quickly  and  skilfully  massaged to
restore  circulation. The soldiers lit two  torches and made their way  to a
high rammed earth wall in which was a heavy, bronze-bound door.
     After a lengthy altercation  with the  soldiers of the watch, Pandion's
escort  handed  a  tiny  scroll  over to a sleepy-eyed, bearded  man who had
suddenly appeared, and received in return a piece of black leather.
     The heavy door groaned on its  hinges. Pandion's hands were unbound and
he  was  thrust into the  prison. The warders,  armed with spears and  bows,
pushed  back a heavy wooden beam and Pandion found himself in a small square
room packed with human bodies lying pell-mell on the floor. The people  were
breathing heavily and groaning in their unquiet sleep. Pandion, choking from
the foul stench that seemed to ooze from the very walls, looked for an empty
space on the floor and sat carefully  down. He could not sleep; he  pondered
over the  events of the last few -days and his heart grew heavy  within him.
The hours of his lonely, nocturnal meditation dragged slowly by.
     Pandion thought  of nothing but liberty although at the moment he could
see  no  way of escape from  bondage.  He  was  far  in  the  interior of an
absolutely unknown country; alone,  an unarmed captive, who knew  nothing of
the  language  of  the  hostile people  that surrounded  him, he  could  not
undertake anything. He realized that they  did not  intend  to kill  him and
resolved to wait.  Later, when he  knew something about  the country ... but
what, then, awaited him in that "later"?  As  never before  Pandion felt the
urgent  need  of  a companion  who  would  help  him overcome  his  terrible
desolation. He pondered over the  fact that  there was no worse  state for a
man to  be  in-alone  amongst strange and hostile people  in  an unknown and
unknowable country, a slave, cut off from  the whole world  by virtue of his
status. Loneliness  would  be  much easier to bear  if  he  were  alone with
nature- such solitude would strengthen rather than weaken his spirit.
     Pandion bowed to his fate and fell into a strange lethargy. He  awaited
dawn  and  looked  indifferently upon his companions in misfortune, captives
from different  Asian tribes  unknown to him. They were better  off than  he
was, they could talk to one another, they  could share  their grief,  recall
the  past  and discuss the future. The other prisoners cast equally  curious
glances on the silent Hellene.
     The warders threw Pandion a piece of coarse linen for  a loin-cloth and
then four black-skinned men brought in a big earthen vessel of water, barley
cakes and the stalks of some green vegetable.
     Pandion  was astounded at the sight  of absolutely black faces in which
the teeth, the whites of the eyes  and  the brownish-red lips  stood out  so
brightly. He guessed that they were slaves and was  surprised at their jolly
and  kindly countenances. The Negroes  laughed, showing their  white  teeth,
made fun of the prisoners and of each other. Was it possible, that, with the
passage  of time, he, too, would be capable of finding joy  in anything,  of
forgetting the  pitiful role of  a man deprived  of his liberty? Could  this
constant ache that  was gnawing at his heart possibly pass away? And Thessa?
O Gods, if Thessa  should know where  he was! No, Thessa must  never know-he
would return to her or die, there was no other way. . . .
     Pandion's thoughts  were  disturbed by a long  drawn-out cry.  The door
opened. Before his eyes sparkled a wide river-his place of  imprisonment was
quite close to the water's  edge. A strong detachment of soldiers surrounded
the captives with a phalanx of spears and drove them into the  hold of a big
ship.  The  ship  sailed  away  upstream  and the  captives  were  given  no
opportunity to look round them. It was stiflingly hot in  the hold; the sun,
standing high in the  heavens, scorched the prisoners,  and it was difficult
to breathe in an atmosphere befouled by their exhalations.
     Towards evening it grew cooler, the exhausted captives began to recover
and started talking. The vessel sailed on all night, there was  a short halt
in  the  morning  when  the  prisoners were  fed,  and the wearying  journey
continued.  Several  days passed  in  this way  but  Pandion, stupefied  and
apathetic, lost count of them.
     At last a more lively note  could be heard in the  voices of the rowers
and  soldiers and  there were sounds of bustle on deck-the  long journey was
over.  The  captives were  left in  the hold all night  and  in the  morning
Pandion heard orders given in a loud, drawling voice.
     The escort stood in a half-circle, spears  thrust out in front of them,
on  a  dusty sun-baked  square.  The captives left  the ship one  by one and
immediately fell into the hands of two giant soldiers beside whom lay a heap
of short  ropes. The Egyptians  bound  the  prisoners' arms  so tightly that
their shoulders were  bent back and their elbows met behind them. The groans
and cries of the victims had no effect on  the giants who  gloried  in their
own strength and in the helplessness of their victims.
