Moses, Man of the Mountain (5 page)

It was the talk of Mentu which stirred the inquisitive Moses to stealing into the enclosure of the priests. After that first time, he would slip away from his tutors and attendants and go softly into the temples and into the forbidden precincts behind the temples where the priests lived and worked. And always he came out with more details of the home life of the gods when they were not attending their altars and being the inexpressible to men. In vain did the priests try to discourage him. They set magic tricks to awe and frighten him, but he would not stay away. He learned to feed the sacred snakes and handle the altar fires without hurt to himself. He begged to be taught the mysteries of signs and omens and the power of sayings and seals until the priests despaired. “What power will
we have over the Suten-Rech if they are going to know as much as we do?” they asked themselves and put him off on account of his age. “Come back to us after you have had your manhood ceremony and we will teach you,” they told him. When he was gone they said, “Oh, he will be far too interested in war and women to bother with temple magic by that time. Who would bother with being a priest if he could be a prince anyway? All young boys have silly notions. Five years from now he will laugh at the idea. Our Pharaoh, when he was a boy, begged to be allowed to be a charioteer.”

“So it goes,” a priest devoted to Rah concluded. “But the contributions at the altars are getting thin. Let us make a new sun-god to renew the devotions of the people. I have just invented a new incense that shall be known as his breath and indication of his presence at the altar.”

T
he seven red mares rushed the sun across the sky, the infinite expanse and the dawns made companies and formed years and the years brought Moses to young manhood and gave him bone and muscle. Mentu had taught Moses about horses. He showed him what made a fine horse and he showed him how to ride and sit.

“Further up towards his shoulders, Prince Moses, and bring up those knees. You can’t lead an army until you can ride a horse.”

“But my uncle, Pharaoh’s son, leads his men with his chariot.”

“A war chariot is a splendid vehicle, Prince Moses, but there is more action on the back of a horse. You fight down on the enemy then, and not among them. There are too many sides to a war chariot anyway. Men can surround it and trap you. They can break off wheels from the clumsy thing. But on horseback now, your chariot is a living thing and quick to answer your impulses. Speed is vital in war.”

“My mother says she will order a splendid chariot for me.”

“Keep it for parades, but fight on horseback and win your wars. Your uncle is Pharaoh’s son and eighteen years older than you. He will be head of state and the nominal head of the army. But you shall be the first man of Egypt in war.”

The men of war also loved the avid attention that Moses gave to their advice. They need not fear to differ with him nor scold him. He was a born trooper, they all agreed, as they watched his quick grasp of intricate problems and his tendency to experiment with troop placement and maneuvers. There was something about him, outside of being the grandson of Pharaoh, that made men listen to him with respect. There was something about him that assured them he was a companion to be relied on in times of danger. They wanted to follow him into whatever escapade he thought up. He was the young men’s choice for a leader. To the old officers he was an upstart who tried to think and every statesman knew that thinking was not for soldiers.

For a long time his activities made no impression upon his young uncle, the Pharaoh apparent, because he was busy with affairs of his own. There was palace etiquette to struggle with; robes of state to be fitted and worn properly. Royal visits from other countries, hunts and ceremonies. Then there were the intrigues inside the palace and council to make sure that the woman who was his sister and the mother of Moses should not herself encroach upon her brother’s future power and prestige, and that she should not persuade their father to harbor any such foolish notions about Moses. Ta-Phar jealously guarded his prerogative and that took time and energy. He felt that he was already something of a statesman and gave time now and then to thinking up new strictures for the Hebrews. It was his definite impression that the nation as a whole was softening towards these people and tending towards their attitude of before the revolution. Such laxness might give the Hebrews their opportunity to invite foreign allies to come in and send his family packing again and he had no taste for foreign travel under such circumstances. He wanted to rule and be King. The palace, to him, was not so much a residence as it was the seat of authority. He was more relieved than worried at the zest of Moses for the outdoor life. If he got any pleasure out of excelling with the bow and arrow and hurling spears at marks, let him do it. There were plenty of spears in
Egypt to be hurled by others for the heir of Pharaoh. In the hunt, the game was always prepared for his final thrust so why spend hours in practice? Moses was merely lacking in appreciation of his position of a prince, the more fool, he.

Then came the day of the bi-annual military maneuvers. This was a happy day for the Crown Prince. This was the day he would appear in his new chariot and armor with the Egyptian force behind him. The last maneuver had been led by his father and he and Moses had played minor roles in the pageant. But this time his father was suffering from an injury to his hip and had decided to watch the action from a reviewing stand, in company with a visiting king and his retinue. The Prince would be King for the day.

