I wearied of the outcry and said to Kaptah, “Horemheb has been in Gaza for more than a week and the old man has cheated you. You owe him nothing. I will order soldiers to flog him, and if need be they can cut off his head, for he is a deceitful fellow and the cause of many deaths.”
But Kaptah was shocked at my words, and said, “I am a man of honor! A merchant must hold to his engagements if he is to preserve his good name. Had I guessed that I should survive, I should of course have bargained with him. When I smelled the bread in his hand I promised him what he asked.”
I stared at him in consternation.
“Can this be Kaptah? No, I can’t believe it. Some curse lurks in the stones of this fortress so that all who remain within it go mad. You also are mad! Do you mean to pay him all you owe? And with what will you pay it? Since the kingdom of Aton fell, I fancy you are as poor as myself.”
But Kaptah was now drunk, and he said, “I am a pious man. I honor the gods and keep my word. I intend to discharge my debt to the last deben, although of course he must allow me time. In his simplicity he would doubtless be content if I weighed out a couple of deben to him, for never in his life has he squeezed soft gold between his fingers. He would be beside himself with joy to receive only one deben, but this does not release me from my bond. I don’t know where I can find so much, for I lost a very great deal in the Theban riots, having been compelled to fly thence in an ignominious manner, leaving everything behind me. The slaves were persuaded that I had betrayed them to Ammon and sought my life. After that I did great service to Horemheb in Memphis until the hatred of the slaves pursued me even there. I then did him even greater service in Syria, for I lived here as a merchant and sold grain and forage to the Hittites. I estimate therefore that Horemheb already owes me half a million deben of gold-and more, because I was forced to make my escape to Gaza in peril of my life on the sea in a very small boat. The Hittites, you understand, were enraged because their horses fell sick of the forage I had supplied. In Gaza I ran an even greater risk. The mad commander imprisoned me as a Syrian spy and tortured me on the wheel, and assuredly my hide would now be hanging from the wall had not this crazy old man hidden me and vowed that I had perished in the dungeon. Therefore, I must discharge my debt to him.”
Then my eyes were opened, and I understood that it was Kaptah who had been Horemheb’s best agent in Syria and his chief spy-had not the thirsty wretch who visited Horemheb’s tent by night covered one eye as a sign that he had been sent by a one-eyed man? I perceived that no other could have performed such wonders, for in guile Kaptah had no peer.
I said to him, “What if Horemheb does owe you much gold? You know very well that he never pays his debts.”
“That is so; he is a hardhearted and ungrateful man, more ungrateful even than this mad commander, to whom I conveyed grain in sealed jars. The Hittites fancied that the jars were full of venomous serpents, for in proof of this I broke one of the jars and the serpents bit three Hittite soldiers so that they died. After this the Hittites felt no desire to open further jars. Failing a recompense in gold, Horemheb shall appoint me receiver of harbor dues and of similar contributions in the captured cities. He shall turn the whole of the Syrian salt trade over to me, and much else, and by this means afford me satisfaction.”
There was sense in what he said, and yet I marveled.
“Do you then intend to toil all your life to pay this old lunatic who is making such a to-do behind my door?”
Kaptah drank wine and smacked his lips, saying, “Truly it is worth languishing for a week or two in a dark hole, with hard stones beneath one and foul water to drink, to enjoy the full delight of soft seats, good light, and the taste of wine. No, Sinuhe, I am not as mad as you suppose. Nevertheless, my word is my bond, for which reason you must restore his sight according to my promise, that he may learn to dice with me. He was an eager gambler before his blindness came on him-and if he should lose to me, what can I do? You understand, o? course, that I mean to play for very high stakes.”
I saw that this was indeed the only honorable way for Kaptah to discharge his huge debt, for Kaptah was a skillful player-with dice of his own choosing. I promised to devote all my arts to restoring the old man’s sight, or at least so much of it as would enable him to distinguish the pips. In return, Kaptah undertook to send Muti enough silver to rebuild the copperfounder’s house in Thebes and to maintain herself there in comfort during my absence. I called the old man in, and Kaptah assured him he would pay off the debt if given a little time. I examined his eyes and found that the blindness was not a result of living in the dark but of an old, neglected disease. On the following day I cured it by means of the needle, according to the method I had perfected in Mitanni. How long his sight would last I could not say, for eyes that have been so treated are apt to scar within a short space of time, and the resulting loss of sight can be neither prevented nor cured.
I brought Kaptah to Horemheb, who rejoiced to see him. He embraced him and called him a brave man, assuring him that all Egypt was thankful to him for his great achievements.
But Kaptah’s face fell, and he began to weep, saying, “Behold my belly, which has shrunk to an empty bag from my exertions on your behalf. Cast your eye upon my lacerated rear and on my ears, which the dungeon rats of Gaza have nibbled into rags! You talk to me of gratitude, which puts not a grain of corn into my mouth nor so much as moistens my throat. Nowhere do I see the bags of gold you have promised me! No, Horemheb, I ask for no thanks. I ask you to pay what you owe me, like a man of honor, since I also have debts to discharge. Indeed I stand very deeply in debt-more deeply than you dream of.”
Horemheb scowled, and smiting his leg impatiently with his whip he said, “Your talk is that of a fool, Kaptah. You know very well that I have no plunder to share with you and that I use all the gold I can lay hands on to prosecute the war against the Hittites. I myself am a poor man, and glory alone is my reward. This much I can do for you: I can imprison your creditors, accuse them of many crimes, and hang them from the walls, and so acquit you of your debts.”
To this Kaptah would not agree. Horemheb laughed harshly and said, “Kaptah, how did you come to be bound to the wheel as a Syrian spy and cast into the dungeons? Mad though Roju is, yet he is a fine warrior and must have had some reason for his action.”
Kaptah tore his fine garment in token of innocence, beat his breast, and cried, “Horemheb, Horemheb! Was it you who but now spoke to me of gratitude, only to insult me with false accusations? Didn’t I poison the horses of the Hittites and smuggle corn into Gaza? When you lay encamped in the wilderness, didn’t I hire bold men to bring you details of enemy dispositions? Didn’t I hire slaves to slit the water skins in the chariots with which the Hittites attacked you? All this I did for you and for Egypt without thought of gain. It was but fair and right that I should perform certain harmless services for the Hittites and for Aziru. For this reason, when I fled to Gaza, I had about me a tablet of safe-conduct from Aziru. A wise man protects himself at every point and carries many arrows in his quiver. Neither to you nor to Egypt should I be of the smallest use were my carcass now hanging out to dry upon the wall. I carried the safe-conduct with me, for had you tarried too long, Gaza might have fallen. But Roju is a suspicious man, and it was in vain I covered my blind eye and spoke of venomous beetles as we had agreed. He believed in no passwords but stretched me out on the wheel until I bellowed like a bull and said that I was a spy of Aziru’s.”
Horemheb laughed and said, “What you have undergone shall be your reward, my good Kaptah. I know you, and you know me. Pester me no longer in this matter of gold, for such talk vexes me and puts me out of temper.”