The Golden Goblet [antikvár]

Chapter I The stream of molten gold flowed smoothly from the crucible, reflecting in its surface the cloudless blue of the Egyptian sky. The boy Ranofer slowly tightened his grip on ?e two stones between which he held the crucible as he tilted it farther and farther, devotion in every careful movement of his hands and bare brown shoulders. Presently the last drop of flame-colored liquid had run without splash or bubble into the hollowed stone. With a sigh of satisfaction the boy set stones and crucible aside, and wiped the sweat from his hands upon his cotton kilt. It was a good ingot; the goldsmith would be able to find no fault with it. Ahready the metal was setting, the brilliant red-yellow fading to scarlet, then to cherry. In half a minute it could be turned out and the mold oiled for the next pouring. Dreamily Ranofer watched the colors dull. Splendid images drifted through his mind, golden forms and shapes, any one of which might be the destiny of this very small ingot that he, Ranofer the son of Thutra, had poured. It might become part of a wide and glittering collar, or the inlay on a fine dagger for some nobleman s tomb-or 7