Page:The Pharaohs and their people; scenes of old Egyptian life and history (IA pharaohstheirpeo00berkiala).pdf/76

56 events which led to his hurried flight; but it is not difficult to imagine how a young and powerful noble might have become compromised in insurrection or conspiracy during the earlier years of Amenemhat's reign—so gravely compromised that his recall and friendly reception by the kings was regarded with suspicion and disapproval by some of the royal family themselves. The narrative opens thus—'When I was about to set out, my heart was troubled, my hands trembled, numbness fell on my limbs. I disguised myself as a seller of herbs; twice I started and turned back I passed the night in a garden; when it was day I arose, and by supper-time had arrived at the town There I embarked on a barge without a rudder, and came to Abu; the rest of the journey I made on foot. I came to the fortress which the king built to keep off the Sakti, and I was received by an old man, a seller of herbs. But I was afraid when I beheld the watchmen upon the walls relieving each other daily. In the dawn I proceeded,