All day there had been the rumble of war chariots past the palace and out to the great field that bordered the Nile. Drums shouted and rumbled; bands blared, a thousand decorated floats were moored on the Nile opposite the parade ground to await the wives and daughters of nobles and officers out on the field in mock battle. Two sets of tents faced each other at opposite ends of the field and at right angles to the river so that the action would be visible to the reviewing stand and the flower-decked barges on the Nile.

The hawk of Horus, the sun-god, mounted to his noon perch and flew down the western sky for two hours, his blazing eyes fixed on the horizon of night. The men had been ordered to their tents since dawn. The princes and nobles now repaired to their decorated pavilions to dress. The barges with their ornate and brilliant-colored awnings filled and Pharaoh took his seat upon his open-air throne. The six royal trumpeters took their places before Pharaoh and at a sign they began the salute to Pharaoh in his incarnation of the sun-god.

Then from their rich pavilions issued the princes and nobles of Egypt and mounted their chariots. Martial music played and the parade of the nobles before the throne of Pharaoh began. Shouts and cheers came from the barges and the standing people as each beautifully caparisoned war chariot with its three steeds passed in review and saluted the throne as they
passed. First came the empty chariot of Pharaoh, the horses led by grooms in the livery of the palace. Then came the chariot of Egypt’s Crown Prince with Ta-Phar the son of Pharaoh at the reins. He was followed by Moses in a chariot less richly worked and draped. Then all the other chariots filed past four abreast, wheeled about the field and returned to their tents to get ready for the maneuvers in earnest.

While they made ready, a company of dancers from the royal ballet leaped out from behind the reviewing stand and danced for the entertainment of the throne and the barges. The activities of the gods was the theme of the ballet and it was well received.

The trumpeters again. This time they announced the maneuvers and the order. His Majesty’s forces were divided into the blues and the reds. The reds would be led by that embodiment of all that was pure and noble, the image of Pharaoh himself, Suten-Rech Ta-Phar. The blues were nobly led by the slightly lesser sun of the world and grandson of Pharaoh, Suten-Rech Moses, son of the daughter of Pharaoh. They saluted in every direction and retired.

Out upon the field they rode the ranks of red charioteers with the Prince at the head. They came out in perfect formation, massed close together and chanting, “Who is so great as Pharaoh, and who can meet his glance?”

“A truly magnificent force!” a visiting dignitary said to Pharaoh. “Magnificent?” Pharaoh retorted. “Why, man alive! You are looking at the finest chariot force in the world. It’s stupendous! There never was such a fighting machine in the history of warfare. And it will be a long time before its equal will be seen again. It was our highly developed war chariots which swept out the Hyksos. They are unbeatable.”

The red force had reached the center of the field and all eyes looked towards the blue camp for the defending force, but not a single chariot emerged. There was a thick brush back of the camp. Suddenly a hundred soldiers mounted on camels trotted from the camp and rode, none too hastily, towards the chariot force with lifted spears. The Prince and his men were too
startled for a moment to move. People did not know what to think. Some of them laughed.

“What kind of a stupid joke is this?” the Prince sneered. “Bear down on them, my men, surround them and capture them.”

The chariots got into furious motion. But as the horses got wind of the camels they began to rear and snort. At that precise moment a thousand horsemen burst from the wood and raced through the camp like lightning. As they cleared the tents a blood-chilling war whoop burst from the riders. They brandished their spears and bore down upon the chariots like so many fiends from hell. But they did not make a direct charge as their frenzied speed indicated. When almost near enough for hand-to-hand conflict, the horsemen split into two parties and executed a lightning-swift flanking movement and attacked the chariots from the side and rear. With quick jabs and thrusts, the charioteers were hurled from their machines. Bridles were seized. A wave of foot soldiers followed the cavalry and the charioteers struggling on the ground with their heavy armor and weapons, and often tangled in the reins of their chariots were overcome and taken prisoner. It was a rout. The throne and barges were on their feet first in surprise, then in alarm. Some asked, “Are those horsemen Egyptians or are they Hebrews and their allies, the hated Hyksos? Only men of the desert ride like that!”

