The Cat of Bubastes: A Tale of Ancient Egypt

  CHAPTER IV.

  AN EASY SERVITUDE.

  Just as the priest finished speaking, a lad of about the same age asAmuba appeared at the portico of the house, and ran down to hisfather.

  "Oh, father!" he exclaimed, "have you brought two of those strangecaptives home? We saw them in the procession, and marveled greatly atthe color of their hair and eyes. Mysa and I particularly noticed thislad, whose hair is almost the color of gold."

  "As usual, Chebron, your tongue outruns your discretion. This youthunderstands enough Egyptian to know what you are saying, and it is notcourteous to speak of a person's characteristics to his face."

  The lad flushed through his olive cheeks.

  "Pardon me," he said courteously to Amuba. "I did not think for amoment that one who had but newly arrived among us understood ourlanguage."

  "Do not apologize," Amuba replied with a smile. "Doubtless ourappearance is strange to you, and indeed even among the peoples ofLydia and Persia there are few whose hair and eyes are as fair asours. Even had you said that you did not like our appearance I shouldnot have felt hurt, for all people I think like that to which they areaccustomed; in any case, it is good of you to say that you regret whatyou said; people do not generally think that captives have feelings."

  "Chebron's apology was right," his father said. "Among us politenessis the rule, and every Egyptian is taught to be considerate to allpeople. It is just as easy to be polite as to be rude, and men areserved better for love than for fear."

  "And are they to stay here, father," Chebron asked, "or have you onlybrought them for to-day?"

  "They are to stay here, my son. I have chosen them from those setaside for our temple. I selected the younger because he was about yourage, and it is good for a man to have one near him who has beenbrought up with him, and is attached to him; who, althoughcircumstances may not have made them equal in condition, can yet be acomrade and a friend, and such, I hope, you will find in Amuba, forsuch he tells me is his name. I have said whom circumstances haveplaced in an inferior position, for after all circumstances areeverything. This youth, in his own country, held a position evenhigher than you do here, for he was the son of the king; and, sincehis father fell in battle, would now be the king of his people hadthey not been subjected to us. Therefore, Chebron, bear it always inmind that although misfortune has placed him a captive among us, he isin birth your superior, and treat him as you yourself would wish to betreated did you fall a captive into the hands of a hostile nation."

  "I will gladly treat you as my friend," the young Egyptian saidfrankly to Amuba. "Although you are so different from me in race, Ican see in your face that you are true and loyal. Besides," he added,"I am sure that my father would not have bade me so trust you had henot read your character and been certain that you will be a fit friendfor me."

  "You and your father are both good," Amuba replied. "I know how hardis the lot of captives taken in war, for we Rebu had many slaves whomwe took in various expeditions, and I was prepared to suffer. You canjudge, then, how grateful I feel to our gods that they have placed mein hands so different from those I had looked for, and I swear to you,Chebron, that you shall find me faithful and devoted to you. So, too,will you find my friend here, who in any difficulty would be far moreable to render you service than I could. He was one of our bravestwarriors. He drove my chariot in the great battle we fought with yourpeople, and saved my life several times; and should you need theservice of a strong and brave man, Jethro will be able to aid you."

  "And have you been in battle?" Chebron asked in surprise.

  "That was the first time I had ever fought with men," Amuba said; "butI had often hunted the lion, and he is almost as terrible an enemy asyour soldiers. I was young to go to battle, but my father naturallywished me to take my place early among the fighting men of ournation."

  "By the way, Chebron," Ameres said, "I would warn you, mention to noone the rank that Amuba held in his own country. Were it known hemight be taken away from us to serve in the palace. His people whowere taken captives with him said nothing as to his rank, fearing thatill might befall him were it known, and it was therefore supposed thathe was of the same rank as the other captives, who were all men ofnoble birth among the Rebu. Therefore tell no one, not even yourmother or your sister Mysa. If there is a secret to be kept, the fewerwho know it the better."

  While this conversation had been going on Amuba had been narrowlyexamining the lad who had promised to treat him as a friend.

  Like his father he was fairer in complexion than the majority of theEgyptians, the lighter hue being, indeed, almost universal among theupper class. He was much shorter and slighter than the young Rebu, buthe carried himself well, and had already in his manner something ofthe calm and dignity that distinguished Egyptians born to high rank.He was disfigured, as Amuba thought, by the custom, general throughoutEgypt, of having his head smoothly shaven, except one lock which felldown over the left ear. This, as Amuba afterward learned, was thedistinguishing sign of youth, and would be shaved off when he attainedman's estate, married, or entered upon a profession.