     Pandion's  turn  came.  One  of the  soldiers  seized him  by  the  arm
immediately  the  youth, blinded by the glaring  sun,  set foot on land. The
pain drove away all  Pandion's apathy. He had been  trained in fist-fighting
and easily escaped  the hands of the soldier. He struck him a deadly blow on
the ear;  the giant fell face down  in the dust  and the other,  momentarily
losing  his presence of mind, jumped away. Pandion was surrounded  by thirty
enemy soldiers with their spears pointed at him.
     In unspeakable fury the youth  leaped forward  hoping to die in battle,
for death seemed like  deliverance to him. .  . . He did not, however,  know
the  Egyptians,  whose methods  of  handling  recalcitrant  slaves were  the
accumulated   result  of  thousands  of  years'  experience.  The   soldiers
immediately gave way and closed in behind Pandion who  was thus left outside
the circle. The bold youth was knocked off his feet and borne  to the ground
under the weight of several attackers. The end of a spear-shaft caught him a
sharp blow in the ribs.  The breath was knocked out  of him and a  fiery-red
haze floated before his eyes. In an instant the Egyptians  brought his hands
together above his head and fastened them to a wooden instrument shaped like
a toy boat.
     The soldiers then left the youth in peace.
     The remaining  captives were quickly bound and all of them  were driven
off along a narrow road between the river and the fields. The young sculptor
suffered intense pain: his arms were stretched at full length above his head
with the wrists  gripped  in  a wooden  clamp  that squeezed the bones. This
instrument of torture did  not permit him to  bend his  elbows  or lower his
hands on to his head.
     A second party of slaves joined Pandion's group from  a side road; then
came a  third party until  there were altogether two  hundred slaves  in the
group.
     All of them were bound in a most cruel manner and a number were wearing
stocks like Pandion's. The captives' faces  were twisted  in pain, they were
pallid  and dripping with  perspiration.  Pandion walked  along  in a  daze,
scarcely taking note of his surroundings.
     The  country  through which  they marched  was a rich one.  The air was
clean and  fresh, silence reigned on  the narrow  roads and the mighty river
carried its  waters  slowly towards  the  Great Green Sea. The  palms nodded
their  heads  very  slightly in  the light  breeze from the  north and green
fields of ripening  wheat were interspersed with vineyards and orchards. The
entire country was a huge garden, carefully tended for thousands of years.
     Pandion could not look from side  to side. He stumbled along, his teeth
clenched in pain,  past  the high walls that  surrounded  the houses of  the
wealthy. The  houses were  light  and airy two-storied structures with high,
narrow windows over the columned  entrances. The snow-white walls, decorated
with an intricate pattern in pure, bright colours, stood out  sharply in the
blinding sunlight.
     Quite suddenly the captives were confronted by a colossal stone edifice
with straight, enormously thick-walls built of huge blocks of stone  dressed
with  amazing  skill.   The  dark  and  mysterious  building  seemed  to  be
spread-eagled on  the  earth  which it  crushed under its  terrific  weight.
Pandion passed  a  row of heavy  columns, gloomily grey against  the  bright
green background of  the gardens  that covered the  plain.  Palms, fig-  and
other fruit-trees alternated in seemingly endless  straight  rows. The hills
were covered with a dense tangle of grape vines.
     In a garden  by the river stood a  high, light structure painted in the
same bright colours as the  other buildings of that city. Before the facade,
opening on to the river, and beyond  wide gates, stood tall  mast-like poles
with bunches of waving ribbons on top of them. Over the wide  entrance was a
huge snow-white balcony with two  columns supporting a perfectly  flat roof.
The  cornice  of the roof was painted with an ornament  in which bright blue
and  gold  designs  alternated.  The  bright  blue  and  gold  zigzags  also
ornamented the capitals of the columns.
     At  the back of the balcony, in the shade cast by carpets and curtains,
could be seen people dressed in  long white garments of some  finely pleated
material. The personage seated in  the centre inclined over the rail  a head
heavy with the  red and white double crown of the ruler of the two Kingdoms,
Upper and Lower Egypt.