And on the field the action went on furiously. Two thirds of the chariots were empty. The field was full of plunging horses, tangled harness and shouting men. It looked as if God were stirring up hell with a pitchfork. But in a little while it was evident that order was emerging out of the tangle. Prisoners were tied to the tails of chariots and the foot soldiers were springing into the chariots and taking the reins to quiet the horses. Out in front of the struggling mass a horseman with his knees almost under his chin was brandishing his spear and riding around the chariot of Ta-Phar the Crown Prince, feinting at him from all sides as he circled the chariot with the confidence and speed of a hawk. The horseman circled the
chariot six times, keeping the Prince in the chariot constantly off-balance trying to defend himself with his shield and spear from all sides before the horseman sent in the thrust that toppled the Prince out of the chariot. He did not dismount to secure the prisoner. Ta-Phar’s personal attendants rushed forward to lift him up. Moses seized the bridle of the three horses hitched to the chariot and led them away from the fallen Prince, helpless on the ground. Then only did a cry go up from the blue forces. “Moses! Moses!” The grandstands and barges took it up and shouted with delight. “It is Moses. What a soldier!”

An elderly Egyptian statesman sitting directly behind Pharaoh leaned forward and whispered, “Did you see what I saw? I believe we have a great military leader on our hands.”

“Don’t I know it? I intend to keep working on that boy until I make a great soldier out of him. My mind never sleeps,” Pharaoh said in a manner to give the impression that he had planned the whole thing, himself. “It won’t be long now before we punish those Ethiopians for inviting refugee Hyksos and Hebrews into their country to plot against Egypt. We have a military genius in Moses. I shall instruct him further.”

Solemnly walking his horse, Moses led the parade of the victors around the field and up to the dais of Pharaoh to receive the trophy of the victor. He leaped off his horse, bowed himself to the ground and said, “As you have seen today, so will we do to the enemies of Pharaoh.” Pharaoh acknowledged the salute and presented the trophy. Receiving it, Moses whirled his horse and gave a magnificent display of horsemanship before he led his lightly clad troops back to their tents.

The visiting dignitary leaned towards Pharaoh again and said: “I thought you said your chariot force was the finest in the world.”

“I did and it is,” Pharaoh said with some heat.

“What inspired rabble was it that defeated them out there, then?” the dignitary asked with a trace of malice in his voice.

“Rabble? You must be crazy in the head. That was strategy.
Why, man alive, you were privileged to look on the world’s finest cavalry and infantry forces. I have merely been keeping it under cover. It’s something new in tactics. The newest development in warfare will always arise in Egypt. Rabble indeed! Don’t get silly in your old age.”

Back in his pavilion Prince Ta-Phar, unaware of his father’s sentiments, was beating his attendants and swearing. “Treason! Treachery! and all of you knew of this heathenish trick that was to be played on the army of Egypt and kept a vile silence.”

“But the blues are part of the army, too. It was just one side against the other,” one young officer tried to explain while dodging cuffs and blows. “Everybody knew the riding practices were going on. You said—”

“Shut up! You bitch’s baby you! When I reveal to Pharaoh the intrigue and treachery in his own army, everyone even suspected of guilty knowledge shall be whipped like slaves. Camels! Half-naked soldiers on horseback! What kind of an army is this? That Moses! When the time comes he is going to feel the weight of my hand. Nothing different! But what can you expect of a Suten-Rech who takes sides with Hebrews and hangs around the stables with grooms?”

As Moses entered his pavilion he saw a figure squatting in the far corner with a court wig lopsided over one eye and a hit-or-miss collection of garments on. A general’s tunic, a shenti of a priest, the headdress of a high state official. It was not until Moses’ eyes traveled to the worn-out sandals that he received a clue to the puzzle. Then he looked up at the face in the midst of this costume mixture and burst out laughing.

“Mentu!”

“I—I know I have no business on the parade grounds. I am little better than a Hebrew or a swineherd in Pharaoh’s eyes, but—”

“Shut up! You old monkey you! Where on earth did you get those clothes?”

“Oh, a piece here and a piece there. Everybody, even the servants, were gone to the maneuvers and so it was easy.”

They fell upon each other laughing. Moses straightened up the wig and the headdress and held the old man off at arm’s length to survey him.

“Not so bad,” he laughed. “If they don’t get too close. It got you inside anyway. Why didn’t you ask me for a pass?”

“It seemed too much for a stableman to ask. And I wanted to see you ride.”

“Did I do all right?”

“It could not have been better. Your seat, your knees, your hands, all perfect. You were a horse and the horse was a prince. Did Pharaoh approve?”

“I don’t know yet. I’ll find that out tomorrow at breakfast. Tonight is the great banquet. No personal matters taken up then.”

“Well, anyhow, the Prince and those old-time army men have found out that they over-sported themselves with their war chariots just like I told you.”