  At present his head was bare, but when he went out he wore aclose-fitting cap with an orifice through which the lock of hairpassed out and fell down to his shoulder. He had not yet taken to thecustom general among the upper and middle classes of wearing a wig.This general shaving of the head had, to Amuba, a most unpleasanteffect until he became accustomed to it. It was adopted, doubtless, bythe Egyptians for the purpose of coolness and cleanliness; but Amubathought that he would rather spend any amount of pains in keeping hishair free from dust than go about in the fantastic and complicatedwigs that the Egyptians wore.

  The priest now led them within the house. On passing through theentrance they entered a large hall. Along its side ran a row ofmassive columns supporting the ceiling, which projected twelve feetfrom each wall; the walls were covered with marble and other coloredstones; the floor was paved with the same material; a fountain playedin the middle, and threw its water to a considerable height, for theportion of the hall between the columns was open to the sky; seats ofa great variety of shapes stood about the room; while in great potswere placed palms and other plants of graceful foliage. The ceilingwas painted with an elaborate pattern in colors. A lady was seatedupon a long couch. It had no back, but one end was raised as a supportfor the arm, and the ends were carved into the semblance of the headsof animals.

  Two Nubian slave girls stood behind her fanning her, and a girl abouttwelve years old was seated on a low stool studying from a roll ofpapyrus. She threw it down and jumped to her feet as her fatherentered, and the lady rose with a languid air, as if the effort ofeven so slight a movement was a trouble to her.

  "Oh, papa--" the girl began, but the priest checked her with a motionof his hand.

  "My dear," he said to his wife, "I have brought home two of thecaptives whom our great king has brought with him as trophies of hisconquest. He has handed many over for our service and that of thetemples, and these two have fallen to my share. They were of noblerank in their own country, and we will do our best to make them forgetthe sad change in their position."

  "You are always so peculiar in your notions, Ameres," the lady saidmore pettishly than would have been expected from her languidmovements. "They are captives; and I do not see that it makes anymatter what they were before they were captives, so that they arecaptives now. By all means treat them as you like, so that you do notplace them about me, for their strange-colored hair and eyes and theirwhite faces make me shudder."

  "Oh, mamma, I think it so pretty," Mysa exclaimed. "I do wish my hairwas gold-colored like that boy's, instead of being black like everyoneelse's."

  C. of B. THE HIGH-PRIEST PRESENTS AMUBA AND JETHRO TO HIS WIFE.--Page 68.]

  The priest shook his head at his daughter reprovingly; but she seemedin no way abashed, for she was her father's pet, and knew well enoughthat he was never seriously angry with her.

  "I
do not propose placing them near you, Amense," he said calmly inreply to his wife. "Indeed, it seems to me that you have already moreattendants about you than you can find any sort of employment for. Thelad I have specially allotted to Chebron; as to the other I have notexactly settled as to what his duties will be."

  "Won't you give him to me, papa?" Mysa said coaxingly. "Fatina is notat all amusing, and Dolma, the Nubian girl, can only look good-naturedand show her white teeth, but as we can't understand each other at allI don't see that she is of any use to me."

  "And what use do you think you could make of this tall Rebu?" thepriest asked, smiling.

  "I don't quite know, papa," Mysa said, as with her head a little onone side she examined Jethro critically, "but I like his looks, and Iam sure he could do all sorts of things; for instance, he could walkwith me when I want to go out, he could tow me round the lake in theboat, he could pick up my ball for me, and could feed my pets."

  "When you are too lazy to feed them yourself," the priest put in."Very well, Mysa, we will try the experiment. Jethro shall be yourspecial attendant, and when you have nothing for him to do, which willbe the best part of the day, he can look after the waterfowl. Zunbonever attends them properly. Do you understand that?" he asked Jethro.

  Jethro replied by stepping forward, taking the girl's hand, andbending over it until his forehead touched it.

  "There is an answer for you, Mysa."

  "You indulge the children too much, Ameres," his wife said irritably."I do not think in all Egypt there are any children so spoiled asours. Other men's sons never speak unless addressed, and do not thinkof sitting down in the presence of their father. I am astonishedindeed that you, who are looked up to as one of the wisest men inEgypt, should suffer your children to be so familiar with you."

