on the right and the left. Egyptian slingers began toclimb up the hillsides.
It was about midday.
Rameses recovered gradually from his first impressions and lookedaround carefully. He saw his staff, a division of spearmen and axemenunder veteran officers, finally slingers, advancing along the cliffleisurely. And he was convinced that not one of those men had the wishto die or even to fight and move around in that heat, which wasterrible.
All at once, from the height of some hill was heard a mighty voice,louder than the roar of a lion,--
"Soldiers of the pharaoh, slay those Libyan dogs! The gods are withyou."
To this unearthly voice answered two voices no less powerful: theprolonged shout of the Egyptian army, and the immense outcry of theLibyans.
The prince had no need to conceal himself longer, and ascended aneminence whence he could see the hostile forces distinctly. Before himstretched a long line of Egyptian slingers who seemed as if they hadgrown up from the earth, and a couple of hundred yards distant theLibyan column moving forward in dust clouds. The trumpets, thewhistles, the curses of barbarian officers were heard calling toorder. Those who were sitting sprang up; those who were drinkingsnatched their weapons and ran to their places; chaotic throngsdeveloped into ranks, and all this took place amid outcries andtumult. Meanwhile the Egyptian slingers cast a number of missiles eachminute. They were as calm and well ordered as at a manoeuvre. Thedecurions indicated to their men the hostile crowds against which theymust strike, and in the course of some minutes they covered them witha shower of stones and leaden bullets. The prince saw that after everysuch shower a Libyan crowd scattered and very often one man remainedon the earth behind the others.
Still the Libyan ranks formed and withdrew outside the reach ofmissiles, then their slingers pushed forward and with equal swiftnessand coolness replied to the Egyptians. At times there were bursts oflaughter in their ranks and shouts of delight at the fall of someEgyptian slinger.
Soon above the heads of the prince and his retinue stones began towhizz and whistle. One, cast adroitly, struck the arm of an adjutant,and broke the bone in it; another knocked the helmet from a secondadjutant; a third, falling at the prince's feet, was broken againstthe cliff and struck the leader's face with fragments as hot asboiling water.
The Libyans laughed loudly and shouted out something: apparently theywere abusing the viceroy.
Fear and, above all, compassion and pity left the soul of Rameses inan instant. He saw before him no longer people threatened by death andanguish, but lines of savage beasts which he had to kill or deprive ofweapons. Mechanically he reached for his sword to lead on the spearmenawaiting command, but he was restrained by contempt of the enemy. Washe to stain himself with the blood of that rabble? Warriors werethere for that purpose.
Meanwhile the battle continued, and the brave Libyan slingers, whileshouting and even singing, began to press forward. From both sidesmissiles whizzed like beetles, buzzed like bees, sometimes they struckone another in the air with a crack, and every minute or two on thisside or that some warrior went to the rear groaning, or fell deadimmediately. But this did not spoil the humor of others: they foughtwith malicious delight, which gradually changed to rage andself-oblivion.
Then from afar on the right wing were heard sounds of trumpets, andshouts repeated frequently. That was the unterrified Patrokles; drunksince daylight, he was attacking the rear guard of Libya.
"Charge!" said the prince.
Immediately that order was repeated by one, two, ten trumpets, andafter a moment the Egyptian companies pushed out from all the ravines.The slingers disposed on the hilltops redoubled their efforts, whilein the valley, without haste, but also without disorder, the Egyptianspearmen and axemen arranged in four columns moved forward gradually.
"Strengthen the centre," said the prince.
A trumpet repeated the command. Behind two columns of the first linetwo new columns were placed. Before the Egyptians had finished thatmanoeuvre, under a storm of missiles, the Libyans, following theirexample, had arranged themselves in eight columns against the maincorps of Egypt.
"Forward, reserves!" shouted the prince. "See," said he, turning toone of the adjutants, "whether the left wing is ready."
To see the valley at a glance, and more accurately, the adjutantrushed in among the slingers, and fell immediately, but beckoned withhis hand. Another rushed to replace him and returned quickly to
statethat both wings of the prince's division were drawn up in order.
From the division commanded by Patrokles came an increasing uproar,and higher than the hill dense rolls of dark smoke were rising.
An officer from Pentuer ran to the prince reporting that the Libyancamp had been fired by the Greek regiments.
"Force the centre!" cried Rameses.
Trumpet after trumpet sounded the attack, and when they had ceased thecommand was heard in the central column, and then followed therhythmic roll of drums and the beat of the infantry step, marchingslowly and in time: one--two! one--two! one--two! The command wasrepeated on the right and on the left wing; again drums rolled and thewing columns moved forward: one--two! one--two!
The Libyan slingers began to withdraw, showering stones on themarching Egyptians. But though one warrior fell after another, thecolumns moved on without stopping; they marched slowly, regularly,one--two! one--two! one--two!