     The escort, together with the commander, who had marched so importantly
at  their  head, prostrated themselves  face  downwards  on the ground. On a
motion of the hand of Pharaoh, the living god and supreme  ruler of the land
of Tha-Quem, the captives were drawn up in  a single line and marched slowly
past  the balcony. The courtiers who crowded the balcony exchanged whispered
remarks and  laughed merrily. The beauty of the palace, the  opulent raiment
of  Pharaoh and his courtiers,  their haughty, free and easy postures made a
sharp contrast to  the  pain-racked  faces  of the tormented slaves-and this
aroused  fierce indignation in Pandion's heart.  He was  beside himself from
the pain  in  his arms,  his body  trembled as though  with  ague, his badly
bitten lips  were caked  with dried blood, but  the  youth  straightened his
back, heaved a deep sigh and turned a wrathful face towards the balcony.
     Pharaoh  turned  and said something to his  courtiers and  all of  them
nodded their heads  in approval.  The procession of  slaves moved slowly on.
Soon  Pandion found himself behind  the house, in the shade of a high  wall.
Gradually the whole party of slaves gathered there, still  surrounded by the
silent soldiers. From around the corner appeared a corpulent, hook-nosed man
carrying a  long ebony staff inlaid with  gold  and  accompanied by a scribe
carrying a wooden tablet and a roll of papyrus.
     The man said something to the commander of the escort in haughty tones,
the commander  immediately doubled up in a low bow and transmitted the order
to  his  soldiers. Obeying the aristocratic finger the soldiers pushed their
way into  the  crowd of  prisoners and brought out those indicated to  them.
Pandion was one  of the first to be selected. Altogether about thirty of the
strongest and bravest-looking were  chosen and were immediately marched back
along  the same narrow  road  to  the edge  of the garden.  From  there  the
soldiers drove  their captives along  a low wall.  The path grew steeper and
led  to a  square  of  windowless  walls standing in  a  hollow between  the
wheat-fields.  Soldiers  armed with  bows  walked freely  up and down thick,
brick-built  walls  some  ten  cubits in  height. On the  corners there were
shelters of matting.
     The entrance was  in  the wall facing the  river  and nowhere else were
there either doors or windows; the blank, greenish-grey walls breathed fiery
heat.
     The  prisoners  were led  through  the  doorway,  their escort withdrew
rapidly and Pandion found himself in a narrow courtyard between  two  walls.
The second or inner wall was lower than the outer  and had only one door, on
its right-hand side. A number of crude benches occupied the  vacant space in
the courtyard although most  of it  was  taken up by a low  building with  a
black  hole of  an entrance. The  group of  captives  was now surrounded  by
soldiers with lighter coloured  skin than  those who  had  escorted them  on
their  journey. They were  all tall, with  lithe,  well-developed bodies and
many  of them had blue eyes and  reddish  hair. Pandion had never seen  such
people before any more than he had seen the true inhabitants of Aigyptos and
did not know that they were Libyans.
     Two men came out of the building; one of them carried something made of
polished wood  and the other, a grey faience pot. The Libyans seized Pandion
and turned him  round with his back towards the  newcomers. The youth felt a
slight pricking  sensation on his left shoulder blade, on  which  a polished
wooden board, bristling  with  short needles, had been placed. The  man then
struck  the board sharply with his hand, the blood  spurted out  and Pandion
gave an involuntary cry of pain.  The  Libyan wiped away the blood and began
rubbing the wound with a rag soaked in some liquid from the faience pot; the
blood ceased flowing immediately but he dipped the rag in the liquid several
times  and continued  to  rub the  wound. Only  then did Pandion notice  the
bright red mark-some little figures in an oval  frame (  The hieroglyphs  of
Pharaoh's  name  were written in an  oval frame  or cartouche.)-on  the left
shoulders of the  Libyans that surrounded  him and realized that he had been
branded.
     The wooden frame was removed from Pandion's wrists and he was unable to
stifle the  groan caused  by the  pain in  his  stiffened  joints.  With the
greatest difficulty he lowered his arms. Then,  bending low,  he entered the
doorway in the inner wall and there, in a dusty courtyard, sank exhausted to
the ground.
     Pandion took a  drink of  stale  water from the huge  earthen jar  that
stood by the door and began to examine the place that was, in the opinion of
those in authority, to be his home to the end of his days.
     The huge square of land with a side  of about two stadia was surrounded
by high  inaccessible walls guarded by sentries who walked up and down them.
The entire right-hand half  of the  enclosure was  occupied  by tiny  rammed
earth cells built one against the other, the rows of them  separated by long
narrow gangways. There were similar  tiny cells in the left-hand corner. The
anterior left-hand corner was surrounded by a low wall and a strong smell of
ammonia came from there.  Vessels for water stood near the door. Here a long
strip  of ground had been plastered with clay and was swept clean: this  was
the place allotted for eating, as Pandion learned later.