  "Perhaps, my dear," Ameres said with a placid smile, "it is becauseI am one of the wisest men in Egypt. My children honor me in theirhearts as much as do those who are kept in slavelike subjection. Howis a boy's mind to expand if he does not ask questions, and whoshould be so well able to answer his questions as his father? There,children, you can go now. Take your new companions with you, and showthem the garden and your pets."

  "We are fortunate, indeed, Jethro," Amuba said as they followedChebron and Mysa into the garden. "When we pictured to ourselves as welay on the sand at night during our journey hither what our life wouldbe, we never dreamed of anything like this. We thought of tilling theland, of aiding to raise the great dams and embankments, of quarryingstones for the public buildings, of a grinding and hopeless slavery,and the only thing that ever we ventured to hope for was that we mighttoil side by side, and now, see how good the gods have been to us. Notonly are we together, but we have found friends in our masters, a homein this strange land."

  "Truly it is wonderful, Amuba. This Priest Ameres is a most excellentperson, one to be loved by all who come near him. We have indeed beenmost fortunate in having been chosen by him."

  The brother and sister led the way through an avenue of fruit trees,at the end of which a gate led through a high paling of rushes into aninclosure some fifty feet square. It was surrounded by trees andshrubs, and in their shade stood a number of wooden structures.

  In the center was a pool occupying the third of the area, and like thelarge pond before the house bordered with aquatic plants. At the edgestood two ibises, while many brilliantly plumaged waterfowl wereswimming on its surface or cleaning their feathers on the bank.

  As soon as the gate closed there was a great commotion among thewaterfowl; the ibises advanced gravely to meet their young mistress,the ducks set up a chorus of welcome, those on the water made for theshore, while those on land followed the ibises with loud quackings.But the first to reach them were two gazelles, which bounded from oneof the wooden huts and were in an instant beside them, thrusting theirsoft muzzles into the hands of Chebron and Mysa, while from the otherstructures arose a medley of sounds--the barking of dogs and thesounds of welcome from a variety of creatures.

  "This is not your feeding-time, you know," Chebron said, looking atthe gazelles, "and for once we have come empty-handed; but we willgive you something from your stores. See, Jethro, this is theirlarder," and he led the way into a structure somewhat larger than therest; along the walls were a number of boxes of various sizes, whilesome large bins stood below them. "Here, you see," he went on, openingone of the bins and taking from it a handful of freshly cut vetches,and going to the door and throwing it down before the gazelles, "thisis their special food; it is brought in fresh every morning from ourfarm, which lies six miles away. The next bin contains the seed forthe waterfowl. It is all mixed here, you see. Wheat and peas andpulse and other seeds. Mysa, do give them a few handfuls, for I canhardly hear myself speak from their clamor.

  "In this box above you see there is a pan of sopped bread for thecats. There is a little mixed with the water; but only a little, forit will not keep good. Those cakes are for them, too. Those large,plain, hard-baked cakes in the next box are for the dogs; they havesome meat and bones given them two or three times a week. These frogsand toads in this cage are for the little crocodile; he has a tank allto himself. All these other boxes are full of different food for theother animals you see. There's a picture of the right animal uponeach, so there is no fear of making a mistake. We generally feed themourselves three times a day when we are here, but when we are away itwill be for you to feed them."

  "And please," Mysa said, "above all things be very particular thatthey have all got fresh water; they do love fresh water so much, andsometimes it is so hot that the pans dry up in an hour after it hasbeen poured out. You see, the gazelles can go to the pond and drinkwhen they are thirsty, but the others are fastened up because theywon't live peaceably together as they ought to do; but we let them outfor a bit while we are here. The dogs chase the waterfowl and frightenthem, and the cats will eat up the little ducklings, which is verywrong when they have plenty of proper food; and the ichneumon, evenwhen we are here, would quarrel with the snakes if we let him intotheir house. They are very troublesome that way, though they are allso good with us. The houses all want making nice and clean of amorning."

  The party went from house to house inspecting the various animals, allof which were most carefully attended. The dogs, which were, Chebronsaid, of a Nubian breed, were used for hunting; while on comfortablebeds of fresh rushes three great cats lay blinking on large cushions,but got up and rubbed against Mysa and Chebron in token of welcome. Anumber of kittens that were playing about together rushed up withupraised tails and loud mewings. Amuba noticed that their two guidesmade a motion of respect as they entered the house where the catswere, as well as toward the dogs, the ichneumon, and the crocodile,all of which were sacred animals in Thebes.

