Page 220 - Four Thousand Years Ago by Geoffrey Bibby

the river irom tne norm.
The flood passed on, the sowing was carried out by the old

men and the women and children, and the green shoots of millet

and barley began to appear. And still no news came.
Until one evening in early summer a chariot rolled by along

the embankment road, its plodding horses drooping their heads

as wearily as the young man who stood beside the driver. The

man was recognized by many as a nobleman of the earldom a

day’s journey south of Thebes, a member of Amose’s personal

staff. Like a thatch fire the news ran through the town, and al­

most before the chariot passed the gates of the palace a crowd

had gathered. In less than half an hour a palace scribe and a

herald appeared at the gates and proclaimed the news.

Eight days ago the army of pharaoh had confronted the

main host of the Hyksos monarch not far from the holy city of

Memphis. The battle had raged for two days, and on the evening

of the second day the Hyksos chariots had wheeled and fled. The

chosen of Amon was even now in hot pursuit of the fleeing

enemy, and should by now be approaching the stronghold of

Avaris.

No more work was done that evening or the following day,

and Thebes rejoiced in the exuberance of its relief. Palace

slaves, who had heard the full story from the driver, told in the

town of the booty and prisoners, the stores of weapons and the

chariots which had been taken. The messenger chariot itself was

part of the spoils of victory.

Clearly, though, there had been other dispatches with the

messenger. For orders went out from the palace calling up many
of the older men, particularly the artisans, carpenters, and

smiths; The garrisons left behind in upper Egypt were drastically
reduced, new contingents of Sudanese mercenaries marched in,

and even the criminals who worked in the mines were ordered

north under guard. It became clear that the war was not over