"That is strange, seeing that I have ridden fast and hard from the East, tarrying only a few minutes, and those since I entered Memphis, when I met----" and I stopped.
"Met whom, Shabaka ?" "The lady Amada walking in the procession of Isis." "Ah! the lady Amada.

The mother waits that the son may stop to greet the lady Amada!" "But _why_ did you wait, my mother?
Who but a spirit or a bird of the air could have told you that I was coming, seeing that I sent no messenger before me ?" "You must have done so, Shabaka, since yesterday one came from the holy Tanofir, our relative who dwells in the desert in the burial-ground of Sekera.

He bore a message from Tanofir to me, telling me to make ready since before sundown to-night you, my son, would be with me, having escaped great dangers, accompanied by the dwarf Bes, your servant, and six strange Eastern men.

So I made ready and waited; also I prepared lodging for the six strange men in the outbuildings behind the house and sent a thank offering to the temple.

For know, my son, I have suffered much fear for you." "And not without cause, as you will say when I tell you all," I answered laughing.