  Many instructions were given by Mysa to Jethro as to the peculiartreatment that each of her pets demanded, and having completed theirrounds the party then explored the garden, and Amuba and Jethro weregreatly struck by the immense variety of plants, which had indeed beenraised from seeds or roots brought from all the various countrieswhere the Egyptian arms extended.

  For a year the time passed tranquilly and pleasantly to Amuba in thehousehold of the priest. His duties and those of Jethro were light. Inhis walks and excursions Amuba was Chebron's companion. He learned torow his boat when he went out fishing on the Nile. When thus outtogether the distinction of rank was altogether laid aside; but whenin Thebes the line was necessarily more marked, as Chebron could nottake Amuba with him to the houses of the many friends and relatives ofhis father among the priestly and military classes. When the priestand his family went out to a banquet or entertainment Jethro and Amubawere always with the party of servants who went with torches to escortthem home. The service was a light one in their case; but not so inmany others, for the Egyptians often drank deeply at these feasts, andmany of the slaves always took with them light couches upon which tocarry their masters home. Even among the ladies, who generally tooktheir meals apart from the men upo
n these occasions, drunkenness wasby no means uncommon.

  When in the house Amuba was often present when Chebron studied, and ashe himself was most anxious to acquire as much as he could of thewisdom of the Egyptians, Chebron taught him the hieroglyphiccharacters, and he was ere long able to read the inscriptions upon thetemple and public buildings and to study from the papyrus scrolls, ofwhich vast numbers were stowed away in pigeon-holes ranged round oneof the largest rooms in the house.

  When Chebron's studies were over Jethro instructed him in the use ofarms, and also practiced with Amuba. A teacher of the use of the bowcame frequently--for Egyptians of all ranks were skilled in the use ofthe national weapon--and the Rebu captives, already skilled in the bowas used by their own people, learned from watching his teaching ofChebron to use the longer and much more powerful weapon of theEgyptians. Whenever Mysa went outside the house Jethro accompaniedher, waiting outside the house she visited until she came out, orgoing back to fetch her if her stay was a prolonged one.

  Greatly they enjoyed the occasional visits made by the family to theirfarm. Here they saw the cultivation of the fields carried on, watchedthe plucking of the grapes and their conversion into wine. To extractthe juice the grapes were heaped in a large flat vat above which ropeswere suspended. A dozen barefooted slaves entered the vat and trod outthe grapes, using the ropes to lift themselves in order that theymight drop with greater force upon the fruit. Amuba had learned fromChebron that although he was going to enter the priesthood as analmost necessary preliminary for state employment, he was not intendedto rise to the upper rank of the priesthood, but to become a stateofficial.

  "My elder brother will, no doubt, some day succeed my father as highpriest of Osiris," he told Amuba. "I know that my father does notthink that he is clever, but it is not necessary to be very clever toserve in the temple. I thought that, of course, I too should come tohigh rank in the priesthood; for, as you know, almost all posts arehereditary, and though my brother as the elder would be high priest, Ishould be one of the chief priests also. But I have not much tastethat way, and rejoiced much when one day saying so to my father, hereplied at once that he should not urge me to devote my life to thepriesthood, for that there were many other offices of state whichwould be open to me, and in which I could serve my country and beuseful to the people. Almost all the posts in the service of the stateare, indeed, held by the members of priestly families; they furnishgovernors to the provinces, and not infrequently generals to the army.

  "'Some,' he said, 'are by disposition fitted to spend their lives inministering in the temples, and it is doubtless a high honor andhappiness to do so; but for others a more active life and a widerfield of usefulness is more suitable. Engineers are wanted for thecanal and irrigation works, judges are required to make the lawrespected and obeyed, diplomatists to deal with foreign nations,governors for the many peoples over whom we rule; therefore, my son,if you do not feel a longing to spend your life in the service of thetemple, by all means turn your mind to study which will fit you to bean officer of the state. Be assured that I can obtain for you from theking a post in which you will be able to make your first essay, andso, if deserving, rise to high advancement.'"

  There were few priests during the reign of Thotmes III. who stoodhigher in the opinion of the Egyptian people than Ameres. His pietyand learning rendered him distinguished among his fellows. He was highpriest in the temple of Osiris, and was one of the most trusted of thecouncilors of the king. He had by heart all the laws of the sacredbooks; he was an adept in the inmost mysteries of the religion. Hiswealth was large, and he used it nobly; he lived in a certain pomp andstate which were necessary for his position, but he spent but a titheof his revenues, and the rest he distributed among the needy.