     All the  free space in the square was  trampled hard and smooth,  not a
single blade of grass relieved its dusty grey-surface. The air was heavy and
stifling, it seemed as though all the fiery heat of  the day was poured into
that sunken square, cut  off by high walls and open to the sky. This was the
shehne, the slave compound, one of hundreds scattered throughout the land of
Tha-Quem. Slaves  of  all  nations  were  crowded  in  these  compounds-they
constituted  the  labour power that  was  the foundation  of the  wealth and
beauty of Aigyptos. The compound was silent and deserted-the slaves were out
at  work, only a few sick men were left lying listlessly in the shade of the
wall. This particular shehne was designed for newly arrived captives who had
but recently fallen victims to the land of  slavery and had  not established
families to increase the number of hands toiling in the Black Land.
     Pandion had now become a mere, an  hereditary slave of Pharaoh, and was
one of the eight thousand who served in gardens, canals and buildings of the
palace domains.
     Other  captives  from  amongst  those  who had  been through the  royal
inspection  with  Pandion were distributed amongst  the  higher officials as
sahu-slaves  who on the death of their  masters would be  transferred to the
shehne of Pharaoh.
     An  oppressive  silence filled the stifling atmosphere,  broken only by
occasional  sighs and groans  from  the new slaves driven here together with
Pandion. The brand  burned like red-hot  coals  on Pandion's back. The youth
could  find  no  place  for himself.  The open sea and shady  groves  on the
wave-washed  shores of his native  land were replaced by  a  patch  of dusty
earth  hemmed  in  by  high walls. Instead of a free life together with  his
beloved-slavery in a foreign land infinitely far from all that  was near and
dear to him.
     It was only the  hope  of liberation  that kept the young Hellene  from
smashing  his  head  against the wall that cut him off  from  the  wide  and
beautiful world.




        III. THE SLAVE OF PHARAOH

     AS in previous years the  bushes  burst into  flower  covering the hill
slopes with  a  flaming  carpet,  when spring  came  again to the shores  of
Oeniadae. The  bright constellation of the Archer (The early  setting of the
Archer  constellation  was regarded  as  heralding the  end  of  the  winter
storms.)had begun to set early, the regular west wind heralded the beginning
of the seafaring season. Five ships had returned to Calydon, having left for
Crete in early spring, and  then  two Cretan ships had arrived.  But Pandion
was on none of them.
     Agenor was  frequently lost in silent meditation but he  strove to keep
his feelings of alarm hidden from his family.
     The lone traveller had disappeared in Crete, had been lost somewhere in
the mountains  of that huge  island amidst big  communities of  people whose
languages he did not know.
     The old  artist  had  decided to  go  to  Calydon and  from  there,  if
opportunity  offered, to leave for Crete  in order to find out what he could
of Pandion's fate.
     Thessa had  lately got into the  habit of wandering off alone. Even the
silent sympathy of her family lay heavy on her.
     In profound grief the girl stood before the calm, eternally moving sea.
Sometimes she ran down to the shore in the hope that Pandion would return to
the place where they had parted.
     But  these days of  hope had  long since passed. Thessa was now certain
that  far beyond the line that divides the sky from  the sea some misfortune
had occurred. Only captivity or  death  could  have  prevented Pandion  from
returning to her.
     And Thessa implored the waves  that came rolling in from  afar, perhaps
from that place where her beloved P and km was now-implored them to tell her
what had  happened. And she was sure that she had to wait but a little while
and the  waves would  give her a sign to tell her where Pandion was. But the
waves the sea cast at her feet were all alike, and their rhythmic noise told
her no more than silence would have done.
     How could she discover what had become of her  lover?  How could she, a
woman, whose  lot in life is to be with her man, the mistress  and protector
of his home, his companion when travelling and the healer of  his wounds-how
could she  overcome the distance that separated them? There was but one road
for  the  woman who  refused  to obey a  man,  be it her father,  husband or
brother, and  that  was to become a  hetaera in the city or the harbour. She
was  a woman-she could  not set out  for another country, she could not even
make an attempt to search for Pandion.
     There was nothing left for her to do but wander up and clown the shores
of the mighty sea. There was nothing she could do! No way in which she could
help!
     Even if Pandion  had perished she would never, never  know where he had
died.


     A deluge of silver-blue  moonlight inundated the entire valley. It  was
cut  off by  deep  black shadows from  crevices in  the  steep cliffs but it
streamed along the river following its course from south to north.
     Darkness filled the square well of the slave compound near Nut-Amon, or
Waset, the great capital city of Aigyptos.
     The wall  was  brightly illuminated and cast a dull reflection from its
rough surface.
