“They are my words,” she said in the same low voice, and oh!  I shivered as I heard.

The priest went on.

“O Lord of Time, Lord of Life, Lord of Spirits and the Divinities of Heaven, Lord of Terror, come forth now in thy majesty and smite this blasphemer to the dust.”

Roi withdrew and Seti stood forward.

“Know, O god Amon,” he said, addressing the statue as though he wee speaking to a living man, “from the lips of me, thy high-priest, by birth the Prince and Heir of Egypt, that great things hang upon this matter here in the Land of Egypt, mayhap even who shall sit upon the throne that thou givest to its kings.  This woman of Israel dares thee to thy face, saying that there is a greater god than thou art and that thou canst not harm her through the buckler of his strength.  She says, moreover, that she will call upon her god to work a sign and a wonder upon thee.  Lastly, she says that if thou dost not harm her and if her god works no sign upon thee, then she is ready to be handed over to thy priests and die the death of a blasphemer.  Thy honour is set against her life, O great God of Egypt, and we, thy worshippers, watch to see the balance turn.”

“Well and justly put,” muttered Bakenkhonsu to me.  “Now if Amon fails us, what will you think of Amon, Ana?”

“I shall learn the high-priest’s mind and think what the high-priest thinks,” I answered darkly, though in my heart I was terribly afraid for Merapi, and, to speak truth, for myself also, because of the doubts which arose in me and would not be quenched.

Seti withdrew, taking his stand by Userti, and Ki stood forward and said: 

“O Amon, I thy Sacrificer, I thy Magician, to whom thou givest power, I the priest and servant of Isis, Mother of Mysteries, Queen of the company of the gods, call upon thee.  She who stands before thee is but a Hebrew woman.  Yet, as thou knowest well, O Father, in this house she is more than woman, inasmuch as she is the Voice and Sword of thine enemy, Jahveh, god of the Israelites.  She thinks, mayhap, that she has come here of her own will, but thou knowest, Father Amon, as I know, that she is sent by the great prophets of her people, those magicians who guide her soul with spells to work thee evil and to set thee, Amon, beneath the heel of Jahveh.  The stake seems small, the life of this one maid, no more; yet it is very great.  This is the stake, O Father:  Shall Amon rule the world, or Jahveh.  If thou fallest to-night, thou fallest for ever; if thou dost triumph to-night, thou dost triumph for ever.  In yonder shape of stone hides thy spirit; in yonder shape of woman’s flesh hides the spirit of thy foe.  Smite her, O Amon, smite her to small dust; let not the strength that is in her prevail against thy strength, lest thy name should be defiled and sorrows and loss should come upon the land which is thy throne; lest, too, the wizards of the Israelites should overcome us thy servants.  Thus prayeth Ki thy magician, on whose soul it has pleased thee to pour strength and wisdom.”