  If the Nile rose to a higher level than usual and spread ruin anddestruction among the cultivators, Ameres was ready to assist thedistressed. If the rise of the river was deficient, he always set theexample of remitting the rents of the tenants of his broad lands, andwas ready to lend money without interest to tenants of harder or morenecessitous landlords.

  Yet among the high priesthood Ameres was regarded with suspicion, andeven dislike. It was whispered among them that, learned and pious ashe was, the opinions of the high priest were not in accordance withthe general sentiments of the priesthood; that although he performedpunctiliously all the numerous duties of his office, and took his partin the sacrifices and processions of the god, he yet lacked reverencefor him, and entertained notions widely at variance with those of hisfellows.

  Ameres was, in fact, one of those men who refuse to be bound by thethoughts and opinions of others, and to whom it is a necessity tobring their own judgment to bear on every question presented to them.His father, who had been high priest before him--for the great officesof Egypt were for the most part hereditary--while he had beendelighted at the thirst for knowledge and the enthusiasm for study inhis son, had been frequently shocked at the freedom with which heexpressed his opinions as step by step he was initiated into thesacred mysteries.

  Already at his introduction to the priesthood, Ameres had mastered allthere was to learn in geometry and astronomy. He was a skillfularchitect, and was deeply versed in the history of the nation. He hadalready been employed as supervisor in the construction of canals andirrigation works on the property belonging to the temple, and in allthese respects his father had every reason to be proud of the successhe had attained and the estimation in which he was held by hisfellows. It was only the latitude which he allowed himself inconsideration of religious questions which alarmed and distressedhis father.

  The Egyptians were the most conservative of peoples. For thousandsof years no change whatever took place in their constitution, theirmanners, customs, and habits. It was the fixed belief of everyEgyptian that in all respects their country was superior to any other,and that their laws and customs had approached perfection. All, fromthe highest to the lowest, were equally bound by these. The kinghimself was no more independent than the peasant; his hour of rising,the manner in which the day should be employed, the very quantity andquality of food he should eat, were all rigidly dictated by custom. Hewas surrounded from his youth by young men of his own age--sons ofpriests, chosen for their virtue and piety.

  Thus he was freed from the influence of evil advisers, and even had heso wished it, had neither means nor power of oppressing his subjects,whose rights and privileges were as strictly defined as his own. In acountry then, where every man followed the profession of his father,and where from time immemorial everything had proceeded on preciselythe same lines, the fact that Ameres, the son of the high priest ofOsiris, and himself destined to succeed to that dignity, shouldentertain opinions differing even in the slightest from those held bythe leaders of the priesthood, was sufficient to cause him to beregarded with marked disfavor among them; it was indeed only becausehis piety and benevolence were as remarkable as his learning andknowledge of science that he was enabled at his father's death tosucceed to his office without opposition.

  Indeed, even at that time the priests of higher grade would haveopposed his election; but Ameres was as popular with the lower classesof the priesthood as with the people at large, and their suffrageswould have swamped those of his opponents. The multitude had, indeed,never heard so much as a whisper against the orthodoxy of the highpriest of Osiris. They saw him ever foremost in the sacrifices andprocessions; they knew that he was indefatigable in his services inthe temple, and that all his spare time was devoted to works ofbenevolence and general utility; and as they bent devoutly as hepassed through the streets they little dreamed that the high priest ofOsiris was regarded by his chief brethren as a dangerous innovator.

  And yet it was on one subject only that he differed widely from hisorder. Versed as he was in the innermost mysteries, he had learnedthe true meaning of the religion of which he was one of the chiefministers. He was aware that Osiris and Isis, the six other greatgods, and the innumerable divinities whom the Egyptians worshipedu
nder the guise of deities with the heads of animals, were inthemselves no gods at all, but mere attributes of the power, thewisdom, the goodness, the anger of the one great God--a God so mightythat his name was unknown, and that it was only when each of hisattributes was given an individuality and worshiped as a god that itcould be understood by the finite sense of man.

  All this was known to Ameres and the few who, like him, had beenadmitted to the inmost mysteries of the Egyptian religion. The restof the population in Egypt worshiped in truth and in faith theanimal-headed gods and the animals sacred to them; and yet as to theseanimals there was no consensus of opinion. In one nome or division ofthe kingdom the crocodile was sacred; in another he was regarded withdislike, and the ichneumon, that was supposed to be his destroyer, wasdeified. In one the goat was worshiped, and in another eaten for food;and so it was throughout the whole of the list of sacred animals,which were regarded with reverence or indifference according to thegods who were looked upon as the special tutelary deities of the nome.