     Pandicn  lay on a bundle of  coarse  grass on the  floor of his  narrow
cell.  With great caution he  thrust his head out of the  low entrance  that
looked like  a rat-hole.  At the risk of attracting the  sentries' attention
the young Hellene  got up on his knees to admire the  pale disc of the  moon
floating  high in  the heavens  over the edge  of  the  gloomy wall.  It was
painful to  think  that the  same moon  was shining  over distant  Oeniadae.
Perhaps  Thessa,  his  Thessa,  was  asking  Hecate  where  he  was,  little
suspecting  that from his stinking hole his eyes,  too, were  fixed  on that
silver disc.  Pandion drew his head back into  the darkness that was  filled
with the dusty smell of heated clay and turned his face to the wall.
     The raging despair of the first days,  the fits  of terrible grief, had
long  since  passed.  Pandion  had  changed  very  considerably.  His thick,
clean-cut  brows  were knit in  a permanent frown,  the  golden eyes  of the
descendant of Hyperion were dark  with the fires of  wrath that secretly but
stubbornly burned in them, his lips were now kept tightly pressed together.
     His mighty body,  however, was still  filled with inexhaustible energy,
his intellect was unimpaired. The youth had not lost heart; he still dreamed
of liberty.
     Pandion  was gradually  developing into  a  fighting man who was to  be
feared  not   only  on  account  of  his  courage,  strength  and  boundless
determination but also because of  the urge to maintain  his spirits even in
the hell  that surrounded,  him and  to carry his dreams, desires  and  love
through  all trials  and tribulations. That which  had been impossible to  a
lonely  man ignorant of  the language and the country  had become  eminently
possible-Pandion had a companion, a comrade. A comrade! Only he who  has had
to  stand alone  in the face  of menacingly superior forces, only he who has
been alone in a distant foreign  land can appreciate to the full the meaning
of that  word.  A  comrade means friendly  help, understanding,  protection,
common  thoughts  and  dreams, wise  counsel, timely reproach,  support  and
comfort.  During  the seven  months  he  had been employed  on  jobs  in the
vicinity  of  the  capital  Pandion  had learned  something  of the  strange
language of Aigyptos and began to understand his fellow-slaves despite their
many tongues.
     He  began  to  distinguish  those  who   had  clear-cut,   well-defined
individuality from amongst the five  hundred  slaves confined in the  shehne
and daily driven out to work.
     On  their part the other slaves gradually learned to trust  one another
and some of them became friendly with Pandion.
     The  terrible  privations which  they  shared, the common  longing  for
liberty united them in a common struggle to win their emancipation, strike a
blow  at the blind, oppressive forces  of  the rulers of the Black  Land and
return to their long-lost native lands. "
     Home-that  was a  word they could all understand  although  to some  it
meant a  land that lay beyond the mysterious swamps in the  south, to others
somewhere  beyond the sands to the  east  or  west and  to  the third,  like
Pandion, a land beyond the seas in the north.
     There were but  few in the shehne, however,  who had strength enough to
prepare for  the combat. The others, exhausted by their  heavy  drudgery and
perpetual undernourishment,  were slowly fading away without a murmur. These
were mostly people of advanced age, who had no interest in what was going on
around them; there was not  a spark of resolution in their  dull eyes;  they
showed  no  desire to communicate  with their  companions; they worked,  ate
slowly and sank into  a heavy sleep and next morning shuddered at the  cries
of the warders who  awakened them  to trudge along in the column of  slaves,
sluggish and indifferent.
     Pandion  soon  realized why  there were so many separate  cells in  the
slave compound:  they  kept people apart. After supper it  was forbidden  to
hold communication with  one another; the  sentries  on the wall watched for
infringements of this rule and next morning an arrow or a stick fell to the'
lot of the disobedient. Not every slave possessed either the strength or the
courage to take advantage of the darkness  and crawl  to  the  cells  of his
companions, but some of Pandion's comrades did.


     Three men  became  Pandion's closest companions. The first of  them was
Kidogo,  a huge Negro  almost four  cubits in height  who  came from  a very
distant  part of  Africa to  the  south-west of Aigyptos. Kindly, jolly  and
exuberant Kidogo was also a skilled artist and sculptor. His expressive face
with its broad nose and thick lips immediately attracted Pandion's attention
by  its  intellect and energy.  Pandion was used to well-built Negroes,  but
this giant immediately drew the attention of  the sculptor  by the beauty of
his  well-proportioned  body.  Muscles  seemingly  forged from  iron  suited
Kidogo's light and lithe figure. His huge eyes seemed all attention and were
astounding in their animation against the background of a black face.
     At first  Pandion  and Kidogo communicated with each other by means  of
drawings made with a pointed stick on the earth or on walls. Later the young
Hellene began to talk to the Negro in a mixture of the language of Quemt and
the simple, easily remembered language of Kidogo's people.
     In the pitch  darkness of moonless nights Pandion and Kidogo crawled to
each  other's  cells, and  talking  in  whispers, gained fresh  strength and
courage in the discussion of plans for escape.
     One evening  after  Pandion had been there for  a month a  group of new
slaves was driven into the shehne.
     The newcomers sat  or lay near the door gazing  hopelessly around them,
their tormented faces bearing the seal of grief and despair so well known to
every one of the captives. On returning from work in the evening Pandion was
going to the  big water vessels to get a drink  when  suddenly he almost let
fall  his  bowl. Two of  the newcomers  were talking  softly in  Etruscan, a
language with which  Pandion was  familiar.  The Etruscans  were  a strange,
rough and ancient people who frequently visited the shores of Oeniadae where
they enjoyed the reputation of sorcerers knowing the secrets of nature.
     So  great was the power  of  memories of his home that had been  evoked
that Pandion's  whole body  trembled; he  spoke to the  Etruscans  and  they
understood him. . When he asked them how they  fell captive to the Egyptians
both of them  sat silent  as though they  were not at  all  pleased with the
meeting.
     The two Etruscans were of  medium height, very muscular and  with broad
shoulders. Their dark hair was matted  with dirt and hung in  uneven strands
on both  sides  of their  faces. The elder  of the  two was apparently about
forty years old and the younger was approximately the same age as Pandion.
     The likeness between them was immediately apparent -their sunken cheeks
stressed the protruding cheekbones and their stern hazel eyes flashed with a
stubbornness that nothing could break.
     Pandion  was  both puzzled  and  annoyed  by  the  indifference  of the
Etruscans  and hurried back to  his  own cell.  For several  days after this
Pandion  deliberately paid no attention to  them although he knew they  were
watching him.
     Some ten days after the  arrival of  the Etruscans  Pandion and  Kidogo
were sitting side by side  over a supper of  papyrus stalks. The two friends
ate their food quickly and then lingered  a while  to  talk while the others
were finishing their meal. Pandion's neighbour  on the  other side  was  the
elder Etruscan. Unexpectedly he laid his  heavy hand on the youth's shoulder
and looked mockingly into Pandion's eyes when he turned towards him.
     "A poor comrade will never  gain his liberty," said the Etruscan slowly
with a  note of challenge  in his words;  he did  not  fear that the warders
would understand him for the inhabitants of Tha-Quem  did not understand the
languages of their captives and despised all foreigners.
     Pandion jerked his  shoulder impatiently,  not  having  understood  the
import  of  the Etruscan's  words, but  the  latter  squeezed hard  with his
fingers that dug into Pandion's muscles like bronze talons.
     "You  despise them,  and you  shouldn't." The Etruscan nodded his  head
towards the other slaves who were busily  eating. "The others  are no  worse
than you and they also dream of liberty. . . ."
     "They  are worse," exclaimed Pandion arrogantly. "They've been  here  a
long time and I haven't heard of any attempts at escape!"
     The Etruscan pressed his lips together contemptuously.
     "If  youth  doesn't  possess sufficient  intelligence,  then youth must
learn from age. You're strong  and healthy, there's still  strength left  in
your body after a day's heavy toil, and lack of food  hasn't  yet undermined
your strength. They  have lost their  strength;  that's  the only difference
between you and them, and that's your good luck. But remember that you can't
escape from here alone: you have to know the road and break through by force
and the  only  force we have  is all of us together.  When  you  are  a good
comrade to all  of  them there'll be  a better chance of your  dreams coming
true. . . ."
     Amazed at  the shrewdness of the  Etruscan who  had  fathomed  his most
secret  thoughts, Pandion could find no  answer  and only  hung his  head in
silence.
     "What's he saying? What's he saying?" Kidogo kept asking him.
     Pandion wanted to explain but at that moment the overseer beat  on  the
table;  the slaves who had finished their  meal had to make way for the next
party and go to their cells for their night's rest.
     During the night  Pandion and Kidogo discussed the Etruscan's words for
a long time. They had to  admit that the newcomer understood the position of
the slaves better than anybody else. Those who bore the brand of Pharaoh had
to  know the way  out  of the country  if their escape was to be successful.
This was  not all: they had to  fight their  way through  a country  with  a
hostile population who believed that the "savages" had been  created to work
for the people chosen by the gods.
     The two friends were despondent at this but they had a feeling of trust
in the clever Etruscan.
     A few more days passed and there were four friends in Pharaoh's shehne.
Gradually they acquired greater authority amongst the other slaves.
     The elder Etruscan, who bore  the awe-inspiring name of Cavius, the god
of death,  was  regarded  as their senior by  many of the  staves. The three
others, the young Etruscan, whose name was Remdus, Kidogo and Pandion, three
strong, hardy and bold men, became his most reliable assistants.
     By degrees from amongst the five  hundred slaves more and more fighters
appeared who were willing to risk their lives in the faint hope of returning
to  their  native  lands.  And  just as  slowly  the  remainder,  the cowed,
tormented and  oppressed, regained confidence in their strength and the hope
grew  stronger that by uniting they  could resist the  organized  might of a
huge state.
     But the days passed,  empty and aimless, bitter days of captivity, days
of heavy drudgery that they hated if only because it contributed towards the
prosperity of  the  cruel taskmasters who had  thousands of  human lives  at
their disposal.  At  sunrise each day  columns  of  worn-out men under armed
escort left the shehne for work in different places.
     The inhabitants  of Aigyptos despised all foreigners  and  did not take
the trouble to learn the languages of  their captives. For this reason fresh
slaves were at first  employed on the simplest tasks; later, as they learned
the  Quemt  language,  they  were given  more complicated  instructions  and
learned  handicrafts. The overseers did not bother about the names of  their
slaves and called them by the names of the peoples to which they belonged.
     Thus  Pandion  was called Ekwesha-Egyptian for all  the  peoples of the
Aegean Sea;  the Etruscans were Turu-sha, while Kidogo  and all  other black
slaves were simply called Nehsu-Negro.
     For  the first two months  in the shehne  Pandion and forty other fresh
slaves did repair work  on  the canals in the Gardens of Amon, ( A temple at
Karnak, near Luxor.)
     rebuilt dykes washed away by the  previous  year's floods, loosened the
earth around fruit-trees, pumped water and carried it to the flower-beds.
     The overseers took note of  the hardiness, strength and ability  of the
newcomers  and gradually  selected  a  new  detachment  which  was sent  for
building  work. It happened  that the four  friends  and thirty other strong
slaves- the leaders of the mass of slaves in the shehne-were all in the same
group. When they were  transferred  to building  work, their regular contact
with the others was interrupted since they remained away from the shehne for
weeks on end.
     The first  work  given to Pandion away  from Pharaoh's  gardens was the
dismantling  of  an old temple  and tomb on  the west bank of the river some
fifty stadia from the shehne. The  slaves were loaded on a boat  and ferried
across the river under  the  supervision of an overseer  and five  soldiers.
They were marched along a path northwards to a ridge of vertical cliffs that
here formed a gigantic ledge.  The path  led them past tilled fields on to a
metalled road; suddenly  a  picture was unfolded before Pandion's eyes  that
for ever impressed  itself  on his memory. The slaves had been  halted on  a
wide-open space  sloping down to the river and  the overseer had gone  away,
bidding them await his return.
     This was the first opportunity Pandion had of studying his surroundings
more or less leisurely.
     Directly in front of him  rose a vertical wall of copper-coloured rock,
three  hundred  cubits high, dotted with patches of blue-black shadow.  From
the foot  of the  cliff the white colonnade of  a temple spread out in three
terraces.  A path  of smooth grey stone  rose  from  the riverside plain; on
either side  were rows of strangely carved sphinxes-monsters in the  form of
recumbent  lions with  human heads. Further a broad, white staircase between
walls on which were carved twining yellow snakes, one on either side, led to
the second terraced building supported by low columns, twice the height of a
man, of dazzlingly white limestone.  In the  central part of  the  temple he
noticed  a  second  row  of  similar  columns.  On  each  of  them  was  the
representation of a  human  figure in a royal crown with the hands folded on
the breast.
     The  second  terrace  of the temple, a big  open  space with  a lane of
recumbent sphinxes, was flanked by a  colonnade. Some  thirty cubits  higher
was  the third, or upper, terrace of the  temple, completely surrounded by a
colonnade and filling a natural indenture in the cliff face.
     The lower  terrace of  the temple extended in width over  a distance of
some one  and a  half stadia; at the extremes there  were simple cylindrical
columns,  in the  centre  they were square  and  higher  up they had  six or
sixteen faces. The central columns,  the capitals of  the side  columns, the
cornices of the  porticos  and the human figures  were all painted in bright
blue and red  colours which made the glaring white of the  stone still  more
dazzling.
     This temple, brightly lit up by the sun, formed a  striking contrast to
other gloomy,  oppressive  temple buildings that Pandion had seen. The young
Hellene  could  not  imagine  anything  more  beautiful than those  rows  of
snow-white columns in a framework of coloured patterns. On the terraces grew
trees such as  Pandion had  never seen before-low trees with a dense cluster
of  branches covered  with tiny  leaves  growing close to each other.  These
trees gave off  a very powerful aroma and their  golden-green  foliage  gave
them a very gay  appearance backed by snow-white  columns accentuated by the
red cliffs.
     In a burst of wild admiration  Kidogo nudged Pandion, smacked his  lips
and emitted inarticulate sounds expressing approbation.
     None of the  slaves  knew  that  the temple before which they stood had
been built about five hundred  years earlier by the architect  Sennemut  for
his mistress  Queen  Hatshe-psut  (  Hatshepsut-Queen of the XVIIIth Dynasty
(1500-1457  B.C.).  The  temple  is  at   Deir-el-Bahri.)  and  was   called
Zesher-Zesheru-the most  magnificent of  the  magnificent. (  The Temple  of
Montuhotep  IV, a Pharaoh of the Middle Kingdom,  Xlth  Dynasty,  about 2050
B.C). The strange trees growing  on the terraces had  been  brought from the
Land of  Punt to which  Queen Hatshepsut had  sent a big expedition  by sea.
Since that time it had been the custom for every new  expedition  to Punt to
bring back young trees for the temple and renew the old plantation which was
thus seemingly preserved from ancient days.
     The voice of  the  overseer came  from  the distance. The slaves  moved
hurriedly away from the temple and passing round it to the  left, found  yet
another temple, also built on a ledge on the cliff, this time in the form of
a small pyramid resting on rows of closely placed columns.
     Higher up the  river  there  were two  other temples  of polished  grey
granite. The overseer led his party to the nearest of them where they joined
another party of about  two hundred slaves busy  dismantling the temple. The
white plaster  on  the  interior  walls was decorated with brightly-coloured
drawings executed with great mastery. The building officials and technicians
of  Aigyptos,  who had  charge  of the  work, were only  interested  in  the
polished granite blocks with which the portico and the colonnade were faced.
The interior walls were ruthlessly destroyed.
     Pandion was shocked  at this wanton destruction of ancient works of art
and managed to get into the group of slaves employed in piling the stones on
to  wooden  sleds  and dragging  them down to the  river  to be loaded on  a
low-lying boat.
     He did not know that the Pharaohs of Aigyptos had long been dismantling
ancient temples, mostly those  of the Middle  Kingdom (2160-1580 B.C.) which
contained a large quantity of beautifully dressed stone; they had no respect
for monuments  of the past  and  hastened to perpetuate their  own  names by
building temples and tombs from ready materials.
     Neither  the  Hyksos, the  barbaric  Shepherd Kings who  had  conquered
Tha-Quem many centuries before,  nor the  slaves who revolted  and ruled the
country for a  short period some  two hundred years before Pandion was born,
had touched  these  magnificent  edifices.  But  now, following  the  secret
instructions of the  new Pharaohs of Aigyptos,  the temples and tombs of the
ancient kings were being dismantled and gold poured into the treasury of the
rulers  from  the  plundered  tombs  hidden  under  the ancient sand-covered
pyramids and from the magnificent underground  tombs of the great  kings  of
the XVIIIth, XIXth and XXth dynasties.
     Pandion spent altogether three  months on this work of dismantling  the
temple. He and  Kidogo worked hard, doing their utmost to lighten the labour
of  their comrades.  This was  exactly  what  their  taskmasters wanted: the
labour  system in Tha-Quem  was organized in such a way that the weak had to
keep pace with the strong. The unusual strength and shrewdness of Kidogo and
Pandion  attracted the attention of the overseers and they  were sent to the
workshop of  the stone-masons to learn the craft. One of Pharaoh's sculptors
took them away from  this  workshop  and  thus cut them off completely  from
their  comrades in  the  shahne.  Pandion and Kidogo were  housed in a long,
uncomfortable shed with a  number of other  slaves who  had already mastered
the simple craft. Native inhabitants of Aigyptos, free craftsmen, occupied a
few huts in one  corner of  the big workshop yard where there  were piles of
undressed stone  and rubble. The Egyptians kept markedly clear of the slaves
as  though they  might  be  punished  for any  connections with  them; later
Pandion learne