The yellow cloud, growing ever denser, indicated the march of theEgyptian battalions. The slingers could hurl stones no longer, andthere came a comparative quiet in the midst of which were heard sobsand groans from wounded warriors.
"It is rare that they march on review so well," cried Rameses to thestaff officers.
"They are not afraid of sticks this time," grumbled a veteran officer.
The space between the dust cloud around the Egyptians and that on theLibyan side decreased every minute, but the barbarians, halting, stoodmotionless, and behind their line a second cloud made its appearance.Evidently some reserve was strengthening the central column, which wasthreatened by the wildest of onsets.
The heir ran down from his eminence and mounted; the last Egyptianreserves poured out of the ravines, fixed themselves in ranks, andwaited for the order. Behind the infantry pushed out some hundreds ofAsiatic horsemen on small but enduring horses.
The prince hurried after the columns advancing to attack, and when hehad gone a hundred yards he found a new eminence, not high, but fromwhich he could see the whole field of battle. The retinue, the Asiaticcavalry, and the reserve column hurried after him.
The prince looked impatiently toward the left wing whence Mentezufishad to come, but he was not coming. The Libyans stood immovable, thesituation seemed more and more serious.
The viceroy's division was the stronger, but against it were arrayedalmost all the Libyan forces. The two sides were equal as to numbers;the prince had no doubt of victory, but he dreaded the immense losssince his opponent was so manful.
Besides, battle has caprices.
Over men who have gone to attack, the leader's influence has ceased,he controls them no longer; Rameses has only a regiment of reserves,and a handful of cavalry. If one of the Egyptian columns is beaten, orif reinforcements come to the foe unexpectedly!
The prince rubbed his forehead at this thought. He felt all theresponsibility of a leader. He was like a dice thrower who has stakedall he owns, cast his dice, and asks, "How will they come out?"
The Egyptians are a few tens of yards from the Libyan columns. Thecommand, the trumpets, the drums sound hurriedly, and the troops moveat a run: one--two--three! one--two--three! But on the side of theenemy also a trumpet is heard, two ranks of spears are lowered, drumsbeat. At a run! New rolls of dust rise, then they unite in one immensecloud. The roar of human voices, the rattle of spears, the biting ofscythes, then a shrill groan which is soon lost in one general uproar.
Along the whole line of battle neither men, nor weapons, nor evencolumns are visible, nothing but a line of yellow dust stretchingalong like a giant serpent. The denser cloud signifies places wherethe columns are struggling; the thinner, where there are breaks in thecolumns.
After some minutes of satanic uproar the heir sees that the dust onhis left wing is bending back very slowly.
"Strengthen the left wing!" shouts Rameses.
One half of the reserve runs to the place pointed out, and disappearsin the sand cloud; the left wing straightens itself, the right goesforward slowly always in one direction.
"Strengthen the centre!" cries Rameses.
The second half of the reserve advances and vanishes in the sandcloud. The shout increased for a moment, but no forward movement isvisible.
"Those wretches fight desperately," said an old officer of the suiteto Rameses. "It is high time that Mentezufis were here."
The prince summoned the leader of the Asiatic cavalry.
"But look to the right," said he; "there must be a bend there."
"Go cautiously so as not to trample our warriors and attack those dogsin their central column, on the flank."
"They must be chained, for somehow they stand too long," replied theAsiatic, smiling.
The prince has now about two hundred of his own cavalry, and theseadvance, with the others, at a trot, crying,--
"May our chief live forever!"
The heat passes description. The prince strains eyes and ears to seethrough the sand cloud. He waits--and waits. All at once he shoutswith delight. The centre of the cloud quivers and moves forwardslightly.
Again it stops, again it moves forward--slowly, very slowly, but stillit moves forward.
The din is so tremendous that no one can decide what it means: rage,defeat, or victory.
Now the right wing begins to bend outward and withdraw in a strangemanner. In the rear of the wing appears a new dust cloud. At the samemoment Pentuer races up, dismounts, and shouts,--
"Patrokles is engaging the rear of the Libyans!"
The confusion on the right wing increases, and is passing to thecentre. It is clear that the Libyans are beginning to withdraw, andthat panic is seizing even their main column.
The whole staff of the prince, roused to the uttermost, follows themovements of the yellow dust, feverishly. In a few minutes alarmappears on the left wing. The Libyans have begun to flee in thatquarter.
"May I never see another sun, if this is not a victory!" cried aveteran officer.
A courier rushes in from the priests, who from the highest hill hadfollowed the course of the battle, and reports that on the left wingthe troops of Mentezufis are visible, and that the Libyans aresurrounded on three sides.
"They would fly like deer if the sand did not hinder them."
"Victory! May our chief live forever!" cried Pentuer.
It was only two hours after midday.
The Asiatic cavalry sing loudly, and send arrows into the air in honorof Rameses. The staff officers dismount, and rush to kiss the handsand feet of the viceroy; at last they take him from the saddle, raisehim in the air, shouting,--
"Here is a mighty leader! He has trampled the enemies of Egypt! Amonis on his right, and on his left, who can oppose him?"
Meanwhile the Libyans, pushing back all the time, had ascended thesandy hills on the south, and after them Egyptians. From out the cloudcame horsemen every minute and rushed to Rameses.
"Mentezufis has taken them in the rear!" cried one.
"Two hundred have surrendered!" cried another.
"Patrokles has taken them in the rear!"
"Three Libyan standards are captured: the ram, the lion, and thesparrow-hawk!"
More and more men gathered round the staff: it was surrounded bywarriors who were bloody and dust-covered.
"May he live through eternity! May he live through eternity, ourleader!"
The prince was so excited, that he laughed and cried in turn and saidto his retinue,--
"The gods have been compassionate. I feared that we had lost. Evil isthe plight of a leader; without drawing a sword and even withoutseeing, he must answer for everything!"
"Live thou, O conquering commander, live through eternity!" cried thewarriors.
"A fine victory for me!" laughed Rameses. "I do not know even how theywon it."
"He wins a victory, and wonders how it came!" cried some one in theretinue.
"I say that I saw not the face of the battle," explained the prince.
"Be at rest, our commander," said Pen
tuer. "Thou didst dispose thearmy so wisely that the enemy had to be beaten. And in what way? Justas if that did not belong to thee, but the regiments."
"I did not even draw a sword. I do not see one Libyan," complained theprince.
On the southern heights there was a struggling and a seething, but inthe valley the dust had begun to settle here and there, and a crowd ofEgyptian soldiers were visible as through a mist, their spears pointedupward.
Rameses turned his horse in that direction and rode out to thedeserted field of battle, where just recently had been, the struggleof the central column. It was a place some hundreds of yards in width,with deep furrows filled with bodies of the dead and wounded. On theside along which the prince was approaching, Egyptians and Libyans layintermixed, in a long line, still farther on there were almost noneexcept Libyans.
In places bodies lay close to bodies; sometimes on one spot three orfour were piled one on another. The sand was stained with brownishblood patches; the wounds were ghastly. Both hands were cut from oneman, another had his head split to the body, from a third man, theentrails were dropping. Some were howling in convulsions, and fromtheir mouths, filled with sand, came forth curses, or prayersimploring some one to slay them.
Rameses passed along hastily, not looking around, though some of thewounded men shouted feebly in his honor.
Not far from that place he met the first crowd of prisoners. They fellon their faces before him and begged for compassion.
"Proclaim pardon to the conquered and the obedient," said he to hisstaff.
A number of horsemen rushed off in various directions. Soon a trumpetwas heard, and after it a piercing voice,--
"By the order of his worthiness the prince in command, prisoners andwounded are not to be slain!"
In answer came wild shouts, evidently from prisoners.
"At command of the prince," a second voice cried in singing tones inanother direction, "prisoners and wounded are not to be slain!"
Meanwhile on the southern heights the battle ceased and two of thelargest Libyan divisions laid down their arms before the Greekregiments.
The valiant Patrokles, in consequence of the heat, as he saidhimself--of ardent drink, as thought others--barely held himself inthe saddle. He rubbed his tearful eyes, and turned to the prisoners.
"Mangy dogs!" cried he, "who raise sinful hands on the army of hisholiness (may the worms devour you)! Ye will perish like lice underthe nail of a pious Egyptian, if ye do not tell this minute where yourleader is,--may leprosy eat off his nose and drink his blear eyesout!"
At that moment the prince appeared. The general greeted him withrespect, but did not stop his investigation.
"I will have belts cut from your bodies! I will impale you on stakes,if I do not learn this minute where that poisonous reptile is, thatson of a wild boar."
"Ei! where our leader is?" cried one of the Libyans, pointing to alittle crowd on horseback which was advancing slowly in the depth ofthe desert.
"What is that?" inquired the prince.
"The wretch Musawasa is fleeing!" said Patrokles, and he almost fellto the ground.
The blood rushed to Rameses' head.
Then Musawasa was here and escaped?
"Hei! whoso has the best horse, follow me!"
"Well," said Patrokles, laughing, "that sheep-stealer himself willbleat now!"
Pentuer stopped the way to the prince.
"It is not for thee to hunt fugitives, worthiness."
"What?" cried the heir. "During this whole battle I did not raise ahand on any man, and now I am to give up the Libyan leader? What wouldbe said by the warriors whom I have sent out under spears and axes?"
"The army cannot remain without a leader."
"But are not Patrokles, Tutmosis, and finally Mentezufis, here? Forwhat purpose am I commander if I cannot hunt the enemy? They are a fewhundred yards from us and have tired horses."
"We will come back in an hour with him. He is only an arm's lengthfrom 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-daythou 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.
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