  It was the opinion of Ameres that the knowledge, confined only to theinitiated, should be more widely disseminated, and, without wishing toextend it at present to the ignorant masses of the peasantry andlaborers, he thought that all the educated and intelligent classes ofEgypt should be admitted to an understanding of the real nature of thegods they worshiped and the inner truths of their religion. He waswilling to admit that the process must be gradual, and that it wouldbe necessary to enlarge gradually the circle of the initiated. Hisproposals were nevertheless received with dismay and horror by hiscolleagues. They asserted that to allow others besides the higherpriesthood to become aware of the deep mysteries of their religionwould be attended with terrible consequences.

  In the first place, it would shake entirely the respect and reverencein which the priesthood were held, and would annihilate theirinfluence. The temples would be deserted, and, losing the faith whichthey now so steadfastly held in the gods, people would soon cease tohave any religion at all. "There are no people," they urged, "on theface of the earth so moral, so contented, so happy, and so easilyruled as the Egyptians; but what would they be did you destroy alltheir beliefs, and launch them upon a sea of doubt and speculation! Nolonger would they look up to those who have so long been their guidesand teachers, and whom they regard as possessing a knowledge andwisdom infinitely beyond theirs. They would accuse us of havingdeceived them, and in their blind fury destroy alike the gods andtheir ministers. The idea of such a thing is horrible."

  Ameres was silenced, though not convinced. He felt, indeed, that therewas much truth in the view they entertained of the matter, and thatterrible consequences would almost certainly follow the discovery bythe people that for thousands of years they had been led by thepriests to worship as gods those who were no gods at all, and he sawthat the evil which would arise from a general enlightenment of thepeople would outweigh any benefit that they could derive from thediscovery. The system had, as his colleagues said, worked well; andthe fact that the people worshiped as actual deities imaginary beingswho were really but the representatives of the attributes of theinfinite God, could not be said to have done them any actual harm. Atany rate, he alone and unaided could do nothing. Only with the generalconsent of the higher priesthood could the circle of initiated bewidened, and any movement on his part alone would simply bring uponhimself disgrace and death. Therefore, after unburdening himself in acouncil composed only of the higher initiates, he held his peace andwent on the quiet tenor of his way.

  Enlightened as he was, he felt that he did no wrong to preside atthe sacrifices and take part in the services of the gods. He wasworshiping not the animal-headed idols, but the attributes which theypersonified. He felt pity for the ignorant multitude who laid theirofferings upon the shrine; and yet he felt that it would shatter theirhappiness instead of adding to it were they to know that the deitythey worshiped was a myth. He allowed his wife and daughter to joinwith the priestesses in the service at the temple, and in his heartacknowledged that there was much in the contention of those who arguedthat the spread of the knowledge of the inner mysteries would notconduce to the happiness of all who received it. Indeed he himselfwould have shrunk from disturbing the minds of his wife and daughterby informing them that all their pious ministrations in the templewere offered to non-existent gods; that the sacred animals they tendedwere in no way more sacred than others, save that in them wererecognized some shadow of the attributes of the unknown God.

  His eldest son was, he saw, not of a disposition to be troubled withthe problems which gave him so much subject for thought and care. Hewould conduct the services consciously and well. He would bear arespectable part when, on his accession to the high-priesthood, hebecame one of the councilors of the monarch. He had common sense, butno imagination. The knowledge of the inmost mysteries would notdisturb his mind in the slightest degree, and it was improbable thateven a thought would ever cross his mind that the terrible deceptionpracticed by the enlightened upon the whole people was anything butright and proper.

  Ameres saw, however, that Chebron was altogether differentlyconstituted. He was very intelligent, and was possessed of an ardentthirst for knowledge of all kinds; but he had also his father's habitof looking at matters from all points of view and of thinking forhimself. The manner in which Ameres had himself superintended hisstudies and taught him to work with his understanding, and to convincehimself that each rule and precept was true before proceeding to thenext, had developed his thinking powers. Altogether, Ameres saw thatthe doubts which filled his own mind as to the honesty, or evenexpediency, of keeping the whole people in darkness and error wouldprobably be felt with even greater force by Chebron.

  He had determined, therefore, that the lad should not work up throughall the grades of the priesthood to the upper rank, but should, afterrising high enough to fit himself for official employment, turn hisattention to one or other of the great departments of state.