Page:Orczy--the gates of Kamt.djvu/324

 Fools were ye both! oh! thou who dost style thyself the son of Ra, and she … who once was called Princess of Kamt."

"Name her not, thou infamous priest," said Hugh, raising his hand, as if ready to strike the miscreant; "I forbid thee to speak her name!"

But Ur-tasen shrugged his shoulders, with a low sarcastic chuckle.

"Nay! I will not name her, since it rouses thine anger; but anon it will not only be I, but all Tanis who will shriek out her name in loathing and execration."

I had struggled to my feet and was clinging with all my might to Hugh, for I could see that he could scarcely restrain himself from strangling the old man, then and there. But I felt that at any cost we ought to know what nefarious scheme he had concocted, and my heart filled with awful forebodings, I whispered to Hugh:

"Girlie! … for her sake … find out first what he means. Then I will help you to murder him, if you like."

"Dost thy counsellor whisper prudent advice in thine ear, oh! beloved of the gods? Nay, then! do thou follow it. Thou wilt need to be calm … if thou canst. Thou hast played a losing game, oh! son of Ra, and now wilt find that it was not good to defy the might of the priests of Kamt. I could not destroy thee and thy fame, the evil power of Set protects thee; I know not, perhaps thy body is invulnerable … thou art strong, and the people love thee. A hundred priests are at my command, yet not one of them would dare to lay hands on thee. But thou hast a soul, oh! mighty son of Ra! a soul which I, thine enemy, have known how to torture, with a torture so exquisite that anon it will unman thee. Thy soul," he added, with a loud