The Cat of Bubastes

                                                G.A. Henty

“The Cat of Bubastes” by George Alfred Henty, is an exceptional story. It began around 1400 BC, in a region of Ancient Egypt on the western shore of the Caspian, where there was a city occupied by the Rebu people. The Rebu army was assembling to fight the coming Egyptian army, whose king was Tutmose III. The king of Rebu was making battle preparations while his son, who was one of the main characters, bid his mother goodbye. His appearance was as all of the Rebu, light hair and blue eyes, his name was Amuba. As the group rode away to fight the Egyptians, a tall, strong soldier named Jethro was appointed to protect Amuba in the battle, they had been friends for a long time and got along well.

As they approached the area where they were to fight, the soldiers assembled with their short bows and before long the battle commenced. It was even for a while as the Rebu were doing quite well, but that ended when their king took an arrow right through his eye and into his brain, before long he was dead in his chariot. After that, the Rebu were forced to retreat back to their city.

The city was besieged and taken by the Egyptians later, it was discovered that Amuba’s mother, the Queen of Rebu had poisoned herself so that she would not be there when the Egyptians broke through. Several prisoners were chosen, Amuba and Jethro were among these, and they began the long pilgrimage back to Egypt. Once they arrived there, prisoners were being selected for slaves, Amuba was chosen by a high priest and after great pleading Jethro was chosen to come as well, the two of them went to the priest’s house where Amuba and Jethro were assigned their duties. Jethro was to watch over the priest’s daughter Mysa, who was a young Egyptian with dark skin, as most Egyptians had. Amuba was instructed to be a companion to the priest’s son whose name was Chebron, they were very close in age and became good freinds.

Jethro and Amuba stayed with the priest for several months and were treated well. While Chebron and Amuba were on a hunting trip, they rescued a young Israelite girl named Ruth, she had been attacked by a crocodile from the river. They found that she lived with her grandfather in a small house, and seeing that there was nothing for her in such a place, Chebron asked his father to let her come to their household and be a servant, this was soon arranged, and together they traveled back to their city. One night while Chebron and Amuba were exploring the temple, they discovered an assassination plot, however, they were not able to stop it as the next day a temple attendant was found dead. From that point on there was tension around the temple, there were rumors being spread that the high priest was not sincere to the Egyptian gods, these were probably being spread by a priest named Ptylus, he was next in line for the position of high priest, and he knew that if the high priest was gone he would get the position. In the high priest’s garden there were many animals, there were several birds and cats, cats were sacred in Egypt, and one of the high priest’s cats had been chosen to be the next sacred Cat of Bubastes, which meant that it would live in a temple and it would be the most sacred cat in all of the land of Egypt. One day Amuba and Chebron were trying to shoot a hawk that was killing the other birds, as they fired Amuba’s arrow hit the hawk, but Chebron’s arrow ricocheted and killed the sacred cat. Chebron was mortified by this, but Amuba who did not believe in the Egyptian customs and did not think much of it. They decided to bury it and tell Chebrons father, the high priest. Once they had told him he explained to them that he did not sincerely believe in what the Egyptians believed. In the following days, word got out that the cat was gone and people began to become suspicious of the family, and soon there was a crowd of people gathered at the gate of the high priest’s garden. Amuba and Chebron had to leave the house and stay hidden in a tomb outside of the city. Chigron, the embalmer, had made arrangements for them, Jethro would come and give them news of what had happened periodically. One night he burst in with a blood covered face and told them that the people who had gathered at the gate were incited by Ptylus and broke through into the garden, there they discovered the body of the cat and were furious, in their rage the people were in great confusion but as the high priest came out to them he was slain by some men with daggers.

After hearing this Amuba and Chebron went to the house in disguise, and found that Mysa, the high priest’s daughter had been taken by the men, Ruth had gone missing as well. Amuba, Chebron, and Jethro were determined to find, and bring them back. After several attempts to do so, the three discovered a road that was driven on by a chariot at night, they assumed that it was Ptylus because it came from his home, they followed the chariot and found a large house, as they listened to the voices inside, they determined that Mysa and Ruth were both there, so they broke in and fought. Ptylus surrendered to Jethro who killed him afterwards, Plexo, his son who was there as well, tried to kill Jethro from behind but was pushed and fell on his own knife. After that they tied up the guards that had come in and ditched the chariot far away. It was decided that they would flee from Egypt and go to the far region of Rebu, the same place that Jethro and Amuba originally came from. Chigron helped the five of them by supplying them with what they would need on their long journey.

They first boarded a boat and went up the Nile for several days, once they reached their destination which was a city that was beside the Nile, as many cities in Egypt were, this of course was to make trade much easier, they arranged to buy some camels as the next stage of their trip would be desert. They also hired quite a few armed men as defense, the region that they to would be passing through was full of bandits that would raid travelers with large amounts of money. As they treaded along through the desert the heat began to effect them, so they set up a camp to shade and rest themselves, but while they were there, they saw a huge group of bandits in the distance, Jethro decided to go and speak to them, once he reached them their leader told him that he had to pay a sum to come the way that they had gone, Jethro said that if he knew there was a cost he would have paid it. After talking for a while and trying to negotiate, the bandit leader gave them two choices, first they could surrender and the bandits would rob them of all that was of value and leave them in the desert, or they could fight. Jethro told him that he would consult his companions and decide, he rode back and told them, it was decided that they would fight, they set up improvised barricades for those who would stay and protect the camp, and the rest mounted up on camels or possibly even on foot and charged, Jethro was an experienced warrior, and cut down many bandits, several of them however, went around the defendants to attack the camp, where they were held off. Eventually the bandits retreated, and left the camp, even though they were outnumbered, the smaller group won, however, many were injured, and some dead. The travelers did not meet any other hostile groups in the remainder of their trek. At last they reached their destination, having traveled a long distance and met many dangers. Once they arrived at Rebu, they left Mysa and Ruth in a safe household to protect them should anything happen. Jethro, Chebron, and Amuba all observed that the people were oppressed by the Egyptians, they acknowledged that it would be entirely possible to start a revolt and take back Rebu. They began to spread the word and soon people began to join and a revolt was quickly organized. This would most certainly lead to a very large battle, and the winner would rule the country of Rebu.

            I do not intend to tell you how it ends, as that might cause you not to read the book, wich is something that I hope this book report prompts you to do. Along with the ending, I have left out a several exciting scenes, I hope this will be entertaining if you choose to read this truly fabulous piece of work. I have really enjoyed reading this and my favorite part about it was that it never had a dull moment, there was adventure throughout. My favorite scene in the book was probably the part where Jethro kills Ptylus. G. A. Henty was an accomplished writer, he had the ability to take actual history, and creatively weave an exciting fictional story into it. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who likes reading or is interested in the works of G. A. Henty.