Still, there is no time to lose, since before another moon this will all be reported in the East, whence a new light may arise and perchance a new signet." "You say you stole the White Seal ?" he asked.
"Nay, Prince, the truth is that Bes bought it--in a certain fashion--and I used it.

Perhaps it is well that you should know no more at present." "Perhaps," he answered, and we parted, for he had much to do.
That afternoon the Council met again.

At it I gave over the gold and by help of it all was arranged.

Within a week ten thousand armed men would be in Memphis and a hundred ships with their crews upon the Nile; also a great army would be gathering in Upper Egypt, officered for the most part by Greeks skilled in war.

The Greek cities too at the mouths of the Nile would be ready to revolt, or so some of their citizens declared, for they hated the Great King bitterly and longed to cast off his yoke.
For my part, I received the command of the bodyguard of Peroa in which were many Greeks, and a generalship in the army; while to Bes, at my prayer, was given the freedom of the land which he accepted with a smile, he who was a king in his own country.
At length all was finished and I went out into the palace garden to rest myself before I rode into the desert to see my great uncle, the holy